Massada, The Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, and Qumran

With one of our last full field trips we had a terrific day.  We started out by going to Masada.  This is one of the places that King Herod the Great is famous for.  He made it pretty much awesome and almost impossible to attack.  However, during the First Revolt against Rome after the Romans had conquered Jerusalem and the Herodian they came to Masada.  They built a huge siege ramp, and took over Masada.  But, when the Romans came into the city all of the Jews were dead.  It is thought that they all committed suicide/killed one another so that they would not be slaves to the Romans.

With Lindsay Hall

Then we headed to the Dead Sea.  It was pretty crazy.  From what I have heard, the dead sea is usually pretty calm, but because it was windy there were a lot of waves.  Getting into the water was tricky because we had to climb over salt rocks to get in.  Once in we really did float.  You could not drown if you wanted to.  I was doing pretty well in the water and then a wave smacked me in the face.  My throat burned, my eyes stung, and so I got out.  It was pretty miserable and I almost started crying (to get the salt out of my eyes of course).  I was probably in for less than 15 minutes but that was plenty long for me!

Picture from Lindsay's blog!  Thanks Lindsay!

We then headed to Ein Gedi which was absolutely beautiful.  David hid from Saul at Ein Gedi.

 

 

Our final stop was Qumran which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  It was pretty amazing being able to see the site where the Essenes practiced monasticism and where they produced and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It was a pretty amazing place!

The caves where the scrolls were found.

The famous Cave 4.

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic day!

Orson Hyde Park

Today we went to the Orson Hyde Park and consecrated the olive oil that we had picked and pressed.  It was such a neat experience.  I have never observed consecrating oil before and it was absolutely amazing.

(I was also going to go to a Primary lunch that the Presidency prepared for all the teachers.  However, the center wouldn't allow us to go.  I was super bummed about it, but oh well!)


With my group!  YAY!

Orthodox Synagogue

Before going to the synagogue I was pretty nervous.  I had heard that women sat up in a balcony away from men.  I was under the impression that women just watched the men worship.  I planned on coming out of the evening feeling mad because women were being suppressed.  Luckily I was wrong.
When we walked in we separated.  The men were on the left and the women were on the right.  The leader of the synagogue was right in the middle where everyone could see.  Everyone prayed and sang along.  The seven minute talk was then given by a woman!  I was thrilled that everyone was able to worship and enjoy the night together!  I was so happy!

One of the highlights of the night occurred after the service was over.  A lot of the women that came to the service were newcomers testing out the synagogue.  Many of them were soldiers (at least they carried big guns with them).  Brielle told me that she really wanted to touch one of the guns but she was too scared.  I then "accidentally" bumped into a soldier while putting my prayer book away and touched the end of the gun.  Pretty crazy!!!

Russian Church, Tomb of the Prophets, and Light Show

This morning we had class and then left early to head to the Russian Orthodox Church.  This church is only open on Tuesday and Thursday's from 10-12.  Usually we are in class at this time so it has been difficult to get in.  But, we finally made it.  It was absolutely beautiful.

With Lindsay in front of the church!  YAY!

We then hiked up the hill and went into the tomb of the prophets.  It was so awesome!  We lit candles to illuminate the way before us.  It was absolutely delightful exploring the cave!  (I can't wait to post my awesome picture from here!)

With Ben and Koryl.  I think the sign above us tells just how legit this place is.

I died!!!!!

Then we headed back to the center where I started studying for my quiz and then took the quiz.  I felt pretty good about it.

Finally we bundled up and headed to the Tower of David for a light show.  It was pretty amazing.  I got caught up in the amazing technology being used and how cool everything looked that I didn't realize for quite a while that they were showing the history of Jerusalem.  Oh well, it was still enjoyable.  After the show we wandered around West Jerusalem for a while, got delicious waffles, and came back to the center!  (One comment.  Who knew that Jerusalem was going to get so cold?  I thought I was always going to be hot here...but alas I freeze!  Oh well.)

It ended up being quite a lovely evening!