Hello!
I have written some more things that I have been doing. I hope you enjoy!:)
I’m still working to get the 2nd half of our Turkey trip down. It
might take until the weekend to do but I’ll definitely be able to do
it on Saturday. I hope though, that this email will compensate for
the lack of completion about that trip.
Last week, on Thursday, we had Sedar dinner (Passover.) We had our
Jewish Israeli teacher play host in our cafeteria (The Oasis.) He
brought his little daughter who was adorable; there is a part for the
youngest child to ask in Hebrew “what is the meaning of this night?”
The whole thing was really cool. I was in a quartet of girls who sang
one of the traditional Passover songs, Dayenu. The theme of the song
was that no matter what God did or didn’t do to get the Children of
Israel out of Egypt it would have sufficed. The final song of the
evening was set to a rap. Yes, a rap, and it was my teacher’s idea.
A group of students wrote it and it was awesome! I’ll need to share
it with you when I next see you.
Today we went on a field trip to the Shephelah (Shfee-la.) Jerusalem
is situated in the highlands. Tel-Aviv, where the airport is, is
situated on the coast. In between are the Shephelah, the midlands.
Between the midland hills are 5 major Valleys and the defense cities
at the different ends of these valleys are the sites for many of the
conflicts between the Philistines and the Children of Israel around
1000 BC. Remember Samson and his whole story, it took place in the
first of these valleys, Aijalon. And don’t forget David and Goliath.
That battle took place in the valley of Elah, I believe. So we went
to these places and looked at old stone foundations that had been
there since the time of these stories.
This week is looking rough. Doesn’t it feel like I always say that?
But, it is, 2 midterms and 1 paper. I’m in a rut of school apathy. I
have a test tomorrow but haven’t brought myself to study, I’m writing
this instead!:) I will though, I like learning. I have to keep that
in my mind and flee from those “freaker outers” who breed stress.
We still interact with the families living at the center. The Center
is small for almost 100 people to be living here and we see the kids
running around almost every day. Today the kids didn’t have school
because of the Sukot Holiday and so our teachers brought their kids on
the field trip with them. It was fun. And the kids were really good
and didn’t take away from the experience, just added to it.
I have now read about 500 pages of the Old Testament. I am glad I
have been able to read it; I have a better connection between stories
that I have known for so long. I understand better how things fall
into place. And it has been great being able to be and see where
these things took place. That aspect adds another dimension to
understanding. Take today for example: The books 1 Samuel -2 Kings
refer to a lot of battles between the Philistines and the Israelites.
Normally I just think, “Great, more fighting.” But getting a feel for
the geography and these valleys just seemed to increase the context
for the battles. The Philistines have a military city on one end of
the valley and the Israelite on another. In order to get to the
heart of Israel, Jerusalem, the Philistines had to conquer these
cities. I have also realized how much focus the Old Testament places
on families; I had never realized or thought about that before. One
of the main themes I have been picking up is Israel starts to get into
trouble when they enter into marriage covenants with people of other
nationalities. The trouble here isn’t one of national discrimination,
it is that they weren’t marrying people of their own faith, they
weren’t receiving the sealing ordinance. And this caused a lot of
trouble. Gradually, gradually false gods and idol worship began to
enter into the lives of the Children of Israelites and they gradually
start to peel away from the precepts of the Gospel.
Yesterday I went to the Biblical Zoo. I quite enjoyed it! There were
lots of people and we planned to be there for 3 hours. I liked to
read the random facts about animals. You want to know a couple of
things I learned? First, naked mole rats looks like baby gerbils,
they are blind because they live underground where no light reaches
and thus have no need to see, they orient themselves in their tunnels
by the earth’s magnetic forces, and they have lips behind their teeth
so they don’t get dirt in their throats. Second, kangaroos are kooky.
I got to see a mother ‘roo with a cute Joey poking his head out of
her pouch. Marsupials, like kangaroos, are strange and I think, I read
unique to Australia. The gestational period of a joey is only about
33 days and when it is born, it weighs about 1 gram. Then it remains
in the pouch, attached at the mothers nipple where it receives
nourishment, for a way long time, I’m remembering a year and a half,
I’ll have to double check that, but crazy!
Do you want to hear my finest moment since I have been here? It was
last week at FHE. I was asked to give the spiritual thought. If you
remember, we had just had the 2 members of the seventy speak to us
during sacrament meeting. One of them talked about receiving answers
to prayer. I decided to talk about recognizing the spirit and
different ways he communicates with us as a continuation from his
ideas. I started out with an attention grabbing activity: listing as
many flavors of ice cream in 30 seconds. And we shared them. Then,
to link that to the idea I was getting at, I said, “Answers don’t come
in just vanilla” and explained that there are many ways we can feel
the spirit, many flavors of the spirit. I shared 3 short experiences
that highlighted this idea from my life and shared the scripture from
2 Nephi 31 that says the Lord speaks to man according to that man’s
understanding. Then, we took one minute to write down the “flavors of
the spirit” we had recognized in our lives and gave a chance for
anyone who wished, to share. What was so great about this moment? It
was seeing the looks in my FHE group’s eyes, seeing as they,
essentially, went through the emotions of the thought. The funny
parts, the poignant parts, the serious parts and how it fit so well
with their way of thinking and the way they grasp concepts. It was
just good. I don’t know how to describe it and I was trying not to
just use the cop-out “the spirit was there” and I don’t want to seem
cocky or anything because it was good. It just felt good. So, there
ya have it, my finest moment. Almost like you were there, right?!;)
Well, I really should go study now. Have a wonderful day!
Ashley
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