BYU Jerusalem: Friday, Shabbat, and Sunday

Friday, Oct 5th:
We had a midterm for our Palestine Class on friday. Morning classes went well, then came lunch. During lunch I continued to study for the midterm. I usually take the option of eating outside as apposed to inside. We can look from our tables and see the entire old city, east Jerusalem, and the skylines of west Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock is one of the main focal points/landmarks. I decided to keep studying even though I was done eating. It was me and my really funny, silly, cracks-me-up-legitimently friend Lizzy. As we were quizing each other about Islam we heard some loud "booms" or bomb detinations, there are usually tons of fireworks in Jerusalem, especially during Jewish holidays, this whole week is the Jewish holiday Sukkot. Well, when I heard the detinations, I looked at Lizzy and jokingly said, "lets just say those ones were fireworks" though we both knew they were not. We kept studying and the detinations every few moments were going off. Some were pretty loud and were echoing through the Kidron Valley up to the BYUJ Center. We kept studying then one of the security guards came out and was on the little wall under the railing so he can see better. I turned around and I could see the tear gas rising from the temple mount (where the Dome of the Rock is). As soon as he went back inside Lizzy and I got up on the 2' little wall and were looking, there was a huge traffic jam on the road around the old city walls with endless tour buses motionless. We were up there for a moment as Tarek (the main security guard, who is super awesome and funny) came out and sternly said, "Get down, that is a security hazard." We both jumped down quickly and a little startled then we look back and he was laughing. He's a big jokester, but this was kind of a serious matter, but to him, he's seen much worse. We all sat with our eyes fixed on the Temple mount. I asked him if he had experienced tear gas, he answered in the afirmative and said it was absoulutely horrible. The reason for the conflict was because 12 years earlier Jewish Extremists tried to place a conerstone for a third Temple on the Temple mount (which is the holy site of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Which I feel is really intense and pretty dang gnarly. Also, because it is Sukkot all week long the Jews have kind of taken over the city (not literally) with their celebrations and crowds. So the reason this happened on Friday is because it is the day of Prayer, where hundreds of Arab Muslims gather at the Temple Mount and pray, so this is when they are all together and start speaking about things and get riled up. Anyways, needless to say we had to stay inside all day. I did really well on my midterm which was a pretty easy test. We all hung out in the center after classes. We had a movie night watching the "Incredibles" which I always forget how good pixar films are till I watch them. Halfway during the film Farras, one of the security guards, paused the movie and made a security announcement that we were not to go on the balconies or take any flash photography out the windows. Appearently there was some unrest outside out center. Kind of gnarly, but it simmered down.

Shabbat Oct 6th:
Due to General Conference today we did not have anything scheduled for us until 6pm, which was the saturday morning session because of the time difference we watched conference from 6pm-8pm then 10pm-12am. That morning after breakfast Jed, Jordan, Sophie, and I walked to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This was my first time waiting in line there to go inside of the Holy Sepulcher, which was really cool, but we waited for probably 20 minutes and went into the small Sepulcher that fits three people at a time, I knelt, kissed the stone and started to pray when the monk came and yelled at us to get out, giving me a total of 10 seconds in the tomb. We spent some time in church exploring around. We then walked over to the Garden Tomb. Which, Juxtaposed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is quite peacful and overall a differnt experience. It is a garden so obviously there is a difference of made made structure and nature. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher I get a feeling of pilgrimage, worship, and diversity along with an overall feeling of hustle and buzz. At the Garden Tomb there are really friendly british volunteers who greet you and there are trees and flowers all around you, in the distance you can hear different christian denominations singing hymns (today was a group from the BYUJ center we later bumped into), but there is a more laid back atmosphere. I find it quite peaceful there. I sat on a bench that overlooks the Tomb and I read out of St. Matthew the accounts from the betrayal to the resurrection of the Savior. Then i went into the Tomb and spent a few minutes in the Tomb pondering. It was for me, the best preparation for Genereal Conference I have ever had. We walked back to the center, showered and changed into church cloths. After dinner we went into the Forum to watch Genereal Conference. To start of the Conference when President Monson made the announcement that the there is now an option for males who are 18 years old to serve missions and women who are 19 years old to serve the place errupted with excitement and emotion. For the group here at BYU Jerusalem there are many girls who are 19 and 20 who had been planning to serve missions, when this announcement was made, their lives got flipped-turned upside down. It was really exciting news, very historical Conference seeing that the last age change for this was in the 60s. Conference was the spiritual lift that I had been praying for. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

Sunday Oct 7th:
Early this morning around 6am we walked/ran down to the western wall for the "wacking of the willows" which is a Jewish tradition done on the last sunrise of Sukkot. The western wall was packed to the brim with Jews, all holding their “four species”. The four spices are also important symbols of Sukkot and represent the blessings of nature. These are lulav (a green, closed frond of a date palm tree), hadass (twigs and leaves from a myrtle tree), aravah (twigs and leaves from a willow tree) and etrog (a lemon-like fruit of the citron tree).The scriptural significance is: “four species” (plants) and reciting Hoshanot (Psalm 118:25). Reformed Jews find this practice rediculous but Hasidic Jews are very serious about this tradtion. When they get to the willow branches in the prayer they beat them on the ground. So naturally we woke up early to see these practices. It was awesome! We walked around the very crowded area then we met our teachers at the city of David (old Jerusalem) just south of the western wall through Dung Gate. We had an awesome field trip at the city of David. We got to go through Hezekaihs tunnel which was a tunnel that went under the city, we walked in water up to our shins and in a tunnel just wide enough for you to walk comfortably in. We sang songs and had a good time. At the end was the Pool of Siloam where we had a devotional, this was the pool where the Savior, after spitting in the dirt and rubbing clay in the blind mans' eyes told him to wash (John 9:11). It was awesome. After stopping at a few more spots, like an acient synagogue where Jesus was likely to have been (it was just rocks and ruin), and the city gates we went back to the busses and had our sac lunches and bussed back to the center. I then preceeded to take a 4 1/2 hour nap, which was absolutely lovely and gave me the energy and alertness for another late night of General Conference. I can say that I received answers and direction from Conference that I plan on sitting down to process and formulate goals today. Overall, this weekend was quite eventful and spiritual, stoked to be alive and here.