June 27, 2008

Yesterday I fell asleep in my clothes at 9:00 pm reading my Near Eastern Studies book. Luckily I was in bed already and slept through the entire night, that is until the 3:00 am Muslim Prayer Call woke me up (which is beautiful), followed by the incredible snores of our new roommate (not so beautiful). Rusty, me and Michael Anderson all were on the same flight and made it here without delay and we all get along fine. 20 of fellow mates actually missed their flight in Chicago and had to stay overnight, so we spent an evening without them. Our new roommate Nathaniel snores like a lion. It is seriously the loudest thing I have ever experienced. By the time I had woken up, Michael who sleeps right next to him was flipping out with his pillow over his head and his ipod in. It was so ridiculous it was hilarious. Michael finally solved the problem when he turned the air up really high and though we froze, he overpowered the lion's roar. Anyways, so today was our first real field trip. Yesterday we took a remarkable walk through the city, which was fantastic, but today was our geography field trip and we visited high places on each direction of the city and it was absolutely incredible. From the North, East, South and West, we saw Jerusalem and learned ... well just some amazing things. We saw the places the Crusaders built camp, Samuel's alleged burial ground, a really old German church, and the hill that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Wow that was a sweet experience to stand on that hill and see Jerusalem on one side, Bethlehem on the the other and ME right in the middle. (I will refrain from a nener nener nener [yeah that's how you spell it!]). My favorite part was when we saw the place where Abraham would have travelled on his way to sacrifice Isaac. Brother Draper delivered an awesome lesson from that place. He spoke of what it must have felt like for Abraham to come over the hill and for the first time see Mt. Moria (the current site of the Dome of the Rock) where he was destined to sacrifice the son he had awaited for so long. He helped us understand the story and brought out the insight that Abraham trusted God, and knew that God would not go back on the covenant that he had made with him regarding his posterity. The test was a test to see if Abraham trusted God's covenants. He then explained that each of us would at some time or another find ourselves facing our very own Mt. Moria. Our trials are equal to our faith he said, and I believe that. I wish I could explain what it was like to sit on that hill and see that. It is so very very different now than it was in Abraham's day, but it sure was very very similar. Again, it had a certain feeling about it. I love that feeling and have come to desire it. Abraham, FATHER ABRAHAM walked up this hill with Isaac behind him carrying wood upon his back. Wow ... what is the significance of being at all these sites in person? I am not sure yet, I will attempt to find out. Right now, all I can come up with is the feeling. This feels like a very sacred place. And I love it.