H E Z E K I A H ' S TUNNEL

just a tunnel for exploring

Do Not Enter  signs

About to walk into the tunnel
Don't EVEN make fun of my turban thing on my head.
You are allowed to wear stuff like that in Jerusalem
probably. :)

Finally! The long-awaited field trip to Hezekiah's tunnel took place only yesterday. It is located in the City of David which is just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah was a great king who rose above the influence of his idolatrous father and became favored of the Lord. With the prophet, Isaiah assisting him, he suppressed idolotry and reconstituted temple services. After quite a long time being attacked by the Assyrians, the city was delivered during King Hezekiah's reign of 29 years. He lived an extra 15 years after he plead with the Lord to extend his life. I think Hezekiah had good intentions, or so he thought, for having the desire to live longer....but as we all know... desiring something that is not in accordance with the Lord's will...always turns out in disappointment. Hezekiah accused the Lord of unjustly taking his life, which tells me that he had little understanding of or faith in the joy of the Lord in the spirit world. He developed spiritual tunnel vision (See what I did there?) becoming so obsessed with his desire to live that he lost an eternal perspective. That's why it's important to 1) don't argue with the Lord. 2) Keep an eternal perspective! Anyway, I really like the story of Hezekiah... It reminds me a lot of the story of David -- how somebody who truly loves the Lord and is diligent and obedient falters when it counted the most. It's heart-breaking to me. 

me, Kelly, and Jolls walking through the tunnel. 

However, the tunnel he built is pretty amazing! I couldn't believe we were exploring a tunnel...a real tunnel that was built in 700 BC. This tunnel brought the waters from the Gihon spring inside the city into the pool of Siloem. (That is the pool that Christ healed the blind man!) The tunnel was also built for defense against the Assyrians. They had people working on it from both ends, just chipping away at the limestone until they met each other. The whole tunnel is 533 meters long.


 The whole place felt like a ride at Disneyland or something, except...it wasn't! I remember walking back onto the street after it was over and feeling like I had just gone through a time machine. Walking through Hezekiah's tunnel took me waaaay back to ancient times. I think it would be fair to say that it was one of my favorite field trips so far.

Got a little wet!

The Sea is Red All Ready to Snorkel

Elyse, me, and Amy 

I had never been snorkeling...let alone in the Red Sea! Now, mind you, the sea isn't red at all, but it is actually the most beautiful blue one could even imagine. I probably said that about the Mediterranean, but the Red Sea was almost a teal color and so refreshing. I also learned from this trip that snorkeling might possibly be one of the most intriguing adventures I have ever experienced. I have seen aquariums and had a little fishbowl growing up...but I have never actually swam with the fish -- not just regular fish, but beautiful, humongous, little, flat, long, colorful, and maybe even poisonous fish! It was just like swimming inside a massive aquarium.  My favorite fish was called the Parrot fish. They were really big and had so many different colors -- just beautiful fish all around!

Before we left I walked around searching for just one piece of coral that I could take with me, and I did! I found two really cool pieces of coral that I thought would work great for a little souvenir. Well, as I was walking back up the hill, one of the workers stopped me and said, "Sorry, you cannot collect...you cannot collect, Rivkah." At first, I thought...what the what the? He knows my name? I finally remembered that I was wearing a necklace with my name in Hebrew. He thought it was funny to see my reaction, but he still made me put the coral back. :/ All well! I'll have to be more sneaky next time! :) 

Hurrah for Israel!

The whole bus ride home, I was so captivated by the scenery out the window. We were driving along the path that Lehi and his family most likely traveled into the wilderness, which is always fun to think about. Egypt was only a few miles down the coast and then the mountains of Saudi Arabia were incredible in the distance. Then as we drove along the dead sea...the moon was big and orange and reflected onto the water. It was incredible!! Such beauty all around me all day every day when I'm in Israel. I wish everyone could see it too!

Me and Rebecca. The mountains in the back are on the African side!

Lost Photo

This is from when I went to Turkey. A couple of us
dressed up and got our picture taken while we were in the
Basilica Cistern. I finally got all the pictures from it!

TEL AVIV

We had another little trip trip to Tel Aviv and it was wonderful! Of course. The water was warm and clear, just like I remembered from the last time. We stayed a lot longer this time and watched the sun set somewhere..."beyond the sea... somewhere, waiting for me..." ha I love that song. I am proud to say that my team in beach volleyball dominated with a very flat volleyball. I think once Lacey hit herself in the face and fell to the ground ended it for everyone. We all just laughed so hard and didn't have to energy to play anymore. Anyway, we had a lovely time, luckily, I didn't get sunburned like I did last time, but...I did find a crab claw. Just one. I think Amy kept it as a little souvenir. Love the beach!

The Med Crew:
Marianne, Amy, Justin, me, Aubrey, Lizzy, Lacey, Adam, Shannon, Jeff

Some Sunset Action

Marianne and me

Lacey, me, and Shan

This is what I love

A Lovely Time

Diana cutting Samson's hair: Courtney
Samson: Jeff Perry
Samson's Hair: Rivkah
Samson looks like a rockstar!

We went to Shephlah for our Monday field trip and got so see a lot of neat places. We spent some time in the valley where Samson lived and even reenacted the story! I got to play the role of "Samson's Hair". Best part ever played probably. :) We saw the valley of Elah where David killed Goliath with his sling shot skills. In that area we learned how to throw our own stones with sling shots. It's harder than it looks!    David must have had lots of practice. We saw some giant bell caves as well. We sang a bunch of hymns and enjoyed the thick acoustics. Then everyone made me sing "O Mio Babbino" AGAIN -- I still don't know the words. I tried to get out of it by maybe singing a hymn instead, but they said no. They wanted opera! Maybe I should learn my lesson and learn the words to that song sometime.

Courtney, Leslie, Natalie, and me with a view of Elah

It's that time of year...the harvesting of the olives! There were so many olives to pick. Mary (my roommate from Canada) and I had a pretty efficient system going. It was so windy which made it hard to keep our bags from flying all over the place and trying to put olives in there one by one. We decided that we would get more done and much quicker if I stood on a chair picking the olives with Mary below me holding the bag wide open for me to drop the olives. We had a wonderful time! Soon we will press the olives with the ancient stylistic equipment. Jerusalem is so amazing.

Mary and me harvesting the olives!

OLIVES and Koryl, Lizzy, Rachel, me, Mary

West Jerusalem during Sukkot, a Jewish holiday. Usually the
streets are packed, but it was a ghost town! It's like
this on sabbath too!

Amy, Katie, Kaitlyn, me, Allyson and the Dome of the Rock

Random Jeru Posts

Grindin up some Hyssop

Tyler wants to bite my ear. I am holding a little baggie of Hyssop.

Me and Kelly with our freshly ground Hyssop

Another Ted photo. I wish I'd kept him!!

and....almost got up there. It was a good effort

Chillin at a very old library with Jeff Perry and Tyler

Our snails, Leroy and Trudy

Sometimes you look so cool in sunglasses

O Jerusalem

Kaleb and me....and some wind!!

T-R-O-Y that spells TROY! (That's where we were!)
Me, April, Ben, and Amy

It's Rebekah at the well! (We did a
reenactment of Rebekah
drawing water from the well
for Eliezer and his camels) It's technically a Cistern. Cisterns
are filled at the top with rain water, wells are filled
from the bottom. 

A little view of Jeru!

My special friend, Tyler.

Everyday an Adventure

There's the little dome!

A little nook and cranny!

Shorties

BEAUT

Our Sabbath day is on Saturdays here at the JC, which makes Sunday our free day! It was a wonderful day to explore the city. I love the days where you head out with no plans, and no agenda, only to explore and discover new places around the city. Amy, Kaleb, Tyler, and I did just that! We went to the Tower of David which is in West Jerusalem. It's kind of like an ancient fortress used to protect the city. There was a beautiful view of the city from one of the higher points around the wall. It was fun to scout around the whole place, examining every nook and cranny. After we saw everything we went out on the grass and studied for one of our midterms. (This week!) It made us really tired, so we found a little spot on the grass to take a little nap. Our eyes weren't closed for longer than 3 minutes when Tyler said, "Rivkah, just open your eyes." I looked up and saw a Roman, a fairy, and a couple of elves coming down the stairs. Then a guy started yelling at us through his megaphone, "You guys can't lie there like that!" Apparently, they were filming a movie and we were on their set. We got up and decided that naps are dumb anyway when you are in the city. We left to go explore some more. We heard that you can get on the roof tops in West Jerusalem, so we thought that would be fun to explore. It was really exciting being on top of the city. It was kind of slippery up there though. I fell down all awkwardly and dropped my camera. It wasn't that bad of a fall, but I may or may not have been slightly embarrassed. Not too long later, Amy did the same exact thing. Fell, and dropped her camera when a man had asked her to move out of the way. She was just trying to clear the way I guess. The man felt really bad and said, "I just meant for you to move, I didn't ask you to die for me."Whatever that means. We had a good laugh about our mishaps afterward. Being up on the rooftops reminded me of the movie Aladdin (a lot of things here remind me of Aladdin I guess) I think that is where Aladdin lived...up there on those rooftops. Pretty cool huh? As we were walking around, my friend Tyler said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we saw someone from the JC walking along the streets below us?" Right after that, we looked down and lo and behold -- "Hey Thomas! Look its us! Me, Tyler! and Rivkah! and Amy and Kaleb!" It was a neat little coincidence. It's kind of a big deal to be on the rooftops you know...probably.

We came back in time for dinner and began studying hard for MIDTERMS this week! It just doesn't seem right....having to test on school work when you could be in the city exploring the rooftops. Just kidding....it's good for us all, I'm sure. I love the classes here. You learn SO much. It's wonderful learning --

An Aladdin view from the rooftops!

My friend, Kaleb and I took a break and played some music. He is a very accomplished pianist. We pulled out some Christmas music for me to sing while he accompanied me. Brother Huntsman asked me if I would pick a song to sing for the Christmas concert at the end of the semester. They put it on here in the JC in the amazing auditorium that overlooks the city. I think we decided on "O Holy Night" with one verse in Hebrew to put a little twist on it. I don't know if that's weird, but I thought it would be a fun idea. We'll see how it goes. I love Christmas music so much! Is it bad if I already have the Christmas bug? It always comes early for me. Don't be mad! :)

 I hadn't done that much singing before tonight since my mission and can I just say....singing feels SO good.

I love to sing. The end.
Oh, and Jerusalem.

Arabian Night

partial roommate picture

There has been talk about the epic night of Arabian food, pictures, and best of all....dancing! That night came and it was epic indeed! We had a couple of Arabs come and show us how they pray and how they do their call to prayer. It is one of my favorite things here in Jerusalem....listening to the call to prayer. There is something so enchanting about being out on the balcony at sunset with the amazing view of the old city when the call to prayer comes on.  Sometimes it doesn't even feel like real life -- but it is, and I love it!

me and some Arabian

Anyway, we got to listen to a couple of Arabs demonstrate how they recite the prayers from the Koran. It was really exciting! We had a big dinner afterward.... lots of Arabian food! Everyone looked so awesome all dressed up. We then learned how to dance, Arabian style of course. It was really different, but we got really into it and had a blast! The people teaching us were students that go to the local high school here in Jerusalem. They had a little set-up for people to take pictures with their beautiful scarves and genie pants. It was like the movie Aladdin coming to life!    

Amy, Cassie, me, and Desiree

WINK!

Turkish Delights

A turkey that I found in Turkey! 

A beautiful view from the top of Assos

Oh what wonderful things to tell about the mystical land we know as...TURKEY! The country is more beautiful with more ancient historical sites than I had anticipated. There is so much to see in Turkey. I couldn't pull my eyes away from the beautiful countryside, especially on the bus rides. It almost looks like Tuscany with beautiful vineyards and orchards all over. It's so green! The trees are beautiful and there were also a lot of cotton fields. I also became obsessed with the amazing ocean side almost everywhere we went. (technically the Aegean Sea which goes to the Mediterranean which then goes to the ocean.)

 It's history is quite interesting... It was originally a Christian based empire (Greek Orthodox) under the authority of Constantine. Istanbul used to be named Constantinople before the Turks took over. Most of  buildings in that time were greatly influenced by the Greeks, which was fascinating. What I loved most was reading in the New Testament about the ministry of the apostle, Paul and finding most places to be right there in Turkey! Places like Ephesus, Assos, Pergamon, Miletus.... where Paul visited and taught the gospel. He was an incredible missionary -- so passionate and devoted to the work. 

Hagia Sophia in all her glory

One principle Paul taught that really stuck with me is found in Acts 20:35. At this time he was in a place near Assos called Miletus. He said "...to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." This particular verse reminded me what life really is about! Continually looking for opportunities to serve people...all whom we come in contact with. Developing a Christ-like love for everyone -- putting others' needs before our own. Just sharing the love! I truly believe that when you love and serve, your life will be so much more worth while! It's like having the spirit of Christmas all year long! Ha. I love Christmas. It's such a simple principle that I want to work on every day. 

Anyway, Paul is definitely a great example to me, and I have really enjoyed reading and learning more about him.

We arrived in the Istanbul Airport late Sunday night. We had to wait there a long time because, well, getting 84 people through security takes forever. We got on our bus and met our tour guide, Fatih. He was brilliant and had a great personality. Later we met our other tour guide, Selena... I had a hard time understanding her a lot of the time, but she was really a cute lady and so nice. It took most of us most of the week to realize that when she kept saying "tom" she meant "tomb".  Driving through Istanbul was pretty exciting. It's a HUGE city with so many people. The mosques were giant and bright. I was especially thrilled to see the Hagia Sophia which was built clear back in the 6th century. We had our first experience of Turkish food.... they eat a of eggplant (at least, I think that's what it was) and a lot of fish. Oh, and bread. Always lots of bread. Their desserts are very different too. Turkish desserts are very sweet and usually glossed over with honey/syrup-like stuff. They also put pistachios in almost everything. I was glad to see how kind the Turkish people are. They are wonderful people, and always treated us so well. 

a quick shot in the palace with T!

The Blue Mosque

We visited the Topkapi Museum/Harem. All of these ancient artifacts that we saw reminded me of the movie, Aladdin. I was surprised to see how the Sultans' beds took up half the room and their chairs were really wide and long. They liked their space I guess. We went down into a place called Basilica Cistern. You know the movie, Phantom of the Opera? The part where the phantom takes Christine down on the little gondola through the water? That is what Basilica Cistern looked like. We visited the Hippodrome and the Blue Mosque as well. Oh my heart. The Blue Mosque was so big! And beautiful! I thought for sure it had to be the mother of all mosques....but I hadn't been to Hagia Sophia yet... We went through that the last day we were in Turkey. It is breath taking! So old and so beautiful. 

Another great adventure that day was the Grand Bazaar! We only had one hour to shop and look around at all the great Turkish souvenirs. Amy and I bought some cool Arabian shoes and a purse. We had such a fun time looking at all the shops that eventually we got separated from everyone else. (We are supposed to be in groups of three at all times) But we figured we were fine. Brother Huntsman had told us that the bus was leaving at 4:30 to Bosporus for the ferry ride, which meant that we needed to meet outside the entrance (Now, mind you, there are probably 30 different entrances to the bazaar) at 4:15. Amy and I started walking towards the entrance about 4:05 just to be safe. Well...we had no idea where we were, and we both thought we knew where we were going, so we just started walking towards what we thought would be the main entrance. Somehow we ended up outside a different gate. Amy said something about using the blue mosque outside as a landmark so we wouldn't get lost....well, we walked around the entire thing and still....LOST. At this point, I started laughing to myself. We were so lost. I seriously had no idea where we were or where we needed to go. We decided that our best bet would be to go back into the bazaar. As we were running alongside the road I had the impression that, well, you know....we should say a prayer. At that moment, Amy looked over at me and said, "You're praying, right?" Sometimes we think the same thing at the same time. No big deal.

Then Amy remembered that she took a picture of the front gate before we went in -- genius! We zoomed in on the picture and found that it was....gate 1! Imagine that. We started running towards that direction, (we got really good at running/maneuvering through thick crowds by then) and then ran out to the road where the buses should have been. Sadly, they were long gone. We walked back to the entrance to reevaluate and come up with a plan. Two young girls lost at the Grand Bazaar --no cell phones, no phone numbers, and no sense of direction. What can you do? While we were standing there, the guy that had sold us our purses came up behind Amy, trying to sell her more things. She looked at him and said, "We are in a crisis. Now is not a good time!" You should have seen his reaction. He just backed away with a look of complete bewilderment. She sure told him! It was so funny.

FOUND

So then I got to thinking that our professors had to know that Amy and I were the only ones lost...two girls. They surely would have sent one of the guys to find us...or a couple of them at least. We decided to wait at the road and hope that we would find someone to rescue us. Not 10 seconds after we started running towards the road, Amy ran right into Fatih....our beloved tour guide! We were so grateful to run into him. He had been running as well, looking for us. It was a miracle that we ran into him, considering how packed and big the bazaar was that day. Fatih led the way towards the ferry ride, where everyone was waiting for us. On the way we walked through the biggest spice market in the world! Well, at least that is what it seemed like. I had never seen anything quite like it. (this was my thought process more often than not while I was in Turkey) So many sweet smelling spices...it was incredible! As we were walking I mentioned how we still hadn't tried the famous turkish delight, and we had been there almost two days already. Fatih was appalled at this. He stopped right there in his tracks and led us to a little place that had a few for sampling. We each took one and took a little bite. We had a little bit of a delayed reaction....It wasn't what either of us had expected at all, but it was good none the less! It's like a gummy candy with pistachios and powdered sugar. They have all sorts of flavors. The ones we had were pomegranate flavored. They were yummy. We finally felt satisfied with our experience at the Grand Bazaar. (See! getting lost does have it's perks!)
We finally made it to the ferry where everyone had been waiting and wondering what had become of us. You could say that we went down in history as the ones who got lost in the Grand Bazaar and survived! Thanks to our rescuer, Fatih...and Amy. We made a great lost pair I think. :)

Kiss a turtle and your prince will be even more charming
than the frog kind.  

One of my other favorite places was Ephesus. Paul lived in this great city for 3 years! It was very fascinating. Everything about it was magnificent. They had a great big library and even latrines with running water. Oh, and I can't forget to mention my little friend that I found on the road in Ephesus. His name is Ted and he is a little turtle. I wanted to take him home with me, but then my friend Tyler let him go after a while. (against my will!) Not that I didn't find five more turtles throughout the trip anyway....ha. My professor, Brother Huntsman called me the beast mistress, while others called me the turtle whisperer...it's whatever. :)

la la la la....don't know the words...

The great big theatre in Ephesus was amazing as well! They had me sing a song there. Apparently the acoustics are still intense, even after all these years. I didn't really want to sing, but people love putting you on the spot. I had no idea what I wanted to sing. I mean....it's not everyday that you get to sing in the ancient theatre of Ephesus. I wanted it to be good ya know? Well, I didn't have time to think...so I just started singing the first song that came into my head, that just so happened to be....the best song in the world...it was the best song in the world. haaa just kidding. It happened to be a song that I don't even know. "O Mio Babbino". That's what I sang. Nevermind the fact that I didn't know the words and have never performed it before, but I listened to it a couple times on the bus ride before we got to Ephesus. There were a lot of other tourist there in the audience as well. I felt really good about it, or rather embarrassed when I found out that a lot of them were Italians. They must have felt sorry for me. I had no idea what the Italian words were in that song. The Italians were nice anyway, and gave me hugs and even kisses. One guy that was from Australia said, "Cool singin there!" It was a fun and made the experience even more memorable.

Amy and me at the hot springs of Hieropolis!
The calcium build-up makes it all white.

Turkey has definitely made it's way towards the top of my list of places to go. It was absolutely wonderful. I'm so excited about life right now and the sweetness that comes with it.

Inside a mosque. Gotta cover
up!

That's all...        

Tyler and me....and Ted in front of what was
the library in Ephesus....

So strong!!

Me and Michael-Sean in Ephesus