Finding Peace in a Militarized Zone.

It is no secret that while Israel and Jordan are not involved in an open war with each other, there are still some tensions between the two countries as a result of the 1967 war. To travel from Israel to Jordan and from Jordan to Israel is a lot like traveling down a highway with guards carrying light machine guns and Jeeps with heavy machine guns guard the highway. There is a large section of the middle of the highway that seems to be a no man’s land. Somewhere in the middle of this no man’s land you pass through an area that seems to be a lot like going through airport security with scanners and employee’s questioning your reasons for travel. Along this road you cross over a little gully at the bottom of which is a small river, The Jordan River, the river where our Lord was baptized by his cousin, servant, prophet and friend, John the Baptist.



Today we traveled to this road and received permission from the military to go down into the gully. Among the trees and the water we saw the place where the local tradition says our Savior was baptized. At this holy spot we sang—reverently—sacred hymns. We sang: “Lord I Would Follow Thee,” “Come Follow Me,” and “Baptism” (the Primary Hymn by Crawford Gates: his granddaughter was with us today). The water was calm, peace and serenity were upon us, the music and words of one of my favorite songs/ scriptures came into my mind as I reflected upon my experience: “Peace Be With You” (by Leo A. Dean) “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)



We were not the only pilgrims there: There was a Catholic Monk in his traditional brown robes, a tourist group in red baseball hats, and another couple who asked me to take their picture. Many of these pilgrims went down to the waters edge and put their feet in the river, or washed their heads in the water. As I watched this I thought about their beliefs that the water was Holy, then I pondered on my beliefs about the place: It is obvious by The Spirit that is there that the place we were at is Holy. The place is holy, in my opinion, for two reasons. First- Our Savior obeyed the will of His Father there by being baptized, also giving us an example of what we need to do to be saved in his kingdom in Heaven. Second- People come to this place to think about our Lords life, and in doing so He sanctifies the place as he sanctifies the people who worship him. While I was at the traditional site of Bethabara, after I took the picture for the above mentioned tourists, I felt a feeling of unity and communion with them. Another scripture came to mind “not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”



In addition to singing we were instructed in the history of the area by our Muslim tour guide, Mohamed, and we were instructed from the Bible by our Old Testament professor, Brother Harper. The other class (Brother Huntsman’s class) had a testimony meeting, we arrived right at the end of their meeting to join them in their closing song and prayer; many of the students were crying for joy. Today is truly a day to be remembered.



On a less spiritual note: This past week has been amaizing! We spent much of the week in Jordan. We visited ancient roman cities, seeing colonnaded roads and pagen temples. We sang in ancient theaters and took pictures at ancient gates. We watched a local performance teaching us about Roman Soldering techniques—they had a group of men dressed in roman armor with roman weapons, following ancient roman orders for marching, placement of shields and spears. They also held a chariot race, and a choreographed gladiator fight. (to be honest I was really worried I was going to waste my time and money by attending the show, it was not a waste.)—We went to see king Hussein’s car collection, which included: several Ferrari’s, a Bugatti, about a dozen Rolls Royces, the whole gamut of Mercedes and dozens of other luxury cars, sports cars, and motor cycles. We also visited Jabbok (the place where Jacob wrested a heavenly being and his name was changed to Israel). I was able to go on Facebook for the first time since I left home (we are not allowed to use Facebook while we are in our Jerusalem Center) And we visited Petra.



Petra was AMAIZING! (In case you don’t know what Petra is, please follow this link—If nothing else at least look at the pictures) The coolest part of Petra was walking down a long narrow canyon (very reminiscent of the canyons of southern Utah) and suddenly walking in on The Treasury. The Treasury is a huge carving in a sand stone cliff face that has been featured in a variety of films, including “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade,” and “Transformers 2.” The pictures and the movie do not do this justice: the Treasury is over 9 stories high ( it’s over 131 feet high. For my friends that know BYU well, that means this carved building is only 30 feet shorter than the Spencer W. Kimball Tower). I was wearing my adventure hat while we were there and a number of the locals would call out to me “Indiana Jones! Come, come buy a ___.” This blank could be filled by any number of things, mostly small trinkets, but it also included a camel ride and a carriage ride. Regrettably the camel ride I did take was only a few feet (for a picture)… But I did ride out of Petra on a horse! It was super cool, and I did feel like Indiana Jones. I do recommend taking the long hike up the mountain to see El Dier “The Monastery.”



Thanks for reading and I’ll keep you posted.



Your friend,

Jared

Not a weak week.

 And it came to pass that in the last seven days I Jared successfully: passed my last midterm, went snorkeling at a coral reef in the Gulf of Aqaba (the north east appendage the Red Sea with coastlines along Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia), waded through thigh high water in Hezekiah’s Tunnel and walked through an ancient sewage tunnel (that tunnel was dry, thankfully), had my first Sweet Date Ice-cream (not that I haven’t had ice-cream durring a sweet date), and taught primary to two amazing Valliant Boys. What a fantastic week!

With Love,

Jared

A special day, Gethsemane.

A Special day, Gethsemane.

Today was a special day, a holiday in fact. Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays. Another name for Yom Kippur is “The Day of Atonement.” Not only is today the day celebrated as a day to repent and put your sins behind you, but today is also Shabbat, or the Sabbath-this makes it a special Yom Kippur.

 In Israel we observe the Sabbath on Saturday just like the Jews do: So we had sacrament meeting as usual, then we had a special meeting were we watched the Saturday afternoon session of general conference. We did not watch all of conference last week because of the time difference and other reasons. So my day today consisted of both having the sacrament and then watching General conference: it was to say the least a spiritual feast. But there is more…

After conference I grabbed a few friends and we decided that we wanted to go to The Garden of Gethsemane, the place where our Savior suffered for my sins. I brought my journal with me and I will share with you an edited version of my Journal entry:

8 Oct. 2011  Gethsemane

Today I write from a special place. Today I write from The Garden of Gethsemane. As I sit here, in The Garden where our Lord suffered for my sins, I can’t help but wonder what is was like… What it was like to be one of the ancient Apostles to see this greatest of all sacrifices followed by the coming of the guards. What it was like to be Melvin J. Ballard and see the atonement taking place in a vision. What it was like to be the Angle sent to comfort our Lord in his greatest hour of need, and the greatest hour of need for all mankind. I struggle to wonder what it was like for our Lord to suffer here, in THIS spot, for Jared Maxfield. I wonder what his seasons were for doing such a great thing for me.

  I can hear church bells ringing across the city, their echoing cry’s remind me of the countless s pilgrims who have come here before me, who also loved The Lord, and wanted to get to know him better. We are all strangers and pilgrims HERE, but blessed to be on the earth. While we are pilgrims we are not comfortless. I think of my companions and the strength and faith they give me. I am here with Cassie, Nick, Izak, Melisa and Whitney. They are examples to me of faith and service. They are also examples to me of diligence and humility and a spirit of prayer.

  This garden is just east of “the Temple Mount” near the ancient city of David, within the greater modern city of Jerusalem. I wonder if the residents of this city realize the great blessing they have, to have such a sacred place in their own yard. At the same time this humbles me to think if I realize the great blessing it has been to me to have the gospel in my own room my whole life. I have no memory of a time when I didn’t own a copy of The Book of Mormon, which testifies so strongly of Christ and his Atonement. I do not remember a time when my Mother and Father didn’t pray for, and with, me. I am grateful to know that I didn’t need to come to this place to know that Jesus is The Christ my Redeemer and Savior, that I knew it (and know it) before I came here. I am grateful to be here, to worship him, and I will always remember my visits to gethsemane, but I will remember more and be equally grateful for the many days and nights at home, in my own room or living room when The Holy Spirit testified to me that Jesus IS the Christ, my redeemer, Savior, and Friend. I am grateful for my testimony of His love and the love of The Father for me, and the abiding witness of The Holy Ghost. I am grateful that my parents raised me to believe and My God verified their teachings to me. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. - Jared J. Maxfield 

As you can tell it has been quite a Spirit filled day, and I expect that it will only get better because I am going to watch another session of General conference in just a few minutes.

All the best to you and yours.

 Adieu from Jerusalem.

Scriptural Redaction

I am taking a really great Old Testament class right now. In this class we have been learning about something called Scriptural Redaction. The concept is pretty simple: Alma writes a whole lot of scriptures, several hundred years later Mormon comes along and sums them up with some quotes from the original text and a little commentary. I just finished a writing assignment were I was supposed to redact 2 chapters from the Old Testament : Exodus 19 and 24. I was assigned to redact these chapters into only 2 paragraphs. This assignment was to get us to really think about how The Old Testament doctrines apply today, the redaction process and to realize the miracles of the scriptures. I really enjoyed the assignment so I decided to share it with you.

Modern Redaction of Ancient Scriptures: Exodus 19 and 24

And it came to pass that in the days of Moses a commandment came from God for the tribes of Israel to cleanse themselves from sin, and to purify themselves from iniquity, through priesthood ordinances whereby they were able to make and keep sacred personal covenants with God. This commandment came from God unto the tribes of Israel that the people might prepare themselves to enter into His Holy presence and see Him as He is, while they still dwelt in the wilderness.

And in those days Moses, an authorized servant of God, went forth declaring repentance unto the people and performing ordinances of salvation among the people; and seventy and two of them came upon Mount Sinai, prepared by obedience to these sacred ordinances and covenants, and they saw the God of Israel, even in his glory did they see Him. And so it is even unto this day that any member of the Lords kingdom upon the earth can see God in His Glory, even while they dwell in the flesh, if they are first prepared by obedience to all of the Laws and Ordinances of Christ's gospel, walking humbly before God.

The Garden Tomb, and Golgatha

Today we went on a tour of The Garden Tomb and Golgotha. It was very impressive. There were a few things that impressed me more than anything else: Our tour guides (employee's at The Garden Tomb) made it perfectly clear that 'We do not worship the rocks, we worship The God of the whole world. However, the Lord has said that when his children are not able to bear witness of Him, even the rocks of the earth shall bear witness of Him... We do not worship the tomb because his body once lay there; we worship The God who visits this garden every day through his Holy Spirit.' These guides bore a powerful witness of Jesus Christ as The Living God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and the testimonies of these guides were verified by The Holy Ghost.

Some things I didn't realize before coming was how close the tomb was to Skull Hill or Golgatha. The tomb is literally only a few hundred yards from The Hill. Another thing I didn't realize was the great risk that Joseph of Arimathea took upon himself when he asked for permission to burry our Lord: by asking permission to take Christ's body Joseph risked his position in politics (He was a member of The Sanhedrin which is kind of like saying he was a member of the legislature), He risked his position in business, He risked losing all that he had to give a proper burial for Jesus of Nazareth. Our guide pointed out that Joseph would not have done these things just because Jesus was a good man, but he likely did these things because he knew that Jesus was more than just man, but the God of this whole earth.

A realization of time

I began this blog with the intent to share my full with respects to my journey to and in The Holy Land; However, I have realized that I will not likely make daily entries so I will sum many things up and go further into detail on other matters. I hope you will forgive me for my brevity on certain matters. Especially if you have been here and seen the things I have seen and the things I will see, because you know how amazing this experience really is. In fact many of the details I will leave out were more spectacular than I ever could have imagined. To assist in this process of "summing things up" I will include exerps from an email I sent to one of my sisters as a result of her curiosities:

"When we arrived in Israel on Friday. We flew into the Tel Aviv Airport. My friend (using your camera) took some really cool pictures of Jumbo Jets with The Star of David on them. When we arrived in Jerusalem I walked through the BYU Jerusalem Center, on Mount Scopus, to the west side or the building and looked out over Jerusalem. I can see quite clearly the Old City Walls and The Dome of the Rock.

   "On The Sabbath (Saturday) we had church. Before church we had ward choir practice in our chapel followed almost immediately by sacrament meeting where we performed. After church we went on a tour through much of The Old City. I was very excited about going through the Arab market (It was really kind of crazy: tons of people in a very tight space. Possibly the coolest thing about our tour was we were stopped by several merchants who all said basically the same thing "It's the Mormons! You have to be blessed of God to be a Mormon." I was very touched because they recognized who we were without us even saying anything—this is all the more impressive because millions of people visit Jerusalem every year as tourists, but we stand out among them all as being different in a good way; a way were the people would say "you have to be blessed of God."

"We entered The Old City through Damascus Gate. Once on the other side of the gate we were in Old Jerusalem. We left old Jerusalem through another gate and entered West Jerusalem. The difference between East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem is greater than the difference between the posh neighborhoods of Sandy and the poorest neighborhoods of Rose Park. Not that the people are poor, it's just a completely different environment. The one environment in East Jerusalem is very loud, enclosed, dirty, and busy: The environment in West Jerusalem is very quiet, open, and modern.

"In the evening on Sunday we had what they called "a musical discovery." This wasn't exactly a talent show, or an audition, but it was kind of a mixture of both. What the musical directors of BYU Jerusalem said about it was "we are trying to get a feel for the musical talents of your group so we can plan ensembles, and other activities were we can utilize your talents." It was AMAIZING many of my class mates are so talented and The Spirit was so strong during our evening of music, that I was completely taken back. I performed part of a song I've been writing called "Do you know the way to Jerusalem." I hope to complete it while I am here. They did ask me to write a choir peace to be performed before church as the prelude music. "

The past few days have been absolutely amazing. In the last two weeks I have seen: The Garden Tomb; Golgotha; The Church of The Holy Sepulcher; the ruins of the biblical city of Jericho (In case you are wondering, the walls really did come tumbling down, and archaeologists have found them.) a tree memorializing one of our Saviors miracles-- when he healed the blind man on the way to Jericho; a Bar Mitzvah; The Western Wall; The Dome of The Rock; the ruins of Herrod the Great's Winter Palace; The St. George monastery; Bedouins offering camel, donkey, and horse rides to tourists in the Judean wilderness, a herd of camels running through the Waddie Qelt .

I also had a birthday and was sung "Happy Birthday" followed by a Hebrew tradition where a couple of guy's lifted me up on a chair and quickly hoisted me up and down for each year I have been alive. (For a man of my stature this was quite a feat for these men to accomplish.) For my Birthday, besides doing homework and going to class discussions, I went shopping in "The Old City" ('The Old City' means the part of Jerusalem contained inside some ancient city walls.) and purchased a leather backpack from a shop keeper that is trusted by both the students and administration of BYU Jerusalem. I went shopping with several of my lady friends and they went cloths and jewelry shopping. I enjoyed shopping with these women because: They are just amaizing people; and the womens clothing in this part of the world is absolutly amaizing--the clothes are modest, fashonable, decorative, and all around fun.

In the beginning there was a feeling, a feeling that compelled me to travel thousands of miles

My journey to The Holy Land began last winter when I had an important feeling: this feeling was telling me that it was vital for me to travel to The Holy Land. I have had feelings like this before and I have learned never to dismiss them. After a long process of applications, essays and interviews, I was finally accepted into the BYU Jerusalem study abroad program--centered in Jerusalem, Israel.

I made arrangements with my employer to take the necessary 4 months off from work to go to Israel, saved my pennies, and took a small loan to cover the rest. I also had to follow an extensive shopping list to acquire new cloths, and other travel equipment, that are suitable for both the environment and the culture.

On Tuesday August 30th we set off to Israel from Salt Lake International Airport on 2 planes: One headed via New York, NY, and the other via Phenix AZ. I was on the latter of the two flights. Much to our surprise we ended up spending an extended stay in Phenix due to a matinance issue on our conecting flight. This turned out to be a great oprotunity because several of us were able to attent the Mesa, AZ Temple.