Saturday, March 27, 2010
I LOVE GALILEE!
GALILEE
Walking where Christ walked...
There are no words to express how I have changed or what I have learned while being here. Galilee was so beautiful and we were able to be quiet. I love you all!
Wow can I just say how amazing this place is! It is tropical and full of flowers. It has been super windy so far but amazing!
A testimony is like a tree…we sometimes can only see it from the ground up, but we rarely see or notice the roots. Some people have experiences that are trees and they see a huge difference. Others have experiences like roots. They are strengthened by them and will have that strength and nourishment forever.
.. And so it begins. We were on the bus all day today but we got to go into Nazareth and see a bunch of churches and sites. We went to Caesarea and Midego as well. We had a great FHE out on the grass and had some fun games to play. Then a few girls and I went to the waters edge and sang hymns for probably an hour. It was very powerful and so peacefull. “Here is my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”
Today was a very relaxed day. We had 3 hours of New Testament in the morning then the afternoon was ours. I read my scriptures on the beach and swam around for a little. The waves were really big and the wind was out of control but we had fun. I love being able to just sit and study…this may be the only time you hear me say that! After dinner we had a bonfire. We sang songs that I didn’t know J it was a good relaxing night.
. HAPPY ST PATTYS DAY! So a lot of stuff is still going on in Jerusalem: police baracades, young men running around attacking our lower gate, more fires in the streets. We are thinking because a Jewish synagogues was dedicated and the Muslim’s may feel like it may be the first step to taking over the temple mount. Today was a very long day! We went to the Mount of Beattitudes and it is so gorgeous! There are so many flowers and green grass and it overlooks the sea of Galilee. It was a very sunny warm day and we were able to study by ourselves in the gardens. We then went to Capernum. Here we saw where Peter probably lived which was interesting. We then got on a boat on the sea of Galilee which was fun. The wind was blowing and the boat was rocking. The guys on the boat raised an American flag and we sang the national anthem. We sang a bunch of songs then had a devotional and sang “Master the tempest is raging”. Just as Christ calmed the storm on the sea, he can calm our inner storms. When we got back we had dinner then another 2 hours of class until 9. LOOONG DAY!
We began the day with a 3 hour block. Later, a group of us went on a hike to a waterfall. The waterfall as well as the hike was oh so beautiful and the water was FREEZING! I jumped in and couldn’t move or breathe! When I was swimming back from the waterfall I was so numb it was hard to swim haha very beautiful though.
Our field trip was very fun today. We first went to Masada “city set on a hill” we climbed it and I felt like I was on Lord of the rings it was so green and beautiful! à 7 days without prayer makes ONE WEAK ß after the field trip a group of us went rafting down the Jordan River. This was so much fun! Lacey and I got in a kayak and paddled down the river. I felt like Pocahontas and it was wonderful! We had battles with everyone and went through rapids! After, we were so muddy and wet we were suppose to take two trips home for the one bus that we had. we decided (with the permission of the bus driver) to pile all 80 of us on the bus! We shut all the blinds and boarded the swampey muddy bus. Of course we passed about 6 or 7 cops! We looked like a drug bus it was hilarious. We spent that night cleaning the muddy mucky bus.
Sabbath! We slept in until about 8 ( my friend Alex and I have been going running every day at 5:20 so 8 is really sleeping in!) We slothfully ate breakfast and relaxed on the beach until 2:00. It was a glorious day! We then made our way to the Galilee branch. The building is an old house that they have refurbished and the garden in front is so quaint. When you walk in you see a huge window overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I had the opportunity to speak in church. I spoke about following Christ and the way in which we follow him. I talked about Peter and how he took the first step towards Christ. And how when he began to sink, Christ immediately pulled him up. Christ didn’t then carry Peter back. Christ walked next to Peter back to the boat. Everyone was sleeping but I got a lot of compliments after. We walked on the grounds which consisted of the roof.
Free day! 3 hours of New testament then alone time. I wish I could really explain to you how wonderful this experience is. I just kind of give you a play by play. But I am having much subtle growth each day. I learn more and more about myself and this gospel. I am realizing the things that really matter to me, the things I want in my life. I know that this is the one and only true Church and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I feel so lucky to be in the family that I am in and to have the friends that I have here. They are so wonderful and we are all so close. They have taught me so much about friendship as well as how to have a good time.
I came here hoping to have this huge moment of … knowledge I guess. But by seeing the sea of Galilee I don’t have a stronger testimony of Christ than the next person. Usually those moments come to you when you least expect it. I have been very lucky however to see this beautiful land where Christ taught so many things.
Galilee is BEAUTIFUL and I think Christ created it that way because he knew he would spend his ministry there.
So much love!
Christ is exactly who he said He was. He came, He taught, He performed miracles, He suffered for us, He was killed, and rose again. He lives and He is my Savior. I love Him and the opportunity to become closer to Him these past 11 days
.:/katie
Saturday, March 13, 2010
OFF TO GALILEE TOMORROW!!
Shout outs!
Morgan, Bailey, Braden, Mom , Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE (14th) and MOM! (19th) Grand ma and grand pa bourne happy birthday Grandpa! Phil!
I am totally obsessed with my New Testament class. What I learn there will be the bulk of my blog.(just a heads up)
NT lessons I have learned
Right now we are starting at the beginning with Christ’s birth. We all know the story and it is such a beautiful time. I am sure it was very peaceful mother, father, and child. We went to the cave where the Savior was born on a field trip. it was very weird, it had a huge Byzantine church over it and was very gaudy. I did not feel the spirit but I was glad that I could recognize the birth of my Savior. They have a 14 sided star on the floor that everyone kisses it represents the 14 generations between Jesus and David as well as the 14 points on the Via Dolorosa (where Christ walked the cross) where Christ stopped. So it has representation of His birth as well as his death.
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We talked about how Christ was perfect. We all know this but my teacher opened my eyes to this statement. He said that Christ did have temptations and they really were temptations. Christ had feelings and emotions just like us. But, He had perfect self-discipline. Christ was mortal but was perfect because he could resist the temptation. He had something (immortal) with him that allowed him to overcome the natural man. Christ knew and understood the crucifixion. He was frightened and really meant “if this cup can pass from me” To me this understanding makes Christ more human to me. I know that he is my Savior and is Gods only begotten son in the flesh, but I feel closer to him knowing that he really does know fear and all the emotions we feel here.
Another question brought up in class was about the veil and when the veil was taken away. My teacher said that because the body veils our spirit, the veil was “gone” right when Christ was born. Christ was taught by his Father. (God) Christ grew grace by grace, we can assume however that by the time he was 12 he knew what his mission was. Christ at the age of 12 was in the temple teaching When Mary asked what he had been doing he said “I have been going about my Fathers work” God the Father was his Father and he was doing his work. I find it fascinating that at such a young age he could know so much and be completely dedicated to his mission.
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à “Any assessment of where we stand in relation to Him tells us that we do not stand at all, we kneel.”
THE WEEK
Well this was such a fun week! We had two field trips. The first one we crossed the border into the west bank and visited Bethlehem. It was a lot different than I was expecting but everyone was super nice. We visited the kids at Bethlehem University and learned about their hopes and dreams. Their campus is beautiful and they are offered many wonderful opportunities. We then headed over to the Church of the Nativity. I enjoy Bethlehem. The streets are curvey and hilly. Our second field trip was to this biblical land park. It was for sure the hottest day it has been here! I was dying, but we got to herd sheep/goats. My group was the first to go and we weren’t so good but we had a fun time.
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We were just running everywhere and I was pulling their horns so some guys came and pulled my hair…rude but he got the point across that you don’t do that. We got to see how they made their bread and how they would get their water. (I was put in the hampster wheel) it was a good hot day and we got to read out of the torah.
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My friends and I walked out one day and visited Dormition Abbey. It was very interesting and a church group was in the basement singing around the statue of Mary. Also this week we had an Arab night. (we all got dressed up!) We got to have the father and son who sing the call to prayer every day (it happens 5 times a day) this honor has been passed down in their family for years. Their voices were beautiful and they also demonstrated how they pray. We then had an amazing meal followed by arab dancing! On Friday I was able to attend synagogue with my Judaism professor. We arrived and he gave us an introduction. The then separated women on the left and men on the right. There was a lot of singing and a little dancing (prancing in a circle around all the women in the chairs). I really enjoyed welcoming in the Sabbath and I think that everyone should do it no matter what religion you are. Most people are out late on the weekends and don’t even think about the importance of the Sabbath until the day of- when they roll out of bed and stumble into their church building.
We are told to stay inside today because of what happened in the Old city last week. So I get to start writing my talk for next Sunday in Galilee.
Sabbath thoughts:
Our theme for this month is praying with faith. The first speaker Kiinzie gave a wonderful talk. Quoting from Elder Bednar.
1-ask in faith and act on it [james 1:5-6] challenge=at the end of the day think about what you did to fulfill your part of your prayers
2- blessings come after the trial of our faith, challenge=recognize everyday the hand of God in your life
3- seek the Lords will, not your own [luke22:42] “Father if thou wilt, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done”
In Sunday school Michael gave a wonderful talk on chastity. One point I want to mention is when we talked about Joseph in Egypt. Potiphar’s wife wanted him. Many of us think that she asked him daily to lie with her but a point was brought up in class that it was probably more subtle than that. She probably asked him to help her with something, or to rest while se brought him something to drink. Every time he refused! He “hearkened not unto those things” and he avoided her. When she finally broke down and went after him he FLED. He did not calmly walk away. He ran as far as he could away for sin. C.S. Lewis said something along the lines of “one who gives into sin in 5 min has no idea what the trial would have been an hour later or what he would have been an hour later” challenge=notice the things you look at, the things you listen to, the movies you watch, the language you use. Is it apart of the Lords standard? If it is not “hearken not unto it” avoid it at all costs because satan starts with little things which soon lead into very large things.
I am so grateful for this opportunity and the chance that I have to study these things in the land where they took place. I am off to Galilee so you will not hear from me again until march 26th or 27th. Don’t miss me too much J This trip to Galilee will probably the one and only chance I have in my life to spend two weeks fully invested in the study of my Savior. I cant wait. See you on the other side
.:/katie
Sunday, March 7, 2010
IT'S GOING WAY TOO FAST!!
ANOTHER WEEK WAY TOO FAST
Shout outs: BRADEN TAFT! I LOVE YOU! Mom your letter was so wonderful and I totally cried when you talked about Sophie I am so proud of her. Grandma and grandpa, dad I really loved talking to you thank you for all you do for me! My auntie Jessie, My auntie Lizzie the two most beautiful girls on the planet whom I miss oh so much
We were on lockdown for two days. (just from the old city) so no worries nothing happened to us at all. We didn’t even know what was going on. We just knew that we couldn’t go really leave the center but we didn’t even think of it because of all of the studying we had to do.
Piurum! So this holiday is like Halloween! On Sunday we found out about a dance party in town so we all dressed up crazy and got in our vans. We arrived at a big gym thing with about 5 people hardly dressed up doing folk dances. We weren’t sure if it was right. So we ran in and joined them…all 70 of us. Haha it was a little overwhelming but we had an amazing time. We all tried joining in and more people showed up. I really enjoyed learning other cultures dances.
So I just walked out of my final that, a week previous in the class we took the midterm, only to find 80 students beginning to study for our next final in 4 hours…wow and ask me if our teacher makes any sense….no. one bullet on our study guide says “concept of the middle east” wow can you say broad! Oh yeah and the final we took yesterday…our teacher told us he was drunk when he was writing it. When we were correcting it…all ABCD were yelled out. Then he gave us a puzzled look like he didn’t even know what the correct answer was…this is when you know something is wrong…
à you know something is wrong when you are given a final and all 82 students in the class begin to laugh because they have no idea what the answers are.
It is finished! Ah wow I can’t believe I made it through, this week was quite intense. It is Friday and we got a lock down again. The Palestinians were throwing stones and some form of grenade at the Jews at the western wall as they were preparing for the Sabbath. Israeli police released tear gas at the western wall and I think in a mosque as well. At dinner there were fires in the street right at our gate. So we couldn’t go outside but we got some pictures.
Sabbath random thoughts …
Todays whole blog was deleted so I am just throwing down my random thoughts.
This is not just the land where Christ lived and died. This is where he was risen. This is not only the place where he was it is a place where he IS.
I am in a temple prep class and I love it so so so much! Please go to the temple as often as you can! It is truly a blessing to go there. Don’t make it a burden.
Christ is very forgiving, he will forgive us as many times as we come to him in repentance. But how willing are we to forgive others? Doubt is satan’s power, don’t let him fool you!
Mom! We talked about "the one" today in relief society! We need to see what people are and treat them as what they can be. I think it is C.S. lewis said that we would fall to the ground and worship those around us if we were able to see their potential….something like that. Im sure Emily would know. Mom I think that this line of" Lord I would follow thee" could add a lot to your missing piece talk. It says “in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye cant see” love that!
This is really random and I am sorry I am really upset that my good thoughtful doc was deleted. But I love you all and I am very safe and miss you all!
Once again this experience is the most amazing thing ever! This week was intense…we are starting the New Testament I AM SO EXCITED!
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