Türkiye!

Once upon a time I went to Turkey! (:

We woke up and had breakfast at 3:30 am and then went to catch an 8:30 flight!  It’s crazy because you have to plan for so much time at the airport, because of Israeli airport security.  You need at least 3 hours to be safely on time.

We arrived in Istanbul by lunchtime which was so crazy—I had about three or four hours of sleep, and for some reason I thought we’d just go to bed when we got there! Haha but we only had 7 days in this beautiful amazing country, so I was perfectly glad to dash from place to place, even though I usually like to stroll.

First day we drove from the airport directly to the Hagia Sophia!!  It took about half an hour, and on the way, the hillsides were just dotted with mosques.  Every street corner there’s a mosque in Turkey. It is a 98% Islamic country, so it’s to be expected, but WOW.  The architecture is phenomenal.  Each one is unique and gorgeous. I have about a hundred pictures of just little mosques here and there throughout the country.  The towers are called minarets, and they broadcast the call to prayer from loudspeakers on the minarets, five times a day.  It never ceases to thrill me, even though I’ve been listening to the call to prayer every day here in Jerusalem.  But it was different in Turkey.  It’s so very very Muslim and so enchanting to hear them sing words of scripture from the Qur’an, and show so much devotion to Allah every day.

Okay I better get going, this is a lot of stuff.  So we went to the Hagia Sophia, (see picture) which is originally a Christian basilica built by Justinian in the 6^th century, I believe.  Remember, Istanbul used to be Byzantium, and then Constantinople, after Constantine, who was Christian.  So it has very Christian roots, despite the huge amount of Muslims living there now. It’s an amazing juxtaposition of culture.  The basilica was transformed into a mosque, and six minarets were built around the basilica.  It’s ancient and glorious and so full of history.  There are gold mosaics of Jesus and Mary and the apostles that were covered in plaster during the Islamic period, that were actually preserved by the plaster, and are in beautiful condition.  The Arabic calligraphy inside is also very beautiful.  I love that both cultures and religions sing to you inside the basilica.  Another awesome thing is that some of the pillars inside the temple were taken from the Temple of Diana in Ephesus, where Paul preached.  There is so much history, all in one building.  Our tour guide for the trip was awesome, his name was Necip, which rhymes with Egypt actually haha.  We had headsets for the whole trip and he would tell us everything about everything. He was the coolest guy ever!  Thus I often am wearing earbuds in these pictures, don't think i'm just rocking out to Tangled or something, i'm not (; hahaha.

There’s also a place where condensation builds inside of a pillar, and they say that the water is angel tears, and if you make a wish and reach inside, your wish will come true if you touch the water.  Pretty cool! haha.

The Blue Mosque is right across the plaza, and it’s gorgeous too.  It’s a mosque that still functions today, and so girls are required to wear headscarves for modesty, and we all remove our shoes.  It is so very very pretty inside.  I was kinda shell-shocked from lack of sleep, but that didn’t keep me from loving every minute of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

After that we went to the Spice Bazaar, which was close by.  They gave us samples of real Turkish Delight.  Soooo yummy. I like the nutty kind, and the little pink and yellow ones.  There were tons of little shops, and piles and piles of different spices and herbs like saffron and jasmine tea.  There were so many different scents.  After that we went to our hotel and then went to sleep finally!!  It was great.

            Day 2 we went to a million museums and saw some amazing historical stuff.  I won’t bore you haha.  We went to the Topkapi Palace and some cool places that are all basically museums now.  There was this really cool underground cistern that we got to walk around in too. I don’t know how many pictures I’ll be able to attach, but I took like 1200 on the Turkey trip alone so I’ll do my best to condense. After that we went to the Grand Bazaar—this huge market with 4,000 shops in it.  I loved it because it just pulses with excitement and movement and wherever you look, there are people hawking their wares, and everyone hurrying and making purchases and shouting, and everything just weaves in and out.  It was so cool.  I bought a shirt with the Turkish flag on it, and a necklace, and a mirror, and a pink silk scarf.  And I never buy stuff, so this was kind of a big deal haha.  They expect you to haggle over the price, and I did pretty decent (: It’s these big blue eyes of mine. Haha just kidding (:

After that we went on a little cruise on the Bosphorus Strait, the strait that links the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea.  On one side is the European side of Istanbul, and the other side is the Asian side of Istanbul.  Two continents collide. It’s crazy!  So I guess I’ve been to Europe too now! Haha.  The cruise was beautiful, as was the sunset, and as we came into the harbor, the moon and Venus looked so beautiful next to the Blue Mosque, and I just had to take a picture. Or like 20.  It was so gorgeous.

Day 3!  We went to Gallipoli and had lunch on the bay, and then went on to Anzac Cove.  Here's me and my friend Michael at Gallipoli right before we went to the cove. That's the Aegean Sea!  We were right next to Greece.  Amazing, right?!

Anzac Cove is absolutely stunning. It’s a WWI monument/cemetery for the Australians and New Zealanders who gave their lives at this harbor in 1915.  It was a very somber, beautiful place.  Looking at the beach, you’d never think what transpired there.  After that, we took a ferry across the Dardanelles Strait, kind of a shortcut back to the mainland, and then drove to Troy! (By the way this is tons of bus driving to all these places.  It’s crazy.  But we do have a great group of people on this trip. I didn’t really mind all the driving.)  Troy was cool, they have a Trojan horse there from the movie Troy and we took pictures. I look like a weirdo though.  Anyways.  That was cool, we looked at all the stratigraphy of the tel, because that’s what we do hahaha :P  There’s a ton of layers of civilization in Troy.  But not as many as say, Jericho.  Sorry okay back to normal stuff. OH best part of Troy was when some friends and I did a photoshoot and pretended to be Helen. Hahaha.  It was so great. 

Don't judge this picture...haha that photoshoot made for some good memories.  Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to share any other pictures from that photoshoot, on pain of death.

Okay so then we stayed in a hotel on the beach and it was awesome!  But we didn’t swim because it was late and freezing.  Day 4 we woke up early as usual and went to Assos, a port city where Paul stayed. It’s mentioned a couple times in his letters.  Assos was really pretty, you climb to a precipice and look down over the harbor.  It was lovely.  You could almost see Paul sailing in to meet the saints of Assos. 

After that we went to Pergamon, which is a huge acropolis on top of a mountain (see above).  You have to take a tram to get there.  It was an amaaaazing view.  Pergamon is mentioned in the book of Revelation, as one of the seven churches of Asia.  We went to five of the seven, I think.  Anyways.  There was a lovely amphitheater where we sang a hymn—High on a Mountain Top—and just explored and took pictures.  That was a really fun day.  My darling roommate Amanda and I took pictures at Pergamon together...enjoy (:  We just love our antiquity!! hahaha.

 That night we got to stay in the ritziest resort ever, on the beach of the Aegean.  I went swimming for a bit right at sunset, when we got there, but it was frigid!!  Still super fun though.  I liked the resort, it was really fancy and nice, but the people…they had hollow eyes.  It’s like over time, they have been entertained out of their minds, and so they go on doing the same fun, exciting things over and over, not really caring anymore.  They just need the gospel… Then they could enjoy more fully the sunlight.  Who needs gorgeous beaches and all-you-can-eat buffets when you can sit for a while and watch a thunderstorm roll in, or feel the sunshine and smell the flowers.  Those things take time, and those people seemed to always be in a rush to do the next fun thing to fill their empty lives.  It was really interesting, and kind of heartbreaking.

            Day 5—we went to Saint John’s Basilica (or what’s left of it).  It’s a church shaped like a cross, and it still is very beautiful.  After that we went to my favorite place!  Ephesus!  Where the saints lived, who Paul wrote Ephesians for.  And he was there.  We went to the Temple of Artemis (Diana) where he gave a great sermon.  The picture #31 in your scriptures is right there!!  That was really exciting.  I figured out where it was and then took about 20 pictures of various people in the same spot.

After that we went to the lovely Miletus, also mentioned in the scriptures, and went to a lovely ruined church there.  Actually I think it may have been a mosque.  There were trees growing from the floor up to the long-lost ceiling.  It was pretty. 

Day 6 we went to a number of places.  We visited Thyatira, and some place with a  name that escapes me (it’s all such a blur) and we saw some beautiful ancient architecture.  After that we drove to Bursa, and visited another active mosque (thus the headscarf was necessary).  The best thing?  Bursa is the textile capital of Turkey, so of course we had to go to the Silk Bazaar!  It was gorgeous.  

I bought five scarves there.  Oi.  I know that’s a lot, but they were so cheap! Some were only like 5 lira, which is like $2.50 American.  And they were silky and gorgeous.  Ooooh and I got a skirt.  Happy happy happy day. Haha.  Bursa was fun.  Not super educational, just fun.  And, I needed that.  Sometimes my brain gets overloaded with information here (Jerusalem too, but definitely the whole time in Turkey), so it was nice to take a break and not feel the need to memorize and analyze every piece of information we hear.

Day 7: Nicea.  This was our last day in beautiful Turkey.  We did a lot of driving, and got to the ruins of Nicaea in the afternoon.  It was really pretty, there was a small, ancient mosque there that is still functioning, so we wore our headscarves.  It was the location of the 7^th and last Ecumenical council to debate the doctrines of Christianity.  It’s very pretty and old, and they’ve restored a lot of it to use it as a mosque again.  I really liked that mosque.  There’s a mihrab in it, which is a niche that points you in the direction of Mecca to pray.  That’s like my favorite thing ever.  You see them in like every mosque.  They’re fun to look for, it’s like playing eye spy.  If I ever take my kiddos here, we’ll have a competition, and see who can find the most mihrabs.  My kids are going to be so weird. Haha.

Then we went to the location of the famous Council of Nicaea, held in Constantine’s palace on the shores of Lake Iznik, where around 300 bishops gathered to discuss the basic doctrines of Christianity and the nature of Christ.  The palace is gone now, and the foundations are submerged beneath the lake, so we went out on a little peninsula, which is as close as you can get.  

Brother Belnap gave us the most amazing lesson on Nicaea and about our Savior.  He had us read Joseph Smith’s First Vision story and talked about how wonderful it is that we can know our Savior personally.  It was the most spiritual part of our trip, even more so than Ephesus, which was pretty amazing.  I totally cried (I always cry lately...Everything is so intense on this trip.  My emotions are just magnified and I express myself through tears. Hahaha it’s ridiculous.)  I loved Nicaea so much.  You could kind of feel the thought of those men there, 325 years after Christ, trying to understand Him.  Some people vilify the Council, but I really could imagine their good intentions, which I’d never really considered before.  Anyways. If you don’t know much about the Council of Nicaea, just Google it.  It’s quite interesting.

Then we drove to the airport and took a ferry back across the Bosphorus.  Then we were back on our plane, and back to our beautiful Jerusalem!

It’s sad that I don’t actually miss Turkey very much, like everyone else, because Jerusalem is almost all I’ve ever wanted (The only thing missing is family and friends.  You guys should move here and we’ll start a kibbutz or something! Haha.)  But Turkey was definitely a place I would go again.  It’s so cool.  Mom and Dad, you should totally go to Turkey for your 20^th wedding anniversary. Not Hawaii. Who needs Hawaii.  Just kidding! …Mostly.

Thanks for listening to me ramble guys. Wow.  Haha if you made it this far, you are either crazy, or you really love me.  Haha.  Hopefully everything's all in order, these pictures are taking FOREVER to load.  Love and miss you all!  Until next week!
Love always,

Rapunzel

            

Falafel in the City!

Hi everyone!  I know I didn't update the blog this week because life is soooo crazy busy, getting ready for Turkey. We have three midterms this week before our trip and we leave for Turkey on Sunday morning.  Obviously things are a little hectic
But i'll post a picture for you just to tide you over until i get back from Turkey!

THIS my friends. Is a falafel.  Purchased just inside Damascus Gate in the Old City.  It is soooo beyond yummy.  My mother scared me about falafel because she has had it before, and apparently it wasn't real falafel or something because she said it was terrible.  But ohhhhh this is definitely the real deal. It is so yummy!  I got it for 7 shekels which is pretty decent, usually they go for about 15.  You tell the guy to put everything in it, and he takes a warm pita and fills it with hot falafel balls, potatoes, all kinds of sauces and vegetables which I cannot name (i think some are pickled, like the reddish-purple stuff tastes like pickles) and it is so good. And that's just a taste of the Old City! (: It's a marvelous place.  I wish I had time to show you more stuff but I have midterms and then I'm off to Turkey this weekend for 7 days!  Can't wait to show you everything!
Love you all to the moon and back.
Happy birthday to my dearest Grandpa today (: I really felt him here with me today.  I think he loves the City too.  He's definitely my guardian angel while I'm so far away from home.
Love you!
Love,
Kaela

Tel Arad, Beersheva and then Jericho!

Wooohooooo! It's been a great week!  I don't have any pictures, but this week we went to the Garden of Gethsemane for the first time. It was beautiful and spiritual and incredible.  I loved how beautiful it was.  I hope we can go again soon and I can take pictures.  It was a really, very sacred place. We were there just before sunset.  It's hard to describe in words.
Hmmm. What else happened that I don't have pictures of?  Ah. Yesterday I went to the beach at Tel Aviv! We stayed basically all day.  It was really fun and the water was so warm!  And blue-green!  The waves got super intense for a while and they made us all swim back to shore.  Don't worry about me though, Mom.  It was only up to my waist, I took a million years of swimming lessons and I'm the most cautious person on this trip. haha(:
 I went with some friends to Old Jaffa (Tel Aviv is fairly new, established in 1920 ish I believe, but Jaffa is the port city that's ancient. In Jesus' time it was called Joppa).  We got to eat calamari and shrimp at a restaurant on the docks, and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean.  It was super pretty.  But I liked Gethsemane better (: And the Western Wall...and all of Jerusalem.  There is a time for the beach, and a time for Jerusalem.  But they both are super fun (:
Here's the part where all my friends start to get bored of reading my posts about ancient historical places (: Hahaha but now I will know who my friends truly are (;
So! Arad and Beersheva!
Here's a little history.  A tel is the location of a city that has been destroyed and rebuilt from the rubble many many times until it's a sort of hill.  Jerusalem is a tel, and so are Tel Arad and Tel Beersheba.  They're both in the scriptures and they're totally cool.  They are located south of Jerusalem in an area called the Negev, or "dry place". Basically desert wasteland/awesomeness. (Haha only a select few people get this excited about going to the desert.) It was the best day to go because it wasn't anywhere near as hot as it usually is! I wore my floppy hat and was perfectly content.
Beersheba is the well that Hagar found when she was wandering in the wilderness after she and Ishmael were cast out by Abraham.  She prayed and the Lord "opened her eyes" and she saw the well.  Awesome, right?  Tel Arad is also pretty cool because it is the place where archaeologists have found ruins of a temple that is very similar to the temple at Jerusalem.  They have even discovered a room that is like the Holy of Holies. It's a really amazing place.  The voices whisper out of the dust! You better believe it.

Oh here's a great story.  I thought I left my camera at Beersheva....I thought for sure I just left it on the bus, but security checked it three times and it wasn't there.  So I assumed it had been left behind at Beersheva, and it was a horribly sad day (I've never actually had a sad day here until that day...so it was extra terrible) and it took me a week to get over losing my precious camera. I sorted it out with the Lord and learned my lesson and told Him I would still be happy living my dream without it.  And then this morning the security guys were super excited to show me that they found it!! On the bus, just like I thought it was!!  The Lord must love me so much I can't even believe it. Aaah I still can't get over it. That was this morning.
Anyways. So today we went to Jericho! And it was only a half-day field trip, and we don't have any more classes!! So I can do something besides study! Wahooo!!  So here's the update on Jericho.  You know, it's the city where Joshua made the walls come down. Anciently, it was known as the City of Palms, and it is definitely not a desert (Speaking of which, do you all think I live in a desert? Because the Holy Land is definitely not a desert. This place is beautiful). It's an oasis, and it's one of the greenest places I've ever seen, next to New Zealand. haha.  It's gorgeous.  Palm trees and fruit and things everywhere.  It also claims to be the oldest city in the world, and the lowest elevation at 1300 below sea level.  Jerusalem is like 2600 above sea level, and they're only 17 miles apart.  Isn't that crazy?  We chewed gum so our ears would pop on the drive down.  

This picture is of me climbing a tree like Zaccheus did in New Testament Jericho. He was short like me (: He's got a pretty cool story! Look it up (;
and one more for the road: We went to the Augusta Victoria church a while back, and they have a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. pretty sweet huh?  And we just watched Indiana Jones on movie night. it was pretty fun.

That's all for today folks! I'm glad you stayed with me this long hahaha. I can't wait to go to Turkey in two weeks and take a thousand pictures! And I need to take a million pictures in the city streets in Old Jerusalem. I don't usually take pictures there, because you kind of have to be on the lookout all the time. So I'll bring my camera soon and you can see some of the shops and their wares.  It's my favorite place to be (:
Love and miss you all to pieces!
Love always,
Rapunzel.

Garden Tomb and the Via Dolorosa!

Hi everyone!! It's been another incredible week!! and this time...PICTURES!! Yay! haha. They're low-quality because of the internet, sorry.
Sabbath was wonderful (: But very very busy.  We celebrate Sabbath on Saturday here. We had a marvelous day and took the sacrament just yards away from where the Atonement took place. Of course I cried (haha like I do every day here) and then after church most of us went together to the Garden Tomb!  It was a perfect thing to do on Shabbat.  I read John 20:1-18 there and cried (again). and took pretty pictures!  There are two places where Christians think Jesus was crucified and buried. There is a peaceful, but powerful feeling in the Garden Tomb.  I personally feel that it is the place where Jesus was buried and resurrected. The feeling there is so different from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is busier and filled with pilgrims wanting to touch the holy spot where Jesus was crucified.  I love both of the places, but there are different feelings and emotions that i associate with each place.  We only went to the Tomb for a couple hours or so, since we had to get back for dinner. So i was still fasting (it was fast Sabbath).  But it was worth it, even though I could have passed out haha, I was soooo hot and thirsty.  But we made it back home just fine.

I love this picture i took of the Tomb because the flowers remind me of springtime. It makes me think of the song my Grandpa used to sing to Grandma... "and their hearts were full of spring."  And how he's going to be resurrected someday because of our Savior.  and it will be springtime for Grandma and Grandpa again (: And Alvin will be resurrected too.  I could feel him and Grandpa near when I was at the tomb.  Oh I love the gospel! Families are together forever, because of what happened in this place!  And Gethsemane. I'll get there soon, i promise.

Sunday (it's like Saturday here. We switch holy days because we live in a different culture) we spent ALL DAY in the Old City!!  Every single day here is the new best day of my life!  We went from 9am til 6pm in the city today.  it was gorgeous.  So much to take in.  There were five of us in our group.  i bought a scarf so we could walk near the Dome of the Rock, since it is modest for girls to cover their hair in Muslim synagogues.

The inside of the Dome has been closed to non-Muslims since 2000, but every so often they will let people in.  if they're dressed appropriately, so i packed my skirt too. The scarf is blue and awesome! My first purchase in the Holy Land.  

So, we first went to the Western Wall, the most sacred site to the Jews. The last of their precious Temple.  I can now say that my tears have run down the Wailing Wall (even though we're not really supposed to call it that).  I even said a little prayer in Hebrew. "Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai eloihanu Adonai ehad."  it means Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord.  It was so special.  I can't believe it.  My whole world has revolved around this stuff since i was 14...and now it's all coming true.  This was most definitely my favorite place. We just went there again at sunset for Yom Kippur last night. It's the holiest day of the year in Judaism, the Day of Atonement where God writes about each of us in the Book of Life.  After Yom Kippur, He closes the book. So hopefully you've repented of your sins.  So I went to the holiest place in all of Judaism, on the holiest day of all of Judaism.  Words cannot describe how happy I am about everything every day.

Then we went to the Dome of the Rock.  It was gorgeous.  We also saw the spot that may be the location of the Holy of Holies.  It's on the Temple Mount.  The Dome covers the altar of sacrifice, but the Holy of Holies is somewhere else, and we know it is located over solid bedrock.  The only place like that, that we know of, is this little circle covered by a cupola on the temple mount by the dome.  It was so cool.  I didn't step on it because...you know. it's just too sacred.  Some of the other kids did though.  Nobody got struck by lightning or anything though haha(;

After that we went and did all 14 stations of the Via Dolorosa (where Jesus carried His cross. From Pilate's judgement hall allll the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that I talked about before, where many Christians think He was crucified and buried). I attached a picture of the streets we were walking (:

 it was amazing and so fun.  we only got kinda lost once.  We did pretty good because i have my uncle Jim's book, with all its maps and I already highlighted the Via Dolorosa.  That took a long time and it was so great!  If the Catholics go to all 14 stations, they receive indulgences for their sins.  So that's cool haha.  We ate lunch above a Coptic monastery...on accident...haha. it was fun though.  We walked the ramparts after that, which is a self-guided tour walking along the walls of the Old City.  i adore the city. my feet hurt like craaaaaazy at any given time hahaha but this is good for me. I LOVE THIS PLACE!! The stones sing beneath your feet, and the voices of the people who lived here just cry from the dust.  They want to be heard.  There are so many stories, and i only know a few. I love it.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THIS!

Shalom from Israel everyone!
I am here in the holiest city on earth!!  So excited to finally post.

Where do I begin?  The plane ride was long, I got about four hours of sleep even though it was like a 12-hour flight.  And of course I watched Tangled.  I mean this is when my life begins! Haha but who cares about the plane ride…The important thing is, I am here! Not only am I in a place where I have always dreamed of visiting, but I LIVE here.  Right now I can see the Dome of the Rock outside my window—the location of Jesus’ temple, which was Solomon’s temple before that and the place where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, and sacrificed the ram instead.  The Muslims believe that it was Ishmael instead of Isaac.  They also believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven on this location and that his footprints are on the rock.  Over this spot they built the beautiful golden dome.  All of that is right outside my window.  The Garden of Gethsemane is just a short walk away.   

            We arrived in the late afternoon Jerusalem time and we were all exhausted.  They didn’t want to let us sleep because we need to adjust to the time zone.  So far I haven’t had any jet lag at all!  I haven’t even been tired except when it was time to unpack and go to bed!  I just am on fire haha.  Everything has so much meaning.  Thanks to Jim and Bekah for giving me that awesome book, it really has helped make everything come to life for me already.  I love when the other people sometimes come up to me and ask questions…I’m used to being a total nerd when it comes to the scriptures, but now it’s really coming in handy! And there’s finally people here who appreciate it (: haha.   Sometimes they ask if I know Hebrew, which I don’t, I just know names of places and stuff.   I just love everything about the history of the New Testament and so it sticks in my mind.  Like I will flip out and say “OH look! It’s the Ma’ale Adummim!  That means the Way of Blood in Hebrew.  It’s the setting for the story of the Good Samaritan.  There used to be lots of highway robbers there.” And people look at me like what?!?  Hahaha but they like to learn stuff too and this is what I love.  If someone doesn’t care, well they shouldn’t be here. haha.

            So as soon as we got there we did a lot of orientation stuff, and then went to bed…and then we got up and went on a 4-mile tour of the Old City!!  It was the most amazing day of my whole life.  I think I’m going to have a lot of those coming up though (:  Let me just tell you some highlights.  We weren’t allowed to bring cameras the first day so no pictures… I think it’s because they wanted to give us an overview with no distractions.  So a group of eight of us (plus our professor) walked from the Center into the Palestinian neighborhoods that surround us.  The streets were mostly quiet because it’s Rosh Hashanah week—Jewish New Year—and all of the Jews are at home (it’s like the Sabbath).  We walked from there through Damascus Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem.  The streets are a few feet above the stones where Jesus walked… But nonetheless.  The feeling there is incredible.  There are many street vendors and people selling their wares, and pilgrims like us walking the streets (:

So, there are four quarters in the city.  We did a lot in the Christian quarter because it was busy and exciting.  We were very very lucky—the day we went was the day when the Greek Orthodox Church brings the icons of the Virgin Mary from the Mount of Olives back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  We stood back while a man swung incense all around and the clergy sang a song and chanted.  They wore black robes and carried flowers.  Some of them had cell phones, it was really interesting.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was amaaaaazing.  It’s all dark inside, and beautiful and ancient.  There are candles and stained glass but it’s mostly dim hallways.  In the center is a place where you can touch the very ground where many Christians believe that Jesus was crucified.  There was a long line so we didn’t get too close.  So many churches lay claim to this place, and people from all over the world come see it.

Oh and we had a security guard with us.  I totally felt like Princess Mia when her bodyguard Joe follows her everywhere, you know? Hahaha.   He had the shades and the earpiece and everything.  He just walked behind us and kept us from going into certain crowded places.  It was pretty cool.  We bought bread from a vendor and ate it as we walked. In Jerusalem. Incredible. Haha.  The cool thing about bread is that it’s sacred to these religions.  They don’t ever let it touch the ground.  So even small pieces are set on benches and railings and around the edges of garbage cans—so that they can be eaten eventually, either by birds or animals or those who are very hungry.  It was something I had never heard of.  You see it a lot.

We only stayed for a couple hours but it was so cool.  We went to part of West Jerusalem, which was silent since it’s Rosh Hashanah. On the last day of Rosh Hashanah is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  It’s a week of repentance and renewal.  Such a beautiful tradition.  I can’t wait to go out into the city by myself (well with like three other people) and explore.  I want to weep at the Wailing Wall and mourn for the temple which was lost so many centuries ago.  And write a prayer and put it in the stones there.  And walk the Via Dolorosa—the “Way of Sorrows” where Jesus carried His cross to Calvary.  It ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which I would like to investigate more.  There are 14 stations along this path through the City where you can see what happened there—like where Jesus was arraigned before Pilate, where He fell and Simon the Cyrene carried the cross beam for Him, things like that.  Such a spiritual journey.

Today was a class day, and a security briefing day, and we did a billion things but didn’t go to the city.  Tomorrow is Shabbat, so we’ll have church on Saturday. And it’s Fast Sabbath too because it’s the first Saturday of the month. Hahah.  It will be a fast of gratitude (:  and then maybe I’ll go to the Garden Tomb!!

Oh and the food! It’s so good.  Every day there’s something exotic that I’ve never tasted or heard of.  Although today we had apple strudel—well it was kind of an apple baklava but it was delicious.  And we eat while we look at the Old City and the Dome of the Rock.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Every day I look out one of the millions of windows and think, “How am I even here?”  I keep singing hymns like Praise to the Lord the Almighty…and Oh Savior, and anything that pops into my head.  It’s so fun.  I just pray a lot and say thank you.  I can’t believe this is happening.  AHHH it’s totally bedtime so I’ll send this off. I’ll try to post once a week or so.  Except when I go to Turkey and stuff. Love you all to the moon and back!

Love, Rapunzel.

"Look at the world, so close and I'm halfway to it!"

Hello everyone!  My name is Michaela. I love Tangled, and the New Testament... And next semester, I am going to study abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies!  Today marks 50 days until I fly to Tel Aviv.  To celebrate, here's my first blog post! (:

I wrote this entry in my journal the night I received the news. It's a little silly and dramatic, but i was excited(:

April 17th 2013:

         Today was a monumental day in my life.  I have been accepted into the BYU Jerusalem Program! I applied last month and it feels like i’ve been waiting forever.

It was the most beautiful feeling.  I came home and ran straight for the mail key and back to the mailbox.  In my haste, I forgot what apartment number I had lived in since August. Apartment 207. I turned the key, and found one envelope inside.  An envelope that would change my world forever!

I was shaking, because I had hoped it would come today, but I didn’t quite believe it.  I wanted to go inside to read it...But I wanted to open it alone, so I stood there in the grass behind the mailbox, and started to open the envelope.  I was trembling so much, it took me several tries to finally tear it open.

         And at that moment, I was scared.  Terrified, that the dream that had been mine for so long would never be reality.  And in some ways, terrified that it would become reality! [TANGLED MOMENT: the part on the boat where Rapunzel's dream is about to come true, and she says "what if it isn't all I dreamed it would be? ... And what if it is?" and Flynn says "that's the best part, then it's time to find a new dream"... okay. sorry back to reality.]  

When that feeling overcame me, I dropped to my knees and cried and prayed to the Lord for strength.  I asked my Father to strengthen me and give me courage for whatever answer He was going to give me.  Yes or no, I needed His help.

And then I opened the envelope.

Inside it said in bright bold words,

 “Dear Michaela,

I am pleased to announce that you have been given initial placement on the 2013 Fall Semester Program at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies.”

Through the tears, I saw that I had been accepted, and I cried and laughed and hugged the papers and ran upstairs to my room.  India asked me, “Did it come?” I said yes, trying not to smile, trying to be neutral.  My mom and dad had to be the first to know.  I had to tell them first.

I dialed the number with shaky hands and Mom didn’t pick up.  India tried to read the papers clutched to my chest.  She said “It’s a packet!! They wouldn’t send you a packet if they said no!”

I calmly told her that that was my first assumption when I pulled it out of the mailbox.  I hadn’t realized it, but that was my first thought when I saw the packet, after thinking “It couldn’t be. It’s here.” But in my haste to open it, all that was forgotten.

         Mom picked up the phone and said hello.  India read on the page “I am pleased to announce” and flipped out.  I said “MOM!  I GOT IN!! I GOT IN! THEY LET ME IN!!! I’M GOING TO JERUSALEM!!!!” and started bouncing and hyperventilating and hiccupping and sobbing.  It was all so surreal.  I didn’t quite believe it yet.  Mom told me congratulations and hurried downstairs to tell Dad, who was in the dental office with her at the time.  She couldn’t understand me at first, but she knew since I was screaming, it had to be a yes from the JC Admissions Department.  She was so excited with me and was so happy for me.

I called Allie after that and told her.  She was at a review for one of her finals.  Then Devin came over and I told him.  And then I sat down and wrote Katrina [my best friend on a mission in Arizona] a letter, telling her all about it.  And then I went all around Wyview, telling my friends.  A lot of my sweet, wonderful friends had been waiting for the news.  I would knock on doors and wait, still shaky with the news.  Andy or Natalie or whoever would open it and I'd tell them “I got into the Jerusalem Center!!” and i'd get lots of hugs...they could just feel me shaking like a leaf, almost crying, half-laughing with joy. It was absolutely precious.  I called Grandma and Julie and Grandmother and everyone i could think of.  It helped me realize that this was real, that I was finally going.  It's been my dream since I was a little girl. Well, since I was fourteen, but i've always been little (;  Anyways, that’s all for tonight!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I can't wait to start posting pictures of my adventures. Don't get too excited now, there's still 50 days left.

Love always, 

Rapunzel.