Home - safe and sound

Okay so everyone is going to ask me how the trip to Israel is...so I figure...write a note and then everyone will get the gist. Now I'm going to HAVE to leave some of the good stuff out because well I'm just mean like that. But know that the trip was phenomenal. I learned a lot...met some of the most amazing people that I hope will be in my life forever.

So let me introduce you first to some key players in my experience. Of course we have our guide Daniel Rona, and then there is Jack & Sharon and Neal & Anne. Two couples that I love with all my heart. Seriously the BEST part of the trip was meeting them and just all the sweet (hilarious) moments we spent together. Especially tender moments like me sitting in between Jack & Sharon on their bed the last day and talking about life. I'll always cherish those tender moments. Anne is like a sister. We are (as everyone on the trip started calling us) bookends for one another. There was never a dull moment when we were in the room...nor a quiet one maybe. =) Neal - Neal is the most young at heart person I have met in my life. I utterly adore everything about him. Sharon & Anne quickly became 2 of my closest friends, and Jack & Neal quickly became my measuring stick for every guy I will date...so sorry guys but you have a LOT of live up to now. We of course also have to introduce Johnny, Paul, and Chera Reese. Paul & Chera are married and Johnny is Paul's older brother. SUCH fun people - I love these guys. Many days of the trip where spent in the back of the bus in laughter with their random comments. I thoroughly expected to be the youngest person on the trip (don't worry a bunch of teenagers came too with their parents) but I was even MORE excited when Johnny, Paul, and Chera were there because they are right around my age so I felt a bit of a bond with them too. So I pretty much floated between these two groups and I utterly blissful that the two groups would mesh together for large parts of the trip.

So now that players are introduced I'm not going to give a blow by blow of the trip, but I'll tell you my favorite parts in no particular older (I'll get the slightly irreverent ones out of the way first):

1. "Getting drunk, naked, and stoned" in Galilee with Anne. We need to get those T-shirts made Anne!!! lol Don't worry bishop if you are reading this...Drunk: I turned down the bottle of wine sent to me by the bar manager(and then found out that next day that turning down such a gift is HIGHLY offensive in their culture...oops...no wonder he looked mad and it was all awkward! Thank goodness Johnny was there - it looked like I had an excuse anyways...thanks for letting me use you Johnny...you're the best). Naked (girls if you go to get massages in Galilee - see me for proper warnings - lol...sorry I didn't warn you Anne! But I think we can blame Zander for not warning us both!), Stoned: Thank you Neal for helping me fit into this category by properly hitting me in the face at the Valley of Elah like David and Goliath. I also love that you were the FIRST in line to get a sling shot...you're such a big kid! Moral of the story is - Galilee is a crazy place...be careful!

2. Being a klutz. Yep - no surprise to anyone right? But the funniest thing of the trip was the bus has to come to a QUICK stop at one point...and I was sitting sideways with my feet in the aisle talking to Anne. The bus jerks - Anne looks forward and catches herself...she turns back around to me...and I'm on the floor in between the seats - feet in the air - laughing my head off. Yep...slid right off. It was hilarious but you probably had to be there. By the way our bus driver Elli - was AMAZING. I can not believe the places he took that bus! A master at his job!!!! Go Elli!

3. Temple Mount guards/all men in Israel. Okay. So we waiting in this REALLY long line to go through metal detectors to get into the temple mount. And for those of you that know me and know that I can't it still for any amount of time know exact what's comeing next. I started dancing. It just helps that someone somewhere was playing drums too so I employed the hula lessons and started to "shake it". Well when it was my turn to go through the metal detectors I totally set them off...I didn't take off my belt...so I offered to take it off and go through again. The guard - with a dumb look on his face says - No no..you dance so good you can just go through. (I guess terrorists don't dance?) Then I gather my stuff and walk in...there is nother set of like 6 guards leaning against the wall. I just walk by and ay no attention. According to my mom - they all had "stupid grins" on their faces and then once I got past them told my mom that I needed to cover up (my shirt didn't come up to my neck). And then after I "covered up" we went to another part of the city and we were stopped as Daniel was telling a story about the "eye of needle and the camel" and the guards kept staring at me. It was a ittle uncomfortable. And as I walked past one of them stopped me and asked if I was single. I said no I moved on. Laster at lunch that day Daniel came up to me and said he needed to talk to me. I thought I was in trouble. But he said that if I ever come back to Israel I should be married, or come with a boyfriend that will be right by my side the whole time. Apparently they were talking about me in Arabic. My blonde hair and blue eyes are too much for these guys. I about died. Too bad American men don't value such things. So with that warning - what do I do on the last day in Jerusalem? Go shopping of cours (with Neal, Anne, Sharon, and my mom) And of course I wasn to buy a belly dancing outfit. So I went to the Old City tried on this GORGEOUS belly dancing outfit...and OF COURSE I had to try it out so the guy in the store grabbed his drum and started playing and I started shaking it...with Anne, NEal, and my mom sheering me on and laughing...and I stop and out side the store now are literally 10 men stopped in their tracks. I'm a horrible person. But it was funny...and yes I sure did buy a belly dancing outfit that day. LOVE IT!

4. The views - I had in my mind very dry, dusty country. Israel is BEAUTIFUL! It's green and hilly and just amazing views everywhere you look. Truly a beautiful country. It's just incredible to look out at. One thing I will also add that I didn't NOT love...it's COLD...SO COLD! I was freezing everyday! Chera can back me up on that one...she was a bundled little eskimo the whole time.

5. Swimming in the Dead Sea was BEYOND amazing. It was THE coolest experience I've had in a long time. You just kind of bob there in the water. But BE CAREFUL - it is nasty beyond nasty if you get it in your mouth. 27% minerals...GROSS! And even with a shower - I totally still tasted salty that night. Johnny can testify...he totally licked my arm (after he bit me)! Just the arm people - let's keep it clean. lol

6. Sea of Galilee - loved that it started out as a beautiful day...a little overcast but nothing much. We are out on a boat in the middle of the Sea reading the scripture stories of everything that happened there. And then - we get the right idea to sing "Master, the Tempest is Ragiing" and you know what...it started to RAIN! Not heavily at all...but with it already being cold I was SHIVERING! Which was fine except later I found out that Johnny totally had an extra coat in his bag...thanks a lot Johnny! What a man. lol (I'll give him the credit of he didn't notice I was cold because I was snuggled up between Jack and Neal (Yes, thank you Sharon and Anne for loaning me your hubbins)..and when he found out later he mentioned it was too bad cause he had the coat...oh well.)

7. Mount of Beatitudes. It was still raining when we got there so we didn't sit on the grass, but hid under an awning of a church and read the Sermon on the Mount. It was amazing to look out at the hillside and imagine Christ there giving that sermon to his apostles. Yeah I'm a girl and I cried. I tried to hide it but I'm sure someone saw.

8. Garden Tomb. Probably the most intensly spiritual stop of the whole trip. You can just FEEL Him there. It was incredible. We hung out for a while and I got a few moments in the tomb completely alone...no one was anywhere near me. And it was just indescribable. I sat there and just thought of everything and then I looked up at the sign that said "He is not here He is Risen" and I felt it reaffirmed. It's true. As a group we all sat around and sang hymns. And then Lexie sand "His Hands" and it was incredible. We sang God be with you til we meet again and Sharon, Anne, and I wrapper our arms around each other for that song and just cried. We're girls...come on. What did you expect! Because of the riots, etc in Jerusalem that day we couldn't o to the Mount of Olives, but Omar went and got us some oil directly from the mount of olives. And one of my FAVORITE moments was watching the men - these incredible men gather in a circle and consecrate the oil. I love the priesthood. I don't think guys really understand how much it affects us women just to witness the priesthood being exercised. But truly a memory I will always cherish.

9. Singing at the the Jerusalem Center. Well I told you that Lexie sang at the garden tomb. She got thrown under the bus early in the trip by her mother who told Daniel that she could sing. So she sang alot on this trip. I thanked my mother for not mentioning anything and gave Lexie my sympathies. Well the branch president for the Jerusalem Center just happened to be on our tour and asked LExie to sing in church. So on the ride to church on Saturday I asked Lexie what she was singing...and she said she had no idea. Somehow during the conversation Paul suggested Lexie and I sing a duet...which I was against...but somehow it happened (Thanks Paul). Yep Lexie and I in a total amount of about 10 minutes (maybe even only 5) but together a duet of "I Know My Redeember Lives" and sang it right before the testimony portion of the meeting. It was hard not to cry. I've always loved that song, but this time...singing it with the BEAUTIFUL organ at the Jerusalem Center...with a panoramic view of the temple mount and the city behind us....after having such an amazing experience at the Garden Tomb...I just felt more. And I was terrified. I only wish my Grandfather could have seen that. My mom mentioned that with tears in her eyes when I sat down...and I was in tears the rest of the meeting. This trip was really for him...and what a way to top it off. I'll cherish that forever I'm sure. Perhaps every Fast and testimony meeting should have a musical number (bishop do NOT take that as a volunteer) because it truly set the tone and the meeting was powerful.

So in a brief nutshell that's the trip. I'm sure there is much that I'm not remembering now - it was just fabulous all around. There were some riots and bombings while we were there, but honestly - I wasn't really worried at any point. We were only close to it one day...other than that we heard it from a distance or it was only on the news. It as sad because it prevented us from getting into some places. We didn't get to go to the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Bethlehem, etc (we just kind of looked from a distance). So that bummed me out, but oh well - I'd rather be safe. I do have a WHOLE new perspective on what is going on over there. The news is very slanted in a very negative direction. And it is bad - don't get me wrong, but I think I understand more now.

I had an AMAZING time. Met some AMAZING people that I hope will stay in touch for years to come. Wouldn't trade it for anything. A little sad to come back to real life, but alas it had to happen someday.