Shalom Out Yis'rael!

 This will be my final post from Jerusalem to end the experience of a lifetime. As I have been thinking over the past few days and looking back on the experiences I have had this semester it almost seems fairytale-ish or a dream from which I don't want to wake. It truly has been a once in a lifetime experience that has changed me forever.  I have seen and walked the sites where Christ walked, healed, preached and blessed. I studied his words where he preached them and felt his love where he expressed and showed it to his disciples. I have experienced more than I deserve and have learned much from the holy sites, friends at the JC, the scriptures, the natives, exceptional professors, and from the wonderful example of Jesus Christ. Israel has become a part of me, it has sunken deep into my soul and will never be rooted out. O, Jerusalem I will never forget thee! Here are some pictures to recap the good times that were had in this blessed land.

Palm Sunday March. It was so cool to see the thousands of people who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the triumphal entry and the last week of Christ's life. 

Weirdest thing I have done in awhile.... float in the Dead Sea. The craziest phenomenon. I loved bobbing but be careful not to get the salt in your mouth or eyes, it stings like crazy. 

Dome of the Rock

My sanctuary in the Old City, the Western Wall. 

Old City Street!

Herodian Palace. One of my favorite pictures.

Sunset Club at its finest. Never has the sun had such devout fans. 

Pyramids!

At the finish line of the first marathon in Jerusalem. I  only ran the 4.2 k but it was still fun and totally worth it. 

Little Sabrina at Ein Gedi. She is a doll. I am going to miss her. 

Jordan with some Bedouin influence

I know this blog post is long past due but it is because I  had a problem uploading my pictures onto my computer. However this problem has been fixed because I just realized that I have an sd slot for my sd card on my computer... something I wish I would have known about 3 months ago. We returned form Jordan not too long ago and it was definitely a highlight of the Jerusalem experience. Of course it was no Galilee or Egypt but it was pretty cool and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed there 3 nights and 4 days. The highlights of the trip were: Petra of course, royal tombs, hikes up rigorous mountains, park-our all over Jordan but mostly Petra, running to every site to assure that we got the most out of the experience, the monastery (tomb of Aretas the 4th), good food, royal suites, and best of all good company. Oh and we also had some sauna and Jacuzzi time at the hotel in Amman.

This here is the treasury. One might notice this particular tomb carving in a famous movie.  

This is the monastery, another tomb of an unknown important man. This fine structure can be found about an hour or so (if your walking) from the treasury.  We were able to go inside this tomb but then found out it was not allowed and had to get out. It was awesome though. 

This is right outside the royal tombs looking out across the canyon where the Nabateans once inhabited this rocky terrain. 

This is on our way up to the "High Place". I'm pretty sure this was the halfway point. There were a bunch of rock altars,  so we added to this wonderful scene by building our own. Those are the people that I hiked up with. It was such a fun hike and the weather was pristine. 

Not really sure about this one just thought that it was cool that someone carved this into the rock on top of the "High Place". 

Here we are on top of the high place after a treacherous hike. I snagged a shot while the others were taking a small breather. The view was quite wonderful.

Royal Tombs at Petra. 

I love the Shwarmas here. This is a shwarma shop located in Amman, not far from our hotel. 

we call this the "man grab" at the JC. This is one of many head carvings in the musuem at the Amman Citadel. 

 This is at the largest roman theater in the Middle East.  Standing next to me is Chelsea Jackson, one of the gems here at the JC, with some sweet dudes from Amman who wanted to jump into the picture. 

On our way back from Jordan we got to stop at the Jordan River and  have a little devotional.  It was really cool to be able to read the account of Christ's baptism here. So sweet!

A Continuation of Galilee and a little taste of Jerusalem as Well

"simply nature" is how I would coin this picture. 

Here we are dabbling our feet in the Jordan River

a steel chariot drawn by steel horses at Megiddo

A little spring that flows into the River Jordan. I tasted it... pretty good.

After our nature walk through Tel Dan. 

On top of a huge castle that we explored for an hour or so. It was awesome.

This mosaic is located in the ancient city of Sepphoris. It is known as "The Mona Lisa of Galilee"

This is Audryn and I taking a small break from our busy schedules to have a small picture moment together. 

This is Jess and I at Haifa

This is also at Haifa with the Med Sea in the background.  The little girl I'm holding is Emily Judd, the daughter of one of the professors here at the JC. She is a doll.

Sunset at Galilee. I can't seem to get enough of this beautiful Sea with the sunset.

This is Mt. Carmel where Elijah has a showdown with the priests of Baal.

Haifa I presume

This is Donny and I just chillin next to the Med Sea

some ancient pillars at Caesarea

Ok now we are back in Jerusalem. this is the Jewish quarter of the Old City.  One of my favorite pictures for sure.

This is the western wall, by far my favorite place in the Old City. It is part of the retention wall, which was built by Herod to hold up the temple mount.

This is the day we went to the tomb of the kings

In a tunnel at Haifa

O Galilee, O Galilee

Wow it has been forever since I have updated this thing and for good reason to I would say. We just got back form Galilee about a week ago and we were there for 10 days or so.  It was such an amazing experience to be able to go to the cities where Jesus Christ walked, taught, healed, and blessed those who were in need and inflicted. So many wonderful things occurred in this part of The Holy Land that are hard to describe and would take forever to write down. I hope some of these pictures will portray the wonderful things that were experienced in Galilee. It was experience that has changed my life forever.

 A sweet jumping picture at Beit Shean. We stopped here on our way to Galilee. 

Beit She'an!

here is some of the crew taking a break from swimming in the Sea of Galilee!

After a long day field tripping we took some time to capture the sunset and just live in the moment!

Sea of Galilee

We took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. We read from the scriptures about the  events that occured on this sacred lake. It was amazing!

Found a heart rock at Peter's primacy

A beam of sorts in my eye

some of the broskis at the Med Sea!

this is where we hiked to and swam for about an hour. The water was freezing cold but it was a blast.

My roommate Greg Hudnall and I on our way back from the swimming hole. 

probably a lily of the field. 

This is K-Hutch, one of my dear friends at the JC. 

One of my favorite little girls, Sabrina Muhlestein. 

Here we are at Hurtzi right by galilee.

In a byzantine church if i remember correctly. I am sitting in the apse of the church.