Geography Field Trip. YEAH :)

Our geography field trip gave me such a great base for the things I am learning and will continue learning here. The purpose of the field trip was to develop and strengthen a sense that what has happened through time is closely linked to the landscape on which it occurred. In just one week of classes here, I have studied countless examples of instances where the Lord uses the land to teach spiritual lessons. (I anticipate that this whole, blog about what I learn in class thing, will reinforce my learning and help me get a better handle on the material myself!)We began the field trip at the Seven arches Hotel overlook. This gave a good lay of the land and provided an unbeatable backdrop for our lecture from Brother Skinner (qualifications) on some of the main geographical elements. Our learning focused on the Mount of Olives, and the Kidron and Hinnom valleys. Having studied the Jewish faith Fall semester at BYU, I was especially interested to see the Jewish cemetery ( In the foreground of this shot.)

I cross the Kidron valley from the center (located on the Mt. of Olives) every day as I head into East Jerusalem and the Old city. It is fun to imagine not only the Savior in this land, but Lehi’s family and all the adventures they had here as well. The western wall was build around Jerusalem by Sulayman “The Magnificent” in 1537. He was from the Ottoman Empire which later became part of Germany. ( I seriously had NO IDEA about any of this history until I now, as I am literally bombarded in dates, names, and empires ☺ ) Our second stop was at the Augusta Victoria Tower. At the top of the Mt. of Olives, this tower gives a 360 degree view of Jerusalem and Judea. First of all, the bell tower is 202 steps. And if you don’t make it to the top in time, you will miss the lecture and therefore miss what is going on! So none of that, we were all racing to the top ☺

From the top of the tower, we looked Eastward to see the area where Jesus fasted for 40 days. The Dead sea (lowest point in all the world, 1300 ft. below sea level) was off in the distance. The Augusta Victoria Tower was begun by Wilhelm II who named the tower after his wife.
Next we got to eat lunch ☺ The Haas Promenade overlook was the perfect site! We seriously just sat atop old, ruined limestone blocks eating pita bread and persimmons. Pretty fantastic! I don’t really remember a ton from this site, because honestly, I was watching all the stray cats, taking pictures of my friends doing silly things, and wondering about the WWII air raid sirens going off all around the city. Br. Skinner looked pretty concerned, and when they started getting louder and blaring from the N, S, E AND W, even he (urgently) asked another faculty to call the Center. Turns out, they were air raid sirens, but strangely, no air raids. At least not within 20 miles.
I will always know how to find my way back to the center, because the center is East, on the Mt. of Olives. The three prominent towers on the Mt. stand tall among all others: The Hebrew U clock tower, the Augusta Victoria, and the Russian Orthodox church of the ascension. …or I could just ask a taxi driver to take me to the “Mormon University” and they would know spot on where to go…
The Deir Mar Elyas, or the Elias Monestary was next on the itinerary. (Can I just say that I was totally impressed by the punctuality of our group? The only person holding us up was the teacher when he would just get talking and forget about the time. Our bus lest promptly at 7:59am that morning! So refreshing!) Elyas is the Greek word for Elijah. There are 2 oft-debated options of things that have supposedly occurred here. 1. An Egyptian monk named Elias became the patriarch of Jerusalem, and this is a building in his honor, or 2. The prophet Elijah died here after he escaped from Queen Jezebel.

The last place was probably my favorite. The Nabi Samwil vantage point, and site to honor the prophet Samuel. I enjoyed seeing all the Ultra-Orthodox Jews in their daily routines here! This site was special even before Samuel came into the picture. It has a great water source, and stands atop a hill, giving greater military advantage. Throughout time, this piece of land has been home to:
-the Judean water system
-Hasmonean structues
-A Bzantine period monastery and winepress
-A crusader church
Crusaders called this location the Nabi Samwil, Montjoie (mount of Joy) because it gave them their first view of Jerusalem on their way in from Akko.
*Props to you if you made it through that entire post. That was a lot to handle. You may be wondering, “Did Stefanie know what she was getting into when she signed up for this program?” And if you are, the answer is a strong “NO.” It is WAY more reading and WAY more memorization, and WAY more conceptually demanding and WAY more enlightening than I ever imagined. Here is the pile of books that sits on my night stand. I don’t think I will ever get caught up. … at least not if I continue honing my ping pong skills ☺…