Gospel Musings

Day 1 Mt. Nebo On top of Mt. Scopus we see this sight. This is as close as Moses would have gotten to the promised land. From here he could see (on a day not as smoggy as this) the land of Jerusalem.  Bus Troubles On day one of the trip we were on a way to our hotel in Petra, a four hour drive. About 30 minutes into the trip our bus broke down. As we were waiting for the bus company to send another bus we entertained ourselves by playing games, reenacting Lion King and finding an Old Roman road. Alright, end of bus #1 Bus #2 arrives and we load. Bro Judd begins to tell us about the time when his groups bus was stuck in a sandstorm in Egypt. They had to find an old hotel and stay the night, to commemorate he was about to put on the classic 'Horse with No Name' before the music could turn on... BREAK DOWN. The picture above is of bus #2. This time we were stuck closer to around 2 hours (to be honest that is really just a rough estimate) but our guide Youse...

The other day I got an e-mail from my sister gently chiding for me for not updating my blog in almost a month. I thought to myself, "No way, it can't have been that long!" But sure enough when  went and checked my last post was a recap of my trip to Turkey. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I will try and update you on the last month with a couple of photos. Now granted, this is by no means comprehensive but rather a snapshot of the highlights from the last month of my time in the Holy Land. Welcome to the Shpelah. This particular pose is in the Elah valley. Can anyone guess what I'm reinacting? That's right this is a tribute to David slaying Goliath, it took me a couple of practice swings, but I got the technique down pretty good, plus my form was awesome! One of the more sobering experiences of the trip was our visit to the Holocaust Memorial of Yad Vashem. This particular piece behind me demonstrates the suffering of what was not an e...

I realize that I have been back from Turkey for almost two weeks now, but I wanted to share some last thoughts. For my Old Testament class I was required to write a reflection paper, I figured, if I put that much work into something then I might as well milk it for what it's worth. So here it is: Overlooking the Agean Sea, Paul walked a lonely road from Troas to Assos,.Acts tells us that here he met his companions before traveling to Mitylene. As I sat overlooking the Southwest, where we believe the harbor would have been I couldn’t help but wonder what Paul must have felt here towards the end of another missionary journey. The song, ‘A Poor Wayfaring Man’ came to my mind as I tried to relate the emotions of this devoted disciple who would soon be tried, charged and killed for his work preaching the gospel. I was drawn to the final verse where the author is reunited with the Savior who speaks these words: “Of me thou hast not been ashamed. These deeds shall thy memorial be; f...

Time is going back way to fast here. I have had complaints from some of the readers (mainly family, but let's be honest, I know that you're the ones who are mainly reading this) that I don't post often enough and that I don't post enough pictures. Well, let's just say I'm living up the experience! But, to satisfy the mob, this post is all pictures and they are mainly from my favorite place in Turkey: Ephesus. I will put captions. This is St. John's Basilica on the outside of the main town of Ephesus. It is Christian tradition that this is the burial place of John, LDS tradition believes otherwise, but there was a special peace about this area. Most scholars beleive that this is where the Gospel of John and perhaps one of his epistles was crafted. We also know that Mary was in John's care after the Savior's death, and it is believed that she died somewhere around here.  This is a baptismal font from the Byzantine period (when the Church was...