Jerusalem part IV

Preface:  I have so many technical issues trying to make a simple blog post that it takes hours. Literally. So forgive my spelling etc. and the pictures are pictures off the computer. Best I can do in the four hour upload time frame?!!?!!  Swear words!  I'll fix it when I'm back on my Mac!)

The city and all that she is continues to sink in.  It's a long time to be away.  (I think I may be killing my poor husband softly) but there really is no substitute for experience.  Time has a way of working on us.  That being said, the longer I'm here, the more I come to understand things more intrinsically. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to study here under such wonderful people. For instance, I was able to have a lecture and tour from Gabby Barkay--one of 6 archaeologists in the world to get the Israel archaeology award. He is also attributed with finding the silver amulet containing the priestly blessing that is the oldest known proof of the bible.

Pee bandit update:  turns out there are MANY pee bandits in the city in addition to the raging one whom I dorm with.   My quandary continues.  I guess the final stage left for me is resignation.  I will also refrain from detailing the dark whiskers left in the sink and on the soap each morning--I use my own anti-bac more religiously than the deacons in the Holy Seplchre--and the fermenting mix of cottage cheese and corn flakes sitting in the sink.  Dorm life!!!   I do my own thing, in my own room.  Yogurt.  Pitas. Nuts.  You would think the holy land would teach me to be of service to my fellow beings, but I have clearly not been able to repeatedly clean up after slobs. What a saint I am not.

On to livelier things!  This week we experienced a shift in context as we began to unwrap the profound transformation of Jerusalem during the Byzantine period.  It really is incredible to think that such a massively Jewish state could  adopt a completely new culture over the course of 300 years.  Visiting some of the Christian sites in the Armenian Quarter was really quite fantastic. Even more interesting to see this evolution of a Judeo-Christian faith that began to incorporate elements of both faiths. Thursday we were able to visit Dormition Abbey--the place where Mary slept, which is now run and owned by Germans.  It was a beautiful peaceful cathedral containing a shrine to Mary and other prominent women in the Old Testament. Surrounding that shrine, were other niches offered up to be decorated by many other countries. I especially liked the Ethiopian one. And I really enjoyed the spirit of oneness that seemed to be a part of the culture there.

(And due to more technical difficulties, I'm just going to have to post all of the pictures right here. Hopefully, you can match them up yourselves).

We also visited the room of the last supper, which is, interestingly enough right above the supposed tomb of King David and which was also turned into a Muslim mosque. Are you starting to get a feel for how all of these places bleed into each other.?  Build, destroy, rebuild.  Stake a new claim.  Remodel.  Take back.  During the Jordanian occupation of the 1950-60s, the Jewish quarter and western wall belonged to Jordan. So as the next best option, Jews would visit the tomb of King David to read Torah scrolls and pray. A practice which still continues to this day.  All three under the same roof.

Speaking of the Western Wall, I was finally able to visit it and place Indiana's prayer inside it. It was one of the more profound spiritual experiences I've relished here. The women are separated from the men, and it was wonderful to be there with them, praying, touching the wall, offering up the desires of my heart. Standing next to it, I let my forehead touch the wall and just "felt a prayer" as Anne of Green Gables would say. It was lovely to just BE and add my small soul as part of the reverent spirit there.

Before that, monumental moment!  We were able to make it up to the Temple Mount!  I had a feeling things were a bit calmer than they have been so we took the opportunity.  After three safety checks and passing an Israeli swat team, we finally got on top. It is MUCH bigger then you would expect it to be! It's an entire complex!  The Dome of the Rock is very beautiful. Just think, in Herod's time, the doors hit where the top of the dome is today!  It was a massive structure. We were three of about 14 white people in the whole complex. It was interesting, but you had a real sense of foreboding as you walked around--Like you really didn't belong there. So when we felt completely outnumbered we left and visited the western wall.  The other stop that morning was the Pools of Bethesda. They are just in ruins, but St Anne's church is a lovely little church. Amazing acoustics. The priest there invited us to sing--admittedly, it was the ONE time in my life that I wished I could. Such a heavenly reverberation on those walls, now owned by the French. You see, everyone wants a piece of Jerusalem!!!!  Everyone. The Temple Mount is the most disputed piece of real estate in the world!  My prediction is that the end of days kicks off there.  high, high tensions. I wish each faith could have a temple up there. Let everyone come and worship in the way the feel most!!  There's room for everyone!

Later that day, we traveled to TeL Aviv, found a beach and plopped down. We had heard so much of the beaches there.  They were nice, although I liked Ceaserea much better. Nobody was there!  Turns put they had had air raid sirens all morning.  What can I say, ignorance is bliss?  Then we traveled to the chocolate Mecca here--Max Brenner and had some soul chocolate. I have converted two more disciples to this way of eating.  As a side note, I've been praying all of last week to know better the angels--seen and unseen--who surround me. In Tel Aviv, we only met one man who spoke English. He was at the beach and helped us out when someone wanted to overcharge us.  When we couldn't find a way back to th bus, he walked by and helped us again. Turns out th bus was four blocks away and two blocks right of wher it dropped us off.  We certainly would not have found it.  This rough looking man had lived in the US and seen some hard things in life.  But he was an angel to me.  I know there are many more around me--I've Been protected and calm and buoyed up and I know it's by the hand of The Lord on my days and nights.

The other war zone here is th Church of the Holy Seplchre. We spent five hours in there and all I saw was contention between the sects. It was discouraging for such a holy site.  But it just reinforces what I've come to understand here. The sites and often incorrect or unsubstantiated at best. I feel many are gone or buried. And in th end, the sites don't matter.  What matters is what Jesus was able to do here.  He doesn't care about real estate or the ceremonies that are designed to worship him.  He would have us "go and do likewise," "feed his lambs" show our love and apprciation though our treatment of others and our actions as we go about "doing good."  His living testimony would also ask us to live for him and others rather than worship an empty tomb. I honestly believe we can see the paths he has walked and know him as intimately in I our own place as we can in th Holy city. We only need invite him in.

I'm down to about a week left.  It seems impossible that the days here are coming to a close.  I think I will miss this city and all of her complexities and beauties terribly. That being said, one more day of dorm life with pee bandits and whisker leaving hairy men than is required may just do me in.  And I can't wait To be with my family!!! We're almost there guys!  We can do this!

Xoxoxo to all of you!

Jerusalem Part III

My technology has been somewhat under a curse since I crossed the border into Israel.  My wi-fi is spotty, I lost my iphone on the bus on Friday and for some reason, my blog takes many minutes to upload.  So my grand plans of daily posts have gone to the dogs.  Or the cats as the case may be here.  There are cats EVERYWHERE!  There are several at the student dorms.  In public places, there are little feeding bowls for them.  I don't understand.  But if it keeps the mice population down, I'll deal with it.

So the first thing I need to do is vent about the "Peeing Bandit."  The way things are done here at this school is nothing like what one would expect in America.  Any type of request of question is met with complete apathy, if not angst.  Such was my treatment when I notified the school that I had requested housing with girls and people in my specific course.  As it turns out, I've been placed in co-ed housing with a peeing bandit.  Now not to worry, I have my own locking room and I pretty much shower and sleep here.  BUT, it's not what I was promised, expected or that I am used to.  That being said, I live with two other boys and girls.  And much to my chagrin, EACH morning, I'm greeted with pee on the floor of one of our two water closets.  Is there some type of canine territorial rite that I didn't read up on?  I cleaned up the cleaner bathroom, bleached the hoo-hah out of the floor and claimed it for the girls.  The next morning, the seat is up, i'm greeted with the stench of urine and lo--the peeing bandit has struck again.  He switches from room to room.  One is never safe.  It's vile beyond my ability to describe to you.  I mean really, after 20 plus years, you still don't know how to handle your own equipment?!?  I'm in a serious quandary over who is to account for this.  So just to keep it real, when you see my happy, historically trans formative moments on FB or Instagram, please understand that there is an equally bleak side to my experience here.  It's not all glorious archaeology and fun times.  It's pee, cats, and people who just laugh at you when  you try to hold them to what you were promised.  Thirteen days left.  THIR-TEEN-DAYS--LEFT.

Ok.  On to bigger and better things.  Yesterday was a pretty fantastic day.  We had class in the morning, after which we were able to participate in the South Wall Archaeological Dig!  I wish I could truly express to you how magnificent it was to get my hands in the dirt and rock to sift for treasures from the past.  I LOVED IT!  We found some old pottery shards, flints and bones and a mosaic tile or two.  Archaeologists really are cool people.  We were calmly informed that we are in a Palestinian neighborhood and if people start throwing rocks at us, to get behind a bench and hopefully the netting will take out most of the velocity of the rock being thrown.  Such is life here.  Nothing is truly unexpected.  And life DOES continue on.

How this dig came about is really a fascinating story.  The Muslims decided to dig up some of the dirt by the southern temple wall to create better access to the temple mount.  Well, it's against the law to dig anywhere here without first excavating.  But dig they did.  Two young students of archaeology at Hebrew University saw them BULLDOZING the site and followed the dump trucks to see where they took the dirt.  Five years later and a lot of bureaucracy later, this dirt was awarded to an archaeologist, and they transfer ed all of the dirt over by the Mount of Olives and that is the very dirt we were sifting through.  Just during the day we were there, they found an old coin from Roman times and Byzantine glass vial.  I even found some Turkish plaster!   MY PRECIOUS!

After the dig, we were lucky enough to go to the Southern Wall Archaeology Park.  THAT was a treat.  Here you get a nice look at the excavated Southern wall of the Temple Mount.  We saw the corner piece of Herod's time that had a special standing place labeled, "FOR THE TRUMPETER."  A classmate of mine who used to be a member pointed out that this was the ancient predecessor of Moroni.  Pretty cool to think about.  She is a smart wonderful person.  We also got to see the corner stones up close.  These things are BEHEMOTHS!  Ridiculously HUGE.  I can't even begin to imagine exactly how they got these stones into place.  And then beyond that, how the Romans were able to topple them down.  Build.  Destroy.  Rebuild.  Those three words pretty much summarize Jerusalem.  Always in motion.  Layers upon layers.  Peeling them back is truly one of the great adventures and thrills of my lifetime.  In the park, the original steps that approach the temple were uncovered.  I sat on those steps.  Epic moment to contemplate how pilgrims must feel as they first purified themselves in the Pool of Siloam and then made that long, steep ascent up to the Mountain of the Lords house.  Even know, I imagine it must have been magnificent.  Just imagine some shepherd from the hills coming into the city and beholding that spectacle!  Lots of amazing other finds there, but I"ll stop, lest my zeal get ahead of me and I become Mr Collins!

Lastly, we enjoyed a masterful musical performance at the BYU Jerusalem Center.  One would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful setting of the city than the one that exists there.  The sun set, the city lit up, music filled the air, and then the super moon made her appearance on the horizon.  Magical night.

Sunday was a blessed day as well.  I looked forward to church all week.  Something about that place is just sacred ground.  You walk in the building and you feel peace and like you finally arrived home.  I wish I could stay there!  Church was really great--if not a little tense.  We were all ready to go to the safe rooms if the air raid alarm sounded.  This is just something that has also become part of life.  You go forward.  There is no other alternative.  The bishop visited the Relief Society and told us that he and the other men were to be our minute men--ready at notice to be of service.  And he meant it.  How GRATEFUL I am to watch watch righteous men use the love that God has for all of his children, to bless their lives.  It strengthened my testimony of this principal to see how it really CAN be and what it looks and moves like in action when motivated by charity.  After church, we were lucky enough to take a walk in the BLAZING SUN (I have sweated out my body weight at least five times in the last couple of weeks.  I kid you not!) down to Mary's tomb, the Church of all Nations and my favorite, Gethsemane.  What a beautiful, choice little garden that is.  It the type of place you could just sit at for hours.  I felt such a profound sense of JOY and TRIUMPH there.  There is some debate and discussion about each of the holy sites and if it is authentic.  To me, I realized that it just doesn't matter.  What matters is that it happened.  My sense was, after his terrible suffering in the garden, Jesus knew he was close.  Within moments, he would succeed and NOTHING they could do would ever touch him again.  Now or ever!  The buildings, gardens, churches can all come and go, but that...THAT stands forever.  Triumph!  Love!  Joy!  I felt a profound sense of joy, peace triumph and a glorious glimpse into the eternal significance of that moment.  It will be something I will always consider a privilege and treasure.

Such is life here.  Eternity and the chaos of the moment.  Heaven and hell.  Rising and falling.  Being broken and rebuilding.  I don't usually quote Disraeli, but he said, "The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more; it is the history of heaven and earth."  Being here, breathing the air, being in the conflict, seeing eternity and the abyss almost simultaneously, is all part of taking it in.  Continue to pray for me.  Your prayers have sent angels--seen and unseen--and your love has sustained me.  xoxoxo always,

mandy

Jerusalem Day--Part 2

DAY 9!

It's hard to realize that it has taken me NINE days to really get your computer up and running to where I can type quickly and tell you how I am.  Pathetic.  If you had ever been to Russia, you may be able to understand.  In fact, Russia was good prep for this whole experience; it has played into this more than I would have ever imagined!   In fact, I was able to read half of the stuff at the grocery store because it was in Russian!  Thank you for that favor Lord!

Yesterday, we went to the Israel Museum.  We spent about four hours in the first eight rooms.  My professor is really quite incredible.  He is just the fountain of information--but it's more than that.  He manages to emphasize what really is important and help you sift through it all to come out with your own conclusions on the other end.  He really is like a modern Indiana Jones.  He knows about everyone here.  Additionally, I've met THREE archaeologists in the last four days!  Each of them has invited me to come and dig with them.  One, Mark, is from Ohio State, another, Dr. Chadwick from BYU and of course, those at Hebrew University.  Amazingly, Hebrew University and its faculty have been the ones to come up with much of the really great stuff that has been uncovered here.  In that aspect, there really is nowhere else in the world that would be more rewarding to study at.  The temptation to make an amazing archaeologist of myself is definitely there!  Dr Green out on her latest dig sounds amazing!  But that brings me to my next point.

While Israel offers positive things that no other place in the world offers, it also offers negative things that no other place in the world offers.  RIGHT at the apex of my happy museum visit, we get news that rockets have been launched at Jerusalem and are under alert and spend a few hours in our apartment safe room.  Hearing those sirens and contemplating that was a harrowing thing.  And yet, after kind of working through it all today, I realize that is just kind of how it is here.  The fact that Jerusalem offers so much has an equally positive and negative aspect to it.  Opposition in all things seems to come to mind--and seem even more significant because Father Lehi was also out here I begin to understand, in the smallest part, just what that entails.  

So when you see some glorious picture on FB or Instagram that shows me happy and smiling, know that on the other side of that post is an equally dark picture of being away, far from home and quite frankly,looking a little like a scared kid wanting to go home.  I could use your prayers.  The people here could use your prayers.  This world could use your prayers.  Peace has taken on whole new dimensions for me here.  Sometimes only when we see the stark absence of something do we really begin to appreciate the beautiful space that it so magically and effortlessly filled for us.

Life is good.  There are many good and wonderful things--the Hebrew version of Nutella for instance-- I'm blessed with angels, in the flesh and those I cannot see.  I don't know exactly what the Lord has me here, but I hope to prove a willing student--in spite of the trying tuition to my heart and soul.  

All my heart,

Mandy

Jerusalem--Part 1

de Holy Land--Touchdown Maybe

It's been a rough couple of days.  And unfortunately, just about everything that could have gone wrong for me went wrong for the next few days. I had some VERY lonely days, and even lonelier nights.  Oh! Jet lag and the horrors it can play on a homesick, mind.  But I won't turn your blood cold with those tales.  Sufficeth to say, that I was ready to jump on a plane home and give it all up.  Brent--the ROCKSTAR OF THE UNIVERSE--had even managed to get Delta to take the 600$ change down to just $25.  HOW he finds ways to love, support and sustain me, when I am so far away, and so unhappy is the greatest gem of that day and proof that he is the greatest thing ever to happen to me.  And something I will never forget.  In the dark hours of last night, I prayed for an angel-any kind of friend or helper. Today, the Lord sent me six.

Church saved me.  After finally being able to sleep last night for the first time I woke up a bit late which caused me to ponder, just for a brief moment, if I should make myself go to church.  However, in my prayer the night before I had asked that my answer as to whether I should stay on go home come during church.  So, I threw some wrinkly clothes on and booked it over there.  The weather here is HOT!  And since it is the Sabbath--or Shabbot as referenced here--NOTHING is running.  No buses, cars, anything.  (Which is another blog post for another day.  What it really means for a nation to keep the Sabbath holy).  Anyway, its about a 30 minute walk and I got there dripping sweat.  However, just after I sat down, the friend I was hoping to see tapped me on the shoulder and was sitting right behind me!  Additionally, there was a young man from my fall Hebrew class who was there as well!  Turns out, by the end of church, I met four other members who are also taking summer courses at Hebrew University and live right next to me!  For me, these people are literally Saviors on Mount Zion, or Mount Scopus as the case may be here!  They calmed my nerves, had me over and let me us their Internet--something I have not been able to get since the offices closed just hours after I got here for the whole weekend--and made me feel connected again.  Speaking to my family has helped me tremendously!  I'm so grateful for their love and support--stay or go.  The isolation I experienced here was the hardest part.  Added to the unrest the in country and perhaps not being able to see what I came out here to see, I wondered if the pain of missing my family was worth being here. To have that prayer answered, has made all of the difference.  I feel more like myself.  I'm not alone anymore.  These dear souls have graciously offered to let me go on all of their outings to the old city, which will help me fulfill the last requirement of my journey.  It's should come as no shock that I've had my struggles with the church-instutionally- for a bit.  But seeing how the Lord is still able to use it here, to meet the needs of those who love him, was a great boon to me.  I'm very grateful to him.  That being said, I am still VERY MUCH in need of your prayers so if you can, keep them coming.

I'm doing better.  Just need to iron out the last few kinks tomorrow morning when things actually open up again, and we should be good.  Now onto the good stuff.  I've only been able to have class one day so far, but let me share some of the great stuff I saw and learned.  I'm going to try and chronicle the journey for myself and for anyone else who may have an interest some of the people and places of this uniquely beautiful and complex city.

Our first stop was the view of the city from Mount Scopus.  (We were supposed to go to the Mount of Olives, but it was off limits that day due to protesting in the area, which I really hope calms down) so we had to settle with the views right here on Mt. Scopus.  This first view displays that.  Hebrew University is on the east side of Jerusalem, which is actually the Palestinian side.

(OK.  So, I'm in another country and I can't get the picture to upload after 12 minutes so I'm going to write and then try to put the pictures in later.  So hang tight.)

This next view is actually just on the other side of the hill.  Literally maybe 200 yards is looking the opposite middle, right side.  LOOK AT HOW DESOLATE!  This is where John the Baptist lived as well as where Jesus went to fast for 40 days.  HOT and DESOLATE!  After having fasted this morning and walking home from church in the heat, it gave me the tiniest glimpse into just how difficult it would be to fast for any prolonged period of time in this climate.  And for John to live out there?  Forty days isn't possible unless you are the Son of God.  The prophets suffered.  We shouldn't expect better treatment.  I"ll leave you all to ponder than and send in your own comments and ideas.

The next stop was a place called Ramat Rachel at the very south end of Jerusalem.  Ramat in Hebrew means the "height of."  It is now the place of a Kibbutz--a collective farm.  Someone here made a piece of modern art by planting this olive grove is a pattern, with three converging roads that center in on three pillars upholding three, planted olive trees.  It's up to the eye of the beholder.  But think of all of the things those three symbols can represent: the trinity, the three faiths who claim this land, Jerusalem as the center of three continents...you keep going with that and decide.

If you walk to the back  of this place, you get a full view of Bethlehem.  The city appears to be much smaller than I would have thought.  Shepherds Hill is on the right side of the picture.  To me there was something beautiful and still about that hill still being uninhabited.  It still exists in much the way it was when the first, glorious declaration of the Lord's birth was made.

At this very same spot was a bunch of rock remnants.  As it turns out, these were the VERY bunkers used in the 1948 war, and this is the spot that 600,000 Israeli Soliders held of 1.5 million Palestinians who had additional backing by 5 other nations, during the war.  It really made me contemplate just how that would actually be accomplished.  What it would take, what you would believe in and what you would be fighting for to fight like lions.  Standing there and just being in Jerusalem in general really brings this land struggle to life for me.  Things that never really hit home become the living breathing reality of each day.  And trust me, you can breathe it in--it's in the air, it permeates everything.

Lastly, here is our awesome professor.  He really is great, knows so much and finds a way to somehow keep the balance between archeology, belief and how the two do or do not fit together.

The Unmentionable MUST be Mentioned!

This year, I crossed the threshold into a new decade of life.  Because of this, I have spent the last few months visiting doctors, getting check ups, etc. to get my body geared up for the next ten years.  Admittedly, I'm no spring chick.  The once shiny feathers are loosing a bit of their luster, or even falling out. Regardless, preserving this marvelous vehicle which I experience life with has become increasingly important to me, so I do it.  During these visits, it has been brought to my attention, that now is the time when most women should start getting mammograms.
TRULY, is this arcane practice still continuing!?  To me, this is the medical equivalent of banging two rocks together to make fire.  I've tried to shed most of my man-hating ways, but this is one evidence that sexism is still hard at work.  Were men were required to lay their testicles between two, icy, metal plates to be squeezed and smashed, whilst simultaneously performing Russian acrobatic tricks to provide the hospital the best possible analysis of said body parts, this practice would have been outdated YEARS AGO!
SURELY, with all of the technology available today, there is a better way to accomplish this.  We put a man on the moon 40+ years ago, but we can't figure out a better way to analyze breast tissue?  COME ON!  Someone has got to build an app for it.  I'll even start the funding.  Who's in?