Ode to My Water Bottle

Traveling in Jordan during this time of year requires one to carry water with them at all times in order to remain hydrated. One may want to be aware that such items may not enhance ones photographic moments. Here are several sad examples of a naive tourist who forgot to remove or set down her water bottle before posing for a picture in Petra, one of the most beautiful places on earth and one of the seven wonders of the world.

I think I was just so excited to come around the corner and see this that I forgot to set down my water bottle! (This place is also seen in the third Indiana Jones movie!)

This was on the hike down from the monastery so I'm probably just too tired here to remember that I had a water bottle in my hands.

I got so excited to see such tall and wonderful columns that I didn't notice my water bottle would block the lower left part of the column and ruin the picture!

I have no excuse for this one. I just can't seem to let go of that water bottle.

Ok on to the non water bottle pictures of Petra. Seriously this place was probably one of my favorite places that I have ever been. It is just amazing to walk around a sudden corner and see the famous treasury of the Nabateans...

And to think it was all created by an ancient civilization...I can't get over how cool it is! Not to mention the famous people you run into there...like Indiana Jones! (a guy in our class has been wearing this hat on all of our trips prepping for our Petra experience!)

Unfortunately he got to the Holy Grail before us. Here we are being sad that we aren't actually allowed to go into the Treasury in Petra to search for the grail.

But then I was happy because I got distracted by the humongous column in front of the treasury. I just couldn't resist hugging it.

The day got even better when I saw this sign near a shop. This place was just welcoming me to buy things on a whim!

That leads me to the part of the day where I spent the best $5 of my life. There was a monastery at the top of a huge mountain so we all rented donkeys so we didn't have to walk up the steep steps. The experience can't be described very well in words but just imagine me jumping on the donkey and then the donkey bolting up the mountainside as soon as the owner let go. I wasn't sure how to make it stop or slow down (it wasn't responding to anything I tried to do) so I just took comfort in the fact that the donkey probably wouldn't run itself off the cliffs (however later I thought that if I was a donkey who had to run up the mountain ten times a day carrying people running off a cliff might start to sound like a better option...) Not to mention my donkey like beating every other donkey to the top so we were literally knocking other people and donkeys out of the way to make it to the top first. I therefore appropriately named him Indy and couldn't stop laughing the entire time because I couldn't believe I was doing what I was doing. Here's a picture of the donkey taking off with me...

This is the monastery at the top...again so beautiful!

The other fun part of the day was shopping at the little stands. I bought necklaces from these adorable little children! I have loved meeting the kids in the Holy Land. They are always so friendly and welcoming. We even got to play soccer with some kids in Jerusalem one evening...it was the best!!Basically Petra has been one of my favorite places ever and our Jordan trip overall was awesome! We also had some cool experiences in Amman. One of the best was going to the mosque in Amman. The girls all needed to cover our heads in order to be respectful. It was neat to be able to visit a place that is so holy to the Muslim people.

We also got to visit a place called Bethany beyond Jordan on our way back to Jerusalem today. It is the place where tradition says that Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. The area was a lot hotter and more desert-y than I imagined. The people that came to listen to John the Baptist because they believed he was a prophet preparing the way for the Savior must have had strong testimonies in order to reside in such a desolate place. And how amazing to have been there when John the Baptist testified to them when he baptized Jesus that this was the Son of God, the Savior that he was preparing them for. I know I say this all the time but I just love seeing these places and having the scriptures come alive!

It is sad to think that this time of my life is quickly coming to an end. We only have 7 days left here and I am trying to savor every minute!

A Post Dedicated to Things I Love (Mostly Capitals and Columns)

These are mostly leftover pictures from the rest of my Galilee trip...along with a few other things I've done since then! Here are the things I love!

I love singing! Here I am fulfilling a dream of mine to perform onstage (and notice how many people there are in the audience!) I love columns! So here I am by more columns...this time in a seaside town called Caesarea. Really loved it there. Mostly because we were looking at ancient castle ruins that were right on the sea. I could have definitely lived there and been okay with it.
I love boat rides on the Galilee! We had a neat experience here as we read the account of the Savior walking on water and calming the storm.
I love Capernaum! We had another wonderful experience as we sat outside the ancient synagogue here and discussed the Bread of Life Sermon.
I love having friends! :) It makes the experience so much better as you share it with those you have come to love!
I love the Jordan River. Especially when recently baptized men and women jump the fence and start swimming around in their see through baptismal garb. Those unfortunately memorable images will forever be with me.

I love seeing people I know in the Holy Land and I love the McConkie Family! What a surprise when I went to church today at the Jerusalem Center and saw them there. It was so nice to get a "mom hug" from Sister McConkie!

I love capitals (don't know if I mentioned that before...) JK! The obsession continues. This is a capital at the Pool of Bethesaida in Jerusalem.

We went on a field trip this week to the Dead Sea, Masada, Ein Gedi and Qumran (where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls) so I still need to post pictures from that amazing experience! I'm working on it!

Oh Galilee!

Just when I thought life in the Holy Land couldn't get any better we got to go to the Sea of Galilee for ten days. I feel so grateful on many levels for the time we were able to spend there. It was a time of relaxation, meditation and spiritual growth and I feel like I discovered a lot about myself there. So yeah, it was pretty amazing. :) I don't think my blog is the place to open my heart to some of the things I learned and felt there...so I thought I would just post some pictures and my list of the top ten secular things I learned about myself or loved about the Galilee.

1. I love living on the beach. Any beach. We went to a lot of beaches (around the Galilee and the Mediterranean) and I fell in love with the feeling of being by the water. I just might have to live by one someday.

2. I love ancient Roman ruins. Can't explain it, but my heart gets really excited when I walk through them.

3. Along with that, I discovered I love capitals (the tops of columns). Took quite a few random pictures by capitals.

4. I do not like eating a fish that still looks like a fish. It is a necessary activity at the Galilee for many reasons but it still difficult. See picture below.

5. I do not like spiders. Ok that is not a new discovery, just an affirmation of an already vehement decision. I especially do not like it when they decide to use your swim suit shorts as a place to hang out. Especially when the spider is the biggest thing you've ever seen and refuses to be killed easily. Don't worry, I took care of it.

6. I should have brought a better camera with me. I am grateful that I have any camera at all of course, but the pictures are not doing justice to the things I'm seeing!

7. Spending every evening watching the sun set over the Sea of Galilee should be something everyone gets to do before they die.

8. Speaking in the only dedicated chapel in Palestine and in the branch that Elder Holland called "The Savior's Branch" is an amazing and unforgetable experience.

9. Marshmellows in Palestine do not taste the same as marshmellows in America. Thus smores are also uniquely different.

10. I finally had a Tim Tam Slam and my life has forever changed. I kept hearing about these things but never thought I'd get to experience it myself. Kind of like the grasshopper cookie and hot chocolate thing but better. I will be bringing a box of these cookies home so more people can have a similar life changing experience.

Yes, magical things do happen here.

Friends!

I call this....Standing on a rock

See what I mean about falling in love with the beauty of the sea? This one is actually the Mediterranean Sea...amazing!

This picture really has nothing to do with anything except it reminded me of a movie quote and I wanted to take a picture of it for my family. "Agh! I'm like the crypt keeper!!"

A.N.T.M.!

One of my capital pictures. You have to admit...that thing is pretty spectacular.

More capitals. Even though they're smaller they still have a special place in my heart.

This starts the series of Fish eating pictures. Here we are...very unsuspecting and innocent.

Then they bring out the fish. I fondly named mine "Finny." Probably not a good thing to name your fish if you're already having a hard time eating it. I am trying to look concerned in this picture.

Ok this picture is dedicated to my mom and dad and to Garret and Adam because I think they would be the most proud of me for having a good attitude about the whole fishing eating thing.

I did it! Ok...I kind of did it! The fish skeleton in the picture is not mine...I'm faking history here. I ate a lot of my fish but not all of it. Seriously!

More photo ops on the Galilee at sunset.

Who wouldn't love these Roman ruins?!

This is post "slam" of the the Tim Tam Slam experience. I just wish my face showed more of the joy I was feeling at this moment.

Outside of the chapel in Tiberius.

I've got a few more pictures to post of my other favorite place on the trip...Caesaria...but I'll end for now. I can't believe how fast time is flying. We leave for Jordan in 4 days and we get home in 15 days! Yikes! Much love to all!