Sometimes I'm a giddy schoolgirl in my editing classes... so what?

Simple, perfect, progressive, perfect progressive, past, present, future, active, passive and all the combinations possible (24 possibilities, I think?) and I can tell you what the verb or group of verbs is. BAM. Not really that difficult, actually, it's just something I had never officially learned and now I have. The grammar exercises I just did were fun. Sometimes I love editing and grammar and all that jazz.
Ok, I take it back - I love it all of the time :) I'm so on the right career path.

Literature is Life

I just got out of my British Literary History class and I had all these thoughts floating around my head, most of which I've lost now that I stood in a line for 15 minutes waiting for a computer. But I'll try to compose them anyway.

Literature inspires me. We were discussing John Keats today, and deciding whether or not his poetry is as wonderful as anthologies have made it out to be. I would argue, yes, yes, it is. We mostly centered our conversation around his poem, "To Autumn." I would type it out, but it's long enough to make this post look huge and be annoying to type, (but not too long to quickly read!) so I'll just include the link: http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/toautumn.html

Poets' lives are generally very interesting, and Keats is no exception. He died at 25 of Tuberculosis, he and Fanny Brawne were completely, madly in love, and he was barely 5' tall.
The year and a half before he died was when he wrote his best poetry. I guess all I want to say, to keep this short, is that this poem exemplifies how he learned to fill his life with so much richness when he knew he had little time left. Do we live like this? Do I? I would suggest I have a lot to learn from him. "To Autumn" taught me that nature becomes most beautiful before it dies, and I believe life can too. He lived that way, found the fulfillment in every day, and at the end of his life, like in the third and final stanza of the poem, he was calm and serene. Dr. Frankenstein didn't find this same fulfillment. He didn't live with his responsibility over his creation, nor did he show any compassion toward it and he died discontented. I don't want that to be me.

Some say that reading literature is a waste of time, but I believe it helps make the rest of my time spent living more rich. My professor Steven Walker, a thoughtful, brilliant, 70 year-old man, told us that he was living in London when the Lord of the Rings came out. It found immediate success, and he was very skeptical to read it because, as he told us, he thought anything that popular just couldn't be that good. He picked up a copy, started it one evening, and didn't eat or sleep until he had finished the trilogy late the next day. He nearly wept because there was no more to read of the books that he realized had just changed his life.

Let us let our passions change us for the better, inspire us to greater ends, make our days far richer.
That is all.

Graduation, do you really exist?

I kinda always thought that Senioritis was this thing that people made up, for whatever reason. School is fun, right? Homework isn't usually that bad, am I wrong? I like having a set schedule every day, don't you?

No. Not anymore. I officially have Senioritis and I am vouching that it is a very real mental (and I guess, physical) ailment. Don't get me wrong - I still like going to my classes, learning new things, gaining a greater appreciation for literature and the English language (for those who don't know, I'm studying English Literaure and Editing).... But I just don't know if I can do this school/homework thing anymore. I have almost zero motivation most of the time to do my homework. I don't graduate until August 2012. That sounds like an eternity. I know I will make it, but how I make it is another story.

*sigh* Aaaannndd.... back to the homework. I guess it's not all bad: I'm reading poetry by John Keats :)

The joys of being home

This morning I woke up and met up with a highschool friend, my "sister", if you will. Her name is Kayla Fadenrecht and I LOVE her. To death. She has the biggest heart and always knows what to say to me to make me happy and feel great about life. She just finished up her first year of college. She works harder than most people I know, and has earned about $20,000 in scholarships for school from multiple different sources for this next year. Too bad that doesn't quite cover the cost of tuition for a year... She is also madly in love with this guy she met here at home this summer. He sounds like he treats her like the angel she is. My little sis is all grown up and falling in love! I love it.

After catching up with Kade I met up with Kathleen for breakfast and then we both went back to my house to hang out some more. She brought her 10 month old baby boy, Joshua, along. He is a doll- so chubby and has red hair! Kathleen and I have been good friends for years. We even considered each other our best friend for a long time, still kinda do, and I got to be her bridesmaid three years ago this month!

Good day so far, but now I must be diligent and do as much of my homework right now that I can before the wedding reception in my back yard tonight! My best friend Hannah's brother got married last weekend, and they decided to have their Oregon reception here. So convenient, I just have to walk out my door! K gotta go... homework. Blah.

Oh and my dad, having no idea about my last blog post, randomly decided last night to mention how he strongly dislikes Muslims... "religion of peace, yeah right"... "how are we expected to have respect for people that do things like this" (we were watching a news story). Pretty sure the news also focuses on all bad things, Dad. Please don't overgeneralize.... it breaks my heart.

Blogging!

I am thinking about writing in my blog again. What do you all think? Would I have any readers still?

Yes, probably, and even if I don't, I like writing, so what does it matter who reads?

My blog will probably be a set of contemplations about the state of my life, possibly focused on how my life is different and better because of my experience in Jerusalem, which is only natural as Jerusalem is the center of my life. I'll try not to let it get annoying though, since I know none of you really care since you haven't been there.

I'm sure if I get back into it, I will have many things to write about. So... why not start with one right now?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the Muslims I know in Jerusalem. I hate the negative image they have here in America. I want you all to know that they are wonderful people. If you were to randomly pick one out of the street and asked if they believed in a 6th pillar of Islam (Jihad), they would say no. And mean it. They are so kind. They welcome you gladly into their homes (granted this is part of their Arab/Palestinian culture too) and want to give you anything you want to make you feel comfortable. If you say you love something in their home, they will sometimes try and give it to you. That didn't happen to me personally but it did to a few others. The children are so cute and love to say everything they can in English, and love it when we play games with them or play music for them. They are so sweet.

How cute are they? Just a sampling of the little kids that would try and talk to us in the Old City.

Our neighborhood children. Adorable. The little girl with red hair liked that we had the same hair color... so precious. She was so shy though! It was all I could do to get her to sit through a picture.

Muslims are so devoted to God. It is the same God we worship, their scripture and understanding of Him is just a bit different, but in a lot of ways they are the same as us. Islam is a part of them, as our gospel is a part of us.

Muslim women about to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

I love them, and I am trying to be a little bit more like them. As I do, I become a little bit more Christlike.

Oh how I love Christmas songs!

I'm a member of the student choir here in my ward and we've been preparing songs for our Christmas concert next week. Our director is fluent in polish and is having us do 4 traditional polish carols, even though we're singing them in english. One of them happens to be my new current favorite Christmas carol. It's called At Quiet Midnight. The third verse is especially what pulls at my heart:

Welcome, o Savior, long desired of old
Four thousand years your coming was foretold
Kings and prophets are elated
For this night they long have waited
Christ is born, rejoice! Christ is born, rejoice!

It's beautiful, especially when you sing it with a choir at night looking from our auditorium onto the lit up city of Jerusalem. This is the most popular, beloved Christmas carol in Poland- and for good reason too.

Another one we're singing (not a polish one) is Lo, How a Rose. It's more well known I believe. It's beautiful, I recommend finding a recording of it somehow.

Lessons

So here I am, sitting on the 6th floor of this beautiful building I call home in the East City of Jerusalem, and I'm beginning to reminisce a little on the last 3 months. I still have three weeks left here, but it's never too soon to think back on even recent memories and appreciate what I have, right?

I've been thinking a little about what I've learned here. I've learned more deeply that there is opposition in all things. There is so much hate in this world. I have seen that first hand, and been ushered out of the Old City of Jerusalem by phone calls from our security because of it. I have seen it on the internet news updates as I sit about a mile from the heart and most central location of this hate- the Temple Mount. But because there is so much hate, there is that much, if not more love in this city, this country. I see it in the eyes and actions of each student here as we make friends on the streets with shopkeepers or arab children. I see it in the words of our teachers and church leaders here as they urge us to be educated so that we may be unbiased to the situation. I also see it in people like Daniel Seidamann, our guest teacher today, a Jew, (albeit an American one) who spends his entire life in effort of helping to bring about peace in Jerusalem, including giving Palestinians, the enemies to Jews, back some of their land. The Lord is our light, there is in His sight no darkness at all. I've learned that there is no such thing as "hopeless" in this world.

I have also learned better what it means to be a disciple of Christ, and I'm trying every day to become one. It's following Jesus no matter what you want, it's loving the people around you no matter how they feel about you, it's quickly forgiving someone who made you care and then made you cry by showing they don't care nearly as much as you thought. These are things I hope I can continue to implement in my life even when I am away from this place.

I guess most of all though that I've learned for myself, so strongly that I could never begin to deny it, that Jesus Christ is real. I haven't learned that from visiting a place like the Garden Tomb, I've learned it from prayer, proper scripture study, reading my patriarchal blessing, singing hymns, all in places like the Garden Tomb. Because I have shown I want to know, the spirit has given me such sweet witnesses of what I already believe to be true, but can now feel like a fire within me.

Being in the Holy Land, literally walking in some places He did, spending personal time by the shores of Galilee, the place He loved so much, I have had the opportunity to focus my entire life these last months on my relationship with my Savior, and that is why I know He lives. He loves me and knows me personally. I had an experience at Galilee where I went to pray at night aloud by the shore, tears streaming down my face, and the part of my prayer that I was hoping and needing to be answered most at the time was answered, literally minutes later. It wasn't a coincidence, or that someone happened to be in a happier mood, my Heavenly Father just decided to give me a small, tender mercy- I like to think as a blessing for knowing so strongly that He hears and answers prayers.

Friends! I've learned to love this gospel, my Savior, and my Heavenly Father more than I thought was possible these last three months. I guess that's really all I wanted to share. My friend asked me at our Thanksgiving dinner what I was thankful for this year, and what came to mind most clearly was my testimony. I'm so thankful for my testimony, and may I always have the chance to share it, even without words as we've had to learn to do here.

This is my new favorite hymn. It came to mind every time I walked to the shore of Galilee and looked at its waters and thought of the literally countless miracles Christ performed there. Hymn #86. I encourage you to open up your hymnbook and study the words, don't just read them.