Bethlehem

I loved Bethlehem! It is in the Palestinian territory and we have to cross the seperation barrier to get there. That basically means we only get to go once, even though it is close by. It was a big day with lots to do! Here are the highlights of the day ...

The Herodian ...

The Herodian- Another palace of Herod, overlooking Bethlehem

Inside the Herodian

A trip to Bethlehem University...

Bethlehem University. Our students walked around campus and minlged with their students. It was cool to see the similarities we all had, and also to see how lucky we are.

Next, we went to Manger Square which houses the tradition Byzantine holy sites for the Nativity...

The Church of the Nativity in Manger Square-Traditional site of  the Nativity

Traditional site of Jesus' Birth

Traditional site of the Manger

Here is my favorite part of the entire day...

Shepherd's Field at sunset and into the evening.
We had a devotional and sang hymns overlooking the possible field where the Shepherds watched over their flocks and were visited by choirs of angels on the night of Christ's birth. We spent some time for personal reflection as real shepherds and sheep passed by. It definitely got me in the mood for Christmas early on!

Holy Land Halloween

Halloween generally isn't celebrated in the Holy Land, but with a center filled with American young adults, we had to commemorate a fantastic holiday! Somehow I think the staff knew that, so they only gave us 1 class in the morning and then the rest of the day for free time! After some time in the city, we came back and got ready for a fun night in the center! 

We have 12 kids in the center that belong to our teachers and they were dying for a traditional Halloween. So, some student apartments signed up to hand out candy to the kids so they could trick-or-treat! My apartment definitely signed up, and our professors actually gave us the candy to give to their children haha! It was fun to see the kids that we see everyday dressed up in their make-shift costumes and trick-or-treating at our doors. It was like a little piece of home! We even had some of the LDS members from the Jerusalem Branch and some of the local JC-faculty bring their kids to trick-or-treat as well. It ended up as a fantastic success for us and the kids!

The night wasn't all for the kids though. All the students dressed up too ...  and I mean all 82 of us!!! The funny thing is that it was probably the hardest to figure out a costume here, considering the limited resources, but everyone had a totally creative costume idea! I ended up as Mother Earth! 

We had a Branch activity that night where we watched the original black-and-white Phantom of the Opera (silent movie, 1925) in the auditorium with the huge pipe organ. The tradition for silent films is to have the movie playing with live music in the background. More specifically, Phantom is meant to have an organ in the background. Our Branch President, President Ohman is one of the best organists in the world and he plays the organ for our Sabbath meetings and he played Phantom of the Opera for Halloween! It was spectacular!!!! I love live music and old movies, so this activity was right up my alley! 

After the movie, all of the students and even some of the families went to the gym for a Halloween DANCE PARTY!

It was probably one of my favorite and most memorable Halloweens EVER!

Christine takes the Phantom's Mask off

The Jerusalem Center's Pipe Organ