shawarma loving

I had my very first shawarma in Israel...success! It exceeded all expectations. 

A few others and I were walking through the Old City and stopped by this little restaurant 

(if you could even call it that) and smelled the meat cooking on the rotisserie outside and just couldn't pass it up. We ate it with, of course, pita bread and hummus, veggies, and this delicious spicy sauce. 

I could most definitely eat one of those everyday.

So in our first field trip today, we were able to sit on a hill overlooking 

the City of Bethlehem . We read Luke's account of Christ's birth and sang 

Far Far Away on Judea's Plain and Angels We Have Heard on High. 

What a wonderful experience to see the birthplace of Christ our Savior. It's like the scriptures and stories are coming to life. Being here and reading the gospels and words of the prophets in the actual places these events occurred really help me to more fully understand the stories and teachings I've heard all my life. I am better able to see and realize why things happened and were the way that they were.

Well let me tell you. It is a lot hotter here than I ever imagined. I haven't stopped sweating since I arrived. You think it couldn't get hotter, and then it does, times a thousand. 

I now have a greater understanding and sympathy for Laman and Lemuel. It couldn't have been easy living here in the heat of the day having to travel from city to city all while having a good attitude about it. 

I truly wonder if I would be like Nephi, all courageous and obedient, or more like his murmuring brothers...