Finally in Jerusalem!!!

Hey everyone!! I am sorry it seems like it has been soo long since I last blogged but really it has only been like 4 days! Life is moving way slow for me right now, it seem surreal. So I am actually in Jerusalem. WOW. It is beautiful countryside. The buildings are all made of white limestone, I love it!! It really looks gorgeous! We landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon and we drove through the dark to Jerusalem and it was so pretty seeing all the hills lit up with houses and stuff. There are tons of rolling hills here and it is nice and green! Its very beautiful. So yesterday we went to the city of Jerusalem! It was awesome! We walked down this hill from the center and then walked back up this other hill to the corner of the wall that surrounds the old city. We then kept walking and went through this merchant area of east Jerusalem. Mostly Arabs and Muslims live in east Jerusalem. We then entered the old city through Damascus gate, this gate is huge! Its not an actually gate just an entrance in the wall. You walk through this tunnel and on each side are merchants selling tons of things and then you walk out into the old city. The old city is basically narrow ally ways full of little shops. It is crazy!! So packed! 30,000 people live in the old city! I couldn’t believe it! Every where you go you are surrounded by tall shops with apartments on top. Mostly Arabs and Muslims live in the old city too although there is a Jewish quarter. We visited the church of the holy sepulcher and that was crazy. There were sooo many people there! Like crazy amounts! There were tons of people rubbing scarves and kissing and kneeling at this stone that is believed to be the tablet that Jesus was prepared for burial on. it was a little odd but it was also really interesting to see how intensely these people praised Jesus at this stone. They really have a firm belief in Jesus Christ. So after that we walked some more in the old city and we left through Joppa gate, putting us in West Jerusalem. West Jerusalem is populated by mainly jews. It is the modern Jerusalem. It is so clean and spacious and in order. East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem are like night and day! It is crazy. They are both awesome but I will admit I felt safer in West Jerusalem, it was less crowded and just cleaner. There was this one shopping street that looked exactly like a street in Germany, very European. I would show you picture but 1- I haven’t taken any yet ha and 2- I can’t download pictures at the center, I have to go to he Hebrew university for that. So hopefully this weekend I will take pictures and then post them to my blog. So we started school today and let me just say, I am in for a tough semester! But I am going to love it. I am so excited to become a scriptorian and really know my old and new testaments. We had a 20 chapter reading assignment due today and so a group of us read it all together and took all our notes together, making a summary, talking about the locations, people, and doctrinal teachings of each chapter. It was awesome. There are some really smart people here and their insights are great. Even I, as I study with others am able to understand the scriptures so much better. I am loving old testament. We also had ancient near eastern studies today, that class will be a challenge! It is an archaelogy, history, and geography class combined into one! Holy Cow!! The geography is going to be challenging but I am excited to learn and get better at learning about it. I won’t go to my other classes until Tuesday so I will definitely report then how they are. The Jerusalem center is great. It is such a beautiful, well kept building. There are like no rules here! (ok there are tonnnsss of rules about the dress code, leaving the building, being out in Jerusalem, and not bringing food out of the café but other than that, inside the building pretty much anything goes) It is like our huge house! Everything stays open all night, except maybe the gym? I don’t remember but you can go anywhere in the building whenever. Its so nice that we aren’t locked in our rooms at night or whatever. Its so great. And the people who teach here have kids who just run around and do as they please, its awesome. Also, the big concert hall and the place we have sacrament have this beautiful organ and it faces Jerusalem. This doesn’t matter much except for the fact that the whole wall that we stare at is basically just glass. Huge windows with views of the city. It is beautiful. I can’t wait to take the sacrament tomorrow and look out at the land that he walked on and taught in, where he sacrificed his life for me and you. I am happy here. Eveyday gets better. The first few days I struggled, I missed Grant so much and I wanted to go home but I am doing well now. I got to talk to him on the phone today and that was a treat! I know that being in Jerusalem and learning of the things of the Lord will make me a better person and more knowledgeable of the gospel and doctrines that I know to be true.