Homework A.D.D.

Wow. It's official- I have homework A.D.D!

 I will do anything to avoid it! I can force myself to go upstairs and sit in the silent library, but thats where the procrastination comes in. While the people around me research for our ANE site report, I blog stalk, email, look on pinterest, plan surprise birthday parties months away, and just now I made my winter semester bucket list! This will be my first winter at home since high school, and I am dreading it! Amos will be leaving on a mission, Jules is busy with work, Sarah is in Philly, and while most of my time will hopefully be put into the 2-3 jobs I need to work, I decided to make a bucket list in case I ever do have spare time! I just have to endure 4 months of cold, then it's Mexico, and I think I can do it!
- ice fishing                         
- tobogganing
- home make ten differnt kinds of hot chocolate
- sew a quilt
- learn to ice skate
- volunteer somewhere
- bake something new every week
- cook at least twice a week
- go bowling
- throw a party
- have a star wars marathon
- see midnight showing of “the hunger games”
- eat at the melting pot
- find shwarma
- get 10 cent candies & go to a dollar movie
- snowshoeing
- try hot yoga
- work out every day
- sew a skirt
- have a craft day at least once a week
- print all Hawaii & Jerusalem pictures & put in albums
- cross country ski in Waterton
- visit Jen in Lethbridge
- shop at the mall outside Calgary
- visit grandma & grandpa in Cardston
- do baptisms at the temple whenever possible
- improve piano skills (be able to play any hymn in the hymnbook)
- take voice lessons
- learn guitar
- go to a concert
- ice on whyte
- gelato at block 1912
- attempt to make pizza like Famoso
- shop on whyte ave
- take a tour of the ledge building
- see the winter high school plays
- go to Hawaii to visit Saydi
- make every cupcake in the “hello cupcake!” book
- make delicious breakfasts every Sunday
- build a snowman
- go to general conference
- read more church/history books
- eat a breakfast, lunch & dinner at IKEA
- waterpark
- galaxy land
- mini golf
- swim laps once a week
- fundraise for Mexico!
- take at least one institute class & choir
- cook a whole Sunday dinner alone
- get dessert at the high level diner
- try making different flavours of fudge
- re-decorate room
- re-decorate bathroom
- go to a Jewish synagogue service
- figure out what school/program to go to in the Fall
- learn to French braid
- make falafel
- murder mystery dinner
- buy monopoly deal & teach family
- take a photography class
- learn cake decorating
- day trip to Banff

Happy Sabbath!

I love Sabbath Saturdays! Our weeks are so jam-packed with scheduled activities, and so it's nice to have sabbath to sleep in a bit, and just have time to write in my journal, have a good personal scripture study, write letters, and call my family. I especially loved today, because our branch had it's primary presentation! This is something I have missed since being in YSA, and I loved it, I could not stop smiling the whole time! Tonight we have a fireside with an area seventy, which is really exciting, especially because it's up in the upper auditorium overlooking Jerusalem, instead of in the forum, where the branch firesides usually take place.

Me and & Kimberly happened to wear our matching dresses today! (That's what happens when you only have about 3 church outfits to choose from!)

Also, my New Testament teacher Brother Harper read this story to us in class yesterday, and I absolutely love it. Sorry, I don't know how to format it differently. Enjoy!

“Some years ago, it was my privilege to visit the country of Morocco as part of an official United States government delegation. As part of that visit, we were invited to travel some distance into the desert to visit some ruins. Five large black limousines moved across the beautiful Moroccan countryside at considerable speed. I was riding in the third limousine, which had lagged some distance behind the second. As we topped the brow of a hill, we noticed that the limousine in front of us had pulled off to the side of the road. As we drew nearer, I sensed that an accident had occurred and suggested to my driver that we stop. The scene before us has remained with me for these many years.“An old shepherd, in the long, flowing robes of the Savior’s day, was standing near the limousine in conversation with the driver. Nearby, I noted a small flock of sheep numbering not more than fifteen or twenty. An accident had occurred. The king’s vehicle had struck and injured one of the sheep belonging to the old shepherd. The driver of the vehicle was explaining to him the law of the land. Because the king’s vehicle had injured one of the sheep belonging to the old shepherd, he was now entitled to one hundred times its value at maturity. However, under the same law, the injured sheep must be slain and the meat divided among the people. My interpreter hastily added, “But the old shepherd will not accept the money. They never do.”“Startled, I asked him why. And he added, “Because of the love he has for each of his sheep.” It was then that I noticed the old shepherd reach down, lift the injured lamb in his arms, and place it in a large pouch on the front of his robe. He kept stroking its head, repeating the same word over and over again. When I asked the meaning of the word, I was informed, “Oh, he is calling it by name. All of his sheep have a name, for he is their shepherd, and the good shepherds know each one of their sheep by name.”“It was as my driver predicted. The money was refused, and the old shepherd with his small flock of sheep, with the injured one tucked safely in the pouch on his robe, disappeared into the beautiful deserts of Morocco.“As we continued our journey toward the ruins, my interpreter shared with me more of the traditions and practices of the shepherds of that land. Each evening at sundown, for example, the shepherds bring their small flocks of sheep to a common enclosure where they are secured against the wolves that roam the deserts of Morocco. A single shepherd then is employed to guard the gate until morning. Then the shepherds come to the enclosure one by one, enter therein, and call forth their sheep—by name. The sheep will not hearken unto the voice of a stranger but will leave the enclosure only in the care of their true shepherd, confident and secure because the shepherd knows their names and they know his voice.“The words of the Master Shepherd rang loudly in my ears: “But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. “To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:2–5) (Elder John R. Lassater, “Shepherds of Israel, Ensign, May 1988, p. 74)

¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨

I left my heart in Galilee

We got back from our 10 day trip from Galilee yesterday, and I feel like I left a bit of my heart there! No joke, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Highlights were going to Nazareth, boat ride across the Sea of Galilee (we stayed in a Kibbutz, and our beach shacks were right on the sea of Galilee!), Mt. of Beatitudes, bonfire on the beach wih s'mores, eating dinner at the fish restaurant and getting ice cream in Tiberias (there was a light show going on when we went, it was so cool!), beautiful hike to a gorgeous waterfall (Galilee is very lush, I did not feel like I was in Israel!), I got to speak in sacrament meeting with the Galilee branch in Tiberias (the church bought a villa for them to meet in a few years ago, it overlooks the sea of Galilee and Capernaum!) which was an amazing opportunity (also, during the last talk, all the sudden there was a huge crack of thunder, and a storm blew in, in about 2 minutes, and it was pouring rain, and we couldnt see anything, like not even the Sea, and then for the closing hymn we sang "Master the Tempest is Raging", it was so cool!), and going to the Jordan River after church, swimming in the Sea of Galilee, swimming at Ha-Shelosha (this adorable, warm springs with the coolest warm waterfall! so pretty!), Nimrod's castle, sunsets on the beach every night, lecture from a Kibbutz member about how the kibbutz meets (so interesting!), testimony meeting around a bonfire on our last night beside the Sea of Galilee-so good!
I took over 600 pictures, and I havent even begun sorting through them, so here's a few random ones! (also, they told us it was going to be 21 degrees all week, and I was trying to pack light, so I only brought one sweater, and it rained every day and was SO cold! So excuse that I am wearing the same outfit every day, and I also chose sleep over beauty-so excuse that too!)

In Nazareth, behind us is the church of Mary, it has heaps of different murals and paintings donated by different countries of Mary with baby Jesus

Mt.Arbel lookout

Mt. of Beatitudes

Mt. of Beatitudes

This flower reminded me of Hawaii!! There arent any of these in Jerusalem:(

Nof Ginosar, one of the ancient boats that was found not too long ago, this is like the fishing boat people in Jesus' time would have used.

About to get on the boat to go across the Sea (in case any of you didn't know, the Sea of Galilee is actually a lake, they told us it was just called a "sea" to make it sound better! It's also called Lake Kinneret)

The waterfall we hiked to! This isn't a very good picture of it, it was beautiful!

Outside the villa before church on Saturday

Well this is all for now, I will post some more tomorrow!

How did you celebrate 11.11.11.11.11?

Eleventh year. Eleventh month. Eleventh day. Eleventh hour. Eleventh minute.

We wrote down a wish, which we put in the Western Wall today, then we ran outisde & got a jumping picture overlooking Jerusalem!

And it won't happen again for another 800 years! (or so I've been told)

Sunday we went to the Garden tomb, it was super, super crowded with tour groups but still amazing as always

Sticking my wish in the Western Wall!

I love the Western Wall!

Jerusalem sunset...sigh. I'm going to miss these!

So tomorrow we are going to Galilee for 10 days, which I was really excited about, until I found out tonight that I have to give a talk in the Galilee branch that we are attending on Saturday, so now I'm just super nervous! But no, I still am excited, our hotel is on the beach of the Sea of Galilee and I can't wait for the adventures and amazing experiences we will have and places we will see!

Beauty is on the inside...right?

So a few days ago at lunch, one of the girls at the table was wearing a shirt that said "beautiful" in big block letters, & someone asked her about it & she said she participated in this challenge that the BYU women's club put on, and for like 10 days you had to do whatever challenge they gave you, and she was telling us some of them, and one of them was to just get out of the shower & not to do you're hair or make-up, but just go to classes naturally. One of the other girls at our table said we should do that here at the JC, only it would be to wear make-up, and not wear anything from D.I. or V.V.! It was pretty funny cause it's so true! At the beginning of the semester, I used to wake up at 6:15 do my make-up & hair & try to put together some cute outfit, then I would go to breakfast at 7:30, and be sitting in my class by 8. Today I woke up at 7:45, washed my face, put in my contacts, got dressed in the first t-shirt I saw (I actually put my pants on inside out because I was trying to be quick, thankfully they were just black yoga pants so no one noticed!), got breakfast & ate it in 5 minutes, and was sitting in my seat at 8 (we get docked marks if we are late!). The only downside to this is that I have no desire to take any pictures because I look so gross in them! But beauty is on the inside right?

Anyhow, here's a few pictures of what I've been up to lately!

We went to the holocause museum with our Judaism teacher. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. I have always known about the holocaust, I learned about it in high school, but being here, and getting to know the Jewish people, their history and their culture, going to synagogue with them has made  me feel so much closer to them, like I actually know them, and so hearing about the holocause this time was closer to my heart than it had been before. Also the night before we went, we watched "Life is Beautiful", which I had never seen. I loved it so much, but it was so, so, so sad.

But immediately after going to the museum, we went to Mt. Herzl. Herzl is the man who started Zionism, and his grave is here, so our Judaism teacher described it as going from a place of lows (holocaust museum), to a place of highs (mt.herzl). As you can tell by my pose, it was freezing that day!

Then on our free day a while ago, we were told that this building behind us was where the Last Supper was, but we got there & found out that it was just a church that the crusaders had built in honor of the Last Supper & of the Virgin Mary.

They had a prayer book you could write in & then the monks would pray for you

This is from a while ago, but a guy came and talked to us (he is like super high up, like that morning he was talking with the prime minister of Israel, and he has influenced some of the U.S. gov't's decisions because he is one of the people they go to for advice about Israel, like he was amazing) and took us on a field trip and he took us to the seperation wall, which is also really sad, but very interesting to learn about.

Ugh well now I need to go write my 5 pg paper for Islam (our teachers name is Bashir Bashir, no joke!) on the three differences between the first & second intifada's and actually, this wall was a result of the second intifada, which was triggered by Ariel Sharon, an Israeli politician went on the temple mount (dome of the rock), and was accompanied by 1,500 Israeli policemen to ensure his safety. This was followed  few hours later by about 1,000 Muslim protestors stoning Israeli policemen, and from that point on it just got worse and worse until the Israeli's decided to put up the seperation wall in 2002.

Wow don't you wish that this is what you were doing on you're Friday nights?

Yesterday for a little break from studying, we went exploring up from the JC, instead of down, and we happened upon the tomb of the prophets! It is supposedly where Malachi, and a few other people were buried. It was pitch black (they had little candles for us to use, but they didn't help that much!), claustrophobic, creepy, there were tombs everywhere and there were bugs crawling all over the walls!

Though I may just be pretending to look scared in this picture, being down there reminded me of my legitimate fear of the dark!

                                           The tomb is 2500 years old!

Then we walked on over to the church of the ascension, which sadly, wasn't open at the time we went but it was fun to see!

Bethlehem

So today we went to Bethlehem for our first and last time, and I loved it! (It's in Gaza, so we have to have our passports with us and go through the checkpoint at the seperation wall, and we aren't allowed to go there on our own). It was a 10hr field trip. We started at Herod's palace, and then went to Bethlehem University, which is the only Catholic University in the holy land, where we got to interact with some of the students there which was so interesting (one boy lives in Jerusalem, and so it takes him an hour to get to school every day if the Israeli soldiers are in a good mood, and 2 hrs if they aren't!). Then we ate lunch at the "Tent Restaurant" which was fun and yummy, and then we walked through one of the oldest parts of Bethlehem, until we got to the church of the nativity, where it is believed Jesus was born, so it was really neat to go in there. But my favorite part was going to the shepards field for sunset, and our old testament teachers gave a devotional and read some of the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke, and then we sang Christmas hymns (while we were doing this, a shepherd hearded all his sheep through us, it felt like we were back in time!), and then we had ten minutes of quiet to just ponder about what it would have been like to be there, and to be with the shepherds when they saw the star and the angel came to them. It was really an amazing experience.
                                                The view from the top of Herod's palace

                                            We were trying to act out Herod's characteristics! (crown, for him being King, killing, because he had his wife murdered, and he was a strong king)

On Star street in Bethlehem!

In the basement of the church of the nativity, where supposedly Jesus was born in the manger

In the church of the nativity

                                          Sunset in the Shepherd's field

It was SO cold, and I forgot my sweater, so Kaylie had to keep me warm for an hour!

This is an absolutely horrid picture of the sheep, but they were kicking up dust and they went by kinda quick so this was all I got!