My New Year

So my family had an almost normal New Year, after we ate dinner, we played some games and played some Just Dance 2 on the Wii, the usual. Then when it was within a minute til midnight, so our family huddled up to countdown to 2012 and we then relized we were just counting down randomly cause we didnt know what time it was exactly, so Josh ran to see what time it was exactly and it was already 2012 so we all gave each other hugs and had a huge laugh about it. I hope everyone had an amazing New Year, I know mine was simple but it still was fun. Also I hope everyone has figured out what their goals are for this brand new year!

Another sad goodbye:(

While me and my family were on our amazing vacation, we had to say goodbye to my amazing brother who is leaving to go on a mission. I am going to miss him, he has been a really great example in my life and Im sure he will make a really good missionary.

Vacation!!

After our amazing Christmas breakfast our family got packed and ready to go on vacation for  a week in Netanya! (near Tel Aviv) It was a really fun vacation and I really loved the place that we stayed at, it was one of the nicest places  I have ever stayed at. Here are a few highlight pictures of our amazing vacation, we went to Haifa, Ceserea Maritima, and lots of other places.

The building that we stayed at.

This is only one part of the amazing place that we stayed at.

The view from our balcony in the place that we stayed at

The path we always walked on to go to the beach

This sea turtle was stranded and they had to call in some people to put it back into the ocean, but if you look at the shell it has two x's and people will put x's on animals that they say are dead kind of sad



The Bahai world headquarters



Bahai shrine



The Bahai gardens are super beautiful, I'd say it definitely compares to Temple Square.

 

At the overlook in the Bahai gardens area




Under an arch that was a part of an aquaduct that dates back 2000 years in Ceserea Maritima





Walking on an ancient aquaduct that dates back 2,000 years in Ceserea Maritima



Planking at Ceserea

Merry Christmas!

 http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/0rP3ZmKL6uD2Ru78

For our Families little Christmas we had the usual, wake up early all excited and ready to go into the living room and open presents, and after we did we did all the present opening, we did something we normally don't do in the holy Land and that was eat Bacon!! This was kind of a revive from the weeks without bacon and it was an amazing breakfast. Here are some pictures of me eating bacon and what i got or Christmas:

This is one of the gifts that I got: a pure silver ring that says CTR in Hebrew and Arabic

Eating Bacon




Our gift that we got from our aunt, american food for once!

 

Bacon!

Christmas Eve

Everyone dreams about being at Bethlehem on Christmas eve or on any day and I got to experience the dream. So i started my Sabbath Christmas Eve, like every normal sabbath get ready for church, go to church, but instead of 3 hours of church we only had Sacrament Meeting. After eating, me and my family and most of the rest of the branch got on buses headed towards Bethlehem. When we arrived we all split up into families and ours headed to Manger Square, when we got there it was super packed  (and we later found out that it was the biggest crowd in like a decade or so.) We first went to the church of the Nativity and watched around for a few minutes, at one point, they had the middle of the church cleared out for one of the priests going around swinging a lamp that was filled with incense, it was very interesting.  When we got out of the church, we watched what was going on at the square, and then headed to the souvenir stores (even though it was sabbath(( oh no we sinned, we bought stuff on Sabbath!!)) But at one of the stores, one of the storekeepers took us to the upstairs of his shop and showed us how he made olive wood carvings, it was really neat. We then took a taxi to the separation wall that surrounds Bethlehem. When we got over the wall and then got to a checkpoint we waited in line, but we noticed that we were staying in almost the same spot but we had seen lots of people come in. We then realized that almost everyone that came in was cutting in line and we eventually just went near the front of the line ourselves and got past the checkpoint. We then got back on buses and headed to Shepard's field. When we arrive in Shepard's field, we walked around for a few minutes and then all the people that had come gathered together to sing Christmas Carols. While we were singing we noticed that there was one star shining over Bethlehem, the same place where the Baby Jesus was born 2011 years ago in a small little manger. This was really an amazing thing for me because i had been praying the last few daysn that I would have a special Christmas and that I could have the spirit of the Savior and I did.

          Here are the highlights of the whole day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzoUZRbOhp8&feature=share

In front of the Chruch of the Nativity

In front of the 40 foot Christmas tree in Manger Square

The huge record breaking crowd

At Shepard's Field

Ramparts Walk

Finally Christmas Break and me and my family decide to go on the Rampart's Walk. In the Ramparts walk, you get to walk on the city walls that date back 500 years, it was a really cool experience and fun to share it with my awesome family. Here are a few highlight pictures from the wonderful day.