Field Trip!

Today we had our first field trip!  It was very exciting.  Mostly what we did was go to a bunch of lookout points all around Jerusalem so we could kind of see where everything is.  Also, good news!  One of the guys offered to trade my 4GB card that I can't use for his 2GB (which I can) for the trip.  So I don't have to buy a new one, and I was able to take pictures today!  Hooray.  Once I get a good few together, I think I'll prolly send them on a CD to my dad and then maybe he can upload them.  So, once again, sorry for not having pictures, but remember, patience is a virtue.  Luke 23:19 (too bad Rebecca's not reading this- my sister).  

Anyway, the first place we went to was called Nebi Samwil, and it's a little mosque/synagogue (go figure, huh?)  on top of a hill to the north of Jerusalem where they have a couple of cenotaphs (tombs without a body- one Muslim, one Jewish) commemorating the prophet Samuel (which, is in fact what Nebi Samwil means).  We were also able to look out on Beth-el, which you can read about in Genesis 28, where Jacob sees the stairway to heaven and sees the Lord in vision.  And we sang "Nearer My God To Thee," which talks about that event, in the mosque section, and it had some pretty sweet acoustics.  Apparently we Mormons are pretty famous around here for singing hymns on field trips.

Our next stop was a point overlooking the city, right above Gethsemane.  There were a bunch of merchants there, selling camel rides and giving out free camel kisses.  I got a nice picture of me with Jerusalem in the background.

Next we went to Augusta Victoria, which is  a Lutheran church.  They have the oldest organ in Jerusalem and one of the religion teachers was able to get a key and open it so that his wife could play and we sang with that.  

We had lunch at the Haas Promenade Overlook, which is next to the Mount of Ill Council (which also happens to be the place where the UN built their headquarters in Jerusalem), and overlooks the old City of David area of Jerusalem, so kind of where Jerusalem was in like, the time of David and Solomon and Lehi and pretty much I think up until the Babylonian conquest.  And there were some pretty cute cats up there, too.

  

Last we went to the hilltop next to the Elias Monastery.  We didn't go into the church but it's a pretty neat-looking place and I got a couple good pictures.  From there we could see Bethlehem.  And we could also see the old kabbutz where the BYU students stayed before the Center was built.  :)

So that was our Geography field trip.  Our next one is Egypt, but it's not for a couple weeks.  Personally, I'm just excited to be caught up on the reading for my classes (I just realized that I don't have any more that I really have to get done til like Monday).  Though not excited for the cleaning check tomorrow.  

I still wish I had an infinite supply of clever names/quotes to make my titles, but if I waited for those to come around, I would probably not post as often.  Thank you to everyone who commented!  It made my day.  :)