The Holy Land: I've arrived!

I’m here [finally]! The directors of our program were able to secure seats for each person in our group in over 10 different flight plans. I flew with three other girls from Phoenix to Houston to Frankfurt to Tel Aviv. We left Friday morning, the 2nd, and didn’t arrive here until Saturday, late afternoon. One effect of flying for over a day: cankles. Holy cankles. And my ankles remained swollen for several days afterward. But they’ve returned to their normal circumference, thank goodness. Another effect: my bag being left behind in Frankfurt for 3 days. And yet another effect: airplane conversations with incredibly interesting people. From Phoenix to Houston it was a nameless man with a rather large beard that, without prodding, told me of his heroine, meth, and cocaine addictive past. And then we talked of God for the remainder of the flight. It was wonderful. He lives on Castro street in San Francisco. And then there was Peter on the flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv. He studies spiders, detests Harry Potter, knows The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to be his favorite American movie, and teased me about my American accent. Peter has actually discovered a spider, which he chose to name after David Bowie. He also believes there should be a system of population control in which people are allowed to produce [he was rather fond of the ‘F-Word’ in place of the word produce] for 1 year and that further production should be prohibited for 10 years. And then 1 year of producing again and so forth. His parting words to me were to remember what he said about having children when it comes time for me to marry. But Peter and I were either in saturated philosophical conversation or giggling [in an airplane appropriate manner] for the entire three and a half hour flight. It was wonderful. Needless to say, I hardly slept the entire period of time that I was flying. This, in turn, has made for a sleepy Sam when 8 pm or so rolls around.

But now onto my stay here in the BYU Jerusalem Center! The locals quite fondly refer to it as the ‘Mormon University’. I am blessed to be a part of a program that has an already established respect from the people of Jerusalem. A money changer recently said, “To be Mormon, you must be beloved by God.” It was great. There is even a shop owner in the Old City named Shabon who caters to the LDS students that come here by selling leather scripture cases for quads, as well as BYU Jerusalem shirts. He made a ring for me the other day and gave it to me for free. He is sweet.

What do you say I tell you about my week? Our Sabbath here is actually held on Saturdays instead of Sundays, so all Sabbath observance is moved onto Saturdays. Church is held here in the Center in a room overlooking the city. And then Sundays are free days. On Sunday Brother Ludlow led our small group of new arrivals around both East and West Jerusalem so that we could get a feel of our new home. East Jerusalem, including the Old City, is the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem. The West is the Jewish quarter and much more metropolitan than the East. And because of this, we are not to be in the Old City [the East] after dark. Monday was our first field trip, in which we visited several overlooks. The first was the Augusta Victoria Tower. [After climbing a gazillion stairs] it is a 360-degree vista of Jerusalem and Judea. It sits on the highest point of the Mount of Olives and from it can be seen: the Judean Wilderness [the area of Christ’s 40 day fast], the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea [the lowest spot on earth], the Jordanian Plateau, the Russian orthodox Church of the Ascension, the towns of Bethphage, Ephraim, and Bethany, Herodian [Herod’s volcano shaped fortress], the hills of Bethlehem, the Kidron Valley, and Heram al-Sharif with the Dome of the Rock. And I could go on. From the Seven Arches overlook: Mt. Moriah [the site of Solomon’s, Zerubbabel’s, and Herod’s Temple], and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. From Haas Promenade overlook: The Garden of Gethsemane [marked by the Roman Catholic Church of All Nations and the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene], the City of David, the Dormition Abbey [near the probably site of the Last Supper], and a portion of the aqueduct that ran anciently from Hebron to Solomon’s Pools. Elias Monastery: overlooking the valley separating Jerusalem from Bethlehem, the cone of Herodion [a fortress built in the Judean Wilderness by Herod the Great], and Rachel’s tomb. The views were mediocre. Kidding. IT WAS PHENOMENAL. It is a beautiful concept that so much history, and sacred history at that, can be contained in such a small circumference.

Aside from the field trip, the remainder of the week has been filled with both classes and trips to the Old City. The classes that I’m taking are Modern Near East: Palestine, Modern Near East: Judaism, Old Testament, New Testament, Ancient Near East, and Arabic. Each class is both spiritually and mentally enlightening, a tad dense at times, but interesting nonetheless. The workload is far more intensive, reading wise, than I expected. I mean, who can be expected to read over a hundred pages a night when one lives in the heart of Eastern Jerusalem? No one, that’s who.

I have made a conscious effort to leave the Center and walk to the city whenever possible. The only draw back of this is the terrain. Holy hills. It’s uphill then a little downhill, and then a lot uphill. But the richness of the city makes for a distraction. I don’t think I will ever tire of the smells, the beauty of the people, the playfulness of the children, the cat calls of the Israeli and Arab men, and even the shouts of “50 shekels!” as a shop owner watches me turn my back on a purchase. The sites that I’ve most enjoyed within the Old City have been the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Pools of Bethesda. The Church contains the supposed slab where Christ was lain, the garden tomb, the site of the cross, and stone of Golgotha. The Pools of Bethesda, Bethesda meaning house of mercy or house of grace, is the location of Christ’s healing of a man who had been invalid for 38 years [“Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up they bed, and walk.” John 5:8]. In the church on site, St. Anne’s Basilica, my friends and I sang hymns to our God. I brought with me a miniature hymn book and have been writing the location and date at the bottom of the page whenever I sing a hymn out in the city. I was moved by those gathered around us, people of different language, of various Christian sects, but all sharing in the same love of our Lord and Savior. People who had traveled long distances to walk where Jesus Christ has walked and to share in the wonderful ministry we call His life. People who have made Jesus Christ their life. People celebrating His healing through worship. And we used our voices. It was an experience that I hold close to my heart.

The city is beautiful. The kind of beautiful that makes my eyes well with tears. The view from my room looks onto The Dome of the Rock for crying out loud. The supposed location of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac, the temple mound from the Biblical era, the Jewish site of the Holy of Holies. How could this city not capture a person?

Sarah, me, Cortney, and Katie in Phoenix. Look at the cactus.

The probable road that Christ walked with His cross.

Maybe I'm obsessed with the doors in the Old City, maybe I'm not.

A woman at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

You see that building to the upper left with all the arches? That's where I live now.

The gold is the Dome of the Rock. Not a bad view, eh?


The church to the left is built on the site where Peter denied the Christ. That is seen quite a bit here in Israel, structures that are built on top of other structures, especially with sacred sites. The people didn't want to remove a sacred building, so they build another on top of the existing building. In order to see a structure from the time of Christ, you must go beneath ground level. Then you will be at what was once the ground level of Christ.