David and Goliath

Yesterday we went on our Shephelah field trip! It was HOT. We all looked really cute in our pictures when we were sweating quite profusely. ;) 

My favorite part of the field trip was going to see where David conquered Goliath! They even let me throw my own rock from a sling shot! It was a struggle.

Rock + Slingshot

Best part of this picture? My stylish camera case clipped onto my pants. ;)

This is where it all happened!

My second favorite part were all the caves! Partly because they saved me from the heat, and partly because they were so INCREDIBLE. They were huge! And the people dug them all out from one little hole. Crazy.

This is not an optical illusion. This IS as big as it looks.

And my third favorite part was the city of Guvirin! It was full of incredible caves underground that all had different stuff. Pigeon houses, cisterns, olive presses, tombs, etc.

 

No, I could not move that stone. WAY too heavy.

Hey, I'm in a tomb!

I love seeing the places that I am studying right now in Old Testament. The scriptures are coming to life and it really is incredible! I love it here.

Bells

I was looking through my pictures today and realized I forgot to blog about something really exciting.

Actually, this happens more often than it should. I need to be better about blogging. If there are ever random blog posts from here on out... you'll know why.

ANYWAY. A group of us went to the YMCA tower a few weeks ago. Believe it or not, I didn't what the YMCA was. I had to have a mini lesson once we got there. Not sure if I should be embarrassed by that or not.

To the cool part- once we got there we took the elevator up to the top where the bells were! Then Br. Squires sat us down, had us "practice" (meaning playing the song he gave us once) on a mini bell set. Then he said, "Okay, now you're going to play the bells over on this big one. Don't mess up. But if you do, just keep going because millions of people can hear you." UHHHH!? That is the quickest way to get Maddie's heart beating. But I played "Ode to Joy" for all of Jerusalem to hear!! And I didn't even mess up! :)

In fact... I played three songs. It was such a thrill!

I'm contemplating becoming a carillon player. Just for the excitement it would offer me everyday. Jord, what do you think? Could we build a set of bells in a tower of our home? Just an idea...

All the letters look pretty decent. Mine doesn't look much like an "m" though...

Mosaics

Jord,

Made out of original Ephesian mosaics

I guess you never know what you are going to find in Turkey! I had to take a picture while I had the chance. :)

Love,

Mad

Hmmm. :)

Today was wonderful!

For quite a few reasons. This morning I took my first midterm here in Jerusalem. Old Testament. And it was TOUGH. But after studying all day yesterday, I feel pretty good about it. And now I am finished!

Right after classes I ran with Rachel and Chloe to the city. And it was very much needed. I haven't been out in the city for almost 2 weeks! Things before Turkey were so crazy and I haven't had a chance to go out since we got back. But I did today! I didn't realize how bad I missed it. We had a blast wandering the streets again. :)

I know. Our attire is adorable. All the time.

First we got ourselves some shawarma (meat in a pita with all sorts of yummy veggies and sauce) in the Old City. Then we wandered around in search for clothes for tonight. Why? Tonight was Arabic night! So, we were asked to come dressed up in proper attire. It was just an excuse for me to get some cute scarfs. And a shirt. And earrings. All ABSOLUTELY needed for tonight. ;)

When we got back to the center we got to listen to a couple of men who do the prayer calls at one of the nearby mosques. They have been trained their entire life to perform the prayer call and the Quran in mosques. They were really incredible to listen to.

We were then treated with a feast of Arabic food. I ate until my hearts content. Which was a little too much, because I quickly regretted it when we danced after. They had some students our age teach us Arabic folk dancing! It was so funny. We were not so good at it. :)

Now I'm avoiding homework by updated my blog. A valid excuse. But today was just wonderful and I had to blog about it! Here's some pictures from the day. :)

Soooooo yummy.

Thank you Chloe for the candid shot ;)

This guy gave me a killer deal on my scarfs. I'm super proud of my bargaining abilities. :)

Hailey and I!

Look at the decorations everywhere!! It seriously was so great.

What a great day. Every day just gets better here. :)

Turkey Part 2

Oh my goodness. I don't even know where to begin!

I have finally uploaded some pictures of Turkey! Basically, there was an enormous amount of ruins and bus rides. But I loved it all! Our group really bonded and they are all beginning to become my family.

Here are some pictures from my week!

Suleymaniye Mosque

View at Asso's!

I know, super brave off me to stand on the cliff.

Pergamon Acropolis

These are all my roommates at the center! I love them.

Pergamon continued :)

Auditorium at Ephesus. Paul preached here!

This is where store and shops would have been in Ephesus. The poppies are gorgeous!

Temple of Artemis! The columns were the biggest thing I've ever seen.

My roomies. :)

You never know where you're going to get to hold a wild turtle. I wasn't about to let that chance fly by me!

Cherries! Our tour guide picked them fresh for us :)

Maybe these were ancient Turkish poses?

There are piles of broken columns EVERYWHERE! So I put myself in the midst of them.

Inside the Suleymaniye Mosque

The underground Basilica Cisterne 

Yep, an Egyptian monument... in Turkey.

Hagia Sophia!

These are Magnum Bars. The white ones. And we are OBSESSED. 

Outside the Blue Mosque!

So there is Turkey in a nutshell! I wish I could put more details in this post... but I'm afraid it would never end. Pictures are the fun part anyway. :)

Turkey

This last week was spent in the beautiful land of Turkey!! It really was incredible. I am preparing a post all about it with lots and lots of pictures. But until that is finished here is a video of the week I made! :)

P.s. The quality of this video isn't super great. I've put the link below to watch it on Vimeo! Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/42561801

Wilderness Of Sin

Recognize this phrase from your bible studies? The wilderness of sin (or zin) is the place in which the Israelites wandered for 40 years. Our professors... just for fun... thought it would be appropriate for us to experience what wandering in the wilderness was like.

Oh my goodness. We were all quite frightened when we heard our wanderings were going to be for 2 hours. They also told us that we were the first semester to do this "special" hike. Gah!

Well... believe it or not... it turned out to be one of the coolest things ever!! Here's my little story:

This is the Wilderness of Sin.

Here was the beginning of our hike. The small stream of water on our left did make us a little more hopeful. ;)

This is where we began to scale the mountain! (sorry I am not in the first pictures... I was the photographer)

This was our half way mark. From here on up it wasn't just stairs, we were climbing ladders! It really was quite a thrill. 

I know!! The people on the right are climbing the ladders. I was trying to take artistic photos...

And we finally made it to the top! Yes, I really did hike up that entire cliff. And I loved it! It was so much fun. Especially since Br. Huntsman loves to sing everywhere we go. So we would stop and sing hymns out of the hymnbook. :)

This is our "I'm pretty strong because I just scaled that ENTIRE cliff!" picture. 

The Wilderness of Sin has been conquered. And I will forever have a better understanding of what the children of Israel were going through. Wow!! Such a neat day. :)

Tehehe

I was looking through my pictures the other day and found a few gems.

I didn't realize while uploading them I guess, but Jordan had somehow found my camera and decided to take a photo shoot of himself before I left. It must have taken place while I was packing. But I laughed so hard when I found them!

He seriously is so darling. Seeing them made me miss that boy so much more.

So... I guess this will be the true test to see how often he is REALLY looking at my blog. Tehehe. Pray that he won't be too embarrassed that I posted these for the world to see. But I can't help it!! He's the most handsome thing in the world. Plus... I didn't post all of them? :)

Tehehe. Yep. That's my soon-to-be-hubby.