Indiana Custer, Part II

So, I finally got my flashdrive back with some more pictures. On our way from the dig down to Jerusalem, we stopped at Megiddo. That stone circle in the first picture is actually a very ancient pagan altar. The second picture shows the water system of Megiddo, which is amazing when you think that people dug it nearly 3,000 years ago, and it's not only enormous, but goes down deep enough to store tons of water.

Here we made it to Jerusalem. We lived in the dorms at Jerusalem University College, and my favorite thing to do was sitting on the swing and watching people in the courtyard. The school is on Mount Zion just outside the Old City walls which you can see in the second picture. Sadly these walls "only" go back to Crusader times.

These next pictures were our first real day in Jerusalem and one of my personal highlights. When we rounded the corner and saw the golden dome, it was so surreal to actually see a building I had seen over and over so many times. But it was the Temple Mount itself, or what was still left from the 1st century, that was really fascinating. I couldn't believe the ruins still there, and learning all about what the place would have been like in Jesus' time just made it all so real. The picture of me touching the wall isn't the real Wailing Wall, but it was close and did have the rolled up prayers sticking out of the stones. The third picture is the cornerstone of the entire Temple Mount, and in the last one, I'm sitting on the Huldah Steps, the Southern and probably once main entrance up to the Temple Mount; they were known as a site where rabbis and teachers stood and lectured. In fact, there are records of Gamaliel (Paul's tutor) being here.

Putting up pictures is hard work and takes time. Sorry, but it's late, so you'll have to wait for more ... again. Thanks!

Indiana Custer

I only have pictures from Week 1, but I thought I might as well post some. So, here you see us at the archeaological excavation just north of the Sea of Galilee. First our whole group and then some of the girls on my team. We had to get up super early in order to not have to work in the heat of the day, but we had gorgeous sunrises.

The archeaologist is pretty sure the site can be identified as Bethsaida, the hometown of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, three of Jesus' disciples. Even though the site is no longer directly on the lake's shores, they've found plenty of fishing tools including heavy weights and anchors to suggest at one time the lake was closer.

Our job was to move a lot of dirt and rocks. I got assigned to the sifter, which I LOVED! Every bucket we carried up to the sifters was an opportunity for a really cool find!

The only not-so-fun part was having to shovel out the sand from underneath the sifters every 30 minutes or so. That was back-breaking, but we tried to make it fun.

Since they opened up a new locus (square for digging) for our group, we spent the first two days moving rocks and digging through top-layer stuff. Finally we got down to some 1st century Roman finds. Even so, we did better with more "recent" discoveries. Some of our cool finds (besides gobs and gobs of everyday pottery) included a piece of an oil lamp rim (actually old), a 1962 Syrian coin (hey, I found that one, so let me enjoy my glory), and an 18th cenutry Austrian coin (can you imagine how excited I was to get to help read it with the archeaologist!!!):

Finding coins was always highlight! At the end of every day, all the finds - pottery, flint, fishing weights, grinding stones, coins, Roman glass, animal bones, and anything else special - was washed and taken back to camp where we had "pottery reading" every afternoon. This was when the archaeologist, Rami Arav, went through each locus' find and took out the things he wanted to keep, dated them, and explained the significance for us. Here you see me sorting and counting a locus' find (sometimes over 1,000 pieces of pottery!), Rami explaning some pieces to us, and the photographer taking pictures of the ones worth keeping:

Well, that's most of the stuff from the excavation. More of Israel to come.

I'm back!

And I left all my pictures on my flashdrive in my Mom's computer in Austria. Since I want to post pictures, you'll just have to wait to hear about my adventures....

My upcoming Adventures

Wohoo! I'm off to dig in the dirt! One week of archaeological work north of the Sea of Galilee and then two weeks of a course in Jerusalem, following the footsteps of Jesus. Plus a bonus week in Austria with my folks - I don't know when the last time was that I got to be there in the summer. I'll bring back lots of pictures.

(Here's a picture of me becoming an official missionary:)

It's official

On Sunday, they took all of us appointees through the rooms where our interviews would be held. I hadn't really been nervous up to that point, but they did a good job of changing that.

"Here's your waiting area. Sit and wait here until they call you into the conference room. Someone will be waiting with you to calm you down." (Calm me down?) "Then you'll come into the room. Come here to the far end of the table. Everyone will be standing. Do not sit down. They'll introducde themselves around the table, pray for you, and then when they sit, so may you." (Okay...) "There will be water and cleenexes here for you." (Did she say cleenexes?)

Needless to say, my heart was pounding on Sunday, but I guess if their goal was just to get us to pray more in preparation, it worked. I was actually fairly calm this morning (it helped it was the first night I'd slept since arriving here - thank you, Tylonol PM).

The short of it: The interview went well, and I've been accepted to be a missionary with WorldVenture!!!!!! All praise to heaven.

I guess I've been tagged...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Wow, you want the serious flashback or just a mini one? It was between my 11th and 12th grade (out or 13 grades), and my school required some kind of internship/summer job. The nice thing was we got 4 months off for summer. The sad thing was I had to work 3 of them. But I lived with my aunt and uncle in Oregon where my aunt got me a job at the hospital she worked at and taught me how to drive a stick shift on our way back and forth. Great memories!

2. Five items on your to-do list today:
Well, since it's almost bedtime...finish this blog, chat some more with Rachel, put on pajamas, brush my teeth, read through my interview questions one more time.

3. Snacks I enjoy?
Fresh mango (a bit rare in MN), chips and hummus, milk chocolate, chocolate milk

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Pay off student loans, pay off my family's student loans, go to Egypt, use the rest for missions

5. Places I would live:
Austria, Czech Republic, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Israel, Taiwan, China, Mongolia, and a few others.

There. I now end the curse by selecting nobody.

Adonai Jireh

I was going to blog yesterday, but it's a good thing I didn't since the title would have been something along the lines of "Katrina and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day." I left a book at home I promised a friend, locked my keys in the Jen's car, got a BIG stain of goose juice on my favorite white blouse, found out my insurance would not cover my car windows like they had said, received a first estimate of around $1,000 for the glass, and fell asleep crying which meant I woke up with puffy, red eyes. Not to say good things didn't happen (lunch with friends, a cheering-up session with Sarah, etc.), but I was feeling overwhelmed.

It was after midnight and I couldn't sleep, so I started talking to God. Here's a snippet of our conversation:

Me: That wasn't fair, God. I was off helping people, and you allowed my windows to get smashed when you knew my insurance wouldn't cover them.
God: So, you're saying I did it on purpose?
Me: No, but you allowed it to happen.
God: So, I have to make sure no bad things ever happen to believers?
Me: Well, I know that's not true. But come on, I was giving up my time and some money already to help out some friends. You could have helped out a little.
God: Okay, so it's when people are serving me and doing "especially good" things that I can't allow bad things to happen? I think you have plenty of examples to prove otherwise.
Me: Like who?
God: David, Jeremiah, Mary and Joseph, Paul, Abraham? Do I need to keep going.
Me: ...
God: What name did you learn about me this morning?
Me: Adonai Jireh.
God: Meaning?
Me: The Lord will Provide.
God: Do you believe that?
Me: ... Um, with half my heart.
God: Uh-huh. So you know what you need to do. Hey, here's a song for you.

And I must have fallen asleep singing "His Grace is Sufficient for me" and other Bible verses (thank you, GT). This morning I called some more places. Final bill: $410, and they were able to fix it today! Adonai Jireh.