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