Study Abroad

Friday June 27th Today was a fairly relaxed day! We went to the city of the tabernacle which is called ancient Shiloh. This is where the tabernacle was established and where the land was divided among the tribes. We were able to discuss the importance of this place and relate it to the text in 1 Samuel 4 and the bringing of the covenant into Shiloh. It is so amazing to read scripture in the actual spot where it took place. Then we went to the Israel Museum, they had a miniature model of the old city that was extremely detailed and descent size! There were different sections like art, archaeology, a clothing and a culture section. The museum was interesting to walk around and it was very cool! My favorite part was the archaeology section. There were skeletons found that dated back over 92,000 years ago! I found this extremely fascinating to see!

Two days ago I had to say goodbye to a woman that I met a week ago. Her name is Elena Orozco. Her name is the only thing she knows how to write down but the life she lives I’ll write down so that it is remembered and shared with others. Elena works at a house as a maid and babysitter, at my first host-parents house here in Guatemala City. She makes $192.95 a month, roughly about six dollars a day, and for the ten (sometimes more) hours a day that she works, that is about sixty four cents an hour. Nevertheless, Elena is the sweetest, kindness, caring, most tender woman that I have ever met. Elena cares for her three daughters and does it with the most optimistic attitude while not displaying any of her daily worries. Her walk to work takes about an hour and a half and walks home at night which is a dangerous task considering the location of her home. Yet Elena knows no different. In the five days that I knew her, she changed my life. This woman has become so dear to my heart as I have seen her worry about her kids, get yelled at, and have tears running down her face while washing clothes by hand. Elena reminds me of my mother, Emma Vergara, who also takes care of a little girl back home.  My mother has never felt the need to share in detail the worries and struggles she had being a single mother with six children. But my siblings and I can now see that it must have not been easy. My mother worked no matter how tired she was and was able to take care of us on her own. She would work endless hours for us and give everything to us first so that we can have the best life we could afford. My mother’s love for us was her drive, her motivation to go another day. For that I will also work hard to obtain my goals and maker her proud. Now she is my motivation. Love is such a powerful thing! It moves us to take action. My love for Elena (the woman I knew for a week) and had secret conversations with has become a motivation for me now. This country has begun to redefine the word “service” to me. I hope to serve people like Elena in any way that I can. I will not forget how tightly she hugged me when I promised to call her. My hope is that you simply share Elena’s story with someone today. Elena deserves to be remembered, and people like her cherished forever. Thank you God for the life of Elena, that she may experience your love in abundance. That you may work through me and others so that we may help in anyway we can to show them your love. Amen. *Story published with Elena's permission Blog post by Reyna Benitez, Biology Major @FPU

My morning starts out amazing, I journal through 2 Timothy 1:6-7, therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you to the laying on of my hands for God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness (timidity) but one of power, love and sound judgment. What an amazing verse to journal as we prepare to go to the fortress Masada and climb the Roman siege ramp into the fortress. For ourselves, the climb to the top can be seen as a pilgrimage, our victory as we make the hike to the high places of Masada. Once there, you share the stark reality of what took place on that fateful day when the Romans finally made entry via the top of the siege ramp do the case mate walls. To see the bodies of the rebel Jews all about in a mass murder suicide must been breathtaking, and not in a positive way. To then change gears and to go back in time to the time of King Herod and to see the ability he had to lead and empower others to do their jobs is amazing. You could say the modern day equivalent to Herod would be Donald Trump, a man that has all the resources he needs but let’s just say his past is not the best. The way Masada was dressed in fine linen (architecture) and pomp allows us to see how Herod thought and lived. Whether he knew Jesus or knew of Jesus will be decided at the end of the age. To then proceed to the Dead Sea and to gather the facts of how the lake is receding at an alarming rate is staggering. Dear God we need a miracle of biblical proportion to save this Dead Sea.... Lord hear our prayers. Off to En Gedi and another pilgrims walk up the canyon as we recount the account of David hiding from King Saul who is trying to kill him. David hides in the En Gedi wilderness and avoids Saul. The day finished off at Quram and if most of the group thinks like me, you are wondering what else lies within the dessert that is yet to be discovered, could I possibly be the one to discovery it? Life is an adventure and to dream big dreams is what gives us direction. When we fail to dream and set goals, we have no direction and passion, life becomes meaningless with no compass to lead us. Our relationship to Jesus Christ remains that compass that leads us and guides us. Time with God and time alone in places like these, allow us to hear Gods voice in a fresh way and new passion. I end today having heard from God and acknowledged his direction for me. Shalom Gary L. Mejia

by Michelle Yi   Arad, Israel Wednesday, June 25, 2014 And we're off to see the wonders of the Negev! Leaving our lovely youth hostel in Arad, we traveled from the southern edge of the Judean Wilderness to destination #1: Tel Arad in the Eastern Negev Basin. A little background: In Tel Arad, there is loess soil and when the soil becomes wet, it swells. There isn't much rainfall, but when there is, the soil can retain about 150mL-200mL. Ideally, you'd want 300mL of water to support agriculture. At the site, there was some agriculture that could be seen in a community that wasn't so far off. What makes agriculture possible in this somewhat barren land, is due to irrigation. If we look more towards the west, we see less agriculture due to the Bedouin communities. The Bedouin are nomadic muslims who did not practice agriculture, and instead practiced pasteurization. The wilderness is a place where the Bedouin lived and were able to practice pasteurization. But due to modern society, the Bedouin have been restricted on where they can travel by the government and are being forced to become more sedentary, unlike in biblical times where it was normal to travel anywhere for a long distance such as from T. Arad to, today, Syria. There has been resistance, but some are starting to move into homes. This poses as a problem for the Bedouin community because if the government restricts where the Bedouin can travel and the Bedouin community becomes sedentary, the community itself will grow in population and as a result, the depletion of resources will cause the practice of pasteurization to cease. The Negev is also used for military use, which is also another reason why the Bedouin are restricted on where they are able to go. In the book of Numbers, it mentions three incidents. The first is the King of Arad coming out to war against the Israelites and before that, a reference to Israelites being located at Mt. Hor in southern Jordan. The second incident mentions of the battle against the King of Arad and the third incident takes place back at Mt. Hor. The book of Numbers and the geography of Tel Arad is a good example of the difficulties in being able to relate the Biblical text to physical evidence and chronology. The Negev Field Study: Israelite Fortress. Coming upon the site, it was still pretty early in the morning so it was nice and cool with a strong breeze. Before we go in to depth, remember: Early Bronze Age = the time prior to Abraham Middle Bronze Age = time of Abraham and Jacob Late Bronze Age = Joshua and Settlement Iron Age = Start of the monarchy/kings to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 At Tel Arad, we see an Israelite fortress that began in the Iron Age with a small resettlement. The walls that encircle the fortress at the bottom date to the early Bronze Age (2400/2600 BC to 2200BC). What's fascinating about this is that because the city was not resettled, we have evidence of the early Bronze Age preserved at an unusually high height. If the city had been destroyed and rebuilt, it would have been destroyed further down and the buildings would not have been preserved as well. This place is a good representation of what an early Bronze Age city would have been like. The tel was established in the 12th century during the time of the settlement. It was established due to the road that goes into the hill country to Hebron. The purpose of this tel was to create a first line of defense. During the time of resettlement in the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, there is evidence that due to more rainfall, the city may have been able to last as long as it did because agriculture was able to be practiced more. It is unknown why this early Bronze Age city had been abandoned towards the end of the early Bronze Age, but it coincides with the time of abandonment with other early Bronze Age cities during that time. Some theorize that this may be due to the climate or due to the unification of Egypt. What was so surprising about this discovery was not only the fortress itself, but a temple was found that followed the general architecture of the temple in Jerusalem and post dates the first temple. In this temple, the Holy of Holies was found to have 3 standing columns (one removed), which may have been a representation of deities. The big questions that were asked was: if the Holy of Holies had 2 visible standing columns, was it a temple dedicated to God and that the two columns represented the two stones that held the 10 commandments? Or was it a temple dedicated to many gods where each column represented different deities and there were more standing stones that just haven't been found yet? After exploring the fort at the top, we migrated towards the bottom where a twin temple was found. A twin temple was a place where two rooms were set side by side with each room being its own temple. At the site of the twin temple, was also a representation of an Arad house. An Arad house was during the time before the Israelites and mostly found in the Early Bronze Age. There is evidence of such a house even through a pottery like reconstruction (like a doll house). We explored a bit around here as well and we were off to destination #2: Beersheba. Upon arriving to Beersheba, it didn't seem to have a historical feel to it, and rather a more touristy feel. We walked through a path towards an open space where a replica of the horned alter stood as you entered. Here, we sat under some shade on stage like benches. It was almost mid afternoon so the heat was getting uncomfortable. Anyways, we discussed different topics related to the site of Beersheba such as Abraham and the association of Beersheba to the Northern Kingdom. To keep it short, the story of Abraham and Abimelech in Beersheba, found in Genesis 21, was reviewed. The significance of Abraham planting the tamarisk tree was also discussed, which was implicating that Abraham was going to come back and permanently settle. Next, we went up to the top of the hill where a well was found to supposedly be connected to the well mentioned in Genesis. We sat on benches in front of the well and went over the significance of gates (gates were mostly associated with the city hall, courthouse, and mall in biblical times) and the story in Genesis 23 of the death and burial of Sarah. After about 20 minutes, we went inside and after walking a distance, came upon a four room house. The architecture was explained and the story of Jephthah was briefly discussed (Judges 11). Then we went to what a storehouse would have looked like in biblical times and discussed the architecture, purpose, time period, and significance. We then moved onto the water system that was built in the city. The descent was very deep and probably the most exciting part of the water system. I was expecting caves and really cool rooms when I got in, but it turned out to be very anticlimactic. After getting out, we then had lunch. After lunch, we stopped by the Ben Gurion Burial. The Ben Gurion Burial was a burial that commemorated the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel and his wife. There wasn't any lecturing and the time used was to explore, go to the bathroom, or get a little something at the store. Next, it was off to hiking the Wilderness of Zin. Here, we hiked a bit ways up before stopping near the foot of the great ascent up the mountain. We stopped to discuss The Book of Numbers, Chapter 21. And then up the mountain we went! It was pretty rad. I was petrified but excited because of the height, the view, and the beauty. Imagine being a bird in the sky and looking down upon this beautiful and magnificent canyon. Seeing every tree, every stream, every creature, and the detailed walls of the canyon with its ridges, colors, and texture. But perched on a ledge of course. The ladders we climbed were literally vertical. I grabbed on with my life every step of the way, but at the same time I wanted to let go and be able to fly freely. It was absolutely breathtaking. After getting to the top, we hopped back onto the bus and headed to our next destination: Avdat. In Avdat, we discussed the Nabateans, Byzantine settlement, and the wonderful winepress. We were then free to explore. On the way back to the bus, I came upon some pretty awesome caves and had to go in! Finally, adventure time! It was so exhilarating being able to crawl, climb, and get filthy dirty. I absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, we were crunched on time and had to leave. Sad face. Back to our youth hostel in Arad. I was so ready for a shower.

By Elijah Roth Our first stop this morning was the Judaen Wilderness at the Wadi Kelt. Something interesting about the Judean Wilderness is that it was considered both a place of judgement and a place of intimacy with God. I am so blessed that my experience was a time for intimacy with God. Anyways, we began our trek to Jericho from the Monastery of Saint George, and followed the cliff path all the way. I was towards the back of the group and had a slower person a bit ahead of me. This allowed the larger group to get a ways ahead of us. With this unique circumstance, we ended up taking a wrong turn, and followed what we thought was a path. It quickly became questionable and kind of disappeared. We realized what happened, turned back to the actual path and caught up with the original group. I have hence forth referred to this break in the path as the "Bedouin experience." Overall, this path to Jericho was beautiful. I will never forget one of the turns we had where we could look through the valley and see the city peaking over the horizon and resting on a hill. When we finally made it to Jericho, we looked at the various archeological sites. The most amazing site was a tower the dates over 10,000 years ago. I believe that this is called the pre-pottery neolithic era. I am just so amazed that we were so close to such an ancient structure. One of the most amazing sites we saw today was the Mitzpah Dan. This is a Jewish settlement known as the "Lookout" on our maps. At the top we were able to see all around and pointed out various biblical sites. It was so cool to listen as Brian described the Biblical sites, pointed them out and telling their stories, with Saul at Gibeah, Samuel at Ramah, and various other events from the Bible. One of the final things that stood out to me today was the Neveh Shalom. This site is absolutely incredible. We just drove by it, but the significance that it holds is amazing. This location is a settlement of both Jews and Arabs. Based on all of the political issues between these two groups, it is practically a miracle that they can live together in such peace. It is truly an example of God's power and love at work.