The Daze of My Life: Dana Blackburn

New Mission Blog

2011-01-08T19:56:00.001+02:00

To follow my mission adventures, visit my mission blog at http://www.hermanablackburn.blogspot.com.

Mission Call

2010-12-26T04:05:00.002+02:00

I've been called to serve in the California San Fernando Mission, Spanish Speaking!!! I report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on 16 February 2011.

The last week has been quite a whirlwind! I received my call on Friday, 17 December. I worked my last day of picking roots on Monday, moved home Tuesday, went to see my new "nephew" on Wednesday, went mission shopping on Thursday, and then celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my mom and Tanner, and even the Sister Missionaries for a few hours! We also got to talk to Skylar today for almost an hour! It really has been a CRAZY week, but I'm loving it!

Thoughts on the call: EEEEKK!!!!! Where exactly is that you ask? Well, let me tell you! It is one of the missions just north of LA (LA lies in the southern end of the San Fernando valley), so still in Southern California. It doesn't include much coastline, but is a pretty long mission that extends into the interior quite a ways. It includes a couple national forests, and a lot of areas populated by mostly migrant farm workers (aka illegal immigrants) according to Logan, who taught a lot of people who traveled between his area and mine depending on the growing seasons. Tim and Jan know my mission president, who they say goes home in July, so I'll only be there a couple months with him. Ah well. It happens, right?

So... How am I feeling about this, you ask? How am I NOT feeling?! hahaha... but alas, I know you can relate, so I'll try to sum it up briefly: 1) TERRIFIED. about being a missionary. about this actually happening. and about learning Spanish. 2) STOKED. about being a missionary. about this actually happening. and about learning Spanish. and WARM weather for almost the entire year, give or take a few rainy weeks! haha (I guess they didn't pay attention to my wearing a scarf in my picture! haha) and also about having something to talk about with Logan both now and for the rest of our lives. And we can do it in Spanish, even! 3) RELIEVED. that I'm staying in the states (as much as I love traveling, I know better than most my age that it is not nearly as glamorous as most think it is, and with all the adjusting I will have to do anyway, I'm just really glad that I'll still be able to a) buy cheap shampoo in huge American bottles, b) buy JIF Crunchy peanut butter, Oreos, ice cream, and all my other favorite comfort foods if the need arises, c) I don't have to take a ridiculous amount of things with me because I KNOW I can get them in the field. 4) STRESSED. I essentially have about 6 weeks to go through the Temple in Nauvoo, go to Arizona to get my things from Erika's, go to Provo to get some missionary essentials that you just can't really get anywhere else, do some hardcore studying, and mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepare to "lose" myself, as much as anyone can prepare for that--as you well know! haha So I have A LOT to do! 5) SAD. Unexpectedly, I've come to realize just how attached I am to several people here in Mississippi, and I really am sad to not only have to say goodbye, but having to leave immediately with the likely prospect of never seeing them again. But this also makes me feel like I didn't completely fail here, which is a bit of a relief, too!

But, I'm off for another adventure! This time though, it has nothing to do with me, and I could really use all the prayers that you can remember to say for me!!

Reading in the Mississippi Mud

2010-09-09T05:08:00.006+03:00

So, I took a video to document what I actually do at work, cuz I know you are all just so curious to know what a Day in the Life of a Root Picker is really like... haha. Sadly, Blogger has decided not to load my video. :( Chin up though, because what I REALLY do is listen to audiobooks. So, here's a list of the 42 books I've read or listened to so far this summer. If you want a review on any of them let me know, because unless I felt really strongly about them, I haven't gone into detail about them. By Author's last name:

Catherine Anderson
Star Bright

Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice

David Baldacci
The First Family

Suzanne Brockmann
Stand-in Groom (didn't love this)

Geraldine Brooks
People of the Book

Suzanne Collins (love her writing!)
The Huger Games (again)
Catching Fire (again)
Mockingjay

Jennifer Crusie
The Cinderella Deal
Faking It

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes

Janet Evanovich
Hero at Large

Ariana Franklin
Grave Goods

Diana Gabaldon
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone

Elizabeth Gilbert (I love that she's so thought-provoking, even if I disagree with her sometimes)
Eat, Pray, Love
Committed

Chris Heimerdinger
Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites
Gadiantons and the Silver Sword
Tennis Shoes and the Feathered Serpent, part 1
Tennis Shoes and the Feathered Serpent, part 2
The Sacred Quest
The Lost Scrolls
The Golden Crown
Warriors of Cumorah
Tower of Thunder
Kingdoms and Conquerors
Sorcerers and Seers

Khaled Hosseini
Kite Runner

Sophie Kinsella
The Undomestic Goddess

Linda Francis Lee
The Ex-Debutante

Daniel Levin
The Last Ember

Truman G. Madsen
Jesus of Nazareth

Susan Mallery
Hot on Her Heels
Finding Perfect

Greg Mortenson (he's my hero)
Three Cups of Tea
Stones into Schools

Elizabeth Peters
Laughter of Dead Kings

Francine Rivers
Leota's Garden

Danielle Steele
One Day at a Time (didn't enjoy this one compared to most)

Lauren Willig (I love this series, and the narrator, so I listen to my favorite parts consistently)
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
The Masque of the Black Tulip
The Deception of the Emerald Ring (my absolute favorite)
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose (my next favorite)
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
The Mischief of the Mistletoe

Stuart Woods
LA Dead (hated this...)

Ketchup. Catsup. Catch up.

2010-07-06T04:28:00.002+03:00

However you say it or spell it, I've completely neglected my blog for way too long. And now I'm like my mom's last Costco polish dog... surrounded by way too much catch up. Not that it really matters to anyone but me, seeing as how this is the way I journal about my life. So for the maybe two people who actually read this blog and don't know what I've been doing with my life, I'll just bullet point it for you.

1. I graduated from BYU. Cum Laude. Sweet!
2. Left Provo and moved back to Indy after applying for 200+ jobs.
3. Sent another brother, Skylar, on a mission in May, to Manchester, England. Awesome!
4. Had an internship with a brand new nonprofit in Carmel--the Indiana Collaboration for Families with Infertility. It's a cause very close to my heart, my co-workers are incredible people, and I have learned a ton! Visit www.myicfi.org for more information!
5. My brother Logan is getting married to Liz Torwudzo on July 17th! Excited to get to know her better and welcome her to the family! Though being completely honest, it seems SO WEIRD to me that Logan is old enough to be able to get married! haha
6. I accepted a job with the Forest Service and I've just moved to Cleveland, Mississippi this week. Luckily I had a friend here, Tricia Saylor, who I served in the RS presidency with for a year. She is here with Teach for America teaching high school Spanish in the black school (East Side High School)... so I'm living with her in a tiny yet adorable Mother-in-law house. I start my new job tomorrow, and I have NO idea what to expect. And just in case you're wondering, No. This job has NOTHING to do with archaeology OR anthropology OR anything remotely related to ANYTHING I want to do with my life. But out of those 200+ jobs I applied for, it was the ONE AND ONLY job offer I received. And though it definitely is not my dream job, it's a job. And I feel lucky that I even got that in this economy. So I've jumped completely out of my comfort zone into a big scary ocean of unknowns and endless possibilities with only the life vest of faith in Jesus Christ and trusting that God's plan for me is way more magnificent than I could ever come up with for myself.

That pretty much catches you up on the important things. Right now we are dealing with a septic tank problem. AKA it's coming up through our toilet and shower, making both completely off limits. Good thing I don't ever need to pee. Or wash. OH WAIT. haha

Oh the life in the Mississippi Delta. :)

I'll try to be better though. Really.

Floral Design

2010-03-09T07:51:00.005+02:00

So the more I learn, the more I'm grateful that I'm about to graduate because I realize I probably would be changing my major right now, or at least adding on a few minors. I am taking Floral Design this semester, and LOVING EVERY MINUTE of it. My favorite so far as been my Japanese design arrangement, but that's probably because it is the first one where I really didn't know how to do it beforehand. We started out the semester with just a simple bouquet and learning how to wrap them. Then we made bud vases for Valentine's Day. This was followed by boutonnieres, and then last week we made our Japanese design. It's been on my Bucket List for years to work in a Floral Shop, but now I know that it's going to stay on that list. I love this. I love flowers. If I am ever rich, this is definitely the hobby I'm going to take up... but for now, I'm just going to have to be satisfied with my perennial garden that is 2000 miles away from me lying under a blanket of snow.

Freewriting and School Lunches

2010-03-09T07:33:00.003+02:00

In my Writing and Researching about Religion class, we practiced a technique called Freewriting, where you are given a topic and then you just sit down and write about anything that comes to mind when thinking about that topic. I REALLY enjoyed this, which is rare. I never enjoy writing exercises. School Lunches--the topic given to us-- brought back a flood of memories that I've spent years repressing. So many things came to mind: the segregation between those who bought and those who brought their lunches, finding seats, how a good lunch experience set the tone for your mood the rest of the day, and the rules for making not just and acceptable but an excellent lunch at home. However, as I started writing, I was surprised where it took me. There are so many things I could say about school lunches, but for some reason there was one in particular that I couldn't suppress. I don't really have much to write about these days, so I thought I would share what I wrote.

Aside from recess, lunch time [in junior high] was the most miserable part of an introvert's day in school. Precious little was more lonely, uncomfortable, and even humiliating as not knowing who to sit with. Being friendly to everyone tended to be a curse at lunch time, because all of the social rejects would somehow successfully seek you out. I had many friends, but they were all in different "groups," and in junior high hell would freeze over before the "smart kids" ate with the "band kids" and so on. Not mention that all of my friends bought their lunches, while I brought mine from home everyday. No, at lunch time it felt as if I didn't have a friend in the world. I would purposefully go to the bathroom and take my time, trying to let the other kids filter into the cafeteria and pick their seats. It was much easier to ask to sit next to someone I didn't know and eat in silence than to eat with the same social rejects every day. In fact, I never did tell them no--I was too kind (though now I'm grateful for that). So despite being able to fit in socially in the "real world" of the junior high cafeteria, I more often than not was invisibly lumped into the social misfits lunch table. But I survived it, just as I survived the countless other social injustices that occur in the awkward teenage years when it's a miracle that anyone can be a successful socialite.

Eryn told me that sounded sad... I must admit I was not feeling sad when I wrote it and I don't feel sad when I read it. I just have to painfully acknowledge how true that was for me in the sixth grade. I wasn't the first to experience dramatic lunch room seating situations, and I'm sure I won't be the last. I hadn't remembered any of these things though until asked to write about them... but I feel like there are a lot of lessons I can learn from the experiences I had in the cruel world of junior high. Surely the real world can't be worse, right?

Two Men Dared to Do the Impossible

2010-02-05T02:49:00.012+02:00

This video made my day. It made my day when I experienced it firsthand, but the replay is impeccable. My friend Aaron Knudsen is truly an artist in his skillful editing of the video. At first we all thought that David Healey was our hero, and as the scene quickly unfolded we all realized that Bonesaw (one of many terms of endearment for Dr. Bill Hamblin) was actually the true hero. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do... though I guess it would help if you knew the whole context of this with a background in who these people are... but it's still hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcT7B0MBxdM

2010-01-18T19:23:00.013+02:00

Well life is super busy already, so I'm definitely cheating more than a little bit with this. BUT one of my teachers wrote a fantastic blog entry about our trip to Bethlehem, so the below entry is from Chad Emmett, professor of geography at BYU, and my Old Testament teacher in Jerusalem. His family is there in Jerusalem until next August while he teaches at the center. He is one of the kindest, gentlest, humblest, and smartest men I know. He gave so much to us students, more than just knowledge. I am so grateful to Brother Emmett and is wonderful family for helping make my experience in Jerusalem what it was!

Bethlehem

Thursday was the student field trip to Bethlehem. Since the US State department still has Bethlehem (as part of the West Bank) on its travel warning list this is the only time students are allowed in Bethlehem. We passed through the Israeli checkpoint and a gate in the new security fence (aka the separation wall and the apartheid wall). The wall has certainly helped to cut down on suicide bombers, but it has also become a towering impediment to the movement of innocent people. There are several LDS Arab Mormon families in the Jerusalem branch who are not able to attend church meetings in Jerusalem because of the barrier--luckily diligent home teachers (with US passports) are allowed to cross into Bethlehem and meet regularly with the members. The Relief Society President who lives in Bethlehem is able to cross through the wall because she works for the UN and has a travel permit. Her job most likely ends this month which means beginning in January she too will not be able to attend meetings in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian side of the wall has become a great canvas for graffiti. Notice the Christmas tree surrounded by the wall.

This section of the wall separates the Israeli held enclave of Rachel's tomb in northern Bethlehem from the surrounding Arab homes.

Another view of the Bethlehem wall. Last week the students visited part of the wall betweeen Bethany and Bethpage on the eastern side of the Mt of Olives with Israeli Attorney Danny Seideman. He founded an organization (Ir Amin--http://www.ir-amim.org.il/eng/) that promotes a Jerusalem shared peacefully by Arabs and Jews. He is working to bring the wall down and to halt Jewish encroachment into the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

Our first stop in Bethlehem was at the The Applied Research Institute--Jerusalem (http://www.arij.org/). The ARIJ uses great maps and GIS technology to monitor the wall, settlement growth, water usage, etc. in the West Bank and Gaza. The students got a good overview of the conflict from a Palestinian perspective.

Next stop was Bethlehem University which is run by Catholic Brothers and is sponsored by the Vatican to provide higher education for Palestinian Arabs--both Christian and Muslim.

At the center of the small campus is a beautiful chapel. It is decorated with processions of Christian children martyrs from around the world.

The dozen or so beautiful stained glass windows illustrated scenes from the birth and childhood of Jesus.

Part of our visit included a panel discussion with articulate, thoughtful students at Bethlehem University. BYU and BU coeds making friends.

We had a great Arab lunch in a tent restaurant (at left in photo) in the Christian-Muslim-Arab town of Beit Sahour--the traditional site of Shepherd's Fields. For many years BYU student groups and Mormon Travel groups would gather at the foot of a forested hill rising to the north of Beit Sahour and Shepherd's field for a Christmas program with Bethlehem to the south as a backdrop. Today that pastoral setting is much changed. That forested hill is now covered with the fortress like homes of the Jewish neighborhood/settlement of Har Homa--seen in the far distance. The homes on the hill in the foreground are part of Beit Sahour--the wall runs between the two hills.

We then visited Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. It is most likely the oldest church in the Holy Land--dating back to Byzantine times. It is jointly shared by Armenians, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics.

In 614 Persians conquered the Holy Land and destroyed all of the Byzantine churches--except this one. According to one 9th century source the invading Persians rode up to this church and upon seeing a mosaic of Persian dressed Magi on the front facade of the church (the triangle shaped area partly in the sun) could not bring themselves to destroy it. The shortened entry door is the work of the Crusaders who wanted to make sure all pilgrims bowed to enter the church and to keep horsemen from riding in.

The interior of the church in classic Byzantine basilica form. Since this church is jointly shared it has been the scene of disputes between rival priests who have resorted to hitting each other with brooms and mops when one sect cleans an area designated in the Status Quo as being under the control of another sect. To clean a floor or to repair a wall means you can claim it. This means everyone is very vigilant to make sure no one tries to gain any sacred ground. For years the roof leaked because the three religions could not agree on who would pay to repair it. To pay means to own and it was the Roman Catholics who were most able to pay--much to the frustration of the Greeks and Armenians.

Afternoon prayers by Greek clergy in their part of the church which is directly over the grotto of the nativity--which is the traditional site of a cave beneath a home which was used as an animal stable.

There is always quite a crowd in the grotto so it is hard to get photos. I poked my camera between pilgrims to get this photo of the 16 pointed star marking the site of the birth. When this star disappeared in the mid 1800s Greeks accused the Catholics of stealing it (or vice versa--I can't remember for sure) which then brought France to the aid and backing of the Catholics and Russia to the aid and backing of the Orthodox which was then one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Crimean War.

This is the adjacent Franciscan Church of St. Catherine. It is here where midnight mass is held on Christmas eve. We sang a few Christmas carols here--including a very nice Once in David's Royal City and the always favorite Angels We have Heard on High.

A nice stained glass window at the rear of the church. After an all too short hour of free time for shopping and exploring in Bethlehem we headed back through the Wall (the Israeli guard was very pleasant and we had no problems--unlike Monday's field trip journey through the wall to visit the Herodian) to a hillside near the Mar Elias monastery where we ate a sack dinner in the dark and then had a great nativity program.

Marie and the kids joined us for this part of the field trip. The Emmett Family Singers started out the program by singing the wonderful primary song "Picture a Christmas" which was fitting since were were looking southeastward to the twinkling lights of Bethlehem. This photo shows the holy family, their donkey, sheep and shepherds.

Here the wise men visit. The program reminded me of Christmas nativity programs at G & G Emmett's. Narrators read the Christmas story--including the visit of Anna and Simeon at the temple. We all sang carols and had special musical numbers including a vocal solo of Ave Maria, and a violin quintet of Away in a Manger.

The next night (Friday) we attended the student Christmas concert. It was an excellent concert--the students in this group are very talented. The local LDS community and friends of the center were invited--Jews, Muslims and Christians were all in attendance. Will's pre-school teacher--Miss Margaret--came with a friend. Sarah was introduced to some of our neighbors (above in photo) who live across the street who attended. A group of students have become good friends with some of these families. Saturday afternoon Sarah went with some of the students to visit them. She hit it off with the 12 year old girl in the center of the photo. There are plans to get together again soon.

See? Wasn't that a great debrief on my wonderful time in Bethlehem?! And I had already given you a bit about the concert... so I now feel satisfied. And Maybe I'll go look to see what Brother Emmett had to say about our trips in Galilee... because there were A LOT of them. ;) haha

Pictures!!!!

2010-01-02T05:10:00.006+02:00

I was getting cranky working on my schedule because I just can't figure it out. Something just doesn't feel right about it. Grrrr. SO in rebellion, I've gone back through all of my posts and added pictures and occasional videos if they are going the right direction... haha. They are mostly either my favorite pictures, or they give a good feeling for some of the things I saw. Now if I can just catch up on posts from Galilee and December... Enjoy!!

And in the spirit of trying to stay UP-TO-DATE (novel concept I know...) I thought I would put up a couple of our family pictures that we took Monday morning before Erika and John went back home. Possibly our last family picture for a very long time...

The Mountain-and all sorts of bottled up memories

2010-01-01T08:10:00.013+02:00

I know I have MORE than my fair share of things to actually write about... more for myself than anyone else. However, before the fleeting moment passes when I actually feel like writing something, I wanted to share some of my thoughts.

I have been reflecting back a lot this week on one of my many spiritual epiphanies I've had throughout my lifetime. Let me set the scene: Mt. Sinai, after a long, arduous hike in the middle of the night, after an even longer week traveling around Egypt suffering from Pharaoh's Curse. My body was at the breaking point. My emotions were at the breaking point. And I really had gone as far as I could possibly go. When I had convinced myself that Moses probably stopped where I did, I was satisfied that I had gone as far as Moses did and that was all I needed to be happy. Haha... did I mention that my mind was beyond the breaking point and I was slightly delirious? haha

After all of this, I was still grateful that I had made the journey, because as a sucker for beautiful things, the sunrise was truly magnificent. It's divine design was so absolute in my mind, because I just couldn't imagine anything so breathtaking and awe-inspiring to be happenstance.

During the devotional that we had, we talked a lot about "not coming down off the mountain"... basically relating how just because we were all on this wonderful spiritual high, it doesn't have to be-nor should it ever be-the peak of our spiritual progression in mortality. While I was in Jerusalem, my whole journey up Mt. Sinai and back became this huge personal allegory for me.

The climb down was possibly the hardest physical experience my body has ever had. Completely dehydrated and nothing
but a piece of bread to eat in the last 48 hours because I was so sick. Only 2 hours of sleep the night before. I had already hiked for 3 hours in the middle of the night. I was achey everywhere, and lucky me was hit with a dizzy spell on my way down. The climb down itself: we were told they were stairs... though a more accurate description would have been large boulders carefully stacked on top of each other with occasional stairs cut into the bedrock to fill in the gaps. No even stairs. No handrails. Nothing. But once I realized that it was already too late. The security guard with us was too far ahead down the other trail that I wouldn't be able to catch up, and therefore I had to stay on the path I chose. Immediately I began to learn a very personal analogy to repentance, and just exactly what it means to me, namely how grateful I am that in life I can ALWAYS turn back to follow the Ultimate Security Guard if you will. After about the first hour and a half of climbing down, my body just couldn't go anymore. And I still had at least 45 mins of climbing ahead of me at the pace I was going. My legs were shaking so badly, and I was so dizzy that my depth perception was way off, so I kept slipping. So I started telling myself if I could just make it down the next set of boulders to get out of people's way then I could rest. This worked for about 20 mins. By this time, I had let every person behind me pass, and they were out of sight. My mind and body were both officially at the end of their limit. They couldn't go any further. So I just leaned up against the wall and cried. I was too sick. Too tired. And too out-of-shape for that matter. haha I just cried. And prayed. I prayed to make it one more step, and somehow have it all be over. I prayed to will the pain away. I prayed for my dad to be by my side so I didn't have to feel so alone. And after a few moments, I was somehow moving again. I was grateful for sunglasses to hide my tears as someone else had come up behind me by this time. I let them pass and then I just started talking to my dad, perhaps somewhat audibly seeing as how I was delirious. And as I kept telling him about everything I had seen and learned in my 3 weeks of Israel and Egypt so far, I imagined how excited he would be for me, and how jealous he would be for himself. I gave myself a pep talk as if it were him speaking to me. And by the time I was done reviewing all of these things in my mind, I could see the end of the climbing. And it was close. I was so happy. And even though I was in more pain than ever, it almost didn't matter. Because now all I could think about was how good it would feel to sit down on the bus (which is something I NEVER thought I would look forward to! haha). And when I did finally climb on that bus, dripping in sweat, as white as a ghost, disheveled hair, dirt all over, I was greeted with a "You did it!! How was it?!" To which I replied, "I did it. I'm here. And in the end, that's all that matters."

So often I have looked back on what at the time felt like a hellish experience, and I have gained A LOT of personal insight. And seeing as how I'm not going to give all of my insights I probably went into too much detail, but this is like my journal so it's fine, right?
1. Repentance is always a possibility in mortality. I am so grateful that I never have to feel trapped into taking the long, miserable path through life!
2. Just as physically climbing down Mt. Sinai was the most difficult part, coming home from Jerusalem has been the most difficult part of my spiritual journey. This is where the true test lies, and even if I am the last one on the bus to my final eternal destination of the Celestial Kingdom, as long as I'm on that bus and make it to where I've been trying to go that is all that matters. And the only way to do that is by putting one foot in front of the other. One day at a time. I really need to be diligent about setting goals and striving to reach them. If I am not progressing, then I am digressing. There is no such thing as a spiritual stand-still. And if on that bus to the Celestial Kingdom someone asks we "How was it?" in reference to my life, I want to be able to say with a smile on my face, "I did it. I'm here. And in the end, that's all that matters."
3. Some days the only way we make it through is by talking with our Heavenly Father, and by really believing that He answers prayers. And just as I started out my journey with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity ahead of me, it ended that day with a prayer of gratitude for the experience behind me. Expressing my gratitude was one of the only ways I was able to find joy in the journey that difficult morning, but it worked. It always does.
4. God really does answer prayers-from the most trivial to the seemingly impossible. Now I don't know if my dad really was there walking by my side, though I would sure like to think so. But by just assuming that he would be and acting as if he was, I not only felt my bond with him grow as I shared these experiences with him, but it occupied my mind enough so that I could make it to the bottom. And those are both things that I so desperately needed that day. I REALLY needed to make it to the bottom. But as it was my 22nd birthday, and I was 7000 miles from home and unable to talk to any family members while in Egypt, my dad was really the only one that I could share my birthday with. And seeing as how my dad can be very persuasive, I wouldn't doubt that he really was there with me.
5. I thought the climb up was where my body was going to draw the line, and then I somehow managed to get back down on an even more difficult path. And after that I managed to stand in line at the border crossing to get back into Israel for 4 hours without injuring anyone. How could it be that I thought I had reached my limit at 5am, and then I made it to 2am the next day when I finally crawled into my bed in Jerusalem? Reflecting back on this entire 24 hours that I'll remember as the... most ridiculous birthday ever... has taught me a lot about potential. I'm talking about catching a glimpse of just how much greater God's plan for me is than any plan I could ever come up with for myself. This, compounded by chronic indecisiveness, is one of the major reasons why I'm having such a hard time coming up with a life plan. I don't want to decide on something unattainable, like my previous plan of "World Peace" haha. And yet, I know that if it were God's will, I really could be used by Him to achieve world peace. I wish the glimpse of my potential had been a little less fuzzy, in slow motion and subtitles turned on. But alas, I suppose that's what personal revelation and my patriarchal blessing are for.

Even though I lived through all of the details, I'm still perplexed as to how I magically ended up in Egypt on the top of Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise on my 22nd Birthday. It certainly was not any small feat for all of those details to be worked out. But God is good. I survived Sinai. Not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. And not only survived but thrived. And now I can also say that I've survived and thrived on the many other mountains that have been placed in my path since: Mt. Nebo, Mt. Moriah, Mt. Carmel, Mt. of Olives, Mt. of Beatitudes, and the Mt. of Transfiguration to name a few. Next stop: Y Mountain-Utah Valley and the Provo Temple-the Mountain of the House of the Lord. Hopefully I'll find that I never come down off these mountains and all of the wonderful things I've learned.

I'm TERRIBLE

2009-12-03T20:45:00.002+02:00

Dang. I looked at the date from when I last posted... it's been 3 weeks! How did I let this happen? Well in my defense, I had zero access to the internet for 11 of those 21 days... but other than that I don't have much to say for myself. I definitely have lots that I need to catch up on, but with finals coming up again next week, and us continuing to have field trips in between now and then... it probably won't happen for awhile.

So just some recaps:
Galilee--absolutely amazing. Took my breath away in every moment. Jerusalem is a beautiful place, and it is where the Savior died and resurrected. But in life, Galilee is where Christ lived, taught, healed, blessed, and loved. I have come to such a better understanding of so many things, as if the gift of remembrance has slowly been thinning the veil around my spiritual, eternal memory. I have SO much to say about my stay in Galilee, but the most important thing that I can stay, is that the Savior really did live, and though I've been privileged enough to see where that was, the key thing is that I know He lived, and that He still lives today.

Christian Jerusalem Field Trip--went to several churches, talked with a variety of people, and learned a lot actually... more to follow on that.

Logan came home!!!! My wittle bruder finally is home again!!!! Thank goodness that those two years went by fast, because it was starting to feel very long. I am so proud of him and his faithful dedication to serving our Heavenly Father and His children in RIverside, California. I know that both he and our family have been immensely blessed because of his service, and we probably don't even know how many blessings were directly caused by his faithfulness. I love him so much and I am SO excited to see him when I go home in 2 weeks!! It's going to be hard enough to say goodbye to this beautiful place that I've grown so attached to, but knowing that my family is there waiting for me is going to make it so much easier!

Generosity and Gift-Giving--this is all I really have time to say, but just know that people tend to really like me when we are out in the city, so I have gotten a lot of free little things as tokens of their appreciation or generosity. I love these people, and I hope that I can become as selfless, generous, and hospitable as the loving people of the Holy Land.

Bethlehem and our "Christmas Eve"--this was today. It is days like today when I realize just how much I really have learned here in Jerusalem... about the people, the conflict, the language, the history, the religion, the geography, the scriptures, and even things like getting a good olive wood deal! We ended our day with a Christmas program in the Shepherd's Field, and I was privileged enough to sing 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" with a few other girls as a part of that program. It was absolutely wonderful to feel so strongly of the spirit of Christ's birth. Even this story that I thought was so simple, in its telling and reality, I have come to recognize how much deeper and richer the story truly is, and I am grateful for the wonderful insights that I am gaining here!

Ok, well this definitely does not get me off the hook. But I did want to be able to give a nugget of information for the few of you that might have noticed how long it has been since I've written (but I doubt anyone falls into that category). I hope everyone is doing well! Loves!

Out with the Old, in with the New

2009-11-10T17:44:00.002+02:00

Testament that is... Over the last week we have taken finals for Old Testament, our OT Field Trip Class, Judaism/Israel class, Islam/Palestinian class, and Arabic. I am now down to only three classes--New Testament, New Testament Field Trip, and our Ancient Near East history classes. Time is absolutely flying. Logan comes home in 21 days... exactly 3 weeks from today. That means that I go home in 37 days. Completely bittersweet. Good thing I love my family and I haven't seen my brother in 2 years. Cuz otherwise, it might be more than a little difficult to leave this wonderful place. But enough with that kind of talk!

I am so excited to intensely study the New Testament. I've taken both of the classes at BYU, but this experience will be 1000 times more enlightening! On Sunday we went on our Herodian Jerualem field trip, where we went to several places around Jerusalem that still remain from the time of Jesus. We sat on the steps where Jesus walked and read some of the things he taught there. What an incredible experience. in 6 days, we leave for two weeks in the Galilee. We will live at a Kibbutz on the beach of Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) and then we will have class and go on field trips during the whole time. I'm SO excited! I'm trying to take as many notes as possible, but regardless of the notes I write down, I am learning leaps and bounds about the scriptures and how I want to be able to read them.

Chillin with GAs and Special Sabbaths

2009-11-06T19:33:00.004+02:00

So one of the coolest parts about living in Jerusalem is that everyone else thinks it's a pretty big deal, too... including the general authorities of our church. We were lucky enough to host both Elder and Sister Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy AND Elder and Sister Jeffrey R. Holland of the Twelve Apostles. These couples are just like any other couple, and yet, they bring a unique and added portion of the Spirit with them... not to mention that the cooks make especially good food when they are here!

Now before I get into everything that we got to to with them, I have to give some background first. My father attended BYU when Elder Holland was President of BYU, and he absolutely fell in love with the way Elder Holland spoke and taught. I don't remember many family home evenings, but what I do remember is that a lot of times my dad would teach us things from his favorite talks, which were often by Elder Holland. Not that we love any apostle more than another, but Elder Holland was definitely my dad's favorite. When I heard he was coming for a couple days, I knew my dad would be so jealous and I prayed that he might be able to share in the experience with me.

Every Sabbath here is just incredible, I always fill full to the brim with the Spirit. I'm like a wet sponge that has been soaking in water and is suddenly hit with a hose every Sabbath. The last two Sabbaths have been even more sacred. Two weeks ago was the Primary Program in Sacrament meeting. I don't know if it was my frame of mind, the setting we're in, the individual children, or the message... I suppose it was the perfect combination of all of these things that led to the most piercing and truly sacred Primary program I've ever experienced. I can't even describe how special it was, by I have honestly never cried during a Primary program before... Sunday School and Relief Society that followed were also just as amazing, as always. After church I went back to my room and continued my study of the Gospel of John. When it came time for dinner, God blessed me with impeccable timing, because I just happened to be standing at the very back of the line, by the stairs, when Elder and Sister Holland came walking up for dinner. It might sound corny, but they literally glowed... with love, with the Spirit, with joy. They were absolutely radiant, and instantly I knew once again that he is an apostle of God, a special witness of Jesus Christ to all the world. That night we had a District Fireside (we're in the Israel District), where both the Porters and the Hollands spoke to us. Elder Holland spoke about mercy. Sometime when I have my notes up here, I will type up some of the things he said. But it was the most wonderful experience I've had in a really long time.

Then last Saturday we had our District Conference, with the Porters and Elder Kacher of the Seventy. It is a rare experience for the whole district to get together, especially two weeks in a row. Some of these people have to fight to even get into Jerusalem. The conference was powerful. I know I keep saying that, but it's the only word remotely close to how I feel. I walk out of the meetings filled to the brim of the Spirit and I just think "Wow. It can't get any better than this." And then I go to the next meeting and it is even more incredible. After Conference I felt like I was going to burst because I just felt so FULL of the love of God and His Spirit. And the day was just getting started!

After church, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the gatekeeper let us into the "Private" part across the street... most importantly completely secluded from all of the tourists that normally videotape us as we read our scriptures or sing hymns there. It was so wonderful just to have some alone time in such a special place! What a tender mercy! And then after dinner we were filled once again during President Brown's "Lectures on Luke" that continued. And then, the most wonderful experience of all: some students organized a musical Firemony--aka a fireside/testimony meeting--off the cuff, and it turned out to be the most powerful experience we've had during the last two months. Hands down. It probably helped that we were already SO overflowing from how full we felt, and then this experience created a highly pressurized system of waterworks. The Spirit was so intense, and it just lingered in the room because we were each so full that there was no where else for it to go. I think I've done the best I can at explaining that we were just TOO FULL of the Spirit to receive anymore. haha I feel like I'm grasping at straws trying to describe these wonderful experiences that I'm having, and I know that the confines of our language are just inadequate at describing such things, but I hope what I can convey is that I still don't know more today than I did 2 months ago that Christ lives. God loves His children, and He has a plan for each of us meant to bring us the epitome of joy. One of my favorite lines in all of scripture that I have learned even more about this semester is that no matter what we do or who we are, the Lord's hand is outstretched still... ever willing and waiting to guide us back home to Him. Through the tender mercies of the Lord, I know that my dad is also there waiting for me to return, and I can't wait! There is a lot I have to do here before that day comes. But it will come. And this is knowledge that has given me the greatest amount of peace ever imaginable!

Beyond the Jordan

2009-11-04T11:09:00.004+02:00

So I went to Jordan last week... and I had so much fun! Some of you may recall that I lived in a Bedouin village, Um Sayhoun, just above Petra last summer for about 6 weeks during my archaeology field school. So going back to Petra felt like going to a little piece of home for me. Of course I was absolutely bombarded with questions from 100 people in my group about Petra, things they should do and see, where I lived, what I did, etc. But I was just so happy to be back that I didn't mind the questions. While everyone hiked the 860 stairs up to Al-Deir, aka the Monastery, I had permission to stay behind on my own. It was my favorite part of the entire trip to Jordan. I got to explore a lot of the places in the main city of Petra that I didn't have a chance to last summer. I finally found the Roman Bathhouse, which was so cool for me! **Last year, in preparation for my dig in Italy (that I didn't end up doing), I intensively studied and researched Roman bathhouses. But because I didn't end up going, I have never actually gotten to see a bathhouse in person.** Like a nerd, I recorded all of the rooms and the order they were supposed to be in and then I walked through the whole complex trying to figure out which room was which. I actually did pretty well, with only a couple minor rooms left unsure about. I was so excited, even though I was completely alone. My excitement perplexed me though, because a couple weeks prior, I had decided not to continue in archaeology for Grad School. Well shoooooot. If I am this excited about walking through a Roman Bathhouse that someone else found, how much more excited would I have been to actually take part in finding it!! So much for thinking my life plan was coming along... haha.

Also while I was in Petra, I ran into several Bedouins who knew Dr. Johnson and Holly Raymond, or had relatives that had worked with us last summer. One man, Attalah, made the connection with me that it was his sister who cooked lunch and dinner for us. She would always bring her beautiful baby girl with her. Big brown eyes and dark curly hair. She melted my heart in an instant. It was so fun to reconnect... even though it was with people I didn't know originally. But once I mentioned that I had lived in their village, they stopped treating me like a tourist and started just conversing with me. Attalah told me I was half-Bedouin and he offered me a chair to sit in while I waited for some friends. Bedouins, and even Arabs in general, are the most generous and sincere people I have ever met. I'm trying hard not to be bias living in Israel, but the Israelis are definitely not the warm, inviting, generous people you would hope to find... especially since $3 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars are going to them. I'm just saying...

But moving on, the rest of our Jordan trip included a stay in Amman. We visited Jerash, the Roman city which was part of the Decapolis where Christ came and preached. We got to watch a reenactment of a Roman chariot horse, and a demonstration of a Legion and their war tactics... Tanner would have been SO jealous if he'd known. :) ALSO, there was a dig going on in Jerash, right by the second gate to the city... don't worry. I told them I was an archaeologist while I took pictures of them, and they stopped working and handed me the pick axe. I was again the happiest little almost-archaeologist you have ever seen. So I put down all of my things and jumped in and started picking the ground where they were working. So, even though it's a little exaggerated, I totally got to dig in Jerash!!! :) hmmm... you think God is trying to tell me something? haha

We also stopped at Mt. Nebo, Madaba, "Dana Restaurant" for lunch, an overlook for the Jabbok River, visited the Amman Branch where we had a meeting with the Branch President, went to the Abdullah I Mosque, the Amman Citadel (where we saw a man fall off a cliff... definitely too much excitement in one day), and finally the Jordan River at one of the traditional sites where Jesus was baptized. There we had a sweet, powerful meeting about baptism, John, Jesus, etc. We sang a couple primary songs, and as we did all of the other tourists started gathering around us. It was a very tender experience, and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Jordan is still one of my all time favorite places I've been in all of my travels. The people, the places, the food... all the best that the Middle East has to offer. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new place to travel. This will definitely not be my last time. :)

Picture Recap from the week:

Yad Vashem

2009-11-01T15:26:00.001+02:00

Yad Vashem is the Israel Holocaust Museum, and there is no other museum like it in the entire world. The emotions it stirs come from the depth of the human heart, yearning for all human suffering to cease. It was a powerful, emotional, and even tragic experience at times. It certainly was not the first Holocaust museum I've ever been to, and it probably won't be the last. But it is the only museum on the Holocaust built by Jews for Jews. you can only go through on a guided tour, and all of the tour guides are related in some way to survivors of the pure evil of the Holocaust. It's hard to say that you enjoyed something like this. How can you have a good time looking at pictures of starving children and reading about the lengths that mothers would go through to protect their children? I don't know if I had a good time. There was certainly no joy involved in the day. But I learned and felt things that every human being should feel. our teacher told us a story about two Jewish children's reactions to the museum: As they walked out of the museum, one of the youth turned to the other and said, "We can never let this happen to us again." While the other responded, "We can never let this happen to anyone ever again."
The experience was juxtaposed with my homework assignment that night for my Palestinian class. We were assigned to read and write about the massacres of Palestinians by Israelis during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. It was unfathomable to me that any Jewish or Israeli person, whether intimately connected to the Holocaust or not, could ever allow such things to happen, let alone just 3 years after the Holocaust. The despair I felt that night was crippling on behalf of the sorrow that people experience from acts of hate. I was frustrated with how dramatic my feelings seemed, but there seemed to only be darkness for the future if such hate persists, and I caught a glimpse of how Enoch may have felt when he wept for the sorrow of the world. Thank goodness for our Savior and His Gospel that show us the way to peace. Thank goodness for His love and the chance we have to share it with everyone around us. This is a point that has been driven home to my heart continuously since I've been here. Love is the point. Love is why we are here on earth, why God sent His Son, why we are in families, why we experience joys and sorrows, why we share the gospel, etc. Love is EVERYTHING. Sorry for my soapbox, but a fire for love has been lit underneath me. :)

To My Pals of the Pen(cil)

2009-10-23T11:57:00.002+02:00

Hey Little Friends!
I am so sorry that it has been a while since I responded to your questions. I absolutely love hearing from you! And I hope you still write me... :) School has been VERY busy here, with 4 tests this week... Do you ever feel anxious or stressed when you have lots to do? But now it is over and I get to play!! On Monday I am traveling back to Jordan, the country just neighboring Israel. I am VERY excited to go back where I lived last summer and visit my friends that I made there. Do any of you have friends that live far away from home? I also wanted to thank you all for your birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday! And I LOVED all of those beautiful pictures you drew for me!! Some of you even made me a princess wearing a crown! How nice of you!!! But now to answer your most recent questions:

Daniel--Was the Zombie House scary? I don't like getting scared, so I'll only go with you if you hold my hand. :)
Juan--How did you know my favorite color was pink? You must read minds! And I love to play, too!
Adriana--I LOVE school over here. It is lots and lots of work, but I love to learn!
Manuel--We sometimes play games here, too. I also like to play the piano, do puzzles, and walk around the Old City meeting new people.
Arturo--I also read A LOT here at school. We have many books that we are supposed to read for all of our classes. So, I spend a lot of my time reading and writing.
Melanie--You got to play with Tuffy? I am SO jealous! There are lots of stray cats here, and they come begging for food at every meal.
Ana--You got to play with Tuffy, too? I love Tuffy and I miss him! Do you like to have long hair, too? Or do you like it short?
Mark--I am SO glad that you are respectful and pay attention to Mrs. Mills! I hope you are just as respectful to Mrs. Reyes! They are both wonderful teachers who can help you learn SO much! My favorite animals are horses and penguins.
Cecilia--I love parks! My favorite part is the swings. I feel like I'm flying whenever I swing! But... I also like to shop. A lot. :)
Monica--How did you know that ice cream is my BIGGEST weakness?! It is my favorite food that I can ever eat. I will eat it at any time of day-even for breakfast. That is how much I love it! Mrs. Reyes likes ice cream, too. :)
Yesenia--Are you learning a lot about math? Mrs. Reyes is really good at teaching how to do hard math problems, huh? And I am having SO much fun! I hope you are having fun in your school, too.
Cesar--Do Mrs. Reyes and I look a like? Do you and your siblings look a like? I hope I can come back to see you all soon!
Lizbeth--I see a really BIG city, that is also very old. There are some buildings here that are over 2000 years old! I also get to see lots of wonderful people every day! What kind of parade? Did you like it? Did you get any candy from it?
Marisol--Well, you are nice to me, too! I hope everyone can be nice to everyone wherever we go! There are some dogs here, but none as cute as Tuffy!
Alondra M--I love it here! I mostly see a lot of cats and birds. But there are also dogs, donkeys, sheep, goats, horses, and even camels. I hope you had fun playing with Tuffy. He is so cute!
Martin--My favorite food is ice cream! MMMMM!!!! I am so glad that you and your classmates were all such wonderful students that Mrs. Reyes could bring Tuffy in to see you! She only does that when her class is VERY good. Keep it up!

Thanks again for writing me! And I hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Miss Dana

Recent Field Trips

2009-10-14T13:31:00.003+02:00

Jericho
Tell Jericho-the oldest city ever found in the entire world, with a tower structure dating back to 8000 BC... yeah, I was there! No biggie. Just pretty much made my life complete. Almost anyway :) But seriously, this place was incredible. I remember studying the city and its archaeology in my Biblical Archaeology class I took two years ago. My group was assigned to write a paper and present on Jericho, and I absolutely fell in love. I knew I just had to go, and well, now I have. Check. :) I won't launch into the nerdy archaeology stuff that got me so excited to go see this place in person, but let's just say there was a lot of it, and it made me REALLY happy. :)

And I always knew that Jericho was an oasis city, but after seeing what it looks like in person, it is truly an OASIS CITY. Modern day Jericho stretches from the hills down to the Dead Sea. None of this small village business. I don't know what I was expecting, but whatever it was was quickly surpassed.

City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel
Last week we went to the City of David--the Original "Jerusalem" captured and built up by King David, still considered by Israelis today as the greatest king in their history. From this original city, Jerusalem grew north and west up on to Mount Zion and Mount Moriah and through the Tyropean valley in between. After seeing some excavated areas from the ancient city (including a 3000 year old toilet! haha), we had the highlight of the trip by walking through the 1/3 mile long tunnel built by Hezekiah in 701 BC to channel water from the Gihon Spring to the Siloam Pool. On the eve of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, it was crucial that Hezekiah devise a way to protect the water source of Jerusalem. After the prophet Isaiah prayed and consulted with Hezekiah, the plan was to dig a tunnel underneath the city so as to channel the run-off of the spring to be within the city walls. Incredible! Seriously... And I'm not necessarily one to LOVE wading through a wet, dark, moldy tunnel built 2700 years ago. But this was absolutely amazing! SO FUN!!

At the end of the tunnel, you arrive at the Siloam pool, where there are some remnants of columns, where we got some really fun pictures. Luckily, we have national parks cards that will get us back in there for free, so I'm definitely planning on going again!

Neot Kedumim
On Monday, we had a field trip to a Biblical Landscape Preserve called Neot Kedumim. Here they have plants and animals from the Bible, and it is very hands-on, which I love! We herded sheep and goats, ground hyssop into the stuff we eat on our pita bread (Za'atar in Arabic), drew water from a cistern, made pita bread, threshed some wheat, etc. It was such a neat experience and definitely one I will treasure forever. And I tried to gather as many types of the plants/fruit that I could while I was there for my Jerusalem Box. :) So those of you who have always wondered what hyssop is... well I can show you. ;)

School, Security, and Random Sidenotes

2009-10-14T11:22:00.004+02:00

So School has pretty much overtaken my life here since we've been on restriction for the last 10 days or so. But good news: The security restriction was lifted yesterday and we can now go back out into the Old City and East Jerusalem!!! YAY!!!! I have been sending my mom the news articles about what was going on here, but maybe she was actually the last person I should've been sending them to. Whoops. haha But basically, there have been tensions during this High Holiday season in Judaism here in Jeruslam because the Israel took control of and shut down the Muslim controlled Temple Mount to prevent any violence during the 8-day long Sukkot. Palestinians were not allowed into the Old City for most of the week, and then it was changed to only men 50+ years and women were allowed in. Of course this meant that the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosques, which are two of the top holy Muslim sites in the world, to pray daily and particularly on Friday. Among MANY other things going on, this outraged the Palestinian Authority and the whole Arab world... which led to a lot of other really scary things happening. Anyway, there is no need for me to really go into detail when most of you aren't really interested. And things are calming down here in Jerusalem, and we all pray that they continue to do so. Psalms 122 tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and in a visit to the Garden Tomb President Hinckley said that he did so every day. I hope that we all can include this in our prayers along with the Prophet of the World and the residents of the Holy Land.

BUT I did get the once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Western Wall in the morning on the final day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles in the OT). This last day is known as the Day of Many Hosannas-and as it sounds, it is a joyous day of celebration, as well as continual prayer for the rebuilding of the Temple. It is customary that after the Jews are finished saying their morning prayers on this day that they "whack" their willow branches on the ground. Why do they whack? Well it is a symbolic "final plea" or a pleading "temper tantrum" if you will... noting to God that they have done everything else they know how to do in order to have the Temple rebuilt, and it is the only thing left they can think of to get His attention. From the smallest child to the oldest patriarch there, everyone would whack. It was SO interesting! Not to mention all of their chants and prayers and dancing and singing that we got to observe as well... And another plus was that I got some really fabulous pictures of people that day.

In our Old Testament class, we have now finished as much material as OT 301 covers at BYU in an entire semester. We are in the middle of 1 Kings now and we're just zipping right along! We will be completely done with the OT by the beginning of November- and that includes a 4 day trip to Jordan before then! Then we will have 6 VERY intensive weeks of the New Testament. Gratefully, I've already taken both NT classes at BYU, so that should hopefully ease the intensity for me a bit. But I am so grateful to enhance my knowledge and understanding of the scriptures while I am here!

A complete side note to everything: Elder Holland is coming in less than two weeks. I am SO excited about this opportunity to not only meet an Apostle of Jesus Christ, but also to literally sit at his feet and learn from him. Not to mention, he was always my dad's favorite, and I know he's really jealous. haha But let's just say I'm hoping he gets to come join me in spirit for this incredible experience. :)

And another side note: Logan comes home form his mission in just 48 DAYS. This means that December 1 is only in 48 days. How in the world did THAT happen?!?! Wow time flies, and I'm feeling more than ever that I need to make every minute count here!

I love you all!

Dear Penpals

2009-10-01T10:34:00.002+02:00

Dear Mrs. Reyes' class,
How are you all doing? Thank you so much for your letters!! All of your questions about food made me VERY hungry! Lots of you LOVE pizza... Mrs. Reyes LOVES pizza, too! I really like pizza as well, but sadly I have not had any pizza at all since I've been here in Jerusalem. I am starting to miss it a lot though! My favorite food is most definitely ice cream!!! Mrs Reyes can tell you all kinds of stories about how much I LOVE ice cream! :) My trip to Egypt was so fun! I got to go inside the Pyramids. Have you ever seen what the Pyramids look like? They are SO BIG!! Also, I got to ride a camel along the bank of the Nile River. It is the biggest river in the entire world! We took a bus and rode all day long to get to Egypt. But while we were in Egypt, we took a plane, a train, a camel, a horse-drawn carriage, and several different boats and buses in order to get around. We also walked and hiked A LOT. What kinds of transportation do you guys use every day? I have been seeing so many really old things. One of my favorite things has been to see records that people kept thousands of years ago about what was going on in their lives. Do any of you keep journals and records, too? I hope that you guys will practice your writing a lot so that your records can last a long time, too! Thanks for writing me! I love to hear from you all!

Sincerely,
Miss Dana

Mt Sinai and My First Birthday Abroad

2009-09-27T12:21:00.000+02:00

So the morning of my birthday began day three of being quite ill. And I just prayed so hard I would be able to make it up and back safely so that I could participate in our devotional and testimony meeting we would have at the top. The one and only birthday I will ever spend awake for all 24 hours of it was overall a very good day if I focus on everything I learned, the beautiful view I had of God’s magnificent creations, and getting to talk with my mom and sleeping in my own bed. ☺ But hiking up that mountain at 2am was so hard for my sick little body to do. I did it though, and that is the most important part! Exodus 19:4 reads, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” I know that God truly did bare me up on eagles’ wings, because there was no way I could have made it up there without His help. And He did bring me up unto Himself, for His Spirit was poured out upon us during out meetings at the top. I had read a few verses the night before that ran through my mind as I made the ascent up the mountain. “Fear thou not: for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). This verse of course reminded me of our hymn “How Firm a Foundation” that was written off of this verse. And when I think of that song, I am reminded of my father. We sang this song at his funeral because it was one of his favorites. He was a living testimony of God fulfilling His promise to always be with us to strengthen and uphold us. Thinking of how brave my dad was to just keep on keeping on, despite how sick he was, gave me great courage in putting one foot in front of the other to get up that REALLY big mountain.

Despite being ill, the sunrise I experienced at the top made it all worth it. It was the most incredible and awe-inspiring view I have seen in a very long time. It was quiet and peaceful, which I greatly appreciated after 2½ hours of being hassled by Bedouins to ride a camel up the mountain (which in retrospect may have been more than a good idea… haha). Oh did I mention how I was almost trampled by camels? Yeah… that was a scary experience as I was pinned between three camels going up and three camels going down because their leaders were too thoughtless to notice there was a girl on a very narrow pass. But luckily I’m short enough that only my head was really pinned between the camels’ bodies. Haha
Our meeting at the top was also incredible. So many wonderful people who have such good insights and very pure, simple testimonies surround me here. I learned a lot from this meeting, and I hope I am able to really take these lessons to heart and apply them in my life.

On the way down the mountain, we had two options… the path that we came up with all of the camels, or what we were told was a staircase that just went all the way down. Unfortunately, I learned that choosing the path less traveled isn’t always the best decision… The “staircase” was actually just a bunch of big boulders stacked on top of each other that you had to climb down. It took me just as long to get down as it did to get up. Haha But it’s over with, and I made it safe and mostly sound, so that’s really all that matters! But for my roommates, I did indeed wear my pedometer during the entire day. My grand total for the entire day was 17,793 steps, with about 14,700 of those from going up and down Sinai. Whooo Ahhh! ☺

I spent the rest of my birthday on the bus or in line at the border crossing, but everyone was so nice that it was still a good day. But the only thing better than watching the sunrise on Mt. Sinai for my birthday was getting to talk to my mom when we got back to Jerusalem that night. It was the best part of my day to talk with her. Why do I have the best mom ever?! Seriously, she’s amazing and I’m so grateful for her and everything she has done for me. Love you mom!!

The Pharaoh's Curse

2009-09-26T17:04:00.001+03:00

So we went to a lot of extremes to avoid getting sick. We lived off of hot simple carbs and warm bottled water for more than a week. We slathered on the hand sanitizer before, during, and after any activity where we touched ANYTHING that might have been touched by anyone else. Haha Even so, a good chunk of people got sick in varying degrees of severity. Well, I was doing REALLY well and I felt great. Until the morning after our overnight train ride. But I got very little sleep, and I figured it was just mild dehydration. So I drank lots of water. And then on the bus that morning, it hit me. Like a brick wall. Oh boy was I in for a long day. That turned into a long several days. And I’m still sick, even though we’ve been back for two days. Ugh. In all of my other entries I just tried to focus on all of things I loved about where we went. But in all honesty, I couldn’t enjoy some of them like I had wanted to… particularly the Egyptian Museum. I could barely stand up let alone walk around and be amazed at all of the cool things I was seeing. Oh man. Did I mention that there was no air conditioning in this museum? And the bathrooms were on the second floor… hahahaha It is funny now. But I was SO terribly sick that first day. So as beautiful as everything from King Tut’s tomb really was, my favorite thing about the museum was that there was one room that was air-conditioned and it had one bench inside it. So there I sat for several minutes. And it was just one of the many tender mercies that day.

Another tender mercy that also demonstrates Middle Eastern hospitality… before I go any further, this is a terribly embarrassing story and more than a little disgusting, but I hope you all get a chuckle out of it and at least learn from my experiences. My group was visiting a synagogue in Old Cairo (this was in the morning just before we went to the museum). I was already feeling quite ill, but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. I took some pepto bismal, drank some water and hoped it would go away soon. But as I was sitting in the synagogue, the overwhelming “I’m gonna be sick” feeling came over me. I knew it was either going to come up or down, and either way I was in trouble. So finally I got up and went over to the lady from our travel agency that was accompanying us and I asked her if she knew of any bathroom nearby because I was not feeling well. I followed her out where she asked the man at the front desk if he knew of one. He answered her (it was all in Arabic so I have no idea what was actually being said haha) and pointed down the road. So she grabbed our security guard and we scurried a little ways down the road to this humble little house where I see an old Egyptian woman poke her head outside. She showed me inside to this small open room with a toilet (open to the kitchen by the way haha). I got there just in time. Phew. Crisis averted. Or was it? I recomposed myself, and reached to flush the toilet as I just prayed Egyptian plumbing would work just this once for me. The toilet started to flush and then it stopped. The woman’s water had been shut off (which she said later happens all the time when the city needs it for something else). So what in the world was I supposed to do now?!?!?! It is not an exaggeration when I say that SHEER PANIC set in as I kept trying to flush the toilet. This was almost a bigger crisis. Getting sick all over myself is one thing, but getting sick in a stranger’s tiny bathroom in her tiny home and then leaving it as a mess for her to clean up when her water turned back on… NIGHTMARE. But alas, it was out of my control. The lady with our group and yelled back to see if I was ok, and when I told her what was going on she explained it to the woman, who told me not to worry about it. So I did something I never would have done if I weren’t with a group… I agreed to just walk away. We of course gave her a little money for her kindness and her hospitality to this poor sick American tourist, and then we went back to the synagogue to meet up with our group. I guess I at least have a really good embarrassing story to tell during all those silly get-to-know-you games we play in Provo…

Cairo/Giza/Memphis

2009-09-26T17:03:00.004+03:00

Our first night in Cairo, we went to the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids of Giza. It was our first wake-up call that we are NOT in the USA anymore. Though I’m glad we went, I’ll be perfectly honest for any of you considering adding it to your itinerary. It was definitely a low-quality production to say the least. Haha It was so terribly cheesy, but whatev. I love cheese. I will just say that the best line of the whole production was “Man fears time. But time fears the pyramids.” **Cue the overdramatic music** hahaha so great!

We went back to the pyramids the next morning and we hung out there for several hours. We climbed inside the Great Pyramid and then we took lots of fun pictures on it. Holy Cow. I couldn’t believe I was actually AT the PYRAMIDS. IN EGYPT. IN AFRICA!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH. My bucket list has gotten very small already after checking so many things off of it! And of course I got a picture kissing the Sphinx. It’s a tourist must. ☺

We went to Memphis next where we saw the colossal Ramses II statue. Moses probably spent a lot of time here in Memphis, just fyi. After our trip to Luxor, we visited some Coptic churches and a synagogue in Old Cairo, followed by the biggest market place in Cairo. That was really fun, but I will say that once you’ve seen one or two shops, you’ve seen them all. They all sell the same things. And they are the same things sold in Petra, Amman, and in Jerusalem… And I think my favorite cat-call I got there was “You have beautiful eyes. Are you looking for me? **wink**” haha

We also visited the Egyptian Museum, where we got to see all sorts of things that I’ve been learning about for the last 3 years. I got to see the Merneptah Stele, which is the first mention of the Children of Israel in the land of Canaan found to date. This is what scholars use to date the Exodus and the lives of the Patriarchs. Also here at the museum were all of the cool things found in Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings! Oh my goodness! These things were truly exquisite! The jewelry, the furniture, the decorations, the weapons, etc… So beautiful!

On our last day, we went to the Citadel in Cairo, which is a fortress built in the 12th century AD by the Arab rulers in Cairo. It was also where theroyals who ruled Egypt for centuries lived until just a couple hundred years ago. Inside, we visited two of the three mosques. Both were absolutely beautiful. Through my classes and just talking with people I meet, I am learning so much about Islam and I can see so much truth and goodness that they have. These people are so good. They love and fear God, and they want to serve Him and live with Him, just like we do.

Luxor

2009-09-26T17:03:00.003+03:00

Our tour around Cairo was interrupted by a three-day trip to Luxor. We flew down to Luxor, and then took an overnight train back to Cairo. Both were quite the experience. But Luxor was definitely the highlight of the trip. Where do I even begin? Um, how about that we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel. On the Nile. And ironically enough, staying at the Luxor was cheaper than Eryn and I staying at the Motel 6 in Iowa for one night…. I LOVE AFRICA! ☺ So yes, our accommodations were quite lovely. And I’ll probably never step foot in a fancy hotel like that ever again, but it was wonderful while it lasted!

Since we were staying on the Nile, we took lots of opportunities to explore it. We took three different boat rides down The Nile. It quickly became clear to us as we passed the countryside just how crucial this river is. It is the center and source of life for everything here in Egypt. And it was also much prettier than the Nile we saw up in Cairo. It was really just absolutely delightful! We also took a camel ride along the Nile through a village and their farmland. It is more beautiful than I ever imagined. And seeing the sunset over the Nile… I know I’m a sucker for sunsets and sunrises, but it truly took my breath away. My camel guide was named Ramses Tu, and the camel’s name was Bob Marley. Haha My guide was 22, and he is studying English at the University of Cairo. When I told him how old I was he made a note that I was an old woman… and he then proceeded to make what I think was an offer of marriage. He said if I was ever looking for work, he had a job for me. **Wink.** haha As tempting as it was, I did return with my group to Jerusalem. Adieu my dear Ramses Tu.

We visited the Karnak and Luxor Temples which again… WOW. SO BIG. Haha And to be honest, after awhile things really start blending in because they all kinda look the same. But what impressed me most about these temple complexes were the purposes behind them. And actually, the Israelite temples reflect some similar ideas from the Egyptians. For instance, in an Egyptian temple, there is an open courtyard that then steps up into a holy place, which then steps up again into the Holy of Holies where the altar was located. In Egyptian theology, there is also a sense of a trinity of gods, but it is made up of the God, his wife, and his firstborn son. There is definitely a sense of eternal life being a family affair. I wish I knew more… but maybe I’ll decide to pursue studies in it further so I can understand the symbols, paintings, and even the texts of the Ancient Egyptians better.

I know you are all especially curious about my visit to the Valley of the Kings. Well I can say this much… the tombs are covered in the most beautiful and exquisite paintings I have ever seen in my life. I went into a few different ones—King Tut, Horemheb, Ramses IV, and Ramses VII. As cool as it was to see the mummy of King Tut, my favorite tomb I went in was that of Horemheb. The paintings, carvings, and drawings of this tomb were the best preserved out of any of them I saw. And the tomb itself was left unfinished, so you can perfectly see the process of tomb construction and decoration. Unfortunately, you couldn’t even take your camera into the park let alone the tombs… Well, I guess that is what Google Images is for nowadays. Haha Now Erika, I dedicated my visit to Queen Hatshepsut’s Funerary Temple just to you. It is HUGE. After learning even more about her, I can see why you became so fascinated with her in school. She did some weird things, but she was definitely a remarkable woman in history. And thank you for teaching me all about her. You are the one who sparked my interest in Egypt in the first place!

Aimless Wanderings

2009-09-26T17:01:00.001+03:00

So it might be a little hard to describe what I saw and came to understand without showing you my pictures, but hopefully I will still be able to make my point. On the way from Jerusalem to Egypt and back through the Sinai, we made several stops at places where the Children of Israel stopped: The Wilderness of Zin/Sin, the Sinai desert, Mara, Elim, Rephidim, and Mount Sinai. I’ve always been a little bit frustrated reading the stories of the Children of Israel, because they complained SO much. God parted the Red Sea for them to escape pharaoh, and two days later they were wishing they’d never left Egypt… I just never understood how they could be so ungrateful. But as I was visiting these places I realized that this is the very reason why they were caused to wander aimlessly around the Sinai for 40 years. They held themselves back and remained unprepared and unwilling to receive what the Lord had for them—ie. The Abrahamic Covenant and the Promised Land. And then I unfortunately realized that maybe I’m just like them in some ways. How many times have I been unwilling to let go of something that I thought was good, because I didn’t understand that what God had to offer me was even better? The Lord helps us progress by giving us things one step at a time. Some of these steps are harder than others, but at the top of the staircase, what is waiting for me? I don’t really know, but if it is from God then I know it is worth it. I never want to be kept wandering because I am unprepared for what the Lord has to give me next.

NOW, Here are my pictures :)

Border Crossings and Bureaucrats

2009-09-25T15:47:00.002+03:00

So considering we were trying to get about 100 people out across the borders of Israel and Egypt during this trip, everything went relatively smoothly. I mean there was the 8 hours total of waiting in lines during the process, but still… we all got our things and ourselves across each of the borders. However, I never have understood why after getting the same acceptable answers from the 50 other people in our group ahead of me, they still always look at me suspiciously while they ask me… hmmmm. I saw a sign that said nuclear weapons were not allowed to cross the border… HOW COMFORTING. Haha I mean, it’s clearly a very popular souvenir to bring back from Egypt. Haha Seriously. Some things are VERY different over here, and I am easily amused. ☺
Both Egypt and Israel have about 5 or 6 different checkpoints within the border crossing. Why? Because the government has to make up jobs for the young men in their country. This is definitely way more the case for Egypt than it is for Israel… but still. Every village or town that the highway goes through, even across the Sinai desert, has its own checkpoints with 20-something-year-olds who get paid to stand guard, or sit and sleep guard rather. However, you can be sure that the guards always wake up when two buses full of 60 pretty American girls goes by… Very interesting. Very bureaucratic… haha
We crossed at the Taba Border, which is right along the Gulf of Aqaba, part of the Red Sea. SO BEAUTIFUL. So politically, the Sinai is part of Egypt, since the peace treaties with Israel in 1994 or something like that. However, geologically, the Sinai Peninsula is still apart of the Asiatic tectonic plate. But luckily for me, I spent a week on the geological and political part of Africa, so it is official that I have been there. Check. Haha Though it is definitely a part of the Middle Eastern culture rather than African culture. I guess I’ll just have to go back. ☺

Kibbutz life in my future?

2009-09-25T15:46:00.000+03:00

On our journey down to Egypt, we visited and stayed at a couple of kibbutzim. A Kibbutz is small settlement where everyone lives communally. Some of them are religious, some are agricultural, some are very tourist based… and some are a little bit of all three. We took a tour of the biggest kibbutz in southern Israel—Yotveta, which is mostly agricultural with some tourist interaction due to the rest stop they built. We ate dinner here too… our last meal eating things of color and drinking water for a week. What a long week that was!! We also stopped here on our way back from Egypt to eat dinner again. Because of the dairy here, they are famous for their chocolate milk. It really is VERY good chocolate milk ,Eryn… even better than BYU Creamery’s chocolate milk. Haha However, I personally think they should be famous for their ice cream. AAAHHHHH SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD. But then again, you all know of my personal and familial obsession with ice cream. Haha
After learning all about living on a kibbutz… and finding out that this one takes volunteers… I think if I ever come to an empty crossroads of my life, I might just volunteer at Yotveta for 6 months, a year, two years… whatever works. I mean why not continue living the ridiculous and crazy life, right? I could work with their horses there… or pick dates… or help in the dairy. I don’t really know. But I’m going to keep it logged away as an option for a rainy day. Haha

Trip to the Shephelah

2009-09-25T15:44:00.001+03:00

The Shephelah (pronunciation--Shvay-la) is the lowland hills area of Israel/Palestine that lies between the Judean highlands to the east (Jerusalem) and the flat coastal plains of the west (Gaza, Tel Aviv). The Shephelah is crucial geographically because it contains much of the fertile agricultural land, as well as providing strategic cities to protect Jerusalem to the east or the seaports to the west (depending on who’s controlling the area). So during the OT, the Israelites were constantly battling over this land and its plentiful valleys with the Philistines (who controlled the coast).

During our field trip, we went to many of the Israelite’s key lookout cities, one of which I have studied in classes because of its amazing archaeological finds. This site, Lachish, was conquered by Joshua from the Amorites and became a crucial Israelite fortress city (Josh. 10:3-5, 31-32). The Assyrians then captured it in 701 BC (2 Kings 18:13-17, 2 Chron. 32:9, Isaiah 36), followed by the Babylonian capture (Jer. 34:7). When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, some settled here in Lachish (Nehem. 11:30). SO this is more detail than you want, but I figured I would give you a brief overview on ONE of the many places we went. Anyway, the archaeology here as been phenomenal, as there are remnants of an Israelite Temple, the siege ramp from the Assyrians, the double gated/walled entrance of the fortress, and the most important find—the Letters of Lachish. These were letters written on ostraca, broken pottery sherds, telling of the fall of the neighboring fortress of Azekah to the Babylonians. They allude to knowledge that they were next to be hit, and all of the emotions involved with that knowledge. For an archaeologist like me, I just eat that stuff up! It was so amazing to finally be standing at this site that I have studied so much in classes! Love my life! ☺

Our trip also included a stop in the Elah Valley, where David slew Goliath. And of course in would not be a field trip if we didn’t get to learn in the field. SO, we each got a sling and five smooth stones and practiced our shot… Don’t worry, I had someone video tape me doing a demonstration. Of course I can’t upload it or show it to anyone until I get home… but just know that you’ll really have something to look forward to! Haha I think we’re mostly lucky that no one got too seriously injured… there were a few bumps on the head and split lips, but nothing that detracted from how AWESOME it was. I’m not terrible… but I definitely can’t aim and hit a target. Haha For sure though, this was the highlight of the trip for me!

The Garden Tomb

2009-09-25T15:42:00.002+03:00

We went to the Garden Tomb today as a group. It was my first time visiting, but it certainly won’t be my last. A British Non-denominational group owns the site, which is why the area has been preserved rather than churches dotting the grounds. They have turned it into an oasis of peace and beauty in the midst of a hustling, noisy, contentious city. The gardens here are absolutely beautiful! A rare find in a city made of stones and dirt in the middle of the desert. Even still, it was not quite what I was expecting. As with everything over here, there were tourists EVERYWHERE. And in all honesty, I didn’t feel much during our tour by the nice British man, waiting in line for and going inside the tomb, or even as I walked around the gardens. But then our group all came back together and in the middle of the Garden, we started singing hymns, 100 strong. That was powerful… singing “He Has Risen” and “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” and a few others while looking at a tomb where Christ may have risen from, but at least represents at the very least that He HAS in fact risen. I was overwhelmed with emotions of the best kind, but especially with gratitude for the knowledge I have of my Savior and of my relationship with Him. His Resurrection was absolutely necessary for my family to be able to live together forever with Him and our Heavenly Father. And the fact that I KNOW that He does live gives me so much peace and comfort everyday when I think of my dad and how much I miss him. It was especially neat as we were singing because many of the other visitors and tourists came over and stood around to listen to us. Several of them were recording us... my first and definitely not my last exposure to that. haha During our free time I was walking around the garden and I went and listened to this group of Fijians singing praises to God. They sounded fantastic! And I also took a video for Tanner's benefit, because he has a small obsession with Fiji and the people there. :) I thought I would post the video just for fun.

The Western Wall

2009-09-16T16:05:00.004+03:00

Ok so here is the first of several promised posts. I have described a little already that the Jews celebrate the beginning of Sabbath, Shabbat, every Friday evening at Sundown. We count our days from midnight to midnight, but the Jewish day is from sundown to sundown. To understand why we went to the Western Wall, I should give a brief background though. The Western Wall, formerly dubbed the "wailing wall", is the only part that remains from Herod the Great's Jewish Temple Complex--from Jesus' time. It is the western portion of the retaining wall that surrounded the entire temple complex. When the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, they burned it, and then toppled the stones to the ground below. Today, it is the Jewish belief that the Islamic Holy site Dome of the Rock stands exactly where their temple once stood. Though permission to worship near/on the temple mount has altered many times for the Jews in the last 2000 years, today they are able to worship at the Western Wall. It is THE holiest site in Judaism, because it is as close to where their temple once stood as they can get.

SO, luckily non-Jews are still able to visit and observe! So you walk in through security and it opens up into this large plaza. We got there just in time to see all of the boys from Rabbinical school marching and chanting down the stairs to the wall. For them, welcoming in Shabbat is a joyous occasion. They do their thing all the way to where the men go into worship by the wall. Once they get in there, a lot of them continue to dance, sing, clap, and chant. It is almost expected for the men to be very boisterous during the evening. For the women, it is a different experience. If the women acted the same way, they would be seen as very promiscuous. On their side, the women quietly read and pray at the wall. After observing all of this for a few minutes, my roommates and I wrote some prayers on small pieces of paper and stuck them in the wall. (We actually broke the Sabbath, because you aren't supposed to write on the Sabbath... oops.) After they worship at the wall, the Jews back away from it, so as not to offend God by turning their back on Him.

The feeling there was one of reverence, and intense faith. I wished that I knew Hebrew so that I could worship with the women there, but instead I just silently prayed to myself. After we left the worship area, we went back out into the plaza to people watch. We met and talked with several people who were there for their own personal worship. It was so fascinating to talk with these people! We weren't able to take pictures, because that is considered to be breaking the Sabbath. But next time I go back to the Wall not on the Sabbath, I will definitely get some pictures! I love learning about these people and their faith. It helps me understand my own background and faith from a different perspective, which I really appreciate!

Slacking

2009-09-14T21:07:00.002+03:00

Ok so I know I have totally been slacking on this. But in all honesty, I will blame some of it on the internet connection here... and the incredible amounts of homework I have to stay on top of, since we have class every day. Unfortunately, I still have about 30 pages to read tonight, and it is already after 9pm. SO I will have to write a real post later. BUT here are some things to look forward to reading about...

The Western Wall, The Recent Shooting, The Garden Tomb, Our Second Free Day Extravaganza (that included the Garden of Gethsemane), and our Shephelah Field Trip we took today. So I have lots to write about... but I promise I will catch you all up soon! I love you all! And thank you so much for those of you who are still keeping in touch with me! It makes my day to get emails! Loves loves loves!!!

2009-09-14T20:39:00.002+03:00

Dear Mrs. Reyes' Class:
Thank you so much for all of your questions! I hope you all had fun learning about the different types of neighborhoods and communities that are here in Jerusalem. I want to answer each of your questions.

Marcelle, they have lots of cats here running through the streets. One likes to hang out on our patio as we eat our meals, hoping we'll give it some food. There are also dogs, horses, camels, pigeons, doves, and donkeys. Have you ever seen a camel? They are really goofy looking!
Cesar, I am having so much fun! I am very busy with my classes, but I try to get out into the city to explore as much as possible. I have the most fun when I am surrounded by my friends and we are doing something completely new, because it makes me feel adventurous!
Yesenia, they are serving us lots of different kinds of food here, so I am trying many new things. There is a lot of rice, and a lot of pita bread-which is kind of like a really thick tortilla. They mix all kinds of spices in everything here, so their food is very flavorful.
Alondra M.,When I go out into the city, I see lots of food for sale, but most commonly it is candy, spices, and fruit. I absolutely love it here! If you like traveling to new places at all, you would love to come here and learn more about this place and the people who live here! I really love all of the colors, but right now my favorite color is bright pink. That may change soon though!
Manuel,The most common foods I see for sale on the streets are fruit, spices, and candy and other sweet treats. I see all of the other food we normally eat, too, but they are normally just sold at grocery stores. I am staying in a building that is both my home and my school. It is a white building set on top of a hill and cascades down. It is 8 floors high, and has 149 stairs in it!
Alondra G.,My home is beautiful! Mrs. Reyes can show you a picture of it, but it kind of looks like a waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain where it sits. I'm excited I get to call this home for awhile!
Mark, I got here by flying on four different planes and then a bus. It took us two plane rides to get across the United States. Then another plane ride to get us across the Atlantic Ocean, and finally a plane ride to get us from Europe to the Middle East. Then we had to take a bus ride from the airport to our new home. It took us two days to get here! It was a very long trip, but we were grateful to get here safely!
Adriana, when I wake up in the morning, I go out onto my balcony and I overlook the entire city of Jerusalem! It is a beautiful view! I don't think I will ever get tired of looking at the city from my home. It is the perfect picture, and when I get back maybe I can show you exactly what it looks like!
Stacey, they are serving us lots of different kinds of food here, so I am trying many new things. There is a lot of rice, and a lot of pita bread-which is kind of like a really thick tortilla. They mix all kinds of spices in everything here, so their food is very flavorful. I have met many new people here. There are 82 students here, so I have been trying to get to know all of them, plus the teachers and the other staff members that work here with us. I have met a few merchants in the city, too, and they have been very kind to us! I also go to church here, where I have met even more people! I am staying in a building that is both my home and my school. It is a white building set on top of a hill and cascades down. It is 8 floors high, and has 149 stairs in it! We got here the night of September 2, so I have almost been here for two weeks.
Arturo, I am staying in a building that is both my home and my school. It is a white building set on top of a hill and cascades down. It is 8 floors high, and has 149 stairs in it! I live in a room with three other girls. Our room has 4 beds, a big desk area, closets, a bathroom, and a balcony that overlooks the entire city of Jerusalem!

I hope I answered all of your questions!! Thank you so much for writing me! It was so fun for me to read what you all wrote. I hope you guys are learning lots and working hard for your education! Maybe one day, you can all end up going to school in a cool place like Jerusalem, too! Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Miss Dana

Week One

2009-09-07T20:40:00.002+03:00

Salaam and Shalom from the Holy Land!! (That's hello in Arabic and Hebrew!) So just a heads up, I am the new pen pal for my sister's First and Second grade class, so at least once a week I will be writing specifically to them. Unfortunately because I've been so busy here and the internet is really slow, I've had a hard time getting on this week to write. So I think I'm going to make Erika use her teaching skills and just some up this post with what she wants to tell her class. Love you Erika! :) And yes, this may have something to do with all of those pictures you just posted of me on your blog...haha :P

The Jerusalem Center is absolutely beautiful! It is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in. It sits on the western slope in the middle of the Mount of Olives, which some Israelis call Mt. Scopus (it's all political, like everything else here). There are 8 levels in the center, and 149 stairs on the inside (with a lot more on the outside!). I live on level 3 in a room with 3 other girls. The four of us share a bathroom, so I don't have to wait in line like in the dorms! Our room has its own patio outside that overlooks East Jerusalem (the Palestinian sector) and the Old City that sit to the west of our center. It is a beautiful view and one of my favorite places to sit and watch the sun go down. The Garden of Gethsemane is just south of us at the base of the Mt. of Olives, as well as the Orson Hyde park. North of us lies Hebrew University and some new Jewish neighborhoods that are encroaching into the Palestinian neighborhoods (much to the uproar of everyone around). (Erika-I know you've been talking about neighborhoods and communities in class, but I don't know if it's too hard to explain how they are divided up by what ethnicity and religion the people are...)

It is about half-way through Ramadan-the Muslim holy month of fasting (lunar months). The Muslims wake up really early (about 4am) to eat a big breakfast and then they fast all day long until the sun goes completely down (about 7:30pm). Each morning when it is time to begin their fast, a big canon goes off (of course I wake up! It's practically right outside my window! haha). The canon will go off again in the evening when they are allowed to eat again. They have big parties every night where they eat lots of food and have music and fireworks. The streets in the Arab neighborhoods are decorated with Christmas lights in celebration of the Holy Month. At the end of the month, they will all exchange gifts with each other. So it is a combination of Christmas, the Fourth of July, and Fast Sunday in our culture. They certainly make it look fun! And of course there is the Muslim Call to Prayer that goes off from all of the Mosques in the city 5 times a day, starting at 4:30am. Normally it is only about 10 minutes long, but because it is the Holy Month they have been playing sermons before and after the call to prayer, so in total about 45 min of Arabic is sung and chanted every morning from the loudspeakers just across the way from us... I'm just used to getting up with it now. But it really is beautiful!

The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into 4 sections, or quarters: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian. There are 7 gates into the city through the walls (built by Sultan Suleyman in the 1500s). I haven't even been here a week yet and I've already made it into the Old City 3 times. Thursday our professors took us on a walking tour of the city just to show us around and get us oriented. Friday I spent the afternoon in the city and we wandered around the Christian, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. As we were on our way out of the city, we randomly stumbled upon the Western Wall as the devout (mostly Orthodox) Jews were coming to welcome in the Sabbath--which is Saturday for them, and also for us here at the Center. We didn't get to stop because we still had a long walk ahead of us to get back to the center before the sun went down. But we will be going on a field trip for this very purpose this coming Friday evening, so I'm excited about that! Sunday we had a completely free day, so I went to the Old City with my roommates. We attended a Lutheran service at the Church of the Redeemer in the Christian Quarter. Then we just explored... or got lost... haha. We did visit the courtyard of the Church of the Redeemer. It is one of the favorite places of the 12 Apostles to come when they are in Jerusalem. And some of them have filmed their testimonies here. It is absolutely beautiful! And very peaceful in the middle of a very loud and bustling city. We ate our lunch here and then had some photo shoots. Overall, we are still finding our way around the city, but hopefully we will be pros in no time!

Saturday was our Sabbath here. I think it has been my favorite day so far, actually. We hold Sacrament in the Auditorium of the Center, which faces a wall of windows that overlooks Jerusalem. A little distracting maybe, but such a wonderful experience. We all sound phenomenal when we sing together, too. Church was beautiful. Sunday School was awesome, and Relief Society was special, too. I don't know how to articulate how powerful the Spirit was in our meetings, but it was such a neat experience... like being back in Nauvoo again. :) Our Relief Society President is Palestinian and she lives in Bethlehem, which is actually located in the West Bank. For years she has not been allowed to come to Church because it is held here in Jerusalem. Luckily she got a job working for the UN and now has a pass that allows her to come to Jerusalem during certain times of the day. She is fantastic and I know I have so much to learn from her!

Today we took our first field trip to study the geography of the Holy Land. We went to several different high points around Jerusalem. We stayed within a 15 mile radius of the city, but we saw so much! I never realized from reading the scriptures just how close everything is! Bethlehem is only 6 miles from Jerusalem. Bethany is on the mount just south of the Mt. of Olives. We went as far north as Nabi Samwil, the burial place of the Prophet Samuel. I see archaeology every where I go, and I'm hoping to somehow get involved with some type of current project while I'm here, or at least make some contacts. But I also have a lot of classes and LOTS of homework... so we'll just have to see how that goes.

I know this was all pretty scattered, but it is hard to find the words to articulate how beautiful this place is, and also how much we need to pray for the people here. Many Israelis and Palestinians get along just fine with each other, just like any neighbors. However, there are those who try to incite reactions, which is never a smart idea. It isn't a matter or who is right and who is wrong any more, though that is still what many fight over. Now, the conflict is really about what is fair and how to compromise, but some aren't interested in compromise, and those in power don't really care about what is fair. But I can say that all of the people here worship God, just like we do. They try their best, they raise their children, and they live their lives just as we do. They attend church with their families on their Sabbath Days, whether it is Friday, Saturday or Sunday. And we are all children of Abraham, and have inherited the opportunity to make those same covenants and receive the same blessings as he did. The Church is still true, and the Gospel is perfect in the knowledge of truth it gives us. And these people are just as good and worthy of our respect as any of God's Children.

Two countries down, one to go!

2009-09-02T09:18:00.002+03:00

So have a whirlwind of a week with family and friends, repacking about 8 times, and an orientation that would urge even Logan into submission, I finally got on the plane. My checked bag was 50.00lbs on the money, and my backpack is so stuffed that it didn't even fit under the seat on my flight to Vienna. And lucky for you all, the Vienna airport has FREE wireless. So my mom gets an update about 36hrs before I told her she would. Love you mom! :)

I hate international flights purely because of the length. But I love them because of the really good food, and the excellent service. Of course it only adds to my pleasure that the flight attendants ask you everything in English AND German! I've already met a lot of people, but only one of my roommates so far. Everyone pronounces my name Danna upon introduction. Maybe Connie is right... maybe I should spell my name Dayna. Maybe THEN people from Utah would get it right. ;) haha Love you Connie!

Considering there are 60 of us traveling over through Vienna on to Tel Aviv, there has not been a single incident. We are so grateful that we've been able to travel safely. Now we just have to make it through security in Tel Aviv without a problem--the most secure airport and customs in the world. Wish us luck!

It's Official!

2009-08-29T06:11:00.003+03:00

Well, I just found out today that my paper was accepted for publication! It will be published in this fall's BYU Inquiry Journal! I'm so grateful for all of the encouragement I've gotten while working on it this summer. This project has been in the works more than a year, before I even went to Jordan! Of course, I had never imagined that I would be able to get this paper published as a result, but I have been very blessed! I will admit though, it feels pretty good to have all of this hard work pay off in a big way!

Exciting things coming my way!

2009-08-05T02:53:00.003+03:00

I had a phone conference last week and if we get permission from our professor, my senior thesis (co-written with Krystyna Hales) is going to get published!!! YAY!!! I'm SO excited! I just really have to get busy on the revisions because it is due in a couple weeks.

I also had an exciting/scary realization that this last Sunday was my last Fast Sunday in the United States for the rest of this year! AAAAHHHHH. I can't even believe it! The summer has gone by SO FAST! First there was the Family Reunion, then setting up Erika's classroom, and then working for the last couple of months with only 7 days off so far. WHEW. I'm SO excited for Jerusalem! However I also know that things aren't going to slow down until after Christmas. When I get home from Jerusalem in December, my brother Logan will be back from his mission and there to greet me at the airport! Somehow I know that a couple weeks of break in between semesters will not be nearly enough time for the two of us to catch up on the last two years of our lives, but I know we're certainly going to try!! And then of course Winter semester I get to once again live with the best bestie ever and finish up my undergrad years at BYU! No rest for the weary, but certainly lots of exciting things for me to look forward to in the next few months!

Oh sweet civilization!

2009-08-05T02:13:00.002+03:00

So I haven't updated in a while, but I have been SO busy! TUrns out I WAS transferred up here to Salt Lake City. This is my second week up here, and we're still digging digging digging. Our site is just immediately west of the SLC Airport. And it turns out, our dead end road is also both a popular street racing road AND a high traffic area for prostitution (as explained to us by the Airport Police who cam to find out what we were doing). Apparently the Control Tower of the airport as a camera aimed at us... Just A LITTLE creepy. All of us are wondering how many times we've mooned the cameras in search of our perfect potty place. haha

Up until the end of Friday, I was a recorded for the in-field lab analysis and the cartography team (as we like to call ourselves). Then my next assignment was to dig a 1x1m unit by myself. Which wouldn't have been a terrible undertaking except that almost my entire pit was gravel embedded in hard packed dried mud. NOT FUN. But I finished the square early Monday morning. Next I was assigned to dig a 1x2m unit. My objective: to take the square a little more than 2m down. The is going to be one BIG HOLE! But it's a good thing I have all week to dig it!

The great thing about being in SLC is mostly just having civilization around us, and having options for food and entertainment. We went to Park City and rode the Zipline, the Coaster, and the Alpine Slide. We've been to Temple Square and the Gateway Mall. I've eaten at the Cheescake Factory, Tucanos, Red Iguana, Happy Sumo (where I ate Sushi for the first time!), California Pizza Kitchen, and Jonny Carinos. I was also able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House with Erika and John who came up to visit me. I've been shopping at the Gateway, Walmart, and Albertsons. I'm spent some time with friends and family in Provo. I have cell phone service ALL THE TIME! Basically what I'm trying to say is that I L-O-V-E civilization, and particularly SLC. It's such a nice change of pace from Delta!

The Life of a Working Girl

2009-07-22T02:17:00.006+03:00

Well, working 54 hours a week and living out of hotels as pretty much made it so that my only social life is with the people I work with. But we are getting to know each other better and having a blast! I love the people I work with, and I'm learning so much about so many different things. Particularly liquor... these people LOVE their alcohol. haha ;) Last Friday we all went bowling, and it was hilarious! On Sunday, a group came up to Salt Lake and I was able to meet them at Temple Square and help show them around. It was a really neat experience, and I'm so grateful it worked out so I could be there. The tour at the Conference Center was a little long, but the view from the roof at the end made it totally worth it for me. Salt Lake City is so beautiful! And it is so peaceful up there. I loved every minute of it! I was able to get a few pictures of the gang, so I thought I would post some so you could see who I'm working with. And just ignore that a few of the pictures are taken at the bar... haha

I am not being transfered up to the site in SLC, which I'm a little bummed about. Looks like I'll be staying in Delta for a while longer... and quite possibly the rest of the summer. It is also looking like I might be forced to move back over to the Budget Motel. :/ But, what would life be if it weren't full of adventures and crazy stories like mine?!

When I was in Provo this weekend, a friend gave me this sweet Henna Tattoo on my ankle. Love it! Love her! Next weekend, it's a pink streak in my hair! ;)

WSA Adventures

2009-07-14T02:21:00.004+03:00

So most of you (the two of you haha) who try to keep track of me, know that I have been so blessed with an awesome job working for a company called William Self Associates (WSA)--a contract archaeology company out of Tucson, AZ. They have been contracted by Holly Energy Corp. to do all of the archaeological work necessary in order for them to build a pipeline from SLC to Las Vegas. I work 9 hours a day, 6 days a week digging in the dirt, hacking through rock, and other intense physical activities (such as paperwork...haha). It is definitely dirty and exhausting. Every day I come home and can hardly move. BUT the money is awesome, not to mention they pay for my housing (we're living out of hotels as we travel around Utah) and give me a generous food stipend for all 7 days of the week. Seriously. Who could complain? I'll dig whatever the heck you want me to in 105 degree whether on the frontiers of nowhere for this kind of deal! haha This opportunity with this kind of sweet deal is SO rare as an archaeologist!!

We started out in Cedar City working at sites west of Minersville. After a week, we moved up here to Delta, which is the closest town to most of the sites. For any of you who have been to Delta, WHY would you ever go to Delta?!?! And for those of you who have never heard of it, there's definitely a reason for that! haha It is definitely in the middle of nowhere. And if you can believe it, our sites are all at least 45 minutes further to the edge of nowhere. But this little town does have its quirks that we're getting to know quite well. When we first got here, we stayed at the Days Inn--by far the best hotel in town. Then some people complained about not having their own rooms, so they moved all of us over to the Budget Motel where we could all have our own rooms because it was half the price. The first night I was there, I woke up with a huge swollen leg as a result of a spider bite. The next night I was there, I realized I had fleas bites all over me. WHAT?!?! FLEAS?! In a US hotel room? To remind you, I got fleas when I lived in Jordan. In fact, a majority of us did. But I figured that was just part of my cultural experience. I got fleas while living with a Bedouin family in Petra, Jordan. OH WELL. SO WHAT. But getting fleas in Delta, Utah... that's just down right disgusting. Makes for a good story, but still disgusting. ;) So I informed my advisor that I had fleas from the Budget, and I was able to get a few of us moved back over to the Days Inn. This is definitely where all of the cool people are. haha

I also don't have phone service in Delta, so who knows what kind of ridiculous bill I've racked up from roaming charges... But at least now I have a job to pay for them! :) I'm going to try and get some pictures of the people I work with for your viewing pleasure. We have a large crew of about 25 people and only 6 of us are LDS. However, we received one reinforcement today, and we're getting 2 more next Monday. All of these girls that I know from school make it so much easier to jump in and make new friends, because I know I already have a group of friends to fall back on. It's so wonderful!! And I'm so grateful that all of us have been blessed with this sweet job. It is so wonderful for me to know that Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us. He knows what we want, what we need, and what will be best for us. And if we do His will, He will help all of that happen. This job has been so needed by each of us, for one reason or another. And not only are we enjoying ourselves as well work together, but all of our needs are being taken care of. God is so Great!

Best Bestie Ever

2009-06-21T01:44:00.002+03:00

So, Eryn and I jokingly tell each other that we're the "best besties ever." We overheard some girls in the mall one day say that and we about died. So in honor of them, that is our nickname for each other. However, today Eryn went above and beyond the call of duty. When we talked on Wednesday, I still had not heard anything about this job in Cedar City, and I was getting very nervous and frustrated that it wasn't a good sign... And she cheered me up like always. She decided that the man with whom I'd been in contact over the last several months had the perfect name to make use of. His last name is Yoder, and we decided that we were now going to describe situations like this as being "Yodered."

Last night, I finally got a call and it turns out they "found room" for me. I have a job!!! I start Monday! YAY!!! I will be digging near Cedar CIty for the rest of the summer... 9 hours a day/ 6 days a week... which means about 14 hours overtime every week. YAY!!!! I'm SO relieved!!

Well, I've been running around trying to get everything ready today. And I came home to this Facebook Wall Post by my best bestie ever.

Eryn Sinclair: "So I just read a nonfiction book on the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, and I need to redeem my utter nerdiness. So- I am going to write you a definition:

Yoder- (yO-dur) English, 2009, inv. Dana and Eryn, origin: Yoder- last name of offending individual

Derogatory term; An individual with a relationship of authority or significance to oneself, who knowingly, or unknowingly, misleads one to believe that one’s actions will lead to certain outcomes. Said outcome is usually one of substantial import (i.e. graduation, employment, marriage, etc.), then, always at a pivotal moment, the desired outcome does not materialize, leaving one confused, angry, frustrated, and sad. A yoder can redeem him/herself ONLY by restoring the situation to fulfillment of the understood outcome.

n: yoder; v: yoder; yoder-ed; yoder-ing

The man who did give me a job is such a yoder.
You totally got yodered when he left you at the alter.

**i.e. person who totally screws you over.

LOVES"

Oreo Cream Cheese Chocolate Covered Truffles

2009-06-18T00:29:00.001+03:00

The original recipe is in the "Cooking the Costco Way" cookbook (thanks to Sarah for picking me up a copy and making these so I knew how yummy they are). Here's our recipe:

3 packages of cream cheese
2 package of oreos
3 cups of melting chocolate (we used ghiradelli 70% pure cacao chocolate chips)

let cream cheese come to room temperature
crush 1 package of oreos (use a plastic bag and a rolling pin)
mix both together thoroughly
refrigerate mixture for 10-20 minutes
use gloves if possible to roll mixture into 1 inch balls
refrigerate for 30-45 minutes
melt chocolate in a double boiler (metal bowl inside a pot filled with 2 inches of water on low heat) *** do not allow water/steam to get into chocolate!
line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil
crush 10-12 more oreos
roll oreo/cream cheese balls in chocolate and place on pan
Sprinkle oreo crumbs on top
Refrigerate until chocolate coat hardens
Eat and Enjoy!
store in the refrigerator and give the rest of the oreos to the kids so you have more truffles to enjoy :)

We made these for the reunion, and they were super easy and incredibly delicious! MMMMMM!!!!!!!

Jerusalem

2009-06-18T00:06:00.002+03:00

Well, I had my final admissions interview for Jerusalem yesterday. It's definitely official! I'm going to Jerusalem!! And I am very excited! It definitely does not seem real, but my experience has shown that it won't seem real until it's almost over. Regardless, though, I have a lot to do in order to get ready to live abroad for the third time!

Blackburn Family Reunion

2009-06-17T23:33:00.002+03:00

Well, we had our Blackburn Family Reunion last weekend, and it went great! We had a good turnout from Ken & Shirley's Family and Tom & Diane's Family. We also had some of Kay & Shirley's family represented, as well as some from my (Shawn & Vickie) family. We all had such a great time! We played some games, had lots of food, and just really enjoyed visiting with everyone. It was definitely a lot of work, but so very worth it! I've never even been to a family reunion before, let alone be in charge of putting it all together! But luckily I think my first try was as successful as it could've been! I definitely enjoyed getting everything ready, though. I made up some Family History Games... totally nerdy I know! But I Loved it! I made everyone break into teams and arrange a 4 Generation pedigree chart starting with my grandpa Blackburn. SO FUN! Everyone actually did surprisingly well... though I think there was some cheating involved. haha I also made a game "How Blackburn Are you?" which was hilarious to watch people take. Out of 110 possible points, my mom ended up being the winner with 87 points, which was so funny! Of course, we didn't take the quiz, along with the majority of the Blackburn clan. So, I'm sending copies of it out to other family members so they can join in the fun, too. All in all, everything was very successful!

2 Years

2009-06-09T06:16:00.002+03:00

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my father passing away. A day that I will always remember as one of the worst, and yet one of the most peaceful days of my life. Last year on this day, I was finally able to get up the courage to write in my journal about the day he died. I was in Jordan, and I had the day off from digging. So I spent hours on the rooftop just writing and crying and writing and praying. It was what I had wanted to do but hadn't been able to. I'm grateful I was able to take that time and write about my experiences and my feelings, though. Not that I'm worried I will forget how I felt... because I don't think that will ever happen. However, it has allowed me to embrace the present and the future, honoring the past but not focusing on it.

Today has been a wonderful day! Because I've been in LA this week, I've been able to spend a few days here with Tim and Jan, my aunt and uncle who are currently serving as the mission president of the LA Mission. Tim is my dad's older brother, and his only full brother. Though my dad has 7 older half-siblings, they are all much older and didn't know him very well. I have been able to enjoy several hours (which is rare when you're running a large mission!) of reminiscing and discussing the past, including stories about my dad, my grandparents, and our extended Blackburn family. It has truly been a wonderful blessing for me in my life. Especially on this day. I ate a hamburger today, in honor of my dad. I talked with everyone in my family today, and I even received an email from Logan today, too!

It really has just been a day of my heart filling with gratitude and love for my father, for my wonderful family, and for the incredible sealing power of the Priesthood that gives me the opportunity to be with my family forever, not just until death. I know I will see my father again. Though gone from this life, he isn't gone. He exists, and he is going about God's work on the other side of the veil. I look forward to the day when I will finally be able to run into my father's arms and give him a giant hug and a kiss on the cheek. But gratefully, I am no longer wishing that day would come tomorrow, but am content on living my life to the fullest with him just watching over me from above. Though I am convinced that he is not as far away as he seems to be. :)

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-06-09T06:07:00.002+03:00

Well this weekend I was able to come to LA for my roommate Joanna's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful! She was gorgeous! And we were happily able to lend some helping hands in taking care of several things. I was able to spend time with Teri and Jeralee, two of my other roommates during the first few days of my stay in LA. We had a blast! Aside from wedding things, we also got to go to Disneyland and California Adventure... for free!! Teri works at Disney World, so she gets a few passes a year to get 3 people in for free. It was awesome and we had such a great time! The consensus: California Screamin' rollercoaster was definitely the best ride out of both parks! By the end of the night though, our feet were achey and our heads were pounding! So we tried to get some good sleep for the wedding the next day.

Out of my 13 roommates that I've had at BYU and BYU-Nauvoo over the last three years, Joanna is only the fourth one to get married... I think that low of a percentage is pretty rare at BYU! But I think the problem is that these girls are just too absolutely incredible for any young man right now... haha. But most of my roommates are some of my best friends that I hope to stay in touch with forever. They have influenced me immensely, and I'm so grateful for all that they have taught me!

Final Decision... hopefully

2009-05-26T02:16:00.002+03:00

Well, if everything works out...aka if I can figure out a way to finance everything, I WILL be attending the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies this fall. I will be living in Jerusalem on Mt. Scopus from September 1-December 17. I came to the conclusion that this IS a once in a lifetime opportunity, one that I've dreamt of for years. SO I'm moving to St. George to continue the job search, as I've had ZERO luck at home. But I'm confident that all things will come together and I'll be able to go to Jerusalem!! So wish me luck!!

Pictures of 2008-2009

2009-05-17T07:00:00.003+03:00

I have a very eventful life, so I've posted a bunch of pictures in a slide show below that depict where I've been, what I've done, and who I've been with over the last year. I lived in Petra, Jordan for a couple months while I attended BYU's archaeology field school. Then, I traveled throughout Germany and Italy for a couple weeks with a wonderful friend. I've had amazing roommates the last couple of years... I mean REALLY amazing! :) And my mom got remarried to a man named Bob Donaldson from St. George, Utah. These things provide a context for most of the pictures. But I hope you enjoy seeing what I've been up to!

Major Dilemma... of the good kind.

2009-05-15T17:15:00.004+03:00

Well, I was accepted into the BYU Jerusalem Program for Fall 2009--a once in a lifetime opportunity. You have to be a single, current enrolled undergraduate at BYU, BYU-Idaho, or BYU-Hawaii. So, it's now or never, because I'm only one class away from graduation. Obviously, I would absolutely love to live in the Holy Land for a semester!! But as of now I am completely debt free. This program costs $10, 105. A fee which I definitely don't have. So, it may as well be a million dollars. I will have to take out a loan for the program, which is easier said than done. Though I have no debt, I also have no credit and no equity AND I'm unemployed. So... what in the world to do...

I'll figure it out, and hopefully soon, like by June 12th soon. But mostly, I know that if I am meant to go to Jerusalem then Heavenly Father will help open a way for me to go. So, if you have any suggestions, I will gladly listen!!!

Crumbling

2009-05-09T19:52:00.000+03:00

Well, in my LOADS of free time, I finally crumbled under my sister's persistent requests for me to get a blog. I figured that this is as good a time as any since I'm at a crossroads of decision. I currently have NO idea where I'm going to be for the summer, let alone the fall or anytime after that! I've applied for BYU Jerusalem for fall semester, but I've also considered taking one more semester in Provo to take classes I've always wanted to but have never had time to take. Or there's always the possibility of just graduating in August. But as for now, I'm just taking it one day at a time!

I'm hanging out at home in Indiana with my mom, her new husband Bob, and two of my younger but not so little brothers. I've applied for 40+ jobs around the country doing lots of random things/anything I might be qualified to do... but no such luck so far. So until then, I'm just... here. :)