Post #100. . . Woohoo!

~ Highlight of the Day: Paying 10 shekels to drive home from the Israeli Museum instead of walking ~
(best idea yet)

Guys. This is post #100. How crazy is that?! And it's going to be a pretty good one.

On Saturday President Monson announced that they are lowering the minimum age for missionaries to 18 years old for young men, and 19 years old for young women. The reaction in the auditorium where I was watching it (with all the other JC students) was crazy. It's definitely been some serious food for thought for the last day or so!

First of all, it's not going to influence if/when I serve a *mission. I'm going to be 21 this January anyway, and I'd already decided I wasn't going till the end of the summer if I did end up going. So my excitement stems from the amazing opportunities that have now opened up for so many of the people around me.

That being said, , if I do go I'll be going with people who are younger than me (not bad, just different), I'll be in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) for a shorter time, and the social scene at BYU is going to change drastically. 

*a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints includes dedicating 18-24 months to service and spreading the gospel. Young men go for 2 years, young women go for 1&1/2. We send our papers in to Church headquarters and are then assigned a mission based on Divine revelation and the specific needs of the Church. It could be in the United States, it could be out of the country. It could be English Speaking, it could be Foreign Speaking. The minimum age was previously 19 for men and 21 for women, so this change is very exciting to people who've been waiting and counting down the days till they can turn their papers in. . .
 

Anyway, cool stuff. Church history in the making :) 

How about pictures: 

 

 Outside Hezekiah's tunnel, in the water :)
 

 

 On the steps of the pool where the blind man in John chapter 9 washed the clay from his eyes
 

 

 My first bite of Guava. I ate the whole thing and still couldn't decide if I liked it. . .
 

 

 This is some tall grass (like taller-than-the-ceiling-tall) that I'm going to identify someday
 

 

 Temple Mount, cool arches.
 

 

 Awesome sundial on the cool arches
 

 

 Dome of the Rock

Aaaand us in front of the Dome of the Rock
 

 

 Coin from some Disney original movie I saw ages ago. It grants this kid some wish that changes everything and then he has to spend the rest of the movie finding the coin again and wishing it all back.Can't tell you what it was called. . . just that this coin was in it!
 

 

 The road to Jericho from Jerusalem. We walked along the top of a ridge above it
since we didn't have time to go down to the bottom, though that would have been awesome :)
 

 

 A TON of cats. They're everywhere, all the time. Some look friendly and adorable,
others could probably give you a myriad of diseases just by looking at you.
Unfortunately they all have flees, and cannot be touched safely.
 

 

 The t-shirt design (in it's early stages) that may or may not used for
our Fall 2012 Jerusalem Center shirt. . .
 

 

 a beautifully 'turtled' backpack :)
 

 

And for those of you who've never heard of turtling (or burrito-ing, as my roommate called it), you simply take everything out of the backpack, turn it inside out, put everything back in, and zip it up! It's great because it's harmless (mostly), way inconvenient, and super noticeable :)
 

 

How's that for a random order of things and events! Sorry. . . and happy 100th post! 

Pictures 2

~ Highlight of Today: getting to share all of these awesome pictures with all of you! (awww) ~

And here it is. Round two of pictures of Jerusalem. I am so excited. Posting his honestly just made my day!

Damascus Gate

 

Me and another Rachel (there are four of us here)
eating falafel outside Damascus Gate.

 

A closer look at this glorious thing they call falafel

 

View of Jerusalem from the Augusta Victoria Tower. . .
maybe. Or it may be a view from the bus, or somewhere else.
It's kind of hard to keep track of. . .

 

Inside the Augusta Victoria

 

Me on a hill with Bethlehem in the background

 

The U.N., which just happens to be situated on the Mount of Evil Council

 

My name, which is now permanently on a pipe underneath the Jerusalem Center

(for my children, and my children's children, and my children's children's children to see)

 

Money! This is what Israeli Shekels look like,
in order of value (low to high) from left to right.

 

Shawarma. Is. Awesome.

(like falalel, but lamb instead of deep fried garbanzo beans stuff)

 

Aaaaand a Tel Aviv beach picture!

(the beginning of many)

Me doing a test run for a jumping picture. . .
I actually haven't seen the jumping picture yet. . .

 

This is my sad attempt at recreating the Jerusalem Center in sand/
McKenzie (my roommate) helped :)

A successful pyramid with nearly all the guys.
 It only took them maybe ten painful tries to get this :)

 

 

Chacos! Have I already said how much I love them?

Let me just say it again - I LOVE CHACOS!
 

Look! The Mediterranean Sea!
 

Us trying to figure out the bike rental thingy
 

Oh yeah. Neon green bikes are where it's at. 

 

Riding bikes through Jaffa

 

 

Ficus orangii, native to the Tel Aviv waterfront

 

Remember how I was totally bragging the other day

 about riding with no hands? Here's proof!

(I'm the tiny bike rider on the right. . . in red )

 

This has got to be the best view of Jerusalem from the center

(right above where the picture cuts off. . . :)

These are my lovely roommates, by the way

 

This is a really cool Bedouin tent.

 

This is a really cool Bedouin woman weaving.

She let us try it, and was amazingly patient with us.

 

This is a well. . . I forget where. . . I think Tel Sheva.

 

This is a replica of an ancient Israeli horned altar found at Tel Sheva. It was probably used for some questionable pagan worship though because it's made out of hewn stone (you were supposed to just gather natural stones), and it was eventually dismantled by Hezekiah or Jeremiah. . . I think.

 

This is a brilliant drinking fountain. It's shady, beautiful, and

 (from what I could tell) the extra water just irrigates the tree!

(This is at Arad. . . in the Negev)

 

So many palm trees. So cool.

 

This was my view last night while reading Exodus.

Jerusalem is amazingly beautiful any time of the day or night.

 

K, sorry that was so long, and that this is the second post in a day, but we're all caught up on pictures now! Woo Hoo!