Edmonton Weekend

Every fall I take a weekend trip to Edmonton to visit my friend Rachel. It was a great weekend, but also a little bittersweet because it is the last Edmonton trip I will make for a few years as Rachel is leaving to serve a mission in Finland in January.

It was such a good trip. On Friday I drove out to Red Deer to spend the night and Jessie's house and then Saturday morning we drove to Edmonton. Since Jessie leave on her mission to Vancouver in a few days it was great to have so much time in the car just to talk about life. In Edmonton we went to West Edmonton Mall and rode the roller coaster that is inside of the mall. I consider myself to be a roller coaster person (is there such a thing?) so it was a real treat to get to go on it. We also went to the Relief Society broadcast, and loved it. We ended off our perfect Saturday at Dairy Queen where we stuffed ourselves full of ice cream.

 1. In front of the pirate ship

2. Me and Rachel in Galaxyland

3. Jessie and Rachel in Galaxyland

4. Tickets to ride the roller coaster

5. The 'Mind Bender' it was seriously so fun

6. The best photo of the weekend

7. A nice man offered to take a photo of all three of us

My only complaint for the weekend was that it went by way too fast. I loved see both Rachel and Jessie and I know that they are both going to be wonderful missionaries. We'll have to have another Edmonton weekend in two years when they are both home.

Day 100

I have lived in Israel for 100 days 

I've learned more than I could possibly imagine in those 100 days

I've studied the scriptures

Traveled to new places

Walked where Jesus walked

Made friends who feel like family

Thanks for teaching me so much Israel

Bethlehem

A few weeks ago we look a field trip to Bethlehem!

It made me a little homesick being in Bethleham. I wanted my family to be there with me so badly. I have such good memories my Christmas with my family that it seemed strange not to celebrate Christmas in July with them in Bethlehem. {How do you guys feel about going to Israel for our next family vacation?}

Every Christmas Eve my family has a bundled into our warmest clothes and made our way to Heritage Park to watch the Nativity Pagent. I remeber as a child being totally mesmerized by the pagent, especially the angels who proclaim the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds. Even though I feel like I'm too old to be excited about the Nativity Pagent I still look forward to going on Christmas Eve, and spend most of the day waiting for evening to come so we can go. 

Bethlehem was not the Nativity Pagent that I have watched every Christmas. It is a town filled with tour buses, and gift shops, and old cars. It was also incredibly charming. When we were standing in Manger Square waiting  for our tour guide to come and take us into the Church of the Nativity our teacher told us about what the Square was like on Christmas Eve. He said that it was so filled with people it was nearly impossible to move. I love the idea of Christians from all around the world gathered in Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Christ.

The Stars & Bucks Cafe

In church of the nativity was so crowded. Being in large crowds makes me feel super anxious, and being in Israel where the sun in very hot it takes the B.O factor of people to an entirely new level so in between some slow deep breaths I took lots of pictures to distract myself.

Me and Amy at the 12 ponied gold star that marks the place where Jesus was born and other scenes from the Church of the Nativity.

My fame also continued in Bethlehem.

Fun Fact: Everything here is covered in sesame seeds

Awkward Photos: Round Two

I've taken nearly 2,000 pictures in the last 3 and a half months so it is to be expected that some turned out funny. 

Pre-enacting Armageddon

 I thought it would be really cool if we took a Ray Ban photo, but it was really windy and I was wearing a shirt that is too big so I look fat and not cool. 

Me being a Political Science nerd at the Knesset.

Enough Said

Everyone else at the restaurant had ordered fish and took pictures kissing their fish. So naturally I had to take a picture kissing my pizza.

Where Have I Been?

Besides hiding out in the Byzantine hermit's cell at Masada I've been:

-Recovering from our 10 day trip to Galilee. It was a spiritual feast and an absolute blast. 

-Studying for finals. The finish line is so close!

-Dealing with a serious case of JC LDS (Jerusalem Center Last Days Syndrome) It's a real condition . 

Tomb of the Prophets

Looking for a quick adventure we walked over to the Tomb of the Prophets today. We opted to use candles as our light source and then look photos in the eerie candlelight.

I have just under a month left in Jerusalem. I can't believe it's almost over, I feel like I just got here yesterday!

Jordan Highlights

A few weeks ago we went to Jordan for a few days. Although it was dreadfully hot I still had a great time!

 A beautiful sunset on our first day 

The worst shower ever. Not only was the entire bathroom drenched when I was done, it lost water pressure right when I was shampooing my hair and turned off. Thankfully it came back on and I was able to rise the shampoo out of my hair.

Visiting the coolest place on Earth-Petra and riding a camel while there.

The city of Amman. It was almost like being back in North America

 In Amman the hotel folded my towel into a swan. I have to tell you guys about how crazy our hotel room was. We had the penthouse and it was huge! It had 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathrooms, living room, dinging room, and kitchen. All of this was wonderful except the air conditioning only worked in one room and the rest of the suit was uncomfortably hot. We called the front desk multiple times asking them to send someone to repair the air conditioner. We all felt relieved when someone knocked at our door and we rushed to answer it, but we were disappointed to find that it was only a hotel staff asking if we needed more towels. A few minutes later there was another knock at the door, this time was different another hotel staff bringing us more towels that we didn't need. At this point I decided that it was time for me to call the front desk. I called and kindly explained that our air conditioner was broken and the we had only been sent towels. I thought everything was going great until I relized that I had been hung up-on. 

The Jordan River. It was boiling hot there, but it was an awesome experience to stand on the shore of the river where Christ was baptized.