catch up time!

So my last post left off with the promise of a field trip to the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall. We went as a group of students as people were welcoming the shabbat. We went to the wall and touched it and watched the Jews pray and dance and sing to bring in the joyous day of the shabbat. It is incredible to see how devoted these people are to God and I can say with complete confidence that the love of God and His spirit is at the Western Wall and is with these people. I think I will leave that experience at that though. The dancing and singing was very fun though. The men's side definitely had way more fun that the women's side though- they were picking each other up and just having a jolly time dancing while on the women's side we were in a circle being lead in mainly prayer/songs and a little bit of dancing in a circle.

On Shabbat we had district conference which was very interesting. There were so many people from all over Israel there- we had to have translators for some Russian and Spanish speaking members. Luckily we had both Spanish and Russian speakers in our group of 82 students- definitely one of those “only at BYU” moments. After the conference a group of us went to the Garden of Gethsemane which was really amazing. They have a private area that they let us into- I think it’s mainly used for a less touristy and more sacred groups.

On a completely different note I would just like to say that I love the people here! There are so many kind people here that make being a student here so much more fun. We constantly have people saying “hello, welcome to Jerusalem” or saying “Mormons welcome here- good prices for Mormons”. We constantly get groups of men talking to us- saying things like “Mormons good girls, nice girls” or saying we’re very beautiful, stuff like that. It took a little getting used to- at first it comes off as kind of creepy because it’s very culturally different than what we’re used to but as long as we’re smart and aware there’s no harm in talking to the people here. And really isn’t that how it is everywhere?

Today (Sunday) a bunch of the students went to Tel Aviv but I decided to stick around the Old City. After doing a bit of reading for school we went and did the Rampart walk which is basically a walk on top of the Old City walls. After the walk we walked around the market and had a small adventure getting to Shabban’s shop making a small detour to the Jewish Quarter. Shabban is the sweetest man maybe of all time. He caters to us Mormons very well- he even has Relief Society magnets and scripture cases. He’s been making all of the girls here rings so I got a ring from him today along with a few other knick knacks. Basically today was just an adventure around the city. We all came home tired but very pleased with our day.

Tomorrow is another field trip- this time to Jericho!

Here's some pictures!

At the Pools of Bethesda

The entrance to the Garden of Gethsemane

Jumping on the Wall of the Damascus Gate

Rampart Walk

Not entirely sure what these purple vegetables are but here's the conversation that occurerd whilst this picture was being taken:

me: I need a picture of this

random man: you need more than a picture you need a taste

me: I don't think so, that color has never entered my body before *run away*

**That conversation was mainly for my family and those of you who truly understand my "fear" of colored food**