Mt. Sinai

Saturday, September 29
Most everyone, Bob included, got up at 1:00 AM this morning to hike up to Mt. Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments (I didn’t go). It was an arduous climb, arriving at the top in time for the sunrise. The classes had short programs there before coming back down. Bob was so tired by then, and while coming down he fell on one of the steep, uneven steps. Luckily he didn’t hurt himself, but he was exhausted once he reached the bottom. After an awful lunch at the hotel, we boarded the bus for Israel, arriving home at 10:00 PM. The BYU Jerusalem Center never looked so good!!

Muslim Mosque and their beliefs

Saturday, September 29
After breakfast we went to the Cairo Citadel. Inside the Citadel is the Muhammad Ali Mosque built to Saladin. We were asked to take our shoes off before entering, then sat down inside while we listened to the guide explain some of the Muslim beliefs. There are 5 “pillars” of their faith:

1. Saying by heart a phrase which means “there is only 1 God – Muhammad”

2. Praying 5 times daily. During the prayers they touch their forehead to the floor (this is why we took off our shoes so the floor will be clean for them). When they bend over to touch the floor is when they ask Muhammad for the things they need.

3. Ramadan – fasting during the day from sunrise to sundown for a whole month – usually in September. If they cannot fast because of sickness or travel, they are asked to “make it up” later by sacrificing for those in need

4. Alms giving – during the last 4 days of Ramadan they give 2½% “tithing” of their assets

5. Pilgrimmage to Mecca – they try to do this at least once in their lifetime

We boarded the bus for our drive to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery, arriving there around 9:00 PM. Dinner was followed by Sacrament meeting, then going to sleep around 11:00 PM.

Luxor Temple and Hard Rock Cafe

After visiting the Karnak Temple, we went down the street to the Luxor Temple – also another enormous place.











That night, instead of taking the train ride back, we all flew back to Cairo for a good night's rest.

Friday, September 28
Today began by visiting the Egyptian Museum. The whole 2nd floor has nothing but antiquities found in King Tut’s tomb!! I’m not much of a museum lover, but since we had a guide explaining what we were seeing, it was much more interesting.

Afterwards we ate lunch in the Hard Rock Café in Cairo – 1st time ever for Bob and me. We then were dropped off at the Khan al Khalili Bazaar for an hour of shopping. Actually it was not a fun shopping experience because it consisted of 2 long, main dirt streets jammed with small shops all along both sides and people pushing you to buy their wares – there’s no such thing as just “looking” – as soon as they see your interest in something, they are pushing you to buy! There was garbage everywhere along the dirt streets – you had to try hard to enjoy this shopping experience. Bob bought a typical Egyptian long shirt down to his ankles, I bought a magnet (all I could find worth spending money on).

Karnak Temple (Luxor)

Thursday, September 27
This morning I watched the sun rise in the Egyptian sky – it was a big red-orange ball of fire – very pretty. After breakfast we all got in horse-drawn carriages and were taken to the Karnak Temple. At the entrance there is an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes - a symbol of the god Amon. He protects the pharaoh, shown between his front paws.

The Karnak Temple is one of the two temples found in present day Luxor which contains sphinxes, pharonic statues, obelisks, etc., but the scale of the structures with their immense pillars (4,5,6 feet and more in diameter, 20 feet+ in height) is awesome. An online source states it is the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made, covering about 200 acres, and has been a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years. The progression from public to more and more restricted areas (for the priest only) and from lower to higher elevations is of great interest, as is the surviving relief carvings on both pillars and flat surfaces. Much history and braggadoccio is depicted and a surprising amount of color survives, especially on upper walls and the underside of lintels bridging between columns and/or walls.


The Hypostyle Hall contains a forest of 134 columns covering 54,000 square feet. The columns were built a section at a time, then the hall floor was filled in with sand so they could roll another section on top, etc., repeating this process until the columns reached their full height. They then dug out all the sand, plastered the columns, and then carved their reliefs on all sides of each column telling a story of the people and their history, battles, etc.

Valley of the Kings (tombs) - Luxor

Wednesday, September 26
Today we visited Valley of the Kings (near Luxor) - these tombs, long ago plundered, still contain marvelous base-reliefs of human figures and instructions for the dead to pass by the sentinels guarding the way to eternal life. The scope and scale of the tombs is amazing. This is where King Tut's tomb was discovered some decades ago, still intact. I was struck by all the hieroglyphics covering the walls, and still with some color. The slaves began digging the tomb as soon as the Pharoah became king so that there would be time to finish it before he died! (there was so much work to be done for it to be ready for the mummified body).

Here are some details:
1. Usually there were “gates” inside the tomb (sometimes 12 gates) which the dead person had to pass thru before he reached eternal life

2. There were 2 kinds of responses by the dead person 1) negative response – “I didn’t lie” and 2) positive response – “I killed a man because he was an evil person”

3. The hieroglyphics were actually passages from the Book of the Dead – things the dead person would need to know for the next life

4. Mumification process took 72 days, at which time the tomb was closed and no more work could be done on it – even if it wasn’t finished

5. All Pharoah’s treasures (chariot, tools, chairs, bed, anything he used in life) would be buried with him in the tomb so that he could use them in the next life (that’s why the tombs were soooo big.)

We also visited Medinet Habu (mortuary Temple of Ramses III), then took a faluka ride down the Nile River before bed.

Pyramids and camel ride

Tuesday, September 25
Today we repacked our bags, packing clothes for the next 3 days into our small BYU bags. A short bus ride through a sea of agriculture, jerry-built homes and shops, fetid canals and general squalor is an archeological site displaying treasures from the time of one of the Ramses. The immense statue of the famous Ramses II made of polished limestone is breathtaking. Such beautiful work and flawless execution from artisans working with the most basic of tools inspires great respect and even reverence.


Our next stop was the Pyramids. Desecrated, plundered, defaced (literally!), these monuments to power, ego, and hope for eternity are still stupendous in their majestic size, precision of construction, and longevity. How the Egyptians managed the complex organization of labor and the physical movement of large stone blocks is still debatable. Pyramid construction may have involved ramps being erected around the pyramids, then blocks of stone would have been pulled up on sledges and the ramps dismantled later. It is believed that most of the labor for the construction of the pyramids came from farmers who were available during the season when the Nile River flooded and farmland was under water. It would also have been an ideal time for the transportation by boat of large stone blocks from their quarries to the pyramid sites.

The largest pyramid of all (in Giza, a little southwest of Cairo), contains approximately 2,300,000 blocks of stone, with an average weight of 2.5 tons each, completed around 2,550 BC. Some pyramids were built as burial places for kings, and others for queens. A pyramid also may have represented a stairway for the king to ascend to the heavens. A few thousand years after they were built, Arabs "quarried" the smooth outer stone off the face of the pyramids to make their own palaces and mosques. The pyramids are no longer miles out into the desert as pictures tend to portray them, but right adjacent to Cairo as the city encroaches upon them.

We walked into one of them, bending in half in order to walk down a ramp, then up again before arriving in a room – where there was really nothing to see. After coming back out, we had our first camel ride. Bob and I rode one together – such a bumpy ride – all the time I was sure I was going to slip off.







Afterwards we visited the Sphinx – another huge structure. Apparently it has been used for target practice by soldiers and it’s a shame because the nose, mouth, and other parts have been knocked off.

Next we visited a Papyrus shop, saw how they made paper out of the papyrus plant, and bought a papyrus picture. We visited another shop with more trinkets – I bargained for and bought a camel made from Alabaster (in memory of our real camel ride). That evening we took the night train to Luxor around 8:00 PM, had dinner – or tried to. It didn’t look appetizing at all so I ate our snacks instead. It was a noisy ride for the next 10 hours, but we managed to get some sleep.

On our way to Egypt

Sunday, September 23
Because there are fewer students here this Fall semester, all 4 service couples were invited to go with the students on their 8-day field trip to Egypt! We left early this morning from Jerusalem on 2 buses, headed for the Yotvata Kibbutz, where we took a very interesting tour of the grounds. Our guide, Rebecca, showed us the date palm plantation (see picture to left), mango forests, the cattle yards (the cows were some of the cleanest we've ever seen - after getting a shower, they dry off by standing in front of huge fans), and their neighborhoods. After eating dinner there, some local band musicians led us in a few Israeli songs and most of us joined hands to dance in a big circle around the food tables. We then drove to the kibbutz in Eilot – the southern most tip of Israel, close to the border with Egypt, where we spent the night.

Monday, September 24
After breakfast, we went through the Taba border crossing into Egypt, got on Egyptian buses with a guide and body guard, and drove 6 hours to the Oasis Pyramid Hotel in Giza, where we spent the night. Cairo is a city of 16 million people situated on the Nile River delta. The poor areas of town stretch for miles down the “freeway” on both sides - interspersed with lush (mostly hand-worked) farm land in the craziest jumble of red brick tenement buildings, (pictured here) dusty roads, unimaginable amounts of garbage, poverty, people hustling to make a buck, cars, buses, and donkey carts all driving on the same “freeway” together, and squalid irrigation canals that any sane man would avoid for fear of his life – yet young boys were enjoying a swim! It is one of earth's most polluted cities.

Greek Island Cruise

Friday, August 24, 2007
Bob and I, Gary and Joan Browning, Joanie and Larry Lee, and Paul and Connie Cook (all service couples here), left today on a cruise to 3 Greek Islands, taking off from the port of Haifa @ 1:00 PM. The ship had 800+ people on board, not counting the staff – every cabin was full. Most people were from Haifa and spoke Hebrew or Russian – we may have been the only 8 English speakers on board! We sailed the rest of the day, all night, and arrived in Rhodes about 1:00 PM the next day. We couldn’t believe how dark blue the ocean water was – it was beautiful. We all ate at the same table - 3 meals a day. There were always lots of salads to choose from, many fish, meat and vegetable dishes, and always big bowls full of fresh fruit. We learned the Israelis like to eat tomato and cucumber salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Saturday, August 25
This morning (Shabbat) all 4 couples met together in one of our rooms and shared a favorite scripture and why we liked it. It was a very nice meeting. Gary Browning has spent a lot of time in Russia and told us how the church began there. Connie Cook shared her travels in China and her church experience. Gary is currently a church Patriarch to Russia, traveling there for 2 weeks at a time, giving blessings in Russian. He was also a mission president to Finland/Russia at the time when Gorbachev was President and began relaxing the strict religious laws, allowing missionaries to enter Russia.

Rhodes is the principal city of the Greek island of Rhodes, , in southeastern Aegean Sea, with a population of approximately 80,000. Rhodes has been famous since antiquity as the site of Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonder of the World. The citadel of Rhodes, is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe which in 1988 was designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site. The City of Rhodes is a popular international tourist destination.

At 1:00 PM we docked at Rhodes – a Greek city with its “Old City” surrounded by a fortress-type wall. (picture) Since the ship excursions were all in Hebrew or Russian, we chose to walk around on our own. We noticed how much cleaner this city was compared to Jerusalem.

There were mazes of narrow streets, lined with shops on both sides (jewelry, clothes, art) – some stores were very expensive. Included here is a picture of one of the shops - selling glass plates in brilliant colors. We were back on board by 7:00 PM so we could sail to Santorini. That night we all met outside on the 8th deck to play cards while traveling on the sea. It was a fun memory.

Sunday, August 26

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, south-east from Greece's mainland, with an estimated 2001 population of 13,600. The name Santorini was given by the Latin empire in the thirteenth century, and is a reference to Saint Irene. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions which occurred some 3,500 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash hundreds of feet deep. Santorini is essentially what remains of this enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements thereon and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 8 miles by 4 miles is surrounded by 984 foot-high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. The water in the centre of the lagoon is nearly 1,300 feet deep, thus making it a safe harbour for all kinds of shipping. The island's harbours are all in the lagoon. Fira, its capital, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon (picture). The only way to reach the top is by tram, donkey or hiking the 600+ steps. We took the tram and, needless to say, the views of the ocean while going up were awesome.

We rented a mini-bus with a driver and a guide (whose name was Mercedes) for 2 hours so we could see the most important scenic sights. I had looked online and seen pictures showing blue domes atop white buildings (churches) and asked Mercedes to take us there. The blue against the white is striking. She explained the reason the domes were all blue is because the people felt the dome to be the closest thing to Heaven (blue). Several times we were struck with the beauty of the deep pink bougainvilla flowers against the white buildings, with the deep blue Mediterranean sea behind. They grow a lot of grapes there, but compared to our beautiful California vineyards, these were sad-looking.

The last view she took us to was a point looking way down to where our ship was docked – it was stunning and breathtaking!! (see picture) I bought 2 necklaces in Santorini before returning to the ship.

Monday, August 27

Today we reached Crete, and docked at Agios Nickolaus. It’s a very windy town, but had green grass and trees. Bob and I walked around town all morning – doing a little exploring and shopping. We came across one of the 24 beaches but didn’t have our suits with us so we found a flat cement walkway to sit on and dangle our feet into the ocean to cool off. We went back to the ship (which was docked very near by) for lunch, then put on our suits and returned to the beach. Bob actually went swimming, I sat in the water, and we had a nice, relaxing afternoon.

The view from the beach was gorgeous – we looked out over the deep blue, shimmering water to 3 tall purple-blue mountains way off into the distance. I snapped a mental picture of this because it was one of my favorite memories. We began to sail that night for home, sailed the full next day, arriving back at Haifa the following day on August 29th around 9:00 AM.

Tuesday, August 29
Once we got off the ship and found our car, we drove to the Bahai’i Temple for a tour. We had a very gracious tour guide and his wife who spent 2 hours showing us around the grounds. They are absolutely stunning!! Since we didn’t really want to drive home the minute we got off the ship, this was the perfect ending.

Shabbat dinner

Last Friday evening dad and I were invited to a Shabbat dinner in a Rabbi's home. Prior to the dinner we attended the evening church service in their synagogue. The men were in one big room, and the women (me included) sat on the edges of this big room, separated by a wall and thin veil we could barely see thru but heard well. They were reciting hymns and prayers from their book (I had a copy of the book which was both in Hebrew and English, but since I didn't know Hebrew, I couldn't follow the English well because I didn't know where they were).

All the men wore white shirts and dark suits, with a head covering. All the women wore variations of black, white, tan and most had their head covered. I had not brought a scarf or hat, so the man we were with gave me a scarf of his and wrapped it around my head. I hate to say this, but the scarf was so dirty and musty smelling I couldn't wear it very long. Once I saw some of the women without head coverings, I took it off.

After the service we walked to the Rabbi's house (driving or riding in a car is not allowed once Shabbat begins, but since all the living quarters are built around the synagogue, the walk was maybe 10 minutes). This particular Rabbi welcomes everyone to dinner - no matter their religious affiliation. He was very kind and welcoming to us. They had crammed tables and chairs to seat close to 60 people, and still more came. They set up more tables until they probably had close to 90 people for dinner. They passed around a bowl of water to rinse your hands before eating. Then the courses came - sweet halla bread, eggplant, chicken and carrot soup, apple/rice puddings, oven-baked chicken, then cookies. Other foods were also passed around but since we didn't know what they were, we passed. While eating, the Rabbi would talk in Hebrew and then English, and all would sing in Hebrew.. He announed to everyone that all the Jews would be learning the same lesson tomorrow (which was news to me - I didn't think they were organized enough to have that happen). He also encouraged them all to "wake up and SEE the blessings of being who they are and where they live". The dinner started at 9:00 PM and we left at 11:00 PM.

In contrast, our Shabbat was a very inspirational Sacrament meeting the following day. We had 4 students speak of their experiences here and their testimonies of Christ, and 3 musical numbers by the students (vocal duet, violin duet, men's quartet), besides the student choir singing another of dad's hymn arrangements for prelude music. They are all so sincere and talented!! When this group arrived I didn't know any of them and I missed the 1st group we had here. But after going on the Jordan trip and getting to know this new group, I will really miss THIS group now!

Youth Activity Day

August 6, 2007
Today we had another District Youth Activity. Youth from Tiberius, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem met here at the BYU Center at 10:00 AM to clean up litter and garbage from the hill outside the front gate. We then piled into cars and drove quickly to the YMCA so they could play the Carillon bells with us at Noon. We showed them the actual bells at the top of the tower, where there are also wonderful panoramic views all around the city.

After eating lunch back at the Center, they played soccer with a soft ball in the gymnasium, followed by making their own ice cream in a bag. They were pleasantly surprised at discovering this actually worked - if was a fun activity for them but quite messy (we should have done this outside where it didn’t matter if the bags leaked!). We listened to our Israel District President, Pres. Browning, talk about the importance of listening for answers to prayers. Those answers can come in many different ways as he related stories of 4 church members. Then we played pictionary on scripture stories, get-to-know you games, and volleyball with a beach ball. The activity closed with a barbecue dinner.

Because of distances, the youth don’t often get together, and the challenge when they do get together is that they come from different countries – some speak Russian but no English, some speak English, some speak Spanish. We had some translation happening, but all in all, they got along well and had great fun getting to know each other.

Jordan and Ein Kerem

July 28, 2007

Today we left with the students on a 4-day field trip to Jordan. The first place we stopped was Mt. Nebo where Moses saw the promised land but couldn’t enter. (see monument to the left). We thought the land looked pretty barren and forlorn.

We then took a 3-hour bus ride south to Petra and a hotel. The next morning we awoke early to walk to the entrance of Petra – one of the new “seven wonders of the world”, as of this very month. The walk there is down a gorge with cliffs rising straight up on both sides – it was a major trade route for the Middle East many centuries ago.

After walking for maybe 30 minutes, suddenly there in front of you emerges a magnificent temple-like structure ('the Treasury") carved out of solid rock, complete with Greek architectural details. (picture to the left) It has been protected from the elements by the overhang. The details on the capitols are still in amazingly good condition. Petra was named one of the new "7 wonders of the world" in July 2007.

The area is filled with tombs carved out of the rock, which until recently had been inhabited by Bedoins. (see picture below) As we continued walking, there were tent stalls selling trinkets, jewelry, bags and other items. It was very hot and dusty, but so memorable.

July 29, 2007
From there we drove to Amman where we met in the LDS church building with the District President of Jordan and Egypt. There we had the sacrament, and heard the President speak of the progress of the church in his area. In the last 5 weeks he has had 5 e-mails from Muslims wanting to know about the church. Two of them wished to take a Book of Mormon to read. He told them he couldn’t do that but they were welcome to visit the church to read it any time. If they were Christian Arabs already, it was Ok for them to learn about the church. But if Muslims join the church it places them in great danger. He told us the leading Islamic authority in Egypt has said it is not a crime to change your religion, and that could have important implications for the rest of the Arab world.

July 30, 2007
Next we visited the Jabbock River where Jacob was to meet his brother Esau; and then to the River Jordan where Jesus was baptized. The rest of the day was free time.

July 30, 2007
Today we visited Jerash, the most impressive and extensive Roman ruin we’ve ever seen.

We all sat in the huge well-preserved Roman amphitheatre with its stage and wonderful acoustics (similar to the Tabernacle on Temple Square). The students had Mariah Wilson get up and sing, then a male student sang something, then they asked Nate Bennion to sing. He stood and said he would sing if Sister Galbraith would join him!!

This was a total surprise to me….He borrowed Bob's straw hat and I took my umbrella as he walked with me down to the stage while explaining that I didn’t have to do anything, just be his partner as he sang. With me on his arm he began to sing the song from “Guys and Dolls” – Luck Be A Lady Tonight. I tried to act a little to the words he was singing, then we danced a little before we ended. Needless to say, it was great fun and a memory I’ll always have of Jerash. I have now made my debut on a Roman stage in Jordan!!

We looked around at the little shops there, and Bob bought a Jordanian rug made of camel’s hair. Then we took the bus to the Israeli border, got off the bus and drove a car home as the students continued on to Galilee for an 8-day stay.

August 4, 2007
Today, Shabbat, I wanted to go on a drive. We found our way to the Menachem Begin freeway and began driving. We actually ended in in Ein Kerem – a very quaint, pleasant “village” on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is considered to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. We got out and began walking around – visiting St. John’s Monastery, and walking down some side streets. We saw several very nice homes with surrounding gardens – it was a quiet neighborhood and quite out of the way. It felt very different from noisy Jerusalem.

Ancient Tile Floors

Attached are pictures of the tile floors found underground in Sepphoris (I think). These are not rugs, but mosaic tile floors - you need to look hard to see the very tiny, square pieces fit together to make the intricate designs or motifs. That this could still be visible and intact is pretty incredible when you realize they were laid thousands of years ago.

Bahai Temple pictures

Attached are pictures of the Bahai Temple in Haifa and its gardens.

Galilee Field Trip

July 15, 2007
Today we left with the students on a 2-day field trip to the Galilee. Our first stop was a monastery and overlook into the Jezreel Valley @ Megiddo (or Armageddon) where the final battle between the forces of good and evil will take place on the earth. Excavations here in 1925 revealed 20 cities superimposed one on top of the other at the Megiddo tel. The oldest of these cities dates back to 4,000 BC. We stopped at Nazareth to view the Basilica of the Annunciation – it is the 5th church built on the spot where the Angel Gabriel stood when he prophesied to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a child. This church has large mosaic panels on its walls of the Virgin Mary from many different countries. I actually liked best the one from the USA. It wasn’t a true mosaic, but was made of metal foil - her dress billowed out and looked more regal than the flat-looking Mary’s of the other mosaic panels. (see picture above)

We visited a recent “dig” in Sepphoris where we saw the former main roads made of big stones with wheel ruts still in them from many centuries ago. The uncovered buildings had large mosaics still visible on the floors. We also climbed up to the Arbel caves and saw a beautiful view of the valley and farm fields into the Sea of Galilee. We then drove to Ein Gev (a resort on the Sea of Galilee) and stayed the night. Bob and I, and Joanie and Larry Lee sat on the beach of the Sea of Galilee, in a hammock, at sunset with a warm breeze – very nice memory.

The next day we drove to Akko (Acre), a prosperous seaport of long ago and saw the Crusader buildings with their enormous halls (picture is to the left); Bob was really taken with them. We walked thru its Shuq market on our way out to the sea where the students had great fun trying to walk onto the rocks and back without getting sprayed with the waves that lick over them. Needless to say, some got drenched. We drove thru Haifa on our way to Caesarea, then home.

Field Trips, Tel Aviv, Haifa and more

June 18, 2007
Bob and I drove to Tel Aviv to see what’s there. When we arrived we found a place to eat our lunch, then we parked and walked some streets. They were full of small stores that cater to people much younger than we. Then we drove to the beach – it was a very pretty white sandy beach, filled with people, flowers, colorful umbrellas, warm water and blue, sunny skies. We stood in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and noticed how much cleaner the beaches are than at home. There were people playing soccer there, and also what I call “beach tennis” – with oversize ping-pong paddles and a ball.

June 19, 2007
We went with the students and teachers to visit all the places Christ had gone during his last week of his life: Pater Noster, Bethany (Lazarus tomb), Bethphage, Peter Galicantu, Garden of Gethsemane, Golgotha, Last Supper room, Garden Tomb. We had a farewell dinner for David and Tina Whitchurch with all the service couples, teachers and office staff, then attended the student’s testimony meeting. This is a picture of the Garden of Gethsemane.

June 23, 2007
Today in church we met 6 new single adults who have just arrived from the states to study Hebrew at the Hebrew University across the street. One of them is Meredith Marshall who, I found out, plays the violin. She is Nonie Sorensen’s granddaughter. Nonie and her daughter, Ramona, used to come to my house on Emerson Street in SLC for violin lessons back in the late 1960’s early 1970’s. Ramona turns out to be Meredith’s aunt!!! Small world!

June 25, 2007
The 5 service couples all drove together to a bed and breakfast kibbutz in Nasholim, north of Jerusalem by Haifa, for a 2-3 day vacation. On the way we stopped at Caesarea to see the ruins of long-ago civilization, then on to the kibbutz. The rooms were small but adequate and right on the beach. We were struck by how deep blue the ocean is. We enjoyed the beach, sun and water, ate well, and talked and laughed at the dinner table. The last day we drove to Haifa to see the Bahai Temple grounds – beautiful. We want to go back on a real tour soon. Then we drove to the Grand Canyon Mall for some shopping before returning home. We had a good time together.

June 30, 2007
We had the 6 single adult church members at Hebrew University over for dinner today, and with Bob and me the 8 of us barely fit into our tiny apartment. I decided they probably needed a dinner like their moms cooked for them so we had meatloaf, baked potatoes, green salad, melon, and spice cake and applesauce. They are all good people and it was really nice to have them over.

July 2, 2007
Today I went on a “geography” field trip with the students all around Jerusalem. We saw views of the city from the North, East, South and West – very helpful because you don’t get the same perspective just driving around. One of my favorite places to go was in the chapel of the Augusta Victoria Hospital – a very pretty church. The students sang a hymn while there - this is becoming one of my favorite things here – listening to the students sing with their beautiful harmony, clear voices without vibrato, and the reverberation that’s always present in these churches. We also stopped at a viewpoint looking down towards Bethlehem. I remembered that a “new” star appeared high in the sky the night Christ was born right above that town – it looked a little different than what I had pictured in my mind for so many decades, but wonderful all the same.

July 4, 2007
This morning Joanie Lee and I went to the Red Crescent Hospital to feed the babies. They handed me a tiny, tiny baby. He was born just under 1 pound. His head fit in the palm of my hand and his body was much smaller than any of my baby dolls had been. It made me realize how tiny I was when born – 3 months premature and weighed 2 lbs. 6 1/2 oz., then went down to 1 lb. 15 oz. I remember hearing my dad say my head was no bigger than an orange and fit in his hand – I now know what that looks like after feeding this little boy. He was very sweet.

To celebrate July 4th, we are getting together at Naomi Weinstein's house for a barbecue.

Masada, Dead Sea

June 10, 2007
Today we went on a field trip with the students to Masada, the Dead Sea, and Qumran. Masada is perched on top of a very high, flat mountain top in barren desert land. In its day, it could support close to 1,000 people. Water came exclusively from rainfall collected in enormous cisterns. They had plenty of food/grains to last for years up there. The Jews living on top built very thick walls around their “city” to protect themselves from the Romans who were camped below in 8 different camp areas all around the base of this mountain. Eventually, the Romans were able to get a battering ram up the mountainside to hit the wall down. The Jews could see the end was near and decided to commit suicide rather than live in slavery to the Romans. (this picture shows a clay model of the real Masada palace built on at least 3 levels)

We then went to the Dead Sea. This has about 33% salt and as you walk out into the water, the salt forces your legs and feet up to float. You can see the people floating on their stomachs with their feet up. I didn’t go in, but did take off my sandals and stood in the warm, salty water. The students had fun making people formations in the water – they formed the letters BYU, etc. I bought a cute orange stripe hat and silky pumpkin-colored pants that are cool and not so hot as what I brought.

On the way home we stopped at Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found around 1947. As young shepherd boys were looking for their lost sheep, they tossed a rock into a cave to force the animals out, when they heard crashing sounds. When they climbed in, they found broken pottery jars holding the scrolls, some of which were wrapped in cloths. The caves are pictured here.

1st Youth Activity

June 8, 2007
Today was our first YM/YW (youth) district activity since I was asked to accept this calling when we arrived in Jerusalem. It was a swim party and barbeque in a member’s backyard in Caesarea. They have a pool that is just over the hill from the Mediterranean Sea. Bob and I took Besan Quffa (just graduated from High School and on her way to BYU) from Jerusalem our branch, and there were leaders and youth from Tiberius and Tel-Aviv. We had a successful evening with about 20 people (youth and leaders). It was fun to watch the 3 girls (Brita, Besan and Maria in picture to the left) get to know each other as they walked along the beach, and traded names and phone numbers/e-mail addresses with each other before they returned home. It had been a long time since the youth had been together and I think they enjoyed it. We plan to get together again soon.

Kibbutz, Hezekiah's Tunnel

May 23, 2007
Today 5 of the service couples left the Center early to see the Festival of the Harvest in a Kibbutz about 1 hour away from Jerusalem. Again, the drive there thru the country was one of very pretty farm fields. Once there, we sat on the hillside to await the little program. There was a band playing music, girls dancing typical Israeli dances - each with a basket representing the harvest, little children dressed as animals or ducks, groups of people carrying young animals – turkey, goat, etc., older people singing folk songs, and then towards the end the 7 families with brand new babies born since last year’s festival all came on stage with their children. As the last folk song finished, the children let go of their brightly colored balloons which traveled quickly up into the sky – it was almost like fireworks.

We noticed how family-oriented the people were, and friendly. There was no smoking or drinking there – it felt almost like one of our ward parties.

May 27, 2007
Today we went with the students on a half-day field trip to the City of David, where the main attraction is walking thru Hezekiah’s tunnel. He built this tunnel to carry their water supply away from the main source into the Pool of Shiloam in case they were attacked by enemies who would cut off their water supply. It is a very long, narrow path thru solid bedrock, dark, sometimes quite low to the ground, and still today has water from the underground spring running thru it. The water then ends up in the Pool of Shiloam (spelling?), which was just discovered in 2004. The students had a great time walking thru in the dark with only a few flashlights, and all came out wet. I didn’t want to get wet so Bob and I went thru the dry tunnel – an almost parallel tunnel that has no water, is narrow, but slightly lit.

The students went back to school at Noon, but we and another service couple went to the Archeological Park just on the edge of the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. It was fascinating. We watched a virtual tour of what the Temple looked like (very interesting and helpful), then we walked all thru and around the ruins. There are still some steps remaining that people would take to get up to the temple. Instead of being regular distances from each other, there is a short step, followed by a deeper step (so you have to take 2 steps on this landing before you can reach the next step up). The reason for this was so that people would walk slower, could gather their robes and/or children, causing them to look down with bowed heads on their way up to the Temple. We saw where the markets stalls were right out the Temple wall, etc. It was a place we could go back to again.

That night we had a marvelous concert at the Center, a piano trio – 2 from Israel and 1 from Russia (all between 22-25 years of age). They were out of this world – very wonderful musicians. When the pianist played a Chopin piece, he made the piano “talk”. It was one of the best concerts so far.

Carillon Bells and Tiberius

May 13, 2007
Today is Sunday (Mother’s Day). Bob and I decided to see if we could find our way to the Carillon bells and practice. We found them and practiced a few pieces we can play together. Then we found our way to the big Shopping Mall. We felt lucky to have found it by actually using the map, and not get lost!

Shabat (Saturday, May 19)

Bob and I were asked to visit the LDS Branch in Tiberius (also known as the Galilee area). We left this morning at 7:30 AM, armed with a map and directions of how to pick up members along the way. The drive was very pretty - taking us west and close to the Mediterranean Sea, thru farmlands and small towns. Tall trees covered in purple flowers and large plants along the highway full of deep pink flowers were a welcome sight after seeing mostly stone buildings and curving, narrow roads in Jerusalem. The 3 people we picked up all spoke Russian and very little English, but they knew the way to church. At one turnoff the roads were blocked everywhere because of a cycling event taking place. All the cars were stopped as we waited for an hour before they opened the roads again. I called ahead to let the members in Tiberius know we would be late and they decided to start with Sunday School until we arrived. The Branch has existed for sometime but had not had a building to meet in until last March, when Elder Holland dedicated it for their use. It actually was an old, run-down, 12-room villa the church bought and beautifully renovated, with a nice apartment for a service couple to live in. The meeting area feels more like a large living room, and has a balcony that looks right out onto the beautiful, blue Sea of Galilee. It is a gorgeous setting!! (picture of Sea of Galilee above is out the Branch patio)

Because of our callings, Bob and I were the speakers, and also played a musical number in their Sacrament meeting. As the talks are given, other members are quietly translating your talk into other languages for members who are Russian, Hebrew or Spanish. Afterwards there was a potluck downstairs for everyone.

After arriving home about 5:00 PM, we grabbed dinner and went to a Fireside in the Center, to hear Blair Van Dyke speak of early "pioneer" stories of converts as they learned of the gospel in this area long ago and helped it to flourish. It was very interesting.

Visit to Tiberius

Today, Shabat (Saturday, May 19) Bob and I were asked to visit the LDS Branch in Tiberius (also known as the Galilee area). We left this morning at 7:30 AM, armed with a map and directions of how to pick up members along the way. The drive was very pretty - taking us west and close to the Mediterranean Sea, thru farmlands and small towns. Tall trees covered in purple flowers and large plants along the highway full of deep pink flowers were a welcome sight after seeing mostly stone buildings and curving, narrow roads in Jerusalem. The 3 people we picked up all spoke Russian and very little English, but they knew the way to church. At one turnoff the roads were blocked everywhere because of a cycling event taking place. All the cars were stopped as we waited for an hour before they opened the roads again. I called ahead to let the members in Tiberius know we would be late and they decided to start with Sunday School until we arrived.


The Branch has existed for sometime but had not had a building to meet in until last March, when Elder Holland dedicated it for their use. It actually was an old, run-down, 12-room villa the church bought and beautifully renovated, with a nice apartment for a service couple to live in. The meeting area feels more like a large living room, and has a balcony that looks right out onto the beautiful, blue Sea of Galilee. It is a gorgeous setting!!


Because of our callings, Bob and I were the speakers, and also played a musical number in their Sacrament meeting. As the talks are given, other members are quietly translating your talk into other languages for members who are Russian, Hebrew or Spanish. Afterwards there was a potluck downstairs for everyone.


After arriving home about 5:00 PM, we grabbed dinner and went to a Fireside in the Center, to hear Blair Van Dyke speak of early "pioneer" stories of converts as they learned of the gospel in this area long ago and helped it to flourish. It was very interesting.


That's all for now. If you read this, please write a comment - we'd love to hear what you are doing! -Janet & Bob

Visit to Jericho

May 17, 2007
Today Bob and I went on our first field trip with the students – to Jericho. We left at 7:15 AM on the bus. We saw the place where Joshua made the “walls fall down”, but sadly it has not been kept up well and is almost unrecognizable. We also visited the place they think Christ was tempted 3 times by Satan. It is located high up on a very barren mountain. There is a Monastery built there now, where today 3 Monks live. We hiked about 15 minutes up to the Monastery and inside there were carved-out stone passageways, which on one side have many individual, nice wooden doors leading into small apartments for those who live there. Further inside is the stone they feel was the one Satan asked Christ to turn to bread. The view out the little balcony was a mixture of farm fields, date palms, barren hills, and poor, scanty neighborhoods. Brother Merrill (who knows the Bible extremely well) explained to us that Orson Hyde teaches us that Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon is the 1) protector and guardian of the Americas 2) gave visions and dreams to Columbus to find America, and 3) helped America win the War of Independence. I’d never heard that before but it makes perfect sense.

Visit to Western Wall

Today, May 11th, we visited the famous "wailing wall" - it's now referred to as the Western Wall. It's the only wall left of Solomon's 1st Temple after the 2nd Temple (which was built on top of the 1st) was totally destroyed. From the plaza area you don't really see the gold dome (Dome of the Rock) that's visible in the picture (inserted in one of the first blog posts). We walked almost up to the Wall, and noticed many people pushing small written notes into grooves between the stones of the wall. There were many devout men and women praying at the wall at their designated area. We then walked thru some of the Old City, but most of the markets had closed down. I'm sure we'll visit there again.

2nd week of living in Jerusalem

Hi, we've been here 2 weeks already - it seems like eons ago since we left California! Today (Monday, 5/7/07) one of the professors took some of us couples to the Suq market - an outdoor Jewish market. It was great fun. Both sides of the streets are filled with people selling their fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, wares. I liked it much better than the roadside markets we've been to. The food is fresher and more of it. We will probably go there again many times.

Last night was the 3rd concert since we've been here and the best one! It was a trio (vocal, horn, piano). The singer sang opera songs, and music from West Side Story, Candide and Porgy and Bess. They were outstanding - even Dad loved them! She becomes the music when she sings - no matter what style it is. The horn player (her husband) had wonderful control and tone, and the pianist was out of this world - and a showman himself. I wish you could have all been in the audience with us.

Today I'm going to make our famous banana oatmeal muffins - we need something familiar from our past. We think of you at home. Please write or comment - we'd love to hear from you!!! -Janet

wailing wall

The picture you see below is the wailing wall. I'm looking forward to actually seeing it in person

BYU Jerusalem Center grounds

Attached are pictures of the BYU Jerusalem Center.