To conclude this blog, and my experiences in Jerusalem, I have decided to add the church talk I was asked to give on my experience in Jerusalem as well as my testimony. They will serve to show a bit about what I learned and how I grew while in the Holy Land.
As I just moved into this
ward at the beginning of the semester, I thought I would start out by
introducing myself. I am from Centerville, Utah—which is a
six-square-mile, not-quite- metropolis between Bountiful and Farmington. Two months ago we got our first movie theater
in Centerville. We also have one of the world’s
top-selling Dairy Queens. What a great
place to grow up! I will be graduating
this April in psychology. I am still not sure what I am going to do once
I graduate, but I am sure that everything will work out. During fall
semester I had the opportunity to do a study abroad in Jerusalem. It was
an incredible experience. When I got home and didn't have a place to live,
my dad had the brilliant idea of picking somewhere to live based on the bishop.
It sounded like a novel idea, and so my dad emailed his friend Bishop
Rassmussen to find out about his ward boundaries. Thus, I am in this
ward.
Right after my first
sacrament meeting here the Bishop tracked me down and told me that there were
good and bad consequences of his knowing my dad. One of them was that he
wanted me to speak today on my Jerusalem experience. I am not sure if
this was what he classified as a good or bad consequence, but I am grateful to
speak today on something that means so much to me.
I am going to be sharing
some of the lessons I learned from the different people and situations that I
came into contact with while I was in the Holy Land.
Lesson
1: The first lesson I
learned was discovered from my Jewish, Muslim, and Christian friends--the
lesson was the importance of sincere and devoted worship. One of the most
incredible experiences I had was going to the Western or Wailing Wall on a
Friday night to welcome in the Sabbath which is on Saturday in Jerusalem.
Once each week literally thousands of Jews gather together to sing and
celebrate the beginning of the Sabbath. This made me ponder what the
Sabbath means to me. Frequently when I realize it is Sunday I think,
"Oh no! The weekend is over!"
but really I should be excited and happy that the Sabbath is actually here.
What more joy should we have than the ability we have to worship in the
true church!
Religion is obviously a
very big deal in Jerusalem and people truly worship—with everything they
have—over there. Shortly after I got home my dad sent me an article about
a problem that occurred in Bethlehem. There is a church built
over a cave which is regarded as the traditional site of the birth of Jesus.
Because so many different Christian churches believe in the sacredness of
this place, the church has been divided into different sections where different
churches have responsibility. The article said that "The annual
cleaning of [this] church deteriorated into a brawl between [Greek and
Armenian] clergy, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of
the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened."
We don't need to hit each
other with brooms in order to be sincere and devoted in our worship, but we do
need to have an attitude of the importance of religion. We should be
cheering and actually be using Saturday as a way to prepare for the Sabbath.
As I viewed all those around me while I living in the Middle East, I was
always impressed with the intensity
of their worship and it increased my own desire to be a more devoted follower
of Jesus Christ.
Lesson 2: Luckily, while I was in
the Jerusalem Branch I got the best calling in the Church: I was the
sunbeam teacher! One of my sunbeams taught me another lesson. As
many of you know, before going to Jerusalem, students are required to sign a
non-proselyting agreement because the Church has agreed that we will not do
missionary work in Israel. This is in effect for all members of the Church
there. My sunbeam Anika goes to a Hebrew preschool. At the
beginning of one class at the Hebrew preschool the students were to draw
pictures and share them with each other. Anika drew a picture of baby
Jesus and shared it with her Jewish classmates--who don't believe in Jesus as
the Savior. The Savior already means so
much to three-year-old Anika. She taught
me that the way we live our lives is a testimony of who we are and what we
believe.
Lesson 3: My favorite part about
being in Jerusalem was going to the classes and learning about the Gospel. We
started out studying the Old Testament where I came to understand the Abrahamic
Covenant much better. In this past October General Conference, Elder
Richard G. Scott said,
“ How do you personally use the scriptures?
Do you use all of the standard works, including the Old Testament? I have found precious truths in the pages of
the Old Testament that are key ingredients to the platform of truth that guides
my life and acts as a resource when I try to share a gospel message with
others. For that reason, I love the Old
Testament.” When Elder Scott said this a
huge smile crossed my face. I was in the
middle of mid-terms, and I was studying the Old Testament harder than I ever
had before. Frequently as I read the Old Testament I
came across stories that I wasn't as familiar with.
One of these stories is the
story of Rahab. When Joshua is about to go conquer Jericho he sends spies
to check the place out. They are saved by Rahab, a harlot, who then has
them promise to save her when the Israelites destroy the city. After she
saves the spies she bears her testimony saying
"I know that the Lord
hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants
of the land faint because of you. For
we have heard how the Lord dried up the
water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out
of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan,
Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more
courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."
I love hearing Rahab's
testimony of the Lord. She believed in the miracles and in His power.
If we don’t finish the story of Rahab we may believe that she was
just a harlot, and we might judge her unrighteously. But, Rahab bears her
testimony of the Lord and becomes a member of the covenant; in fact, she is
listed in the Matthean genealogy of Christ. So the third lesson that I
learned is that anyone can be part of the covenant if they are willing to live
righteously and follow Christ--a truth taught much more often in the Old
Testament than in our other scriptures.
Lesson 4: The fourth lesson I
learned was that I need to completely turn myself to Christ. I absolutely
loved learning the New Testament and learning more about who my Savior is and
what He did for me. My favorite week of the whole semester was when we
stayed on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. I loved being where Jesus grew
up and performed many of his miracles. One of the first days I had the
opportunity to take a boat ride across the Sea. The day before, my mom
told me that while I was on the boat I should get out and walk on the water as
Peter did because "I just needed a little faith." I told my
professor about my mother’s dare and he told me that Peter’s walking on the
water was a physical manifestation of his coming to Christ. This message
has stuck out to me because when we allow ourselves to completely trust the
Savior--when we truly come unto Him--there is no limit to the power we will
have. I didn't walk on water while I was on the Sea of Galilee, but through
Brother Huntsman’s insight, I was blessed with an experience that changed my
perspective--it was the lesson of coming unto the Savior--both spiritually and
physically.
Lesson 5: Another important lesson I
learned was recognizing a different aspect of the Holy Ghost and through the
Holy Ghost feeling the love of my Heavenly Father. Jerusalem was an absolutely
amazing experience for me in several different ways but it was completely
different than I expected it to be. When I initially left I thought I was
going to have incredible spiritual experiences everyday--you know the kind
where your eyes tear up and you are on top of the world thinking life couldn't
possibly get better. Well those euphoric, crying experiences were pretty
rare while I was in the Holy Land. At first I was pretty disappointed
with the experience. One Sabbath I remember being so frustrated with
life. I didn't feel like I was feeling the Spirit; I didn't feel like I
had any true friends and yet I didn't feel that I ever had alone time; I didn't
feel that my sunbeams were taking anything out of my lessons; I didn't feel
like I was doing well in my classes; and I didn't feel like my future was going
anywhere. I was stressed about my future life—long term I didn’t know
exactly what I was going to do with my psychology degree, and short term I
didn’t know where I would live when I got back to Provo. As at sat in church on that fine
Saturday, I decided to make a deal with Heavenly Father. I was going to
go to the Garden of Gethsemane--the closest thing I had to the temple--after
church and He was going to help me out. So as church ended and people
decided where they were going to go for the day, I set out for the Garden of
Gethsemane (taking friends with me because the Jerusalem study abroad rule is
that to leave the center you must be in a group of at least three). So I went into the Garden of Gethsemane, read
my Patriarchal Blessing and prayed. I still didn't start crying--what
about my deal? All of a sudden I felt at peace with the world--a feeling
that had come frequently to me several times in the weeks before--and I
realized that I was feeling the Spirit but that it was in a different way than
I had ever noticed before. I was being comforted. I knew that I
didn't need to worry about my future at that moment and that everything would
work out. I knew that my Heavenly Father loved me and was watching out
for me even though at times I was being too stubborn to feel it. I knew
that I was learning more in Jerusalem than just my schooling because my
relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior was growing more than ever.
Realizing that I could feel the Spirit differently than I ever had before
was such a comfort to me. The Holy Ghost is truly a comforter in that
everything that I was worrying about didn't matter anymore. None of my
concerns were solved but I knew in a way that I had never known before that
everything would work out. I didn't know
how but I received the feeling that I didn't need to know how right then.
Lesson 6: Another lesson I learned
was a little more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The fall season is
when olive harvest is and luckily I got to be there to help with it. One
day I spent several hours climbing a 1,200-year-old tree picking olives.
About a week later we pressed the olives. The director of the
program gave us a lecture on olives. By
experiencing the process personally, I learned so much about my Savior.
When I was picking olives I decided to taste one. I can honestly
say that raw olives are probably the worst taste in the entire world.
They are incredibly bitter and just plain disgusting. Even thinking
about it makes me feel like spitting that olive out. And yet, olive oil
is sweet and delicious and I absolutely love it. How could an olive go
from being so bitter to so delicious? It is the process of olive pressing
that purifies the olive. First one puts it in a stone basin and smashes
the olives. The skin of the olive is bruised, and then the olive is
broken. After that occurs the oil of the olive is able to seep out and be
collected for use. As the Savior suffered in the garden, the perfection
and purity was pressed out of Him. Just as the olive oil becomes sweet
once it is pressed out of the olive, the Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us
sweetness by giving us the option of gaining exaltation--but this only comes
because of the intense pressing. Furthermore, olive oil is used for light
and as a healing agent. The Savior also serves as a light and a healing
agent for each of us. As I understand better the imagery of the olive
press and its connection with the Savior, I have come to more fully appreciate Him.
I absolutely love my Savior.
One of the jokes we had at
the Jerusalem Center was that rather than “walking where Jesus walked” we were
walking in His air space. As time has gone on Jerusalem is about 20 feet
higher than it was when Jesus lived there because people keep building on top
of past cities. This put a bit of a damper on the idea of “being in the exact
same spot as Jesus,” but in the end it was more helpful. I went to
Jerusalem with the expectation of having an amazingly spiritual and life
changing experience. It did change my life but it wasn’t because I was in
Jerusalem; rather, it was because I was taking the time to study about my
Savior’s life and was coming closer to Him.
The most important lesson I
learned in Jerusalem was also taught to me by my sunbeam Anika. During
our first lesson together she said the opening prayer. She said "We
are thankful that we love Jesus." I would like to bear my testimony that I
love Jesus. I know that that there are
many truths found in the Old and New Testament that can teach us so much. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and
everyone of us. I know that he is always
there for us. I know that Jesus Christ
suffered and died for each of our sins because He loves us. I know that when we put our effort in we can and
will draw closer to our Savior and our Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
