Galilee :)

Hey guys! I know that I haven't posted in a while, but here are some adventures in Galilee! It was such a fun trip! I loved every second.  Even though it was freaking over 115 degrees!! haha it rocked :)

Sorry there is no commentary.  Maybe I'll explain later... Love you all!

Visiting the Land of Jordan!!!

Dear Friends,

This past week we had the opportunity to go to the amazing country Jordan!  We had so much fun :)  There were so many interesting sites to see it was incredible.  And best of all, I got to see two of the best people ever who live in Jordan!!  So fun to be with my sibs in the Middle East!!  Here are some pics from our trip...

Here's me and Nat at the place where John the Baptist got beheaded. 

Here we are at Petra (The city carved out of STONE).  

This is the 'Treasury.'  Do you recognize it from Indiana Jones?? 

Here is a camel. A CAMEL!!!... 

They were everywhere in this country! haha

 These four pictures

are of the 'Monastery' in Petra :)

This was probably the most tiring hike of my life! I thought I was going to die!!!! Luckily, me and my crew members (Maddy and Melg) kept pushing through like champs.  This pic below is a candid pic... JUST JOKES. This picture is describing how we felt after all of our hiking! Even though all the hiking was death... It was flipping worth it dude!!

This is me being the avid hiker that I am.

I had to get one pic of my special talent for all of you. 

This is us at a castle continuing to be "The Crew" or "Maddy's Crew." 

Here I am with Shaylyn and James in their city!! I finally met up with them and we ate diner at a really nice restaurant!!! SSSSOOOOOOO FFFFFFUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!!!!! 

This is at the Citadel in Ammon.  I am just giving Hercules bones. 

I always knew that we were tight like that. 

Here we are in front of the temple of Zeus.  Pretty cool if I do say so myself :)

This is me at James and Shaylyn's
brain camp!!  I got to see their
brain camp in Jerash and it was so cool!
They showed me the activities
they did with the girls and I got to
meet them and everything.  So fun!

Three of us at brain camp together!

This is in Jerash.  Doesn't it look like the cartoon Hercules?! 

This Roman city is so well preserved!!

Continuing on in Jerash... We went to a theater and there were some 

bagpipe players that came out and I got to sing a solo 

(kind of because you couldn't hear me) with them.  

Then we danced together.  It was so fun! And hilarious!

These three pics are us in the rest of Jerash.  We had so
much fun in this ancient Roman city.
I am already missing Jordan.
Mostly because two really awesome people live
there that I love with all my heart!

Well, that is the end of Jordan.  This trip was just what I needed.  It came at the end of finals and it felt sooo nice! I am so relieved that they are over.  Now I can just focus on two classes.  THE BEST!!! Anyway, everything is going great here! Love you all!

Peace,

Your favorite person

Activities within the past two weeks :)

There have been many fun, cool events within the past two weeks.  I have been having so much fun!  This week and next week are finals sooo, good thing I had this much fun because I am headed into complete study zone for a while.  Here are my adventures... :)

Here we are at "The Avengers!"  We got to go see the movie in West Jerusalem!  It was so fun to actually see a movie in a real movie theater.  My favorite thing to do in the summer time (besides swimming.)

The picture above this one is me and Nat in front of the Mary Magdelin church.  
Isn't it beautiful?
This next picture is me inside of the church.  I had to get covered up because I wasn't wearing a dress or a head scarf.  Super pretty!!

 Here I am at the Israel museum.  Here are the two ancient lions that we saw.  






This picture on the right is one of my favorite statues.  This is one that they used in the ancient world... I kind of forgot the reason that they had this statue, but it could be used for religious worship, used in the king's palace, etc.  Super cool!

Here I am with Lane at the Waffle Bar.  We got to eat HUGE waffles in West Jerusalem that were delicious!! SSSSOOOOO good!! haha I am definitely going back later.

Here is what the waffle looked like... Delicious right??

This is the separation wall.  We went here about a week ago.  This is when the Israelis divided Jerusalem and kicked Palestine out of their homes.  The situation is terrible because Palestinians do not have any advantage in Jerusalem.

Here I am at a Jewish synagogue.  We got to attend a reform Jewish service.
The whole service was singing in Hebrew.  It was pretty amazing to see.

   

Here we are on Sunday.  We got to go to the beach and go snorkeling!!!  It was so much fun to be on a beach chillin with friends and not have to worry about school work.  We saw some colorful fish and other cool things.  The water was beautiful!...  The three of us are quite beautiful too right?

















This pic below is just a picture of us chillin on the beach. So fun :)

This special picture is when we took out my awesome braids and I freaking looked like a lion.  It was so funny!  We had a blast with this on the bus! haha I was so hyper I was going crazy!

Here we are on our field trip yesterday.  We were herding sheep!  Awesome right?  I was laughing pretty hard because we did not know what we were doing....

Here is another part of our field trip.  Smashing up a  plant to make spices :)

Here I am in a little garden just relaxing on a tree.

I am having so much fun here in Jerusalem.  The adventures never end.  Even though they will be on hold for a week or two while we finish up our finals week, they will definitely continue after that.  I am learning so much it's incredible.  I love it here!  Best decision of my life :)  
Love you guys!

- Rachelle

Dome of the Rock and Cool Field Trips!!

There have been a lot of fun events lately that have happened here in good old Jerusalem.  We have been on a coupe field trips and also went to my favorite place in Jerusalem... The Dome of the Rock!!!  I was so excited to go there!  It was so beautiful!  Although, when we were there we got in trouble twice for being kind of loud.  Ya we are definitely foreigners... also referred to as "loud Americans."  They came over to us two times and let us know that we were standing in a holy place and we felt really awkward both times. Oops.... Well at least we know not to laugh or talk very loud next time we go!  That might be a struggle for me, but it's so worth it.  It is sooo beautiful!  Anyway, everything else is good here though!  haha just the usual at college.. Not getting enough sleep, having crazy amounts of reading, tests all the time, and freaking awesome friends everywhere!  I am having a blast being able to go out in the city and go to awesome places all the time hanging out with such fun people!  Here are some pics of some of the recent places that I have been...

Here I am in the old city.  This is where we go at least three times a week to look around 

and maybe buy things from people running their little shops.  I love this place.

This is on our field trip a week and a half ago.  If you look closely there is a freaking donkey behind me! hahahaha it was sooo loud while our professor was trying to teach us about Herod's Winter Palace.  He finally gave up after he realized that we couldn't contain ourselves because we were all giggling so hard.  I can't believe that I actually saw a donkey!

Here we are at the top of the palace.  

Melissa (Garry), Alvin, and I are just standing on some pillars. 

Do you see the mountain behind me?... 

That is the Mount of Temptation where Christ was tempted by Satan.  So cool right?? 

Here we are at the city of Jericho.  This is supposedly the oldest city in the world!!! 

Here is the Western Wall.  We went here for the Jewish holiday "Shavuot."  This event is to celebrate when God gave Moses the Torah (the first five books of Moses) on Mt. Sinai.  We went there around 4:30 am because we wanted to watch the sun rise.  Jew's were praying everywhere toward the Western Wall.  It was super cool.  This holiday is celebrated on the same day as passover, so after this we went to a Lutherin passover meeting.  it was really cool.

Here I am standing in front of the Dome of the Rock! 

Climbing up the stairs to get closer to it. 

Finally so close to it.  Isn't this pic cool? 

Here's another side of it.  Just some information about this place... This building supposedly has the stone that Abraham almost sacrificed his son on.  Muslims believe that Abraham was sacrificing Ishmael, whereas we believe that Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.  

This building is also located on the temple mount where Solomon's temple was located.  Jew's choose not to go on this temple mount because they do not know where the "Holy of Holies" was located in Solomon's Temple.  They are waiting for when the third temple is rebuilt for them to visit the temple again and perform their rituals and sacrifices.

Here's me and Garry flexing our muscles because this is where Samson was born!

This is where David slew Goliath. We did a reenactment of the story.  

Alvin was Goliath because he is 6'4". It was pretty funny!

We got slings and tried to launch rocks... Didn't really work in anyones favor except for the kid in our class that was teaching us how to use them.  haha but it was cool to watch him! 

Here's Alvin and me in a cold cave after we had been outside in 100 degree weather for like six hours in pants!  I thought I was going to die.  When we got into this cave I thought we were in heaven... 

We also sang a few hymns in the cave and the acoustics were amazing!!  It was pretty cool :) 

One of the caves that we went in had an olive press. Legit right? 

Finally at the end of of our field trip. These were graves that people were buried in.

We had a lot of fun on this field trip, but by the end we were all going crazy because we were in the sun for so long.  I didn't know it was possible for humans to be outside in this weather for so long.  hahaha dang what ev's.  Looking forward to the rest of the summer!!  Bring on the heat baby!!