More fun!

Way too many cool things happened way too quickly to try to keep it in any particular order. Here is a list of some of the best things we did.

Went to Hatshepsut's very cool temple.
Went to the Valley of the Kings where we toured Tut's tomb, Ramesses III's tomb, Ramesses IX's tomb, Seti I's tomb, and paid extra for Ramesses VI's tomb (one of the coolest), except for poor Kaleb who was dragging by then.
Rode a Sailboat on the Nile.
Rode a carriage through town and shopped at a strange little bazaar.
Went to a tomb where the Book of Abraham may have been found.
Went to the Colossi of Memnon.
Went on a camel safari.

The kids have been so tough, and so great! We have been wearing them out, this really is tiring. They have not been getting enough sleep. Yet they are such troopers and had so much fun, and were so good to work with, and I so, so, so much enjoyed being there with them. The students loved them, and they have been making very good friends with the students.

It is a bit more tiring than I had anticipated. Keeping track of all these students is tougher than I thought it would be. I can't say enough good about this group, these are exceptional, amazing students. Yet some are a bit naive, and can get themselves in trouble pretty easily if we don't keep an eye on them. I have come to feel quite fatherly towards them, and Julianne has adopted them all.

First few Amazing Days!

I am so glad that Julianne and the oldest three kids were able to come. We had such a great time. The first day we stopped on the way south to tour and teach about Ber Sheva, the place where Abraham lived, made a well, etc. Very cool! Then we went to Tel Arad, a very cool and huge fortress that we also really enjoyed. We stayed the night at a Kibbuts, where we spent some time at a huge sand dune, and spoke a bit about how we had been following roughly the same trail that Lehi and his family had taken, and let the students and my children write for a while about going through the same wilderness as Lehi and his family. Then that night we swam and had a barbeque. It was pretty funny, the Kibbuts told us that they were going to give us real American hamburgers. The burgers themselves were genuine, and barbequed well. But the buns werre pitas, and the condiments were kethcup, humus, tsiki sauce, diced onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. In other words they gave us a falaffel with a beef patty! Pretty funny, but very good. The kids had a great time swimming with all the students. We really enjoyed getting to know them all better.

The next day we left early and go to the border. It was much less hot than the last time we went through, and we enjoyed the whole process much better. It was very nice to get to the other side and find a nice bus waiting for us, with bottled cold water all loaded up, and off we went.

As we drove through the desert, I gave a lesson on the children of Israel in the wilderness. I think it went pretty well, and I feel great about it. It is pretty cool to talk about it as we drove through the actual wilderness. We had a couple of rest stops on the way, and some of the girls did not handle the more crude toilets very well, but we just helped them as best we could.

As we neared Cairo I explained to the students some things about the city, and they seemed to enjoy being able to understand some of the things they saw. One thing I will never forget is how my children and the students were so excited when I pointed out to them that we were going over the Nile, and how they all burst into cheers as we pointed the pyramids out to them for the first time.

We checked into a nice hotel, it was great. We had adjoining rooms with the kids, and it worked out well. That night we went to the sound and light show at the pyramids. I will always remember walking through the little awning with the kids. When you pop out suddenly there it is, the great pyramid. It is so much fun to hear them suck their breath in and say "wow, that is really it, we are really here." We had a ton of fun.

We slept well, ate well, and then we went off to tour the pyramids. BJ, Kaleb and Tashara worked on making a movie several times while we were there. They thought it was pretty cool to see the pyramids, and even more cool to go right inside one of them. The students couldn't believe they were there. We had some problems keeping the students together, and with them being hassled by people, but we eventually got them all together and went out for a great panoramic view, and then down to the Sphinx. It was exciting to tell them all about the temples we were going through, the Sphinx, etc.

Then we toured a factory where they show us how they make papyrus. As a teacher we got a free papyrus. Then we went to Saqqara and went through a great tomb, then out to the step pyramid.Way too many cool things all at once. From there we went to the airport, caught a plane, and flew to Luxor. We had a nice dinner there in a very nice hotel, and finally went to sleep. What an incredible bunch of days!

Good Experiences

This was a fun week. I took the students on a great field trip to Jericho and round abouts. It is so much fun to be with them and read cool scriptural stories and say "this happened right here, right at this spot." Often we don't know if it is the right spot, but there were a few places on this trip where we knew. It was great.

We spent a couple of busy days getting ready for Egypt. We also took the youngest to an Israeli doctor's office for the first time. We got a bit lost, but made it in the end. All turned out well.

One of the highlights of the week was taking Jacob and Sabrina on a field trip with the students to Ne'ot Kedumim, a huge Biblical garden where you walk around and learn about plants mentioned in the Bible and how they fit into the story, you learn about sheep and goats and herd them a bit, you make pita, learn how to write a Torah scroll, etc. etc. Jacob and Sabrina had the time of their life, and the students just love those guys. It is so much fun to see our kids learning and growing here. We are having the best morning scripture study we have ever had, and are having so many wonderful experiences.

I am overwhelmed and impressed with the great students we have here. Today as I sat on the stand during sacrament meeting and looked at my children, and had a strong longing to be with them, I came to feel that it is how Heavenly Father looks at us. He watches us, and longs to be with us, and is doing all he can to bring us back to him.

Tomorrow we go to Egypt, and BJ, Tashara, and Kaleb are coming with us. The younger three will stay with Jill Judd, bless her heart. Pray for her. We are going to have a great time!

Wow! Sept. 6-11

This week was even better than last week. On Sunday we took the kids into the Old City and showed them the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We taught them about it ahead of time, and about respecting different ways of worshiping and of how they can learn from what others do and become deeper spiritually. We had a very nice walk into the city, running into students from the Center everywhere we went (you have to be careful now that they are here, one group came up as I thought I had lost Tashara in the city and was looking frantically for her, another as I was getting after my kids).

When we got to the Holy Sepulchre, we told them about the rock that is immediately inside on which many thought the Savior's body was anointed. Several people were there kneeling before it, touching it, and praying. I told the children they could pray there if they liked, only if they wanted to, and however they liked. Kaleb knelt down by the rock to pray, and soon everyone was, even Jacob who didn't know why. But I could see that most of them were amazed to be in a place where maybe the Savior's dead body had lain, and were deeply touched and started to spontaneously kneel and pray. As they prayed, for quite a while, both Julianne and I were overwhelmed by the feeling that they were, at that moment, having their testimony of the reality of the death and resurrection of the Savior deepened. It was becoming more real and more powerful to them. Just that moment was enough to make the whole trip here worth it, it is that for which we had hoped as we planned to come here. I was overwhelmed with how wonderful it was to have our children's testimonies strengthened so vividly. I cannot express the bliss of those few moments.

They had many powerful and profound moments in the Church that day. It was a glorious day.

The next morning I led the students on the first field trip I would do with all 40 of them on a bus. It was thrilling. They ate it up, and it went incredibly well. I remember being here as a student, and on that first day looking at the valley where Joshua made the sun stand still, and thinking, "wow, I can't believe I'm really looking at that place". It was so exciting to see the students have that experience, as time after time I showed them where a real, yet miraculous and almost legendary event had taken place. This is the most fun kind of teaching in the world, and the field trip was great!

On Tuesday we had a great class, I got a lot done, and the children seemed to again have a good day at school. It seems like it was the right thing to take the kids out. BJ and I went to scouts tonight with some various people in the city. It is an interesting and intense group of Lone Scouts, and I think this will be great for BJ and me. We were proud of ourselves for having figured out how to navigate through the city a bit.

On Wednesday I taught, Julianne and I took Sabrina and Jacob into the Old City in strollers to get Sabrina some birthday presents. We sprinted there and back, working up a good sweat with all the steep climbs pushing strollers. As soon as we got back I joined the other faculty members as we went to a field trip prep to Jericho and the surrounding environs. I really, really enjoy going over those places with my colleagues, I learn a lot. They have done some great excavations at Jericho, it is a better site than ever before.

I got home in time to spend a little time with the kids, and then Julianne and I went to have dinner with our guest speaker for the evening, and go to her presentation.

Overall I have been able to spend more time with the kids than normal. I am working mostly in our home. It is a smaller walk from my home to my classroom than it is from my office to my classroom in Provo, and my office is just a bit further than that. I can involve the family in much of what I do. I am very busy, but much of that business can be done with my kids, and even more with my wife.

The kids got out of school early today (Wed.) and will be out the rest of the week, because it is Rosh HaShanna.

On Thursday we went with the Judd's to a great beach south of Tel Aviv. Our first time to really swim in the very, very warm Mediterranean Sea. We met there the family of one of Kaleb's friends from school. It was a lot of fun, a great beach. On the way home we tried to stop at a few places to get some stuff for Sabrina. It turns out that really no where, nothing at all, is open on Rosh HaShanna. We couldn't buy food or go find an open McDonald's The whole country is pretty much shut down. Oh well, we had a good day.

On Friday we celebrated Sabrina's birthday (after I taught class). We did presents and had a small party. Sabrina was having the time of her life. Then we went with all the students to the Western Wall. Our kids had so much fun walking with the students, who took such special interest in them and made them feel so good. Especially Sabrina, who was wished happy birthday by everyone and sung to a few times. She felt like she was on top of the world. The kids had a great experience seeing everyone worship, and going up to touch the wall. They asked a lot of good questions, and seemed to learn a lot. Our scripture study has been incredible, they are really getting into this and learning a lot.

This was a nice Sabbath, other than my being made the second counselor in the Branch Presidency. I taught the lesson in Young Men's today, which was interesting because not only did we Skype with the people in the Galilee branch (this is typical, they have only one young man, so we band together), but today they had an extra individual who only spoke Hebrew, so we did some with translation. Fun but complicated.

After church the whole family went with all the students to the Garden Tomb. Again the students were incredible to our family, and the kids are enjoying being with them. They had a very good experience there, and again the kids asked a lot of questions. They seem to really be learning a lot. It is such a lucky thing to be here with them.

A few other interesting things this week. We figured out that with some schedule changes, if the older kids went to Egypt with us in a week, they would not have to miss much school to do so. So we tried to get them onto the trip at this late of notice, hoping there was hotel space, train and plane space still to be had. It turns out that there is, so the older three will come with Julianne and I to Egypt in a week! The younger three will stay with Jill Judd and her younger children. She will have her work cut out for her. Wow! This will be very cool. Also, Ramadan ended this week, and there has been a lot of intense celebration. Rosh Hashanna has also been a fun learning experience for us. We are getting a good education. We are grateful to be here!

Getting settled in: Aug. 29-Sept. 4

So, we are getting settled in. On Sunday (which is not our Sabbath here, but like our Saturday), we took the kids into the Old City for the first time. That is a lot of walking for those little folks (Jacob fell asleep in my arms during the long walk and steep hike on the way back). They got to see a bit of what it is like in the Old City. We didn't do much, just went to get something to eat, told them a bit about the place, and came back. They seemed to have a good day. Then we got them all ready for their first day of school.

We went with them to the first day of school. It was good we did. Poor Kaleb didn't think about it, and left his backpack (with his lunch, etc. in it) in the taxi that took them there. We were able to track it down for him and get it back to him before school started. Everyone seemed to figure out where to go, and seemed happy to be there. It turned out that they had a great day. It was Sabrina's first day of school, and she said she had the best day of her life.

When we finished that, Jacob and Julianne came with the faculty on a little field trip. I had arranged for some good people I know who are excavating at Jaffa to show us the excavation site. So we drove to Jaffa and had a great time getting a personal tour of the place. Julianne seemed to really enjoy seeing everything, and Jacob was most fascinated by the cave full of the biggest bats I have ever seen. There were a ton of them. We got to go into the lab, play with the pottery and equipment, see the Egyptian gate, etc. Cool day!

Tuesday a bunch of us, including Julianne and Jacob, went on a field trip preparation tour. We are planning on taking the students on a walk through various parts of the old city, and then into the Western part of town, the day after they get here. We want to both show them around, and teach them about history, etc. So everyone who was going to do it went on the walk. Jacob was a little trooper. We had a great time, and I think every person learned something they didn't know by the time we were done. We had a few minutes on Ben Yehuda street when we were done, a very nice pedestrian street in downtown Jerusalem. Jacob had fallen asleep by then. We are really wearing that boy out.

The next day we did another field trip prep, for when we will take the students around and show them all over Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, so they can get a feel for the place geographically. Julianne and Jacob came again. They seemed to have a great time, and I think Julianne is loving being able to learn so much and participate so much. As part of it we climbed to the top of Augusta Victoria tower, the highest point on the Mt. of Olives. There are 225 steps, and Jacob climbed them all. Later that day I went on a bus to the airport, and along with Jeff Chadwick picked up 59 students. It took a while to get them all out and make sure we had all our stuff, but we got them loaded on and brought them in. I gave them just a bit of a tour on the way in to town. They were exhausted, they had been through a crazy flight. Meanwhile, Julianne was back at the Center giving some students a tour of the center with the help of all our kids. Then we took the whole family to have dinner with the students. The kids were pretty good, but it was a bit of an adventure. I spent a little time with the students that night telling them what I hoped they would get out of being in Jerusalem. They were exhausted, but seem like a great group.

The next day I lead a group of about seven students on the walking tour of the old and new city, and Julianne also led a group of the same size. We stuck close by each other, and ran into each other a few times and used each other as resources. It was fun to do it together, and really, really exciting to see how much the students are amazed to actually be here, and to see them drinking it all in. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, most of the kids seem to be having a great experience at the Anglican School. They really seem to enjoy it, and it really seems to be a great school. Sabrina seems to be in a little over her head, which is partially our fault but mostly the fault of her being put in an age group we were not prepared for her to be in. We are starting to think about not having her in school.

Friday was the first day I actually taught a class. It was exciting and fun. These students are thirsty, and it is great to be with them. What a sharp bunch. The kids got home from school early, since it is Friday in Jerusalem, and we had some good times with them, and met with some of our student committees to make sure they knew what they should do. It is really starting to be busy around here.

Finally, on Saturday we had church. It was great, we are blessed to be able to go to church here. What an incredible place to have Sacrament Meeting. It is so great to look at the places the Savior was as I partake of the sacrament. Today I was sustained as the Young Men's president and Scoutmaster, while Julianne was sustained as a primary teacher. The kids seemed to enjoy their classes, and are loving being here. Julianne and I went with Frank and Jill Judd (the other family here is the Judds) to the Garden Tomb in the afternoon and had some nice contemplative time there.

Julianne has really started to learn her way around town, and is getting pretty good at being able to shop here. It is a lot of work to be able to figure out shopping prices in a different currency, and figure out what to buy with different foods and the labels in a language you can't read, but she is magnificent.

We decided to pull Sabrina out of school. The place we live is wonderful, they have set it all up so well, and we are receiving so much support. It is all turning out better than we could hope for. The kids are still crazy, and I am still mean, and Juilanne still wonderful, and we are feeling so blessed to be here.

A week living here

We have had a fabulous week. Our kids have adjusted to the time zone and new life with amazing ease and grace. We have had a squabble or two, but not more than usual, it seems less to me. We really like our place here. Julianne is starting to become adept at shopping here. We have had fun with the Judds, who have moved in next door. Dad left for two days on a trip to get ready for some of his field trips. It went well, and everyone survived. We have watched movies in the big theater here in the Center, have played in the gym, at the playground, and gone for a little walk or two. We even went to the Anglican school, and met teachers, got schedules squared away, etc.

While at the church in Tabga, which is designed to commemorate the feeding of the five thousand, as Dad was praying, the reality of the Savior's ministry came crashing down on him. While he has long known of its reality, the idea of sitting (again) where (or near to where) the Savior did such a miracle made it seem so real. With that came the overwhelming feeling of how real it was that God sent his son to do all of this for us. It was so immediate, so personal, so real, that it was a powerful moment of deepening discipleship. Oh how the Lord loves us.

Today we had church. It is such an incredible setting for Church. Everyone seems to have done well.

Mom and Dad went to the Garden Tomb today, what a great experience. Again, there in the tomb, the reality of the Savior dying for us, and then rising again, was overwhelming. We do not know better now than before, but I think we know it more deeply. He really did rise again, he really did it for us. How blessed we are to know it!

Getting to the Center -- Adventures Ahoy

We are doing well. The flights went spectacularly well, I couldn’t have asked for better, other than a few delay problems with the first flight. The kids were incredible. We got to the JC (Jerusalem Center) to drop the luggage off, and the kids were given a brief tour. They loved it, and were so excited to be here. Sadly we had to leave pretty soon to our hotel. It was an okay, modest hotel. Really pretty good for Middle East standards, but not quite the Marriotts that the kids have stayed in during the last year. It was also about 50 yards from the Dome of the Rock in a very Palestinian section. The kids were pretty worn out, were a bit stressed by not being able to understand many of the people around them or read any of the signs, and were not impressed by the hotel (though it was a very big room, with 4 twin beds). We also arrived during Ramadan, and as the sun went down people started lighting firecrackers. Some of the kids thought it was gunfire. BJ said he wanted to go home, he didn’t want to be here, he really wanted to go home. They were all fully stressed. It took a little talking and relaxing to get them feeling okay. We had some prayers, did some blessings, and within an hour BJ and everyone else told us they were glad to be there.

People fell asleep okay. But Jacob woke up after only about 3 hours of sleep and we never got him to go to sleep again. I stayed up with him for about 4 hours trying to keep him happy and quiet enough others could sleep. Everyone woke up pretty early, by about 5 am. We read some stuff, talked, listened to a kids book on cd together, and went for a walk (the weirdness of the area freaked them out a bit more). Then we were provided with a great breakfast at the hotel, went over to the JC to do some luggage switching since we had figured out some packing mistakes we had made, and then caught a taxi to the bus station. I had researched ahead of time when the bus we wanted would leave, so we got there, got the tickets, and got to the right spot with about 20 minutes to spare, which I thought was perfect. But somewhere along the way things had changed, and the bus was actually leaving an hour later than we had planned. So we waited for an hour and 20 minutes and finally got on the bus for our 5 hour bus ride. The ride went okay, most of them slept for the first half. It stopped about half way so we could use the bathroom, eat, etc. As we got off, in the middle of the desert heading towards Sinai, the heat was so oppressive it made everyone feel sick. No one felt much like eating, I got them to eat some fruit. The last half of the trip was not fun for anyone, until I got come dvd’s going on the personal dvd players. Then it went okay.

When we got off, the heat was worse than ever. It was horrible. The original plan had been to get a hotel there in Eilat, and go snorkeling on the Red Sea. However, I had misunderstood some information that the travel website I was using had given me, and the hotel we had was just across the border, in Egypt. When I had figured this out (a few months ago), I had tried to get another hotel in Eilat, but they were all gone, except the $500 a room kinds. So we caught another bus to the border. It was so, so, so very hot, the kids were dying. They were great troopers about helping to haul the luggage, etc. Sadly, the wheels on our biggest suitcase had stopped working, so for the whole trip I had to drag the big thing everywhere we went.

The border crossing was tedious, sometimes difficult, and had more hidden fees, sometimes big ones, than I had every guessed. We filled up every kind of water bottle we had just before leaving Israel, since we knew the water in Egypt was not safe. We drank it all before we got to the hotel, and were still on the verge of dehydration. The wind was strong, and very hot, and the air was burning. If the children of Israel went through that Sinai area in August I don’t blame them for complaining they would die without water. It was probably a matter of hours without it before they would die.

We got a taxi to our hotel. The hotel itself was great. We changed and went swimming in a few of their very cool pools, that included water slides, caves with water falls, a bar in the swimming pool, etc. We had a great time. Then we went back, ate some snacks, and went to sleep.

The next day we celebrated Kaleb’s birthday. The hotel provided an incredible breakfast, just incredible. Then we went to snorkel in the Red Sea. But the spot we were had had absolutely nothing to see under the water, just nothing. Oh well, we went to the swimming pool instead. We checked out of our hotel just barely when we needed to, and waited for our scheduled taxi. After a while I inquired why it had not come, only to learn that Egypt had changed time when Israel had not, and we had another hour to wait. We got some expensive ice cream to celebrat Kaleb’s birthday, and finally got to the border, again. It was just as hot, and just as tough, but he kids were so great.

We found some taxis to take us to the Jordan Border. One of them arranged some Jordanian taxis for us on the other side of the border to take us to Petra. He arranged a price that seemed like it was okay (it is hard to judge, I knew how much one taxi should be, but not how having 8 people total affected the price).

So, we did another hot, bothersome border crossing. It was really not a fun experience. But the kids were so, so great. I couldn’t believe how good they were, and though they were hot and dehydrated and tired, they were holding up so well. We had originally planned to stay in Eilat again when we finished with Petra, but since our hotel was not actually in Eilat, and we didn’t want to do the border crossing twice more when we got back, we decided to cancel the last part of the trip, and tell the folks at the JC we would get in a day earlier than we were supposed to, even though we had promised we would not.

I really, really did not like the ride to Petra. They had no van taxis, so we had to ride in two cars, and I did not like being separated from Julianne and the littlest kids. My driver kept getting so far ahead that I could not see the other car, and I would have to tell him to slow down. The fact that every Arab man we had met had demonstrated an irresistible need to touch Sabrina’s blond hair, and try to hold her and walk somewhere with her made me quite nervous. I knew we would get this a bit with out blonde girls, but it was surprising how much Sabrina got it. I had to keep an eye on her all the time. Anyway, the drivers were crazy on a very windy road, and two children threw up on the way.

The hotel in Petra was nice. Not super nice like in Egypt, but nice. We slept well, had instant oatmeal for breakfast, and went to Petra. It was a lot of hiking, and it was hot. The kids had a lot of fun, were amazing troopers, and we did well. But we didn’t see everything because after a while they voted that they would rather go back. I thought it was wise, and I think they were incredible. They really were so good during everything. We had a nice time there, nice swimming at the hotel when we got back, and a nice evening overall.

The next morning we left. Our taxi driver found out we were going to go to Eilat and then Jerusalem, and told us there was a border crossing point closer to Jerusalem we could use. It would be an hour longer drive in Jordan, but about 4 hours less in Israel. I had not chosen this border crossing point because we had been planning on staying in Eilat, and because I knew that Eilat was the only place you didn’t have to buy a Jordan visa ahead of time, you could get it on the day you crossed. I asked him if that would pose a problem for us going back. We were both pretty sure that going back you only had to pay an exit tax, but nothing else, and it wouldn’t be a problem. He called an uncle who worked for the police, who looked into it and told us we were right. So we decided to go to the King Hussein border.

Part way through the drive my driver, who was in a BMW, started driving so fast and so crazy. It was making kids sick, and I couldn’t see Julianne and the others in the other car. I kept having to tell him to slow down and keep them in sight. We later found out that he had learned that the border crossing we were heading to closed at 1 pm on Saturdays, so he was trying to hurry. But it wouldn’t have done us any good if only half of us got there, and the other car couldn’t go that fast, and it just wasn’t safe. It became a very, very stressful ride. We got a flat tire part way through also.

About ten minutes before 1 pm I learned that the border was going to shut down at 1. We tried hard, but did not make it. It turned out that they stopped letting people go across at 11 am, and letting them finish coming into Jordan at 1 pm, so we missed it b y a long ways anyway. So we reconsidered our options. There was another border to cross about an hour north, and we decided to go that way, though it meant paying for that much more in taxis. Ah well. We drove like crazy, stopping to buy a new tire along the way, etc. The kids were hot, hungry (no time to buy food, and they wouldn’t eat the granola bars I had), car sick and bored. But they really handled all of that well.

We finally got to this border (took us almost 2 hours). It was the strangest process I had ever seen. After moving from taxi to taxi to station to bus to station, paying tons, filling out lots of forms, interviews, etc., etc., we got the the Israel side, and did more of the same. There were a few stressful things involved, but with the help of the Lord we worked out way through it.

We finally got through the whole process, found a nice minibus to take us to the center for a good price, and had a nice drive here. The kids were so excited after all of that to get to this place that they feel like this is the most wonderful place on earth. They feel like it is so modern, so friendly, so beautiful, that they are absolutely in love with being here. It is very nice.

The apartment they have created for us is very nice. It is just a bit smaller than how much room we had in Hawaii. The place is magical, and we are very happy here. People have been bringing us food, and doing a lot to help us out. Today the kids played, we did a lot of unpacking, we greeted our friend family as they arrived, played in the playground, etc. There is a calm, peaceful, almost magical feeling about this place. Everyone is very, very happy to be here. I wish that the tv did not have Disney Channel, but oh well.

I have not been able to get our internet phone working, but will keep trying.

I honestly believe that while we went through some fun and very crazy and stressful stuff, that you could not have found 6 kids anywhere in the world who did it better than these 6. They were overly incredible, and I am so pleased about it. And you can see them really coming together. Overall it is great. I have a few more grey hairs, but it was great.