By now we have gone on most of the in-country field trips with the students, but we had missed the trip to the Negev area last summer (because it was so beastly hot).  Winter is the perfect time to go to the Negev, which is the southern desert area of Israel, and we had an excellent time visiting four main Old Testament areas. This is a large area—more than half of the land area of modern Israel.  

First was Tel Be’er Sheva (not far from the modern city of Be’er Sheva, or Beersheba in the Bible).  This is the territory of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The site was a fortified government outpost to guard the southern border of Judah.  Not surprisingly, there is a deep cistern and ingenious water system.  It’s also the site of a famous horned altar (made with cut stone, not unhewn stones as commanded in Exodus 20).  

Eric Huntsman leading the discussion

We next visited the tomb of David Ben-Gurion, who helped establish the state of Israel and was its first prime minister. It overlooks the Wilderness of Zin, where the children of Israel spent much of their 40 years wandering.  It reminded us a lot of Death Valley.  We were only about 20 miles from the Egyptian border here. We had a devotional on the site led by Mauro Properzi.  

The highlight of the day was Avdat, an important settlement and rest stop along the ancient Incense Route between Petra and the port of Gaza. It was under control of the Nabateans starting in 200 BC, then the Romans (AD 100-400), and finally the Byzantines (AD 400-700). The stunning citadel on the top of this hill has courtyards, churches, a Greek-style temple, and more water-collection systems.  We could have spent all day here.  

Fun metal sculpture of a camel caravan

Our final stop was Tel Arad.  This settlement dates from the early Bronze era, before the time of Abraham—3500 BC!  A temple with a holy of holies, massive walls and wells.  Somehow people survived here for millennia.  Jim keeps wanting to be teleported back to these sites to see what life was really like then.

We went to Mamilla and into the Old City to visit Udi Merioz who gave Jim the sketch he’d made for him.  He then had Jim sign his name on a scrap of paper and proceeded to sketch a Jerusalem scene around it within a matter of seconds.  He’s very friendly and generous.

Two terror attacks this week. One in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and another shooting at City of David, so we’re locked down. Yes, the Center gets locked down every time something like this happens. We had not even heard about this until people started e-mailing us to ask if we were OK. This happens all the time--it hits the international news and if we're not watching TV or something, we don't even hear about some of these things. But these two were actually closer to us than anything else since we've been here. We'll see how long the Center will stay locked down this time. Luckily the Center is a BIG place, so you don't get claustrophobia. A gym, weight room, 8 pianos, student commons with movies, outdoor walks, etc. But we hope things calm down soon.

We finally took down all the Christmas trees and decorations at the Center and in our apartment. It was January 11th, after all! Now the gallery looks so plain. 

We were invited with the faculty and other service couples to a dinner at Ima restaurant in West Jerusalem. It was a farewell dinner for the Earnshaws.  We are going to miss them bigtime! They are such wonderful people, so knowledgeable about the Holy Land, and always upbeat and helpful. Their replacements are Mark and Mary Ellen Rosen from Sandy, UT. They had a lot to learn before Mark and Marvel left (but did just fine)!

Huntsmans, Earnshaws, Barkers

Eran Hayet

Earnshaws with Mervat (Chef) and Firas (Maintenance and Housekeeping)

January 11, the students arrived in three shifts. As they left the buses, some were wide-eyed and eager to see where "home" would be for the next 15 weeks. Some were so tired they could hardly keep their eyes open. Right away they are taken to the Forum for the beginning of several orientation events. They  won't remember much until next week when it will all be repeated!

Deanne led some of the newly arrived students on their first-day walk of the Old City on Thursday (Jim was out of town and sorry to miss that!). It was her first solo adventure being in charge of directions and information. She did great. 

Overlooking Kidron Valley with the BYU Center in the distance

Atop Austrian Hospice

In front of Hidden Gate

Jim missed the walk since he was in Zikhron Ya’akov, which is about 60 miles north of Jerusalem and a little south of Haifa.  There is a luxury resort and arts complex there on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean.  See https://www.elma-hotel.com.  Jim was invited to play an organ recital as part of their high-end chamber music festival, and he was very pleased to be a part of it.  His visa doesn’t allow him to be paid for any work in Israel, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t give him a really nice room and passes to the buffet meals.  The Israelis really know how to put on a buffet spread! He shared a concert with a group performing Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time,” which Messiaen wrote in 1941 while he was in a prison camp during WW2.  Messiaen turned out to be a very prominent composer of organ music, so the recital included a piece by Messiaen (Le banquet céleste) and pieces by Vierne, Dupré, and Langlais, other organists with ties to Messiaen.  The splendid concert hall is state of the art.  The organ is a tracker organ by Klais of Germany.  The action is really heavy (grrr) and it’s very loud at the console (luckily Jim has learned to travel with earplugs).  Such is the life of the concert organist.  But it was a great honor to be a part of this music festival and another adventure in Israel.

View from the hotel room

Sunset after a wild storm

On his way back to Jerusalem, Jim stopped by Caesarea on the coast.  Loved the visit there, seeing aqueducts, hippodrome, theaters, Herod’s palace on the beach, Crusader fortress, etc.  

This new group of students are so nice. We took a large group of them plus the Rosens to the YMCA carillon tower. Again, another hit. Several of the students could play music by ear and did really well at the keyboard. We said goodbye to the Earnshaws before Jim's concert at the Center on Sunday. They have now arrived safely to their Maine home (and are loving being home!).

Deanne finally made it to the YMCA pose!

Mary Ellen Rosen

Jim played his all-Bach concert here on Sunday evening.  There was a big crowd, 300 or so.  Eran and Michal were very pleased.  The organ behaved, and it was a "glorious triumph." The earnings will be donated to music-related programs, musicians, or equipment.

The Earnshaws had told us about finally getting in to see the Tombs of the Kings, so Jim took a solo excursion to check it out.  It took some doing to find it, but it’s not far from the Garden Tomb, and is just around the corner from St. George’s Cathedral.  It’s a large funerary complex from the 1^st century AD.  It was thought that it was the burial place of the kings of Judah; then associated with Queen Helena of Adiabene; but now it is thought to have been designed for Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great.  Cut out of stone in the ground, there are large tombs, channels cut in the side walls to channel water into cisterns, and of course a graveyard of columns and capitals.  The property belongs to France and there is a French flag flying over the property. You have to stand in awe when you realize how much stone was cut and removed to create this quarry. 

With Yolaunda Keith and Jill Judd from the Branch

Rome

Happy New Year! We were so fortunate to be able to take a side trip Rome, Italy, for six days this week. We had not been to Rome for .... many, many years. The adventure started early Monday morning getting to the Ben Gurion Tel Aviv airport by high speed train from Jerusalem. The train only takes 20 minutes but it took about 30 minutes just to be driven to the train station and to wind our way down, down, down the long escalators to the tracks deep underground. The airport wasn't much fun either as we had to take a 20-minute bus from the train to another terminal and go through five checkpoints to actually get to the departure gate. We did end up making it to the gate with time to spare, but not much. Luckily the flight to Rome was uneventful and we found the Fiumicino Rome airport to be modern and lovely. We grabbed a cab to the hotel which was located one block from Trevi Fountain. Location, location, location! We were not alone there. But we were in Italy and ready to have pasta and gelato! So we did. We had pasta, pizza, and gelato every day and never tired of it. Jim finally found his favorite (and best) pasta puttanesca at our "last supper." The people were delightful, the weather was cool but comfortable, and we ended up walking about 35 miles over the six days. We saw most of the traditional spots you have to see in Rome and uncovered a few not so famous places. Traveling with a church organist, we saw many, many churches, as you can well imagine. Sadly, Jim never got to play any organ in Rome. We were lucky to have our own Italian guide (an LDS friend) who drove us to the Rome Italy Temple one evening. Definitely a highlight.

In case you wondered what we did see and do, here are a few of our favorites:

Churches:

San Luici de Francesi, Church of San Eustachio, Church of St. Agnes in Agone, Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Church of St. Mary Maggiore (also known as Church of Bethlehem West with relic of the manger of Bethlehem), St. Peter's Basilica, Church of San Giovanni in Laterano with its monumental statues of the 12 apostles, Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs, Church of Santa Maria deli Angeli e dei Martiri, and several more

Church of St Louis of the French

St. Peter's Basilica

Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano

Sites:

Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the 4 Rivers statue, Campo de Fiori (fruit and vegetable market), Piazza Argentina, Piazza del Campidoglio on Capitoline Hill (designed by Michelangelo), Piazza Venezia, Altare della Patria (tribute to Vittorio Emanuele), Trajan’s column, the Forum, Vatican City, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, body of Pope Benedict lying in state in St. Peter's, Colosseum, Piazza della Repubblica, LDS Rome Italy Temple, Piazza de Spagna and the Spanish steps, Villa Medici, Borghese gardens and art gallery, Piazza del Popolo, Via del Corso, Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth), Tiber River, Ponte Fabricio, Teatro Marcello, sculpture of Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Navona

The Colosseum

Rome Italy Temple

Food:

Linguine with clams, Puttanesca, Carbonara, Ragu Italiana, Amatriciana, Gnocchi Bolognese, Ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta in sage butter, Caprese salad, fried Zucca (zucchini flower, mozzarella, anchovies), bruschetta, Margherita pizza, tuna pizza, vegetarian/eggplant pizza

Bruschetta

Caprese Salad

Pasta Carbonara and Gnocchi in Bolognese sauce

Vegetarian Pizza

Gelato flavors: 

Vaniglia, chocolate with nuts, Kit Kat, pistachio, melon, passion fruit, raspberry, dark chocolate, mint chocolate

Pictures--we took 497 of them. We won't post them all here (we value your friendship too much!).  Here is a link so you can peruse at your leisure:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ox1ycserN65NwXuR6

And now the winter semester begins. We will meet 100 new students on Wednesday. We are looking forward to meeting them!