Shalom!

Not too much new here in Jerusalem. It's sometimes still a surprise that I'm here. We're closed off enough from the city that it almost feels like we're just at a really cool BYU campus (which we are) but then I go outside of the center and I walk down the hill with cars whizzing by and honking at us and I remember that I'm in one of the most historical cities in the world.

Today I went to the Pools of Bethesda- just a 20 minute walk from the center- and walked around the church and ruins there. The church had amazing acoustics so we started singing "How Great Thou Art". A group of people came into the chapel as we were starting to sing and they started singing as well- at first we thought they were singing a different song but the group leader came up to us and asked us to continue to sing. It turns out that they were a group from Germany and knew the same hymn and were singing it with us in German. It was really an amazing experience- a gathering of believers of Christ. I'm pretty sure they were of another Christian faith but we were gathered together singing for the same purpose. I have to believe that God appreciates the purpose- I know that I definitely felt the spirit more singing in that church than maybe any other experience I have had on this trip so far.

We continue to have classes- so far Hebrew is my favorite- and the easiest. There might be some connection there. I feel like I learn more in Hebrew than I have in my other classes so far though learning a language is more measurable. The way we're being taught is learning a handful of letters a day and the sounds that they make. Then we learn a vowel. Then we put them together to spell words but the words sound out as English words instead of Hebrew words. It makes it all a little more manageable. So far I know about 8 letters and 3 vowels. We are also taught "expressions" or common phrases everyday and how to use them. For example: Shalom! Ma neeshma? is like Hey! What's up? In response you would say Be'seder which means not much.

Anyway that's my day. Don't hesitate to email me- you can ask questions or just talk to me- I seriously won't mind and I definitely will have time. We're only allowed in West Jerusalem after dark and that's a taxi ride away so I don't really go out after dark.