Egypt!!!

Day 1
While traveling to the Egypt/Israeli border, we made many stops. Our first stop was Tel Beersheba. This is where Abraham dug his well and affirmed it by covenant, left here to offer Isaac on Mt. Moriah, and where Jacob spoke with God. A four horned altar is also found here, one that was condemned later because it was Pagan. There is so much history at Tel Beersheba- we stood where Abraham once was! We also got to go down into the well and cistern that are still there. Here are scripture references if you want to look up more about Tel Beersheba: Genesis 21:25-34, 2:1-3, 28:10, 46:1-7, Joshua 19:2, 1 Kings 4:25, 2 Kings 18:22, 23:8, Amos 5:5, 8:14.
Then we stopped at Sede Boker which is a lookout of the wilderness of Zin. This is where Moses sent spies out to scout the land of Canaan during the exodus of the children of Israel. While all the other spies came back scared of the "giants" they saw, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to come back faithful to the Lord and believing that he would help and protect them, I love their example. Check out Gen 14:7, Deut 1:46, Numbers 13:1-24, Numbers 13:25-33, 14, 27:14, and Deut 32: 48-52 for more about the wilderness of Zin.
After the wilderness overlook we stopped by Avdat. Avdat functioned as a way-station between Petra, Eliat, Egpyt, and Gaza. Spices from Arabia and pottery were traded along this route. It was later taken over by the Romans who built a citadel, churches, and a monastery here. It was so fun to explore around it and the caves underneath- we had way too much fun taking pictures while we were there.
That night we stayed at Kibbutz Eilot where we enjoyed using the tap water to brush out teeth for the last time before going to Egypt. We took a tour around the Kibbutz and learned about their communal lifestyle. Living at a Kibbutz is like living a life size group project, they all have different jobs to help run the community while sharing cars, living in one big neighborhood and sharing a large kitchen.

Day 2-8 soon to come!


Group shot on top of Mt. Sinai



Karyn, Katie, me, Jenna on top Mt. Sinai at sunrise


One of the security cars that followed our bus as we traveled through the desert.


Muhammad Ali Mosque



Bethany and I on top of Mt. Sinai


Sunrise at 5:45 a.m. Mt. Sinai


Church built over the crypt where Mary, Joseph and Christ lived when they fled to Egypt.


The Nile, the view right in front of our hotel in Luxor.


Felucca ride on the Nile to our camel safari.


Temple of Queen Hatshepsut


Becca, Raven, me, Jenna and Emily in the Muhammad Ali Mosque


Jenna and I jumping off into the Red Sea after climbing Mt. Sinai! We all had SO much fun swimming around- it was nice to remember that it actually is summer time and to give our legs some sun! Saudi Arabia is what you see in the distance.


Raven, me, Jenna and Emily in the middle of the Muhammad Ali mosque. This was our sandal pic- you can't wear your shoes inside the mosque.


Sunrise on top of Mt. Sinai- most incredible thing ever!



Jenna, me, Emily, Andy, Lisa- our group huddled together on top of Mt. Sinai- so cold!


Mountain where Moses stood to raise his staff while Joshua fought Amalek. We stopped here on our way to Mt. Sinai, following the Exodus of the children of Israel.



Kristen and I outside the church of the crypt where the Holy family lived while in Egypt.


Me, Sydney, Kristi with our matching t-shirts at the Hard Rock Cafe- Cairo.


Sydney and I on our over night train ride!


Some of the workers at the Karnak temple, all of the men in Egypt wear galabias still.


Me, Brent, Lisa- Karnak temple


Karnak temple


All of the camels before our camel safarri.


Me, Bethany, Alise, Rachel, Erin, Monica, Annie


Me and Rachel in front of pit tomb 33 where the papyrus came from where Joseph Smith got the facsimiles in the Pearl of Great Price.


Temple of Queen Hatchepsut


King Tut's tomb! It was my favorite of all of the tombs at the valley of the kings


Me and Steph-statue of Ramses II


Kristen, Megan, Emily, Karyn, me at the Sphinx


Pyramid over look



Karyn, me, Monica, Mary Kate





At the sound and light show at the pyramids



Our first look at the pyramids- they pop out of the city out of no where!


Baptismal font used during the time of the crusaders- Avdat


Me and Andy- Avdat


Katie, me, James, Hannah- Avdat


Tel Beesheba: Hannah, James, Bethany, me, Tyler, Katie, Alyssa



me, Mary Kate and Mary Lu in front of the four horned altar at Beersheba



Going down into the cistern at Tel Beersheba




Monica, Jenna, me in front of the Muhammad Ali Mosque



me and Jenna in fron to of the Luxor temple



Felucca ride down the Nile


Jenna, me, Rachel, Steph



Camel Safarri



one of our camels

Egypt Days 2-8

Our education here at the Jerusalem Center

While we are here, we are taking courses in the History of Judaism and Islam (both from native teachers), Near Eastern Studies, Old and New Testament and Arabic or Hebrew (I’m taking Arabic). The classes are hard with lots of course work and reading, but we’re learning a ton. Along with our classes, we have forums each week. Our forum last week was given by Stewart Tuttle, a spokesman fro the Tel Aviv U.S. Embassy at the U.S. Department of State (Many of the members here are working for the U.S. Embassy or consulate). He taught us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, why it still continues and what is stopping it from resolving. It was so good to hear about this at the beginning of our stay here so that we can learn more and be more aware of it. It was so informative and I finally understand a bit about what is going on in this country (still SO much to learn about it).
We also had an excellent presentation on the Dead Sea Scrolls given by one of our professors, Andrew Skinner, who has actually worked on the scrolls! (We’ll be going to see the scrolls on one of our free days). We are so blessed to have some of the top scholars in the Near Eastern Studies field teaching us here at the Jerusalem Center. (They are like walking encyclopedias whenever we go on a field trip or walk around the city). Governor John Huntsman and the Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff had dinner with us and gave the forum tonight– awesome!. I’ll have updates on that and our trip yesterday to Jericho/Mt of Temptation/ Herod’s Palace by the end of the week.

At the sign on Mt. Scopus, coming back from a free day.

Pope in Jerusalem

The Pope is staying next door to us, so there is security like crazy all around here (our security here at the center has been preping us for this since there are 5 times as many guards around with big guns now). A few of us had lunch with one of his security personnel today, pretty cool. There were blockades all around the city and we have a security blimp hovering over this area as well as one where ever he is at and of course a helicopter. He was at the Dome of the Rock, the Wall, and mass today. He'll be in Bethlehem tomorrow. We probably won't have any chance of seeing him this week, but we definitely see the affects of him being here. Kinda cool to think he's just across the street! Maybe we'll catch a glimpse of him sometime this week....



The Pope's security at our front gate. (Couldn't exactly ask them to smile from the camera, so we had to take pictures from further away.)



The security blimp hovering above where he is staying, so it's just above us too.

Western Wall and the Garden Tomb

This week has been incredible! We started off the week with a geography field trip visiting the Augusta Victoria Tower, Elias Monastery, Nebi Samwill and other overlooks of places surrounding Jerusalem. At the overlooks we could see the Mt. of Olives, Kidron Valley, City of David and Mt. Moriah (where the First and Second temples were built, where the Dome of the Rock now sits). The Elias Monastery overlooks Bethlehem and just behind it is where the 6 Day War took place- we stood at the bunkers and trenches for our lesson- a little overwhelming to think about. From the look out at Nabi Samwil (Nabi is Hebrew for Prophet, Samwil- Samuel) we could see the Benjamin Plateau where 70% of the Old Testament took place. This overlook also held the cenotaph for the prophet Samuel and a synagogue as well. It was a great field trip to get a good overview of the locations of everything. So throughout this week our teacher was able to just point at a map or look outside and we would know where the event took place that we were studying that day. It has been so fun to go on the balcony of the Jerusalem Center while studying the Old Testament to help place everything in my mind- when will I get to do that ever again?!?
With all us girls dressed with clothing to the wrists and ankles and our boys with Kippas on, we were able to witness the Jewish welcoming of Shabbat (the Sabbath) at the Western Wall. The men and women were separated by a perpendicular wall. It was so moving to watch them reading the Tora out loud and rocking back and forth toward the wall. On the men’s side, they also sang and danced in circles to welcome Shabbat. They worship at the wall because it is the closest they can get to where the Holy of Holies was before the temple was destroyed. They don’t even have a temple there but yet they worship there each week, many every day. Many of us felt the spirit there as we witnessed their dedication to God and their religion. It made me reflect my temple attendance and ponder about my dedication to the Lord. They regard this site so holy that when they are done praying at the wall, they walk back wards so that they never turn their back toward it. What an experience it was to witness this.




After sun set we couldn't use our cameras at the wall because Shabbat had started, so this is our picture shot just outside the wall with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

The crowning experience of the week was visiting the Garden Tomb. Not only were the surroundings a gorgeous garden, but it was the most peaceful place we’ve encountered so far, and probably will remain the most peaceful of our trip. The garden is in the middle of the city and neighborhood just outside the Old City walls. It was incredible to me how amazingly quiet and tranquil the atmosphere was for its’ surroundings, like we had entered onto temple grounds. We had a guided tour of the garden which ended at the tomb. I felt the spirit very strongly as our guide (a Christian pastor from England) bore his testimony that our Savior was resurrected and rose on the third day and that this was where it had taken place. Our group gathered after going through the tomb to sing hymns about Jesus Christ and we all took time to write in our journals while we were there. I’m excited to go back and spend more Sunday afternoons there.



Going into the Tomb



The director, Brother Brown told us that when he accompanied President Hinckley to the Garden Tomb, he (Pres. Hinckley) stopped in front of this sign and said, "I do!". So do I.