The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!

Hey guys! Here's the update for my trip to Jordan!! I have to post this before I go to the Galilee tomorrow so this will be kind of rushed. Sorry.

 It was an incredible trip.  We only spent four days there, but it was a really eye-opening, spiritual experience.  I loved Jordan.  It was soooo different from Turkey. The difference was that Turkey is really Westernized and very European in its own way.  Jordan is definitely not like that.  You can really catch a glimpse of the Middle East when you're in Jordan.  It was a wonderful trip and I want to go back!

The first site we visited was Mount Pisgah.  Michael and I love Mount Pisgah, because Parley P. Pratt talks about it on the trek to Salt Lake City.  And we love Parley, so we love Mount Pisgah.  Historically, this is the place where Moses viewed the Promised Land before he died.

Here's the inside of St. George's church that I thought was beauuuutiful.  I have to take time to make sure that I appreciate each of these places...I've seen so many gorgeous churches, and so I have to work hard to make sure that I love each one.  They're all amazing in their own way, and it's important to remember that each time I enter a church or mosque or synagogue, I'm walking on holy ground.  Michael likes to buy a couple candles at Christian churches, and then we each light one and say a prayer.  Many people believe that lighting a candle will send your prayer up to heaven.  I really love that imagery, and it's a nice reminder to make my prayers more meaningful and special.  Isn't that lovely?

Here's a picture of Machaerus, a fortress built by Herod the Great.  It's the location that we think John the Baptist was imprisoned and then eventually killed.  It's a sad story, but it's a wonderful place to remember John the Baptist and his mission to prepare the way for Christ.  We hiked all the way to the top and I almost had an asthma attack. hahaha.  It was really cool though.  If you look closely to the left, you can see the Dead Sea.  I'll get to swim there in the next couple of weeks.

Okay!! The moment you all have been waiting for... PETRA!  Yes.  The place from Indiana Jones. Be excited.  Just a bit of history:  The people who lived here in this area of Jordan were called the Nabataeans.  They loved to carve things into the stone, and so all over these cliffs are tombs and monasteries and beautiful buildings.  They really just carved their lives into the stone.  Here's me at the beginning of our adventure.  We woke up bright and early, ate breakfast, and walked through this big canyon before all the tourists got there.

This is our first view of the Treasury!  Our tour guide was great.  In order for us to get the best view, he distracted us and told us all to admire something on the wall.  Then he told us to turn around, and we got a first glimpse of this amazing building carved into the face of the rock.

Here's a picture up close!  Isn't it magnificent?  Can you imagine carving a whole building out of the face of the rock?  Let alone one as intricately beautiful as this.  It was really amazing.  In front of the treasury, there were some camels that you could ride around for a minute and take pictures.  We ended up taking a camel back from the monastery instead...but i'm getting ahead of myself (:  You'll have to keep reading. mwahahaha.

So, there are three things you MUST visit if you go to Petra.  First of course is the Treasury.  Then there's the monastery, and the High Place.  So we hit the Treasury first, and then they gave us free time to wander and do whatever we wanted!  Of course we had to see the big three.  This is a picture of me on our hike up to the High Place.  Can you believe it?  Try to picture the civilization that lived here.  Ahh.  It would be so incredible to go back in time and see how they lived.

Here's a picture of me with a lion that they carved into the stone.  Actually this is the only cute picture of me where I'm not dripping sweat, so there you go. hahaha (: enjoy it while you can.

We hiked a TON and saw a hundred million different tombs.  This is one of the prettier ones.  Don't you love the mountains in the background?  Jordan is such a beautiful place.  The High Place was the top of the mountain where there was a sacrificial altar.  You can also see the Tomb of Aaron from the mountaintop.  I'm not sure I actually have any good pictures from the top! Sorry!

Here's the Monastery!  Okay story time.  Once upon a time, a group of students went to hike up the mountain to get to the monastery.  And about halfway up we were getting really hot and tired.  Soooo there was a bedouin boy on the side of the path, selling trinkets with his mother.  He had some donkeys.  So we asked him to take us up the mountain on his donkeys.  Harmless, right?  There were about a bajillion other tourists riding donkeys up to the monastery.  So this kid, he's like 14, takes us on this crazy shortcut to the monastery on his donkeys (I believe their names were Shakira, and Whiskey. Pretty classy).  On our way up, we pass one of our teachers, who informs us that riding donkeys is against the rules!  Hahahaha.  Ooops.  But we were like two minutes away, and we were already busted, so we just rode the donkeys all the way up to the top (:  How were we supposed to know that horses and camels are okay, but donkeys were against the rules? hahaha.  That's my story.

Here's some awesome classmates on our way back down!  From the left we have Kaitlyn, Cam, me, Catie, Michael, Carissa, and Jared.  Some of the best people in the world (:

So once we made it down the mountain, we were pretty tired. We had gone to all three things on our list before lunch!  Record timing.  So we ate lunch at this little restaurant....the food was so delicious. Mmmm. they have the best hummus and pitas out here.  Anyways.  After the restaurant, we had some time on our hands (which is rare for an out-of-country field trip) and we were feeling lazy.  So after stopping in the museum (Dr. Seely was so proud of us for visiting the museum in our spare time), we decided to walk back to the Treasury.  And who do we find, but a bedouin man offering us a ride back on his camels!  For ten dollars. haha.  So I got to ride a camel for a good fifteen minutes back to the Treasury.  It was soooo fun!  This is coming from a girl who's allergic to every animal with fur or feathers. hahaha.  The camels went at a nice pace, and were pretty friendly. I named mine Gracie.  She was fairly graceful, for a camel.  This is a picture of us after our journey to the Treasury.  Our bedouin guide took this picture!  He was great. His name was like Jafar or something. Pretty cool.  Oh hahaha so on our way back, the camels were going at a leisurely speed, when this guy selling trinkets on the side of the path yells at us.  He says something along the lines of  "Oh your camels are so lazy!"  And our friend Jafar is of course highly offended.  So he smack's Amanda's camel, and all of them take off galloping.  So yes. I galloped on a camel in Petra.  Indiana Jones may have galloped on a horse in Petra...yeah he was missing out.  It was super fun and I have a three-second video of us bouncing up and down and laughing super hard.  Ohhhh it was so fun.  The only sad part was, Gracie was kinda camera-shy, and so you don't see her face in this picture.  I have a couple more though.

This picture is for Rylee.  In her last email, she told me to "kiss a camel for me!" haha so here you are.  Me and Gracie.  She was a real sweetie.

After Petra, we were exhausted, but we really wanted to check out downtown Amman, which is where we stayed that night.  It's the capital of Jordan.  So we walked down this famous road, called Rainbow Street, where we checked out the shops and bought some yummy nutella-strawberry-banana crépes.  Yummo.  It was super fun.  This picture is of a falafel place on Rainbow Street.  It's actually a super politically-charged sign.  It says "Al Quds 1966".  Al Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.  And 1966 was the year before the boundaries changed in the 1967 war, and Israel took East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan.  It was another powerful reminder of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politically charged place where we live.  

Here's me at the River Jabbok, where Jacob wrestled with an angel and had his name changed to Israel.  It was a really great place to ponder and read some Old Testament before we were back on the buses again.  Isn't the Holy Land just so absolutely beautiful? It's really not just a desert.  I say that a lot, but it's true.

This is a picture of the ruins at Jerash, which is a really well-preserved Roman city.  I love finding stairs here...whenever I see ancient stairs, I think of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee", when it says "There let the way appear steps unto heaven, all that Thou sendest me, in mercy given." So...I like stairs (: And mihrabs.  And cemeteries. Those are my favorites.

Here's a picture of me at the River Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized!  Can you believe it?  John the Baptist was here, and several of the Twelve before they were called.  This is the location of the beginning of Christ's ministry on earth.  Three short years that would change the world forever.  That would change me forever.  I'm so happy that I could come here and be a part of this place.  And yes--I did jump in the water...just for fun (: It was really hot outside and I thought, why not?  It's the River Jordan.  And it makes for a great story.  So here's me dripping wet afterwards (:  It was a marvelous day.

That's all for Jordan!  I leave for the Galilee in the morning, and then after we get back I only have two weeks left in Jerusalem.  Can you believe it?  I can hardly bear it.  But I'm glad that there's no time to take anything for granted.  Now if only I could apply that to real life...Because this isn't real life.  This is my dream.  It really hit me on Sabbath yesterday when we sang "I Believe in Christ".  The last verse says "From him I'll gain my fondest dream."  That really sank deep into my heart and I just cried as I looked at the City.  Because this is my fondest dream.  He's given it to me.  But I don't want it to be the end.  So now that my trip is almost over, I need to dedicate the rest of my life to being a new person--to never being the same.  I have to choose to be changed by Jerusalem.  And I think that won't be difficult.
I love you all so much (:  I'll see if I can post in Galilee, but the internet will be sketchy.  And I'll be having the time of my life where Jesus said peace be still.  So, until next time!
Love always,
Rapunzel

The city that steals my heart.

Once upon a time, I got 1,000 page views on my blog!  To celebrate, I decided to give you a bunch of pictures, and a short biography.  I mean, with that many page views...I probably should explain why I live in Jerusalem!  (Side note: I apologize for slacking on the blog.  Finals week was crazy and I just got back from our 4-day trip to Jordan.  I'll give you the Jordan update soon.)  For now, I just want to do a bio and a little catch-up on my adventures, give you a taste of what it's like in my Yerushalaim.  It is my city now...I think it always has been. Have I ever told any of you my story?  Here we go! (: Enjoy. Or skip to the pictures, whatever you want!
To begin with, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You'll see that in every post I write, so I thought I'd let you know.  It's the most important reason why I'm in Jerusalem.  My number two reason? I have always loved to read.  Since I was three years old and taught myself to read, it has been my passion.  I started to read the Work and the Glory series when I was 10.  I fell in love with church history--I love reading about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel.  That was my second love.
When I was about 14 I began reading another series, this one about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  I could not put the books down.  That was my third and final love--the Four Gospels, Judaism, and the background of the story of my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.  And that was where my need for Jerusalem sprang from.  I first had to have a testimony of my Savior--and when that was firm in my mind, I knew I needed to walk where He walked, and learn everything about His life--to see it through new eyes.  I didn't have to go...but I wanted to know everything about it.  That's my passion.
So for five years I worked minimum wage to pay for this trip to Jerusalem.  From 14 to 19, I worked to earn that $10,000 that would give me what I wanted so much.  The only things I bought were books, and clothes.  (Side note!  Desiderius Roterodamus said "When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."  That kind of exactly explains me.)

So I earned it, I applied, I was accepted...and here I am!  Living my dream!!  And happier than I've ever been in my entire life.  I'm terrified because it's more than halfway over already, and I am going to be crushed when I have to leave my City.  I can't wait to see my family and friends, and eat grilled cheese, but honestly, it is going to be so hard.  I'm scared.  I hope I can do this...Jerusalem is my home.  Wandering the streets, especially after being gone in Turkey, I just feel so peaceful, like I belong here.  I think I've missed Jerusalem since the day I was born, and now I'm back, and I love it so much!

Anyways.  That's just for all of you who are curious.
Here are pictures for people who don't care about reading! haha.

This is the house of someone who has been to all three holy sites in Islam!  They have been to Mecca, Medina, and of course the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem!  A person who has gone to Mecca is called a hajji.  When they've done all three pilgrimages, they paint over their doors in different colors--especially green, which is the holy color of Islam.  Green is the main color on the Palestinian flag, and it's the color that the mosques light up at night.  Isn't Islam is such an incredible religion?

This is a pottery shard that I found at the solar temple at Lachish!  It has a little design on it, which could be writing...so the professors asked the archeologists on site about it.  They said that it would be too hard to find all the pieces, so they told me I could keep it!  There are pottery shards everywhere, all over Israel, but this was the first one I'd seen with writing.  Pretty cool stuff.  Lachish was awesome because we got to read this poem about Sennacherib and his sieges.  And we were standing where Sennacherib was wayyyy back in 722 BC.  Anyways.  I get sidetracked a lot...

This is the beautiful Red Sea! Isn't it gorgeous?  This is the southernmost part of Israel, in a port city called Eilat.  A group of us got to spend the day snorkeling, and it was fabulous!  The fish were beautiful, the sea was salty, and it went by much too fast. and we ate ice cream.  The Red Sea was absolutely beautiful.  I'm so glad we went!  It was a fun day, but also very strange, as there was nothing super educational/spiritual about Eilat.  I felt a bit out of place...the only thing I could educate Michael about was the fact that Eilat gets 360 days of sun a year on average.  He thought that was funny.  Normally I know a lot about the spiritual side of things, so I had to come up with some trivial fact to make up for it.  Anyways.  It was a lovely day by the sea (:  And those scientists who say that the parting of the Red Sea was a trick of the imagination, and it was caused by a freak gust of wind....hahahaha that makes me laugh.

This is the place setting for our beautiful Passover dinner!  We celebrated Passover during the fall because we won't be in Jerusalem for the spring when it is supposed to happen.  I did a Passover once at BYU before I came here, but this one was so amazing.  First of all, we were in Jerusalem when we got to read the part aloud "Next year in Jerusalem!"  And second, my Hebrew teacher let me borrow her passover book from when she was a little girl.  It's called a haggadah.  It was a beautiful book and I was so lucky to use it.  I also got to perform my favorite song from Passover with a group.  It's called Daiyenu, and it's a song that helps Jewish parents corral their unruly children during the long ceremony.  It was lots of fun (:

Here is a picture of me at one of my favorite places in Jerusalem! (after the Western Wall).  It's called the Church of Mary Magdalene, and it is absolutely exquisite.  I read all about it before I came, but it's only open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually right during classtime.  We were so lucky to get in.  It was built by the Russians and maintained by White Russian nuns, who keep the grounds pristine and blossoming.  So pretty.  The church is all about Mary Magdalene, and of course I love Mary Magdalene, so everything was very exciting.  Trivia: Mary is from the town of Magdala, in Galilee.  Interestingly enough, magdalanay is Greek for "plaiter of hair".  We don't know if Mary was a plaiter of hair, or if she's just from Magdala.  Nonetheless, I decided to put braids in my hair before we went to the church.  Yup! I'm crazy!

So we went to a nature preserve last week called Neot Kedumim.  It's a beautiful place, and our tour guide showed us different plants mentioned in scripture and their uses.  Then we got to make our own bread and red lentil soup (the stuff Esau sold his birthright for, the mess of pottage) and some other lovely things.  I made my own pita!  This was the first time I've cooked anything since August...I was wayyyyy excited. I miss cooking. and baking. and cookie dough all that good stuff.  But Jerusalem is SO worth it.  Below is another picture, this time of the finished product.  Cooking in the wilderness is pretty awesome.  Can I just tell you, it was so delicious.  And we dipped it in olive oil and za'atar, which is this amazing combination of spices.  Sorry. I'm getting too descriptive with all these Hebrew words haha.

This is me at the Orson Hyde garden, overlooking my City!  My darling grandma just emailed me and let me know that my great-grandparents (her parents) made donations to the Orson Hyde foundation for the building of this garden.  It is a beautiful place, close to the site where Orson knelt and dedicated the Holy Land for the return of the Jews.  We read the dedicatory prayer aloud at the crest of the hill (we borrowed a book from the library).  It was really marvelous.  I love the Orson Hyde garden.

And this is just a cute little square in the City.  It's in the Jewish quarter, and it's called Hurva Square because it's right next to Hurva Synagogue.  Isn't it quaint and precious?  There are three main landmarks in the City--the Dome of the Rock of course (Islam), the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Christianity), and the Hurva Synagogue (Judaism).  They are all remarkably lovely buildings.
Okay, well that's all! I hope I made up for the lack of blog-posting for the last couple of weeks!  I'll update you all on Jordan soon.  We went to Petra.  Indiana Jones stuff, and all that.  Can't wait to go through my pictures...I think I took 500 in Petra alone, believe it or not.  Anyways.  I love you all, thanks for reading my blog.  Shoutout to my beautiful Rylee, getting her mission call to Spain! (:  I'm so excited!!
Love you all to the moon and back!
Love always,
Rapunzel.