Gratitude in Galilee (11/22)

This last month I have been writing down at least one thing from each day that I am grateful for. Here is the list with a short explanation of what happened that day to make me grateful for it:

November 1. Safety: Israel border patrol conducted an extensive search of our luggage on our way back into Israel from Jordan. We ended up sitting at the border crossing for almost 2 hours but I’m glad to know that they are thorough!

2. Education: all of our classes were reaching a difficult peak—we had papers due, exams to study for, and never ending reading assignments. But I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I have to go to Brigham Young University, and more specifically the BYU Jerusalem Center!

3. Temples: even though I can’t go to the temple while I’m in Jerusalem, I love the temple and it has become even more important to me as I’m preparing to go on a mission.

4. Music: Today I got to play the Carillon at the YMCA. Music is so powerful!

5. Jesus Christ: we had our Bethlehem field trip that changed my life. I am so grateful for Christ’s selfless sacrifice. I am forever indebted to Him!

6. A healthy body: I went on a run this morning around Hebrew University and saw a stunning sunrise. A body is such a blessing!

7. Freedom: even though Mitt Romney didn’t win the election, I am grateful for America (Amurica!). Today we visited the Separation Wall and I pray that someday we will have peace and freedom throughout the world.

8. Talents:  tonight we had the Formal Talent show. I sang “The Holy City” with a group of girls and it was super fun but mostly I’m grateful that everyone has different talents so we can all bless each other.

9. New friends: Today I picked olives with Mary Bennion, Annie Leishman, and Will West for two hours. We had a great conversation about mission work and families. They are all such good examples to me! There’s something about olive trees that really brings people together.

10. The Resurrection: I went to the Garden Tomb today. It goes without saying that it was amazing and I learned so much.

11. Good books: scriptures and “Behold the Man” by Gerald N. Lund. I snuggled up on this rainy day and my life was changed yet again! This seems to be an almost daily occurrence.

12. The New Testament: it’s so interesting! I love picking it apart and learning all these gems of knowledge. I love studying about Christ’s life and can’t get enough of my New Testament class with Brother Judd.

13. Jerusalem: There are so many fun adventures to be had in this lovely old city! Today I spent seven hours in the Old City and I could’ve spent seven more. This place will always have a special place in my heart.

14. Churches: Today on our Christian Quarter field trip we saw so many beautiful churches but none felt as homey and spiritual as our LDS church buildings do.

15. Laughing: Today I felt so happy. I laughed a lot, smiled, got asked to Prom, and had an awesome chat with Jenessa and Rosie. Being happy is truly the best was to go.

16. Dancing: JC Polyga-Prom 2012!

17. Family: I got to talk to them on the phone! I wish that I could spend Thanksgiving with them but it’ll be a splendid Turkey Day in Galilee, I’m sure (and it was!). I can’t wait to see them in a month!

18. Adventures: Tomb of the Kings and hanging out with a Palestinian family. It doesn’t get much better than that!

19. Family Home Evening: in Galilee! Such good friends and good times. The Awkward game, “British Animal Voiceovers” on Youtube (look it up!) and slack lining. So fun!

20. Personal Revelation: on the Mount of Beatitudes I received some direction for my life that I will never forget!

21. My mission call: CHILE RANCAGUA! I could not be happier about it. And how many people can say that they opened their mission call in Galilee?

22.The Book of Mormon: I study it everyday and each time I do, I learn something new! It’s incredible and it’s true.

“Dear Sister Stephenson…” (GALILEE 11/21)

Today was literally one of the greatest days of my life! It was life changing and incredible in so many ways. My mission call (as well as Erin Wankier’s) arrived in Galilee with the cute Stratford family around 2:30 PM but I had to wait until 4:00 PM to open it so my family would be awake (it was 7:00 AM their time). Thankfully we were able to skype…thank goodness for modern-day technology! Before I opened it, I read out loud Matthew 4:18-25—it was only fitting seeing as I was sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee! It describes how Christ called Peter, Andrew, James, and John by telling them to follow him, and he would make them fishers of men. They immediately left all, and followed Christ! I thought that was the perfect way to set the scene for my opening my call to serve the Lord.

So…here it is: “Dear Sister Stephenson: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Chile Rancagua Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.”

I could not be happier! I am so ecstatic. I know that Chile is where I am supposed to go. Erin and I were able to announce our mission calls to the rest of our JC pals while on the beach right as the sun was setting (Erin is going to the New York New York North Mission--Spanish speaking!). It couldn’t have been better timing! We both couldn’t stop smiling. To be honest I had a headache and felt spiritually and emotionally drained by the end of the day. I’m going on a mission!

Sister Bench and the sister missionaries :)

Sea of Galilee Field Trip (11/20)

We started out this incredible day with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee! Brother Judd gave yet another amazing devotional about how Christ can, has, and will calm the storms of our life just as he calmed the storm when he and the disciples were on a boat in the night (Mark 4:35-41). Even the winds and the sea obey the Master! After the devotional we sang “Mast, The Tempest is Raging” and then listened to music that the crew played—it was Southern/Gospel/Hallelujah music that was super fun! I loved the song “My God is an Awesome God.” We were all dancing and having a grand old time! Emily Christensen and I made up our own dance moves. I love that girl!

 Our next stop was the Mount of Beatitudes. I learned and felt so much there! It is such a peaceful place—I would go there again in an instant if I could. As I pondered about and read the Sermon on the Mount, a few of the Beatitudes really stuck out to me:

“Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” I have mourned and have had an aching heart, but now I can humbly and truly testify that through Christ I have been comforted. How has he comforted me? By allowing me to work at Brighton this summer; by giving me these past few months in Jerusalem; by giving me the people that I need in my life, by wrapping his loving arms around me through my hardest nights, by taking my pains and sorrows upon himself. He literally knows exactly what I’ve felt.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” I’m reminded of a quote by Stephen A. Robinson: “When are you hungry? When are you thirsty? When you don’t have the object of your desire. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after the righteousness that God has, after the righteousness of the celestial kingdom, because as that is the desire of their heart, they can achieve it—they will be filled.”

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” If I have my life in order and am seeking after good things, I will see the goodness and mercy of God in my life everyday. I will see God as He is if I am becoming more like Him.

I will never forget that hour that I was able to sit on the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was so incredible!

We walked down the mount to the Tabgha churches: the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and the Church of St. Peter’s Primacy.

We also went to Capernaum where Christ performed most of his miracles. It was also the headquarters of his ministry.

I have felt completely at peace two different times in Jerusalem: Shepherd’s Field and the Mount of Beatitudes. It’s an incredible feeling to have nothing else on your mind and to just be communing with God. I’m trying to feel that peace more in my life. It’s during those times that everything comes back into focus.

Lower Galilee Field Trip (11/19)

After a very stressful and early morning, we all made it onto the bus and headed to Galilee! On our way we stopped at Beth Shean, Nazareth, and Mt. Arbel.

Beth Shean--where King Saul and his sons were killed in battle

The Nazareth Church of the Annunciation

The outer courtyard had portraits of the Virgin Mary from countries all over the world--I happened to take this picture before I knew I'd be serving my mission in Chile!

This one is from the USA--it's meant to symbolize the light of God shining through Mary 

A synagogue that Jesus might have taught in

Mckay, me, and Jaelyn

Mckay trying to rudely wake up Michael who fell asleep on the beach within 10 minutes of us arriving at Ein Gev!

We are staying in a resort called Ein Gev that is located right on the shore of Galilee. Tonight we had FHE (my family bonded really well through playing the Awkward Game) and then I tried slack-lining for the first time ever! It's basically like tight-rope walking but on a 2-inch thick line.

I'm lucky enough to be roommates with Staisha Stratton--our class president, Rachel Barker--the smartest person I know, and Erin Wankier, one of my best friends and future sister missionary! Our back porch is about 50 feet from the shoreline--can you say prime resort location? Tiberias is right across the sea from us and the scene of the lights sparkling on the water is quite conducive to some serious soul searching.

Tomb of the Kings

On our free day last Sunday I went out with Andrew Wilcox, Abi Gunn, and Mackenzie Pay to our Palestinian neighbor's house. We talked with their family (well mostly Andrew talked to them because he's the only who speaks fluent Arabic) and then took their 11-year-old daughter, Roghat, to hang out with us in the city! We were able to get into Tomb of the Kings which had been on my list of things to do this whole time!! It's in a Palestinian family's backyard on Saladin Street in East Jerusalem. The lady who owns the place kept saying "It's too dangerous, you can't go down there. It's been closed for a few years" but we knew that wasn't true because some other BYUJC students had gotten in that very morning! With Roghat's convincing (and our 50 shekel offer) we were able to get in. We climbed down the scaffolding and into the pitch-black darkness and explored the awesome tombs! We didn't have any lights besides the mini flashlight on Abi's and Kenzi's iPhones, but that made it all the more adventurous. We had to crawl on our hands and knees through certain parts...good thing I was wearing a skirt! Not. We took pictures, sang "Call Me Maybe" for Roghat, and had a mini dance party. After we went I did some research on the Tomb of the Kings and it turns out that the kings of Judah were not really buried there--it was the tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene, a queen of Assyria. Still pretty cool though!

Andrew and Roghat at the sketchy green door

Abi, Mackenzie, Roghat, and me

A Day of Firsts

Today our Fall 2012 class went down in JC history: we were the first group to ever have to go into the bomb shelters and the first group to have our own prom! I was playing sardines and was standing on the deck when the air raid sirens went off…my first thought was, “Oh, there’s an ambulance nearby” until someone ran outside and told us to run to the nearest bomb shelter. Surprisingly I remained pretty calm throughout the whole ordeal—I felt super safe inside the Jerusalem Center. After about half an hour the security guards explained the situation to us: Gaza had fired a missile at Jerusalem but it fell about 10 miles short in an open field. The crazy thing was that my roommate had a dream this week that someone bombed the Dome of the Rock and that morning we all said that was ridiculous because Gaza would ever aim for Jerusalem—they don’t want to damage one of the top three most sacred sites for Muslims. But we all thought wrong! We are all safe though and life is continuing on as usual. The Israeli government said that they’re pretty sure that the missile was their last one, at least for a while. And even then, their missiles aren’t able to make it all the way to Jerusalem (until they develop longer-range missiles that it…) but I feel very safe here. We have top-notch security and we are warned well ahead of time if there if a missile (the sirens went off as soon as the missile crossed the Gaza-Israel border, so we had plenty of time to get into the shelters).

Thankfully Prom was still on after that whole ordeal! In case you don’t know, we have a 3 girls: 1 guy ratio here at the good old JC—do you know what that means? Polyga-Prom! Only at the Jerusalem Center, which is as close to Zion as I think you can get, would a group of college students be able to pull that off without it being awkward. Our Prom committee (self-appointed) assigned the dates so there wouldn’t be anyone left out. I went with Andrew Wilcox, Abi Gunn, and Alison Malmrose. Andrew asked each of us in such creative ways! I actually helped him ask Abi before I knew that he was going to ask me. For mine, he wrote a poem that led me around the Jerusalem Center and ended on the balcony of the Learning Resource Center where he stood in a suit, with a rose, playing “The Way You Look Tonight.” We had a little pre-dance dance and he asked me to Prom! It actually was really cute and well thought out. I was so impressed! For Alison, he had someone lead her into the Auditorium blindfolded and had Brother Squires start playing “Past the Point on No Return” from Phantom of the Opera on the organ while Andrew sang (with a mask made of paper taped to his face). What a guy!

He picked us up and took us to our reserved table in the Oasis—classic! I think my roommate stole the show with her dress. The dance was so fun. I didn’t hold anything back and I think I surprised people because I have been a little shy this whole semester but I went crazy on the dance floor! It helped that Andrew loves to dance and we all felt super comfortable around each other. Such a fun day!

Amy aka Ariel and the striped girls

Andrew and his ladies

The "Sister Dates"

Motto for the day: "We survived the bomb and prom!"

Mount of Olives Marathon

Today I visited a plethora of churches on the Mount of Olives: a Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension, Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, and the Church of St. Mary. It was so nice to get out of the center and the weather was absolutely perfect. I knelt down at the very spot where Christ ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives! Ok it most likely wasn’t the exact spot, but it was still cool to think about that event that happened somewhere close-by.

Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension

Russian Orthodox Tower of the Ascension

"Site" of Christ's ascension 

Church of Mary Magdalene 

Church of St. Mary

Christian Quarter Field Trip

Our Christian Quarter field trip was superb! We went to so many different churches and each of them were unique and beautiful!

Custodia Terra Santae

Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky

The traditional site of Upper Room where the Last Supper was held (in the basement of the Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Mark)

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Holy Seuplchre

In the afternoon we made olive oil! Now I finally understand how it’s made--it’s an incredible process. Our group was filmed and the footage will be used for a video that future visitors to the center will watch. It’s so cool that the JC has the equipment to make it on site! We will each receive a vial of our very own, homemade, authentic Jerusalem olive oil.

Cal and Abi

Jewish Quarter Field Trip

Last Tuesday we had a field trip of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. We went to the Burnt House and the Wohl Museum that have remnants of mansions of priestly families from the 1^st century AD. The Burnt House shows evidence of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70: discovered there were a thick layer of ash and an iron spear near the bones of an arm and hand of a young woman.

My favorite part was the Davidson Archeological Park that is just south of the Temple Mount. We had a great devotional by Brother Judd while we were sitting on the south steps of the Mount by the Double Gates. It is almost certain that Christ walked on those very steps as he exited the temple complex (the Triple Gates were the entrance, the Double Gates were the exit). Brother Judd told us that Neil Armstrong also came here (many years ago of course) and said, “It means more for me to stand here than on the moon.” How cool is that? I am so blessed that I get to literally walk where Jesus walked.

Me and Erin under the Double Gate

 I stayed out in the city after our field trip and had the time of my life trying new food and walking on the rooftops of Jewish houses! I tried raw coconut, shawarma, baklava, pomegranate juice and candy and I loved all of it!

Baklava stuff with cheese in it...strangely delicious.

Kayla, me, and Michael 

Fresh pomegranate juice!

Aliseea and me

Walking on the rooftops with the Church of the Redeemer in the background