O Little Town of Bethlehem

Four days ago we took our fieldtrip to Bethlehem. Guys, it was AWESOME.
First, I have to tell you, we had a 14 page research paper due that same day. Our professor for our Palestinian Narrative course lives in Bethlehem and teaches at Bethlehem University. So our papers were due on our fieldtrip day when we went to BU. Needless to say there were students in every nook and cranny of this building cramming information into themselves and then regurgitating it onto paper. A kind of mass hysteria erupts every time we have something big coming up and it’s only a matter of time before one or more students crack the night before the dreaded day. And I can tell you, I definitely cracked. Although, not in my usual run-around-the-building-as-fast-as-I-can-knocking-people-over-and-wreaking-havoc-in-general kind of cracking. Something snapped and I just kind of really didn’t care anymore. I started my paper at about 10:30. That’s PM. Let me just illustrate something for you. I started at 10:30 pm. It was a 14 page research paper about things I knew nothing about previously. I finished at 12:30 am. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. To write a 14 page paper. That should tell you something about the quality of my paper. Looking back through my paper the next day gave me cause to roll around on the floor laughing with some of the outrageous things I actually put in a 14 page college research paper. Here are a few of my personal favorites, copied and pasted straight from my paper: While discussing the Islamic New Year and comparing it to ours I said, “There are many traditions that accompany New Year’s Eve such as watching the dropping of the ball in New York, singing “Auld Lang Syne,” and making lots of noise with party poppers and noise makers. Many people wear party hats and at midnight they kiss random people they have never met before. Most old ladies wear lots of sequence and too much lipstick.” Another good sentence was in the paragraph where I was talking about how both Islam and Mormonism emphasize helping those in need and having charity towards those around you. I ended the paragraph with a resounding “Yay for charity.” Way to end strong, eh? I think I’ve been writing on my blog too much. And then there were those times when I simply said, “The Isra and Mi’raj feasts are hard to find information on, but here’s what Wikipedia says about them…” and then I copied and pasted a whole page right off of Wikipedia. I have this funny inkling that my professor is going to hate my paper. Just a feeling.
Anyway, Bethlehem was really, really cool. I got to give the devotional on the bus on our way there. I talked about how we were going to all these places that were significant places in Christ’s life and ministry and thus coming to know him in this real, tangible kind of way. And then I talked about how we’re living in a constant battle right now that can’t be fought with physical weapons like swords and spears and such and that can’t be fought on a battlefield. Our only real weapon that we can use against the adversary in this spiritual battle is our testimonies of Christ. So I talked about the power behind a strong testimony of Christ and how, even though we’re coming to know him in these real, physical ways, that we need to look at our relationship with Christ and strive to come to know him—to have a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with him. And then I read the Living Christ: The Testimony of the 12 Apostles. It was really nice and I think it went well.
It took us a little over half an hour to get there and we had to go through a couple security check points, but we finally arrived at the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem. We had about an hour-long presentation on the conflict from the Palestinian point of view. It was very interesting and enlightening, although very one-sided. Although, that seems to be the only kind of information you can ever get about the conflict—one sided. So you end up just having to kind of piece all together yourself. I thought it was really good though because it was a clear, well-presented and thought out presentation from the Palestinian side, which many of the students hadn’t really heard yet. One of my favorite parts of the presentation though was to look around from time to time and watch the people who were trying not to fall asleep. Having a 14 page research paper due that day made for little sleep the night before and there were many a head bobbin’, let me tell you. It was funny to watch the different approaches of the various students. Some students would be trying so hard to stay awake, their head dropping, then snapping back up and looking around to see if anyone had noticed. (I’d try to allow them to maintain some dignity by quickly looking away so they wouldn’t know I saw). Others would full out snuggle down in their chair, put their head to the side and seriously go to sleep. No dozing there. There were some that would go to sleep accidentally, wake up and look at the teacher, realize it wasn’t worth the effort and then go back to sleep. It was quite amusing.
After that we headed to Bethlehem University. It’s a really nice campus with a beautiful student chapel that they took us to. There are about 2,700 students there, I think they said about 70% were Muslim and 30% were Christian. After a brief tour we got to have a dialogue with some of the students there. We started by asking normal, harmless questions about the college scene and such. And then it evolved into what they thought of the conflict and what it was like to live in the thick of it. It was a huge wake-up call for a lot of us I think. Although I ended up being very embarrassed for our group…we asked some questions that were very ignorant and quite offensive to the students. The woman directing our tour actually got up in front of us all and said that one comment was very offensive to them. I felt sick to my stomach because the last thing we wanted to do was come there and offend anyone. But people just weren’t being too careful with their word choices and the word “Terrorism” was applied wrongfully a couple times and I think probably confirmed a lot of stereotypes about Americans and how uninformed we are. Which is true, we are extremely uninformed in America. But some of the comments that were made and questions that were asked were not what the majority of us students thought. At least I didn’t. Sorry if this isn’t making any sense. The point is, it was a very good dialogue that opened a lot of doors that we hadn’t really been allowed into before. One comment really shocked me that was made by one of the Palestinian students. They had just gone on and on about how horrible the Israelis are and when one of us asked if there had ever been student dialogues between Israeli and Palestinian students, one girl answered that she had never met an Israeli in her life. That was crazy to me. Don’t get me started because I could go on forever and ever about his. But it made me want to change my major to International Relations and come over here and set up student dialogues between Israeli and Palestinian students. I think that that would be cool. It’s definitely needed over here.
When we left Bethlehem U we headed for the Church of the Nativity. Guys, this was so cool. It’s built over the grotto where they think Christ was born. We got to go underneath the church and see the exact spot where they think he was born and the place where they think the manger was. No one knows for sure for sure I guess, but let me tell you, the Spirit was burning when we sang “Away in a Manger.” We ended up singing a few Christmas hymns and I was really feeling it. It was a neat and beautiful experience.
We also got to see there the caves where St. Jerome translated the Bible into the Vulgate. It was pretty dang cool. Outside of the Church of the Nativity is Manger Square, with lots of little shops and stands. We shopped around for a bit and then got in the busses to head to the Shepherd’s Field.
When we got to the Shepherd’s Field we picked up our little sack dinners and sat on the rocky hills, picnicking as we watched the last of the light slip away, overlooking Bethlehem the whole time. After we finished eating our class had beautiful program. Jordan gave a short devotional on our Heavenly Father’s love for us and for Christ, evident through His sacrificing His only Begotten Son. It was very touching. Then I sang in a quintet with four other girls “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.” It was nice and fitting, given where we were. Then Brother Draper got up and gave a devotional on Christ’s birth and Bethlehem. I like how he described the angels who came to the shepherds in the field. He talked about just how insignificant the location of Christ’s birth was and the lack of any kind of pomp or fanfare or ceremony of any kind. He said the Father knew that Christ had to come into the world just like any other person and that He couldn’t give His birth any of that kind of fanfare. And then he told us that there were, what he likes to call “rogue” angels. There were some angels that just could not resist rejoicing in and glorifying at His birth, and so they came to the shepherd’s in the field to declare His birth and rejoice. It was a charming little picture he drew.
At the end of Brother Draper’s devotional he said, “I just want to end by asking you a question…Is it your first time here? I’d be willing to bet that it’s not. Do you really think that at Christ’s birth you were up in heaven playing chess or lazing about doing nothing? NO! I’m sure you were watching this little baby come into world and rejoicing at His birth.” It was such a beautiful thought and the Spirit was really strong. I like to think that I was up there watching and rejoicing.
After his devotional, my roommate Emily played some Christmas hymns on her violin and then we had about 10 minutes just to kind of break off on our own and meditate for a while. Then we re-congregated and sang a bunch of Christmas hymns, ending the night with a massive group-hug.
It was such an awesome trip, probably close to, if not my favorite in-Israel fieldtrips so far. It was seriously the best Christmas pageant ever and it was in March.

Yesterday we finished our last final. Hoorah! On Thursday, we took a final in the morning and then had a take-home final due that afternoon. I pretty-much bombed the one in the morning, but hey, it’s over! I’ll definitely be getting a C in that class. But as said by the many who have adopted it as their new creed here, “C’s get degrees.” I was a little bugged by the final that we took yesterday. It was the final exam for our Palestinian narrative on Palestine and its history. Now, on the last day of class we talked about Turkey and Iran a little bit. One class period on it, that’s it. The rest of the entire semester had been on Palestine and its history and the history of the conflict here. Now, the exam consisted of 5 short essay questions. Only 5. Two of the questions were about Turkey and Iran. TWO OF THE FIVE QUESTIONS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO TEST OUR KNOWLEDGE FOR THE WHOLE SEMESTER WERE ON THE HISTORY OF TURKEY AND IRAN!! I could write maybe 2 sentences on both of those questions…that’s 2/5ths of the test! So on one of the questions I wrote my one sentence that I knew about it and then I wrote a whole half page to our professor, Dr. Mussallam, basically telling him in so many words how ridiculous it was that these 2 questions were on the test. I doubt it will change anything, but I really saw it as very unfair and a poor indicator of what we should have learned and what we knew. So I very possibly might have failed that test. But at least I had my last hurrah…when I walked out of the test, before the door had fully closed, I pulled a “Grandma Sandholtz.” I yelled as loud as I could in a disney’s goofy-type style, “Waaaa hooo-hooooooooooo!” It wasn’t against Dr. Mussallam necessarily, but when I walked out of that test I was completely done with my crazy-hard finals and my crazy-busy week! I just had to let it all out. Many of my peers approached me afterwards and said they had enjoyed it and that everyone had broken out into laughter when I did it. It was the least I could do for them as they sat there sweating gallons over these ludicrous questions we had hardly ever learned about. Oh yeah, and we got those research papers back…I got a 100%. There’s no way he could have read it.
Later that evening we had our Galilee orientation (we’re leaving tomorrow!) and let me tell you, I am so excited. Besides talking about the normal packing and behavior topics, they really emphasized how unique and special this trip will be. They pointed out that now that our classes are done, we’ll just be studying New Testament up there. For one time in our life, probably the only time, we’ll spend 9 days completely immersing ourselves in learning about the life of Christ and His teachings and visiting many of the sites that He did. When will I ever have that opportunity again? Probably never. I will spend 9 whole days focusing primarily on learning about Christ. Wow. I checked out a copy of Jesus the Christ from the library. I’ve started it multiple times, but have never gotten all the way through it. So I checked it out, determined to finish it this time. I am so excited.
The Jewish holiday of Purim started yesterday. It’s the one that celebrates the story of Esther and the Jews deliverance from the evil plan of Haman. (I have to tell you my favorite quote of the week: our Jewish teacher, after our final on Thursday, decided to tell us about the holiday of Purim and how it came to be. At the end of his lecture he said that Jews say the same thing about every Jewish holiday, “They tried to kill us. They didn’t. Let’s eat.” Haha! I thought it was funny.) Anyway, so after our orientation meeting last night, we had a huge bonfire for Purim/end of finals. For the holiday of Purim, children dress up in costume, kind of like our Halloween. So we all dressed up for the bonfire and there were some good costumes. I went as a savage, ratting my hair and drawing crazy designs on my face. We danced around the fire and made banana boats….mmm…and then we acted out the story of Esther. And, of course, many students brought up their textbooks to burn, holding them up in the air, ripping out the pages and shouting joyous cries of relief at never having to read them again. It was quite hilarious. Overall, a very good night.
Today was our Easter Sabbath and it was just beautiful. The choir sang a song in Sacrament meeting that I absolutely love singing. It’s called Intermezzo. One of my favorite parts says, in reference to Christ, “Gift of heav’n, our life-bread and leav’n, Jesus my Savior, I love thy name! How dear they choice, how sweet thy voice, oh my Redeemer and friend! Thy word, thy way, I shall obey, my knees, my heart I shall bend. My hope and plea: Thy face to see: Love without end.” It’s so powerful with the music, I wish you all could hear it. Anyway, it feels so good to be done with classes. You can feel the gentle peace that has settled over the center and everyone is enjoying the chance to unwind. Last night I did my laundry and showered before going to bed, so it was pretty late when I pulled out my scriptures to read before going to sleep. My roommates were sleeping, so I grabbed my flashlight and went out onto our patio. It was one of my best bonding moments with Jerusalem. You’d never think Jerusalem could be quiet, but at 2:00 am it was. There was a thick silence surrounding me, unusual for this bustling and active city. It’s that time of year when the rose bushes have started to flourish. I don’t know if I told you, but the Jerusalem Center has flowers EVERYWHERE. Every patio has a large patch of rosebushes, a small garden, if you will. The moon was full and brighter than I remember seeing it in a long time. It was casting a halo around itself, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Julie Andrews tells us of raindrops on roses, and of wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, but she never said anything about how gorgeous the light of the full moon looks reflected off a fresh spring rosebush. It was breathtaking. The luminescent moon’s light bathed me and everything around me in pearly bluish-white and life for a moment just seemed to stand still. My spirit soaked in the silent peace of Jerusalem while my skin soaked in the soft light of the moon. I probably sat out there for 20 minutes or half an hour, simply looking and thinking and loving. It’s hard to put this little experience into words, but it hit me for the first time how incredibly much I am going to miss this place when I leave, no matter how ready I’ll be to go home. I feel like I got to have a special moment with her that not everyone gets to have. It was choice.
Conclusion: Beauty is more than looks. I have been touched lately with the pure beauty of this place and all that it has to offer. Being here allows my life to be that much more beautiful. Truly, life is beautiful. Love you all.