Feelings about a Wonderful Day

   First, I have to apologize. I am, apparently, the world's worst blogger. I think that the issue may be that by the time I've written my experiences in my journal, and then in emails to my family, I feel like I've written it so many times! So, I am sorry. But today is a day that I have to share my feelings about.
   I'm going to work backwards a little bit, since the most important thing happened first thing in the morning.
   I just got back about a half an hour ago from "the city." Basically, "the city" is any time we leave the JC, no matter where we are going. On the way home we stopped at a delicious truffle store where we (Katie, Rachel and I) bought ourselves some Easter candy (since apparently the Easter Bunny didn't make it clear to the Jerusalem Center this year). The man working the counter was very nice and when I asked which chocolate Easter egg was his favorite, he gave us each a free one! And it was very, very good.
  Right before the chocolate store we were at Omar's. He owns the wood-carving shop that most of the students buy their olive wood carvings from. I've been trying to decide all semester what I wanted to get there, because I knew that I did want something from him. The most popular thing to do is to get a big Nativity. That was my plan when I got here in January. After all, I love Christmas more than anything, right? But then I realized that as much as I love Christmas, it only comes once a year. Which means that I would have only been able to display it once a year. So, what I had decided on was to get a small "Holy Family" nativity (Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus) and then a statue of Christ. Today was the day to buy it. I went to the store and we were there for quite a while. I left after spending a considerable amount of money, but I am so happy about it! I bought my Holy Family Nativity and a Beautiful carving of Christ and the Little Children. (Omar gets his ideas from the FHE manual and the LDS book of art. He also does carvings of Greg Olsen paintings. It's so funny.) This is the picture that my carving is based off of:

   I am so excited to have something so special to keep in my home forever and to remind me of my experiences here. As a special gift for me Omar threw in a free David and Goliath sling for me to give to little Josh :)

   Still working backwards, on our way to Omar's we stopped at our favorite Shawarma joint right inside of Damascus Gate. Shawarma is a pita filled with meat (usually chicken or lamb) and then some different veggies and french fries and a shawarma sauce. I have absolutely no clue what is in the sauce but it is amazing. I think it might have a little horse radish? I don't know. All I know is that it was yummy. And cheap. Which makes it even better. All of the stores have lower prices for us and I love it.

   We also went to Shaban's today. Shaban is another vendor who caters to the mormons. His is the only place where you can get scripture cases that fit LDS scriptures, and that's what I got there. Chas and I both now have new leather scripture cases! But I promise they aren't the same ones. They're matching but not identical ;)

   While we were in the Christian Quarter, we stopped by Ibrahim's Jewelry store (Which I did not complain about one bit). Katie wanted to buy some widow's mite necklaces for her sisters. As it so happens, Ibrahim will make a free ring for anybody named Sarah! So I got a cute little turquoise ring that matches the necklace and bracelet that Chas gave me before I came here. I also got to talk to him about jewelry and my job. Some of the other girls with us (we had a bigger group at that point) were asking me questions about the jewelry and Ibrahim was really excited about the way that I was explaining things. He asked me to send him an email with different selling techniques once I get home haha. He also showed me a poem that he wrote:

"A man's best friend is his dog

For a girl it is a diamond

it smells better,

lasts longer

and doesn't chew your slippers."

   One of the highlights of today was going to play the Carillon Bells at the YMCA. 

It was crazy to think that I was playing the bells, in Jerusalem, on Easter Sunday, for millions of people to hear!! I have uploaded a video of it!

  Now I'm going to skip around a little bit. I woke up at 4:30 this morning (I will explain that in a minute) and I got online and found out that Chas and I got into the apartment that we wanted!! We are so excited! It is an amazing deal and we were afraid that somebody else would snatch it up before we could get to it. We really are so so excited for the life we are starting together and we are very happy to finally have a plan of where we are going to be living!

   OK, so the reason I woke up at such an absurd hour today is that I had a chance to go the sunrise Easter service at the Garden Tomb!! It was absolutely beautiful. As BYU students we are given the unique opportunity to have seats reserved for us on the stairs directly in front of the Tomb. I was on the very front row and had a perfect view of the Tomb and the worship band. It was the perfect way to celebrate Easter. One of the things that stood out the most to me during the sermon was when the pastor said "I know these things to be true because the scriptures told me so." I've thought about that quite a bit today. That is great that he has such great faith. It's wonderful. But I am so blessed. Yes, I have read of the life of the Savior in the scriptures. But that is not why I know that it is true. I know these things through the personal witness that I have received from the Holy Ghost. I know that Christ atoned for us, died for us and was resurrected for us. Not just because I have read those things in a book, but because I have the Gift of the Holy Ghost and have prayed to know for myself the truth of these things. We believe in continuous and personal revelation! What a beautiful thing that is! I don't have to rely on words that are thousands of years old, no matter how true they are. Yes, I can learn from them and my testimony can be strengthened by them, but each of us are entitled to know for ourselves, through an individual witness. I am so grateful for the Restored Gospel and for the truth that it holds and the joy that it brings into my life. 

I'm So In Love

  I just wanted to write a quick little blurp about how amazing Chas is. I know a lot of you probably already know this, but for Christmas, Chas made me a video for every day that I'm gone. I've only been gone three days, but this has been so amazing for me already. I get to wake up and hear is voice and see his face first thing in the morning, even though he is 7000 miles away. It is a miracle. And it's an example of how amazing the man is that I am going to marry. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Hello from Jerusalem

I can barely believe it, but I'm writing this post from Jerusalem! Our trip here was pretty long. We had a four hour flight from Salt Lake to New York and then another ten hour flight to Tel Aviv. When we got here there was quite the surprise waiting for us. We're in the middle of a snowstorm! I found it very ironic that the first time Jerusalem has had more than about two centimeters of snow in over a decade, is the day that we got here. So this morning when we woke up we all ran out to take pictures. I wish that I could post some for you all to see! (We don't have enough bandwidth here to upload pictures...)
  Every apartment here has their own balcony that looks out over the old city. The view is phenomenal. I was able to get an amazing shot of the Dome of the Rock covered in snow! Right from my balcony!