the last melon!!

jerusalem..... if i forget you!!!

.... one month left....

i feel like the do-do birds on ice age... they started out with three melons to survive the upcoming apocalypse. i started here with about three months in jerusalem...just as two of their melons slipped away, so have two months slipped away, right out of my fingers... i don't know where they've gone, but as i look i realize i have only a month left. now all i have to say is "the last melon!!" each day is going to be spent well. each minute is going to be cherished, and every opportunity is going to be taken advantage of!

but these last few months have been so spectacular. 

adventure after adventure :) oh if life could always be so wonderful!

but i will try my best!

update time, eh? 

ein kereim

cutest lil' city just outside jeru. where zaccharias and elizabeth lived, where mary visited elizabeth (the magnificat canticle in luke), and where john the baptist was born. 

this picture is of "mary's spring," where mary would have gotten a drink when she visited elizabeth.

tile floor at the church of the visitation... gorgeous!

where mary said "the magnificat"

"my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid..." (see luke 1:46-55)










the roman baths at the herodian (one of herod the great's palaces)...nothing like a lil' bath to clean off the jeru smell...

i do believe rachel could be on a pantene pro-v commercial, don't you?

bethlehem. 

"and Joseph also went...unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child."

the church of the nativity, where many christians believe the baby Jesus was born.

the altar of the nativity.

the "manger" or stone where the Jesus may have been laid.

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

shepherd's field (one of three "shepherd's fields" in the bethlehem area).  yes we are shepherds and their sheep... i don't know that i'm that fond of being a sheep!

"and there were in the same country shepherd abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them... and the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

bethelehem definitely made the top of my charts... there are few more powerful ways to celebrate the work of our savior than through remembering his miraculous birth. somewhere in that city, jesus the christ was born. it's as true now as it was two thousand years ago. it was also refreshing to celebrate christmas in july with a few christmas hymns. what a great day :)

but back to jerusalem.... to explore the old city??? it's crunch time!! 

smurfs. arabic smurfs!!

oh the art in east jeru....

view from the window of dominus flevit... the cross stands directly over the church of the holy seplechre (where most christians believe christ was crucified and buried) --the blue domes right above the left side of the cross.

painting a mural at the princess bosma school.... jc service at its finest!

walking up the steps to the temple...many are the same steps jesus would have walked. this is one of the few excavated areas that goes all the way down to the time of christ...

there's something so tangible about truly walking where jesus walked!

the orson hyde door...

in the 18th and 19th centuries travellers would come to this hostel and stay the night, and many would carve their names into the door. when orson hyde came to this land in 1841, it was believed he stayed here...and he may have possibly carved his name into the door.

see the "HYDE" written there towards the bottom??

"Now, O Lord! Thy servant has been obedient to the heavenly vision which Thou gavest him in his native land; and under the shadow of Thine outstretched arm, he has safely arrived in this place to dedicate and consecrate this land unto Thee, for the gathering together of Judah's scattered remnants, according to the predictions of the holy Prophets -- for the building up of Jerusalem again after it has been trodden down by the Gentiles so long, and for rearing a Temple in honor of Thy name."  

Orson Hyde's Dedicatory Prayer on the Mount of Olives

megan and i are actually jungle explorers... 

the top of the lutheran church of the redeemer!
what a view of jerusalem!

a wee bit squished... good thing we love each other :)

TWINNERS!!!

hannah and i decided to match today. exactly. ;)

a young boy worshipping inside the hurva synangogue in the jewish quarter

i can feel the time floating away....gahhhh! it's unbelievable to me how the time has flown. 

galilee in only four days!! 

luckily, my amazing home teachers taught me the perfect lesson...

live life "always in the middle" (thank you president uchtdorf!)

"Yes, there will be moments of beginnings and moments of endings throughout our lives, but these are only markers along the way of the great middle of our eternal lives. Whether we are at the beginning or the end, whether we are young or old, the Lord can use us for His purposes if we simply set aside whatever thoughts limit our ability to serve and allow His will to shape our lives." 

thanks ian, and thanks for the superhero pj pants... ;)