Retired T-Shirts and Other Unfinished Projects

I planned on having lots of free time this summer to work on a few unfinished projects that I have been accumulating through the years. However I didn't plan on having to job hunt. So that has been taking up some of my summer. As well as working a few hours sewing for my cousin. In spite of these few set backs I have found time to work on a few projects.

One of them is a T-shirt quilt that I have been saving old t-shirts for. I also went through my drawer and decided to retire a few more shirts to add them to the collection. It took me a day to get the top done and then I found an awesome orange jersey flat sheet at DI for 2 bucks that I will put on the back. SCORE!!

I haven't quite got the back on yet so this is still on the unfinished projects list but is a lot closer to being done.

The other project I sat down and did not get up till it was done, I finally finish my duffel bag that I started a few months ago. Cute huh!?! I wanted to make if for a temple bag. It turned out a bit bigger than I thought it would. But it will still work.

Those who might be worried about the previous comment about job hunting. No worries. It was decided and agreed on that the job that I had was not the best fit for me. So I am in the search and market for that awesome job that will be a better fit. I've sent in a bunch of resumes, and I've had a few responses. I'm not too stressed about it yet. I have faith that the right thing will happen. Whatever it may be. However if anyone has any leads to anything I am certainly interested. Something in the area of Social work and/or recreation. I love both. Tchau.

The Places I Went...The People I met!!

I know I've been home for a over a week and I still haven't posted anything about my trip. Sorry. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that I hate organizing multiple pictures on blogger. And after many attempts to get it in a way that I am satisfied with I gave up and did a slide show with Picasa. So here are a few picts and highlights of my trip.

*Land in Cairo--I can't believe I'm in Africa!!!
*Wore a robe to cover my "immodesty" in the Citadel Mohammad Ali Mosque
*Visited the Cairo Museum where I stood face to face with King Tut's death mask.
*Ate lunch on the Nile
*Explored the tombs in the Valley of the Kings
*Flew to Luxor, had a great view of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings from my hotel balcony.
*Visit the City of the Dead and the Valley of the Kings--It's amazing how old those tombs and well preserved they were.
* Stood next to a great statue of the Ramses II, his ear was bigger than me.
*Sailed across the Nile in a felucca (sailboat)
*Wondered through the pillars of Karnak (one of the man-made travel wonders.)
*Ran around the scrarub beetle 3 times for a little added luck at Karnak.
*Attempted to decipher hieroglyphics in the Temple of Luxor.
*Climbed into the tomb of the largest of the Giza Pyramids (the last of the ancient wonders of the world)
*I walked through the oldest market in the middle east.
*I passed under the Suez Canal which divides Africa from Asia. Which means a was on two different continents within two minutes.
*I was in Asia, Near East, but also Asia.
*I rode a camel up Mt Sinai to watch the sunrise. My camel's name was Abdal. I didn't find the burning bush. In fact I didn't see any bushes up there.
*I snorkeled in the Red Sea. It was so cool.

*I went to Jordan. I never in my life dreamed I would go there.
*I explored Petra in search for the Holy Grail. No luck. Found the Treasury, but no Grail.
*I saw the view Moses saw before the Children of Israel entered the valley.

*I swam where Christ walked. (Sea of Galilee)
*I read about the miracles that Christ performed on the shores where he preformed them.
*I walked through the hills where Jesus walked. I know we don't know the exact locations of where things happened. But it was just cool being in that area. Seeing the things that he would've seen. The hills, the "sea," the sky, the trees. Things that inspired his parables. The city on the hill.
*I drove through the valley of Jezreel. Or otherwise known as Armageddon.
*I dabbled in the Mediterranean sea. I didn't get stung by jelly fish!!
*I read Matt. 5 on top of Mt Beatitudes.
*I visited Capernaum. It's not just a name of a place in the Bible. Its an actual place.
*I floated in the Dead Sea. It was one of the coolest things I've done.
*I took a tram to the top of Masada
*I saw the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
*I traveled the road Christ would've traveled to Jerusalem.
*OLD CITY. Need I say more. "I'm actually here."
*I touched stones from Kings Solomons Temple in the Rabbinic tunnels.
*I walked along the Via Dolores.
*I walked along the Temple Mount.
*I stared in awe at the Dome the Rock. "I'm actually here."
*I waded through Hezekiah's Tunnel.
*I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Isaiah.
*I sang Far far away on Judea Plains on the Judea Plains.
*I sang Oh Little Town of Bethlehem in Bethlehem.
*I sang Christmas hymns on the 4th of July in a Shepards' field overlooking Bethlehem.
*I was chased down by a jewish women at the Western Wall who gave me a shawl to once again cover my "immodesty."
*I left a prayer in the Wailing Wall.
*I walked through the Garden of Gethsemane.
*I pondered the crucifixion and the resurrection in the Garden Tomb. Wonderful.

Did I say I was going to give you a few highlights? Well, the whole adventure was full of highlights. Each day I was more amazed that I was even there. Of course I didn't go to help my testimony grow, but it was great to see that part of the world where the Bible took place. I have a better perspective and even a connection to the events that happened in those holy places. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Hurrah for Israel!!!

The bag is packed. (Yes one suitcase. And its the small one. I'm good like that.) And I am ready to go. The adventure starts tonight at midnight. I'll have about 12 hours in New York to mess around and then we're off to the Near East and Africa.

I don't plan on blogging for the next two weeks however if you want a day to day update there are some people who will be keeping a blog of our travels. Linked here Sand'N Seas.

Ate Mais

Returning to my roots.

Three days until departure. To pass the time I've been doing a lot studying. In some of the information the tour has given us it mentions that everyone can trace their ancestry back to Egypt and Israel. Which seem absolutely logical, but I have found that my link to the Holy Land goes back only a few generations.

I've been reading a book that that my aunt gave my dad for Christmas and my dad passed on to me called Holy Land; A history of the Latter-day Saints in the Near East. (LaMar C. Berrett, Blair G. Van Dyke) This is an interesting book. Even at the early stages of the church gathering Israel in this part of the country was a priority.

In October 24, 1941 Orson Hyde was the first to dedicate the Holy Land. The Holy Land was dedicated 10 other times. All by apostles except for the fifth time. That rededication was performed by Ferdinand Hintze, under the direction of Elder Lund of the Quorum of the Twelve. And I have the privilege of calling him great, great grandpa.

I knew some of the history of my grandfather from family histories that have been passed down through the generations. However there is a whole lot I didn't know that I am learning from this book. I knew that he was born in Denmark. Came to Utah as a boy and settled in Holladay. He had four wives. I am from the third wife. I knew that he served many missions and that he translated the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants into Turkish.

I didn't know that he was the third missionary to go to the Turkish mission. He also became the first mission president of that mission, which at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire and included the Holy Lands. He assisted in establishing several branches throughout the area. He introduced the gospel to the Armenian people and is known as the father of the Turkish and Armenian missionary effort. He proposed that a Mormon colony be set up in the Near East as a place for the persecuted saints to settle. He was called on a second mission to Turkey (1987). In 1898 he was called and sustained as pastor of the Turkish mission. (Similar to to a bishop and district president.) As pastor, on May 8, 1898,"he was invited by Elder Lund (apostle) to act as a voice in a prayer of dedication on the Mount of Olives. This act alone is significant, since such prayers are usually reserved for apostolic witnesses." (129) He dedicated the land of Israel "for the return of Judah and the house of Israel." (134) The next day he preformed the first latter-day baptism in Jerusalem.

This all may seem insignificant, because its not as if the church is huge in those areas. However it is the effort of those early missionaries that opened the door for the church's existence there today. (349)

Learning all these things about my Gr Gr Gpa made this trip a little more meaningful to me. Not only am I going to the Holy Lands where Christ lived (which is huge, I know) but I am also going to a place where my great, great grandfather served as a missionary and worked to build Christ's kingdom once more in this land. The book mentions several times that he was a great man and he had strong convictions about the work he was doing. He loved the people and worked hard to bring them the truth. It not only gives me something to be proud of, but to live up to.

(Pict of my gr gr gpa and my gr gpa, Henry, right before he left on a mission to Denmark.Gpa Henry was also amazing.)

Sweet...Lets go

We just had a pre-tour meeting and I am so excited to go. I even pulled out my suitcase. I haven't started packing but I started throwing in odds and ends in. It was fun to meet people in the group and Brother Gunnerson who is the tour director. Here are some cool things that I learned.

• A camel ride up Mt Sanai is only 10 dollars.
• Scuba diving at Eliat is 25 dollars.
• Alabaster is a type of rock.
• Most vendors and merchants accept American dollars, which will make shopping and bartering easier.
• You can drown in the Dead Sea if start out facing the wrong way.
• Did you know that shouldn't drink the water in Egypt? Ok maybe that one is a bit obvious.

I am really ready to go. A couple of the members have started a blog which they will update as we go. I will post it before we go.

I've heard a complaint that I don't update my blog enough, something I will try to do better at.

Update

I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging. Unfortunately the ideas have not been coming. But here are some things that have been going on.

• UMMM...UMMMM Ok not much.
• I had a fun birthday. Thank you to everyone who came to the movie. It was great to have you there. It was a pretty good show. However it took me a little while to become friends with some of the Narnia characters. I didn't love them right off like I did in the first one.
• I'm going to be an aunt. I've known for a little while, and I've told a few people. But I haven't been able to make it public until Cori and Jake made the official announcement. Due on Halloween. (Trick or Treat) And today we found out that it is a boy. Which is amazing. Boys are a rarity in my family. Including extended family. Congrats to them.
• We had an awesome ward activity last week. A cultural night. Everybody brought a piece of the world they had been to and shared it with us. It was great and there was a lot of food.
• This the final week of school. (Yahoo!!) Which also means the countdown to Egypt and Isreal has begun. I've been doing lots of reading, most of which I might not remember when we get there but it will still be the adventure of a life time.
• Last week Caleb and I rode our bikes to work/school. 9.4 miles. It was a good ride and Caleb did a great job. On the way home I thought it would be fun to take the Jordan Parkway Route. Come to find out it doesn't go all the way from 123rd to 106th and we had to turn around and go back to 123rd and just go the normal way.
• I have been "fuming" (hehe) about the drastic, constant rise in gasoine prices the last few weeks. I've started biking or walking whenever possible. Which I don't mind doing most of the time. It just makes me mad though. We can change our driving habits, however our whole lifestyle is still affected by it since the rise causes the prices of everything else in this world to go up!!!! Except for my salary!!! Grrrr! (Tears)(sigh) Remember those days when a cheap enjoyable Sunday activity was a drive through the canyon. They are just a memory now. Unless you are on your bike. Not a bad idea.

okay that's enough rambling for now but don't worry there is more where that came from.

Ok, so this tag is a bit old. I'm slow.

"But then what are the stars for," asked Leah

The rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book
2. turn to page 123
3. find the 5th sentence
4. post the 5th sentence
5. tag some people
I tag: Tami, Cori, Bekah,