I'm back!!

So I'm sure that you all missed me, and i tell you what, I am soooooo glad to be back in a 1st world country!! Don't get me wrong, Egypt was one of the best things ever, but now that I can eat fruits and fresh veggies without thinking that i might die, I think that my system will like me better! It has been a trip of much that was seen, of testimony growth, and of inner bowel conflict (that's all i'll mention about that I think!!). Lucky for me I really didn't get that sick or anything, and overall it was a great trip. Oh, and no more bottled water for a while!! Yippeeee!!

Just quick about today, It's 1130pm right now and i started the day at 2am. that's right, 2am. Today was the day that we got to hike up to the top of Mount Sinai and we did it so early so that we could watch the sun rise from the top of the mountain. The hike up is about 4km and I don't know what the elevation change is, but it is quite significant. The hike really wasn't all that bad, not as bad as hiking the Y, although it was a steady incline that went for much farther than the Y ever does. I was actually hiking with Morgan and Amanda and Morgan has a bad ankle which she twisted a little on the climb up. I was really impressed with how well she was able to just push through the pain and keep on going, she's a trooper (and a little stubborn!). I have to mention here that the stars are amazing. There is no major city like anywhere in the Sinai Peninsula, and I have never seen the stars shine so brightly. Constellations that i have never really been able to see and always wondered how the ancients were able to pick them out I now understand. Darn light pollution!

We got to the top long before sunrise, and we sang hymns and had time just to contemplate our life while we sat on top of the mountain where some of the greatest revelations in the world were given. I wanted a good view of the sunrise, and so I actually climbed to the top of the apse of a church that is at the peak of the mountain. I was all by myself and had an unobstructed view of the world from there. I tell you what, there is nothing like watching the sun rise when the horizon is probably close to 75 miles away. Like Bro. Brown said, "It's like watching the sun come up from the center of the world." I had a great time just reading scriptures and writing in my little journal that I brought with me (thanks for finding that for me Lauren!) and just experiencing something that I may never get to do again. Pictures were taken, and then our leaders took us to little meadow areas where each class had a testimony meeting. I cannot express to you the gratitude that I have for being able to bear my testimony in a natural temple of the Lord. To be able to add my testimony to the holiness and sanctity that still resides on that great mountain.

The way up was a trail and switchbacks. The way down we took a different route and walked down the almost 4 THOUSAND stairs made with rocks in the mountain! If my knees hurt at all today, it was then!! They are called the "Stairs of Repentance" i hear, and i'm sure that it would have hurt like that if I had gone up that way!! The monastery of St. Catherine's is at the bottom of the mount. You can see it from a ways up, and you really think that you are close, but you are not! It takes a good hour or so to get off the mountain, and whole time going down these retched stairs, but we finally made it.

The rest of the day was mostly bus time, trying to get back to our home in Jerusalem. Trips within trips are not the easiest things to get used to, and it was weird to get back to the JC and really be at a place that could be considered home, but we are still on vacation! Well, i'm in school, but whatever. I got to sit next to Tanner on the bus ride for the long haul (he is one of the kids of the teachers here. He is 16 and way fun) and got to know him pretty well. We had a fun drive.

Oh, but the one thing that broke up the day was the border crossing. Now getting into Egypt is not a problem, but getting back into Israel is another story. They are really thourough in checking people and thier bags at the crossing into Israel, and so it took about 2 hours to cross total, and one more hour to get the guy in our group that was born in Turkey across! It was kind of funny, because they checked a lot of our backpacks, and one of the security things it being able to identify your pack. Well, we all have the same ones here, and it took a while for the people to realize that we would have to look into the bag before we could tell if it was ours or not. Then they start going through my bag, and of course they find the little book that I got at the mosque called "The Teachings of Muhammad" written on one side in total Arabic. I started getting grilled with questions like "Why do you have this book?" "Why did you go in the mosque?" "Why did not your whole class go in the mosque?" "Why did you want to learn about Islam?" "I don't understand, why did you go into the mosque?" and so on. It was about a 3 min discussion, with me just saying that I'm a tourist, a student, and I just wanted to see the inside of a mosque! (really cool by the way, but you'll find out about that later!). Anyway, I did get across, but having that little book gave me quite the story!

Anyway, that's my today. What i hope to do is try to catch up on the blog, actually posting things by date about what I did on the day that I did it. So just watch for that. The next few days for me are free (except another trip on Sunday) so hopefully i will have the time to catch up on all of it! Anyway, I love you all and hope that you are doing well!