Ketchup.

Despite what the title may suggest this post has nothing to do at all with a delicious Tomato based condiment.  It is merely the way that some people would say the words "catch up" if they were to say it too quickly and squash them together accidentally.  What this post is really going to entail is a bunch of pictures with little to no description... as it would take a full novel in order to inform you as to all of the amazing things that I have done or seen in the past week and a half.  Most of these are from Galilee and I will try to offer as much information as I have time to describe.  So in the words of Mario..."Here we gooooo!"

On our journey up north we made a few stops, the first one was at a place called Bet-Shean, its one of the ancient Decapolis cities where Christ would have come.  Its a bunch of ancient Roman ruins now, but those are always great to take pics of us using ancient latrines.

Everyone loves a good dance on an ancient roman stage.

This is taken from Mt. Arbel on the west side of the Kinneret.  From here you can see the shores of Magdala (where a certain Mary was from).  Tiberius is behind that rock.

Tiberius at sunset from Ein Gev.

Cam, Cory and Me on the Sea of Galilee

Just a cool shot I took.  That cliff is Mt. Arbel, its so beautiful.

Me at the Synagogue in Capernaum, Christ surely taught here.  

Me and BJ at the Mt. of Beatitudes.

Gamla.  Quite possibly the coolest place on earth.  We hike out to that mountain tip, this is one of the few mountain top cities that is visible from the area that Christ gave His "a city set on a hill" talk.  Since He usually spoke of things within eyesight, this is possibly the mountain He was looking at.

Me and Sabrina on our hikes.

This was on a random hike to this waterfall, it was optional, as was clothing.   JK.

I had to throw these random shots in to prove to my family that I submerged my head underwater.

Denise, me and Jeni after our waterfall hike.

Me and Kaitlyn from the balcony at the Tiberius branch.

The Jordan River.

Walking on the Sea of Galilee.

Caesarea Philippi 

Cool waterfalls, the water gushing from the rock, heading to the Jordan River.

Nimrods Castle

We got into a valiant fighting mood.  

The fights became more and more epic til eventually 'magical' was the only description worthy.

Acco

Even Bro. Muhlestein got into the fighting mood.

My bladder broke in Acco.
(I bought a Israeli Parks Authority Camelbak, and it was leaking...Cory and Jen fixed me all up though.)

At the Mediterranean Sea at Acco with Kels.

Mark and I jumping of a Roman aqueduct.

In summary:  I think I've found a new love.... I love Galilee (and Britt too).


Oh Galilee, Sweet Galilee, Where Jesus loved so much to be.

f-r-i-e-n-d-s

There are times in everyone's lives when you must part ways with precious things within your life.  Things that have been with you for years.  Things that make you laugh, cry and put you to bed at night.  Things that will always be there for you.  When the rain starts to pour.  Well, when I left for Jerusalem, I was sure that I was going to be giving up my friends for what seemed like forever.  I saved a couple episodes to my computer so that I could have them with me in dire situations, but it still wasn't going to be the same.  I remember going to bed to the sound of silence, instead of laugh tracks and Jennifer Aniston.  Weird.  But then along came a real friend who had thought ahead (spirit prompting?) and brought all 10 seasons.  Can you say knight-ess in shining armour?  This is a public thank you to Stacey, who lets me borrow her friends so that I can keep my friends with me like they've been there before.

Yeah, you're seeing this right.  A legit friends kippa.  Its like the Jews knew I was coming.

Learning Israeli Folk Dancing

This was from a while back when we had a teacher come

in and teach us Israeli folk dancing.  I'll teach you when I get home if you want.

BYU v. SDSU

This is a day and moment you should all remember.  

This is when we were able to catch the BYU SDSU game LIVE.

Oh and we won.

Wood that came from an olive tree...

It is almost a known fact that everyone that comes to Jerusalem has to buy some type of olive wood statue. Especially mormons, and especially BYU Jerusalem students.  So I would like to introduce you to Omar.  One of two 'carvers' who cater specifically to Mormons and BYU students.  This guy is like a legend, he's met more General Authorities than I have.  The carvings he has are beautiful, and the guy is pretty fun.  But having said that, the guy is a merchant and does like to make money, I feel like he generally gives good deals, but you know...he has to make a profit some how.  Oh and he has a University of Utah flag, ugh.

For humanity.

Not everyone was in a giving mood, so
they made lei's for our Hawaiian night.

Signing up to give life.

So, we at the JC like to consider ourselves as charitable.  So much so that we have a whole committee on all things humanitarian.  There is always a humanitarian activity going on.  Every other week we put together humanitarian kits with towels, soap, toothpaste and brushes, combs etc... Another project that has been worked on is a mural at a hospital/rehabilitation center/school just up the road from the center.  There is singing at a retirement home in the old city, and we're starting to teach English at a pre-school.  This is all great fun, and we all really enjoy doing it...BUT...every once in a while an activity comes up that doesn't necessarily appeal to me as much as the others.  This past week was once such occasion.  This group of women showed up in our gym and just started sucking the blood out of everyone.  Peer pressure got to me and this woman jabbed my finger causing blood to spurt out of my favorite index finger of all time.  The blood got all over my paperwork, and then they yanked me on to a bed and jabbed a giant needle into my arm and sucked out a pint of my precious blood.  So it may not have happened quite like that, but it was still painful and creepy, but whatever, its over.. and if my blood saves someone, I can literally say I gave my blood on the mount of olives to save someone else.  Blasphemous?  Yeah, probably.

I feel like I needed the most support.
Luckily Bez and Dr. Christine were
there for me.

Yeah, it was a blood bath.

Support and love was flowing
throughout the room.

                   

The sweet treats for the donors.

Mark and Me happy to be giving.

The blood was flowing.

Painting and Hygiene for humanity...

Workin our tails off

Cory, Lauren and Lawrence showing off the finished product.

Alexia, ready to be shipped off.

Oh, and we like to dance after we serve.  Or stand there in a power stance.

Madi and me gettin our paint on...the walls of course.

I was put in time out for being bad I guess.

What is a painting activity without getting some on your face first. 

Umm, this is Cor washing his paintbrushes.

Our progress so far.

Talent Show

This was my performance at the talent show back in February.   

Gone fishing...where fishermen became fishers of men.

Dear friends, family and foes (if I even have any that read this).  I would just like to inform you that I will be out of town for the next ten days.  I will be relaxing and playing and sight seeing in Northern Israel, on the beachfront of a little lake.  Maybe you've heard of it, it's called Galilee.  Anyways, as internet will not be accessible I have pre-written and pre-made a few posts to keep my faithful readers tuned-in and happy.  So they will be random and incongruous with what is actually happening in my life at the time, but I feel like they should all give you better insight as to what I have been up to the past few weeks.

I hope you have an awesome week in the snow capped mountains or where ever you are.  I'll be on the beach.

Anopol out.

Introducing Mr. Random

So this video has absolutely nothing to do with me or anything recent other than the fact that I love these girls.  This was on our train from Luxor to Cairo, and this attendant man came in and surprised these girls while they were making a video.  Umm, just look at his face... its so funny!  Thanks Jeni and Kels for letting me put this up.

Tidings of great joy...

Racquel and Me outside the ancient
swimming pool.

The top fortress area of the Herodian.

On Monday our field trips took us all into the West Bank once again, this time to a little place most of you probably have heard of.  Bethlehem.  The field trip actually started outside of Bethlehem proper at a place called the Herodian.  This is the ancient palace of King Herod, Herod was a builder, he had residences in Jericho, Jerusalem and here.  I can’t even imagine how huge and how amazing this place must have been.  We spent a lot of time at bathhouse and a giant pool that has a large “pleasure island” as Bro. Muhlestein called it.  After spending some time there we made our way up the pyramid shaped mountain where Herods fortress and mausoleum was located.

Me and Sarah

The group of students who came to
talk to us, and Professor Musallam.

Once we were in Bethlehem our first stop was at Bethlehem University where our Islam/ Palestinian class professor, Adnan, teaches.  We took a quick tour of the chapel there and then went to a room to watch a movie on the university and have a Q and A with some of his students.  This was one of my favorite parts of the day was just talking to Palestinian students, learning about their lives, school, work, play, ambitions, fears etc...  Bethlehem is an interesting place, it is completely surrounded by a giant separation wall.  Israeli’s are not allowed in, and Palestinians need special passes and permits in order to get out, there are big gates where permits are presented and cars/ busses can be searched.  This all was a result of the latest intifada, it is a hinderance to many, including these students.  After the formal Q&A we got to just go out and talk with some other students, Sarah was the first girl I met, she’s really cool.  She is Muslim, speaks English perfectly which she learned from American movies (mainly Fightclub).  She studies English literature and has hopes of studying in America for her masters degree.  All in all this was a really interesting, and fun portion of our Bethlehem field trip.

Merry Christmas.

When we had finished at Bethlehem University we went to lunch at the famous Shepherds Tent Restaurant.  Umm, let me just say...best lunch ever.  Best feature was certainly a plate of red sauce,  when I tasted it I was thrilled beyond belief.  SALSA!

The Church of the Nativity
oldest functioning church
on Earth.

Whitney and me at the place were Christ was born.

After lunch we made our way to the main attraction.  Manger Square.  Musallam took us on a quick walking tour of the city which ended in the giant plaza outside the Church of the Nativity.  Each Christmas Eve thousands of people fill this square to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  Lets be honest though, I didn’t come to Bethlehem to see the square, I came to see the grotto.  The grotto is in the basement, underneath the church.  We had to wait in a short line full of pushy Europeans who kept trying to get in front of our group.  Anyways, we made our way down the 14 steps to the small cave where tradition says is the birthplace of Jesus.  Again, there isn’t any actual proof that this is the place, but the tradition has been in place for so long and it fits the story perfectly so its generally accepted as pilgrims and scholars alike.  The church is divided between three main groups.  So after our time in the Orthodox part we went over to the Catholic church and sang a few Christmas hymns.  Underneath this part is the tomb of St. Jerome, the guy who translated the Hebrew bible into Latin.

The highlight was definitely our devotional and testimony meeting that we had in the shepherds fields outside of Bethlehem.  I love Christmas so much and prepared myself by listening to my favorite Christmas song and what is affectionately known to Nate and Bryce as “the note”.   Lets just sum it up by saying, God Bless us Everyone…and don’t call me Shirley.

Well, its close enough.

The Palestinian side of the separation wall.