Well guys, this is officially my last post about Israel. I have been back in the states for two weeks now, and I have been reminded why I love America so much (hint: it has nothing to do with the snow I have endured since arriving). I love my friends here! The amenities are nice as well, such as fast food, junk food, good internet, a sewage system, and other glorious things, but what I really love about America are the people who make it special. On a similar note, I find myself missing Jerusalem. I miss lots of things about Jerusalem, but what I miss the most are my friends. I'll talk about some of them in this post, but really I miss all of them. They are all special.

Can you guess where we are in this picture? This is a place where some believe Christ was buried. It is a very old tomb. Although it cannot actually be where He was buried (it was empty during the time of Christ), it was a fun visit to a place that remembers His resurrection. As you can see, my friend Caitlin here is pointing out, sort of like an angel did, that Christ is not here. He has risen!

Megan is in the tomb, and she is wondering where Jesus is. He's missing! Apparently she needs Caitlin to point to the sign at the entrance to the tomb.

I knew you'd want to see me at the entrance to the tomb, so here it is. Here is the tomb that Jesus was not buried in! Whoo hooo!

This one's for my family. There was a windmill that is a national monument in Jerusalem. I saw it every single day from the window of the library at our school. It was very exciting!

Jerusalem University School (JUC) was the college I attended. This sign was the first thing I saw back in August when I came to JUC, which became a home away from home.

This was the basketball court that I played so often on in our campus. Whenever I needed a break from anything, I pulled out a basketball and worked on my shot right here. 

In the beginning of December is Hanukkah. A few of us went to the Wailing Wall to celebrate Hanukkah, and we saw them light the first candle! Hanukkah is a "festival of lights" in which a candle is lit every day.

This begins the pictures of one of the most interesting things I did while in Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is where many believe Jesus was buried, and it is also possibly the place where He was crucified. Every day they lock the doors at 7pm, and then reopen them at 5am. A few friends and I decided it would be fun to try to get locked in, so we went to a basement area and hid. Unfortunately, we were found and were kicked out, but I started talking to a Fransiscan monk who lives at the Church, and asked if we could stay there for the night, and he let us. So we got the whole place practically to ourselves. We read the scriptures of Christ's death and resurrection, and we sang Amazing Grace there. It was a very cool experience. The above picture is the place they believe He was crucified.

This is just a cool door inside the Church.

This is the stairway that goes up to the place where He was crucified!

I love this picture. This is what the Old City of Jerusalem looked like at night. It's eerily barren, in contrast to the busy marketplace it becomes during the day. I would walk these streets often at night. This is what I will miss just as much as anything else. I loved walking here with a friend, talking about life and God and how special it is to be in Jerusalem.

Here is the picture of the group of us who were in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for the night. What a great experience!

From now on, I will post blogs about my experiences, but they will not be anything like the blogs I have done while in Jerusalem. Experiences here are completely different, and I do not usually carry a camera to capture the moments. So most of the following blogs will be more about regular life and about what I've learned. Jerusalem is a very special place to me, and I think of it regularly. I expect this to continue for a long time. However, life is happening right now, all around us. Life is full of emotions, concerns, joys, and lessons that must be remembered. One way I will remember these is through this blog. I hope you will continue to read, and maybe we can all learn some things. Onto the next stage of life, the next journey, the next adventure!

Back Home

I am back home! I haven't seen all my friends yet, but I'm hoping to see most of them by the end of the week. I read a facebook note by my good friend Cameron, and thought that I'd do the same thing he did. He wrote just a little bit of his favorite memories of the semester. This will be much more entertaining for those who were there for the events and who know the people involved.

Things that I will remember from this semester:

- Man Night
- Creating the Grad Lounge
- Telling Todd we should go out every other night
- Walking in the Old City at night with Stacy
- Tichu, Chess, Settlers of Catan, Ping Pong
- Paula joking about me not liking bread every single day
- Dan's burning eyes/almost every other conceivable thing hand motion on his face
- Robyn burping when she saw me in the grad lounge
- Learning Cameron had the exact same background as I
- The Jesus Walk (so many memories there) with Lis, Stacy, Hans, and Jason
- Getting locked in at the Holy Sepulcher with Megan, Jon, Caitlin, and Hans
- The poker night with all the guys
- The last night with Cameron and Seth
- Twisting my ankle
- Going to Zollis
- Arak
- The Coffee House and the performances during it
- Walking on the beach of the Sea of Galilee every night in Galilee
- Climbing in the oldest building still standing
- Ultimate Frisbee!
- Almost puking from eating so much at Thanksgiving
- Megan's birthday and the following crazy night
- Watching White Christmas on Thanksgiving (just like we do at home)
- Writing a 32 page paper on the Mountain of God in the Bible and Ugaritic sources
- The cold showers/no sewage system
- Walking outside in shorts and sweating in December
- Caitlin's stories
- Conversation with James one of the first nights there
- Lis's contagious enthusiasm
- The City of David- "Where it all began"
- Hezekiah's Tunnel
- The almost trip to Eilat with Dan and Chris
- Rabbi Moshe
- Skype with good friends and family!
- Genis
- Eating tongue in Galilee and making jokes about it
- Making jokes about Jerash
- Running up the steps in Petra with Dan- twice
- Hangin with the undergrads at the end of the semester
- Cookie Night!
- Running through the Israel Museum with Caitlin and Carmen
- Temple Mount with Dan
- Bible Lands Museum with Caitlin and Dan McCallister
- Talking football with Ben
- Yad VaShem- the Holocaust Museum
- Tower of David Museum with Megan
- Rockefeller Museum with Stacy
- The Western Wall experience
- The Garden Tomb with Megan and Caitlin
- Sneaking onto the Ramparts Walk with Lis, Stacy, Todd, and Caitlin
- Talking while overlooking the Western Wall
- Going to a Messianic Jewish Synagogue
- Wishing I had more time with the people at JUC and with Jerusalem

There's so much more, but that's a pretty big list already. I do miss it already.

It is great to be home though, and I'm excited to make new memories here!

Thanks to all who prayed for me during my trip. It was amazing, an experience I will never forget. There will be more pictures coming up as soon as I get them on my computer as well!