The Life of Letty

Sister Wright

2012-02-15T09:09:00.002-08:00

So one of my best friends/roommate, Lexi Wright, is goinginto the MTC today! She is serving in Rancauga, Chile (where David Archuleta isgoing!). I am so excited for her but so sad that she is leaving me and I won'tsee her for a year and a half! Too bad I posted this too late so she won't be able to see it:(

I have known Lexi for over 2 years, she was one of my roommatesmy first semester at BYUI and has been my roommate since. It's only been about2 years but I feel like I've known her forever. She has been a huge part in mylife and has been there for me in almost every possible situation. Whenever I was with Lexi we were always joking and laughing and I loved everymoment with her! She was basically a sister to me and we deemed each other asthe best roommates for each other. We were always on the same schedule, doinghomework at the same time, going to bed super late, etc. This last semester we were putdownstairs because we’re too loud for upstairs where everyone sleeps. That sumsus up, loud and obnoxious, but tons of fun, right? Anyways I will miss Lexivery much and I know she is going to be such a great missionary and bless thelives of all the people in Chile! I love you Lexi!

My sweet Arabian princess.

Matching nighties!

Best of luck Sister Wright!! You're going to be an awesome missionary!

Catch up!

2012-02-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

Ok I am so behind so bear with me...

Shealeigh and I in Bet Shemesh

Boone and Abe acting out David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah... Can you guess who is who?

Love these girls. They be ma ladies. In Mareshah

Entrance into one of the caves, which had burial tombs.

Awkward family photo in one of the tombs. I look like a balding man.

Looking down in the cistern.

For our field trip like 2 weeks ago we went to Shephelah! The first place we went to was Bet Shemesh and the Sorek Valley, which was the setting for a lot of the stories about Samson in the book of Judges. After that we headed over to Azekah, which is the place associated with the story David and Goliath. Pretty cool, huh? It's weird to think that I have been to some of the places where the stories from the Bible that you have heard your whole life have taken place. It never seems real and it doesn't ever really hit me. We then went to Mareshah where there was just a bunch of cool caves and what not. We were able to wander around there for a while and that was pretty fun. The thing about Jerusalem is that not only is it the place where Jesus walked and where a lot of the Bible stories take place but It's a place of so much history for just other things. I'm always thinking to myself that that can't be that old because I'm so used to living in the US where the oldest thing there is from the 1700s. But here things go back to BCE and all that crazy stuff. Then I have to remind myself I'm not in the US and I actually am in a place where everything can actually be that old. Crazy stuff!

A couple of Wednesdays ago we had our Arab night! Every dressed up and we were able to see men recite the call to prayer live and to understand the meaning of the prayers more. It was really interesting! I have gained so much respect for all the religions here and almost envy their devotion, helps me strive to be better. We then ate dinner, which was a lot of traditional food and it was so good! I ate SO much, which was a bad idea because after they taught us some dances and we all got to dance. It was so much fun and we all got pretty wild and crazy while dancing. I was pretty hot and wearing a head wrap didn't really makes things much better.

Me and Danielle were twins! And we didn't even plan it.

Just workin my Arabian swag.

Just loving life!

I have so much more to blog about but this is just a little update for now! Enjoy. Also, I follow a lot of people's blogs that are here with me and they, of course, are way better at blogging than me so you can always look at theirs if you want since I am so bad at blogging! And my teacher Brother Huntsman's blog is very informative so that's a good one to check out as well!

"We're going to the zoo zoo zoo.."

2012-02-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

"... How about you you you? You can come too too too, we're going to the zoo zoo zoo." I bet you're wondering where I got my title from. Well I got it from this song that my parents have from a childrens CD for my niece and nephews. It's a good one, I constantly had it stuck in my head on Sunday cause some of us were fortunate enough to go to the Zoo! I love the zoo so much! It is so fun looking at all the animals and enjoying the environment. I bet you're wondering why I'm doing a blog post on only the zoo and not the other cool things that I have done recently. Well it's because the pictures from the other places aren't uploading so I'm saving them for later! But don't worry I've been writing down the details to say. After the Zoo we went to the Shouk, which is like a huge farmers market. It is a pretty cool place. So Sunday was a great day! Also today, I'll give a little sneak peek of what we did, we went to the City of David and went through Hezekiah's Tunnel. It was so cool! I loved it. Pictures and more info to come.

Me, Sarah Jane, and Boone at the beginning of our journey!

Bears can be pretty mean..

For some reason and type of monkey species makes me laugh. This is a baboon though, obviously.

Just chattin on our cell phones. I've had a lot of business calls I've had to take here. Crazy life I have.

Me reppin my high school mascot with the Zebras (you can barely see them)!

Making fish faces at the "wet side story."

Bryson and I being prairie dogs.

Wesley and I hand sanitizing and loving every second of it. Very important.

Interesting food at the Shouk. A lot of the stuff is sketchy looking to me.

Me with the flamingos. Don't know why my hand is so flexed..

Baby pineapple. Unusual for here cause all the fruits and vegetables are considerably larger than the ones in America.

Hoodlums.

Oh and P.s. today is my b-day. 21 BABY!! So if you love me you could like write me an email or something..? But I might be a little too tipsy to do anything since I'm now legal. Tipsy on life, that is.

Jordan!

2012-01-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where some believe Christ was crucified and buried.

Me touching the middle of the world! or universe?...

Me with my shekels and dinars( jordanean money). I'm a rich girl.

Head stand in Machaerus!

Just enjoying some tea at a rest stop in Jordan. Actually those cups are ash trays, we had no tea. EVERYONE smokes here.

The Siq in Petra!

PETRA

Finding our inner selves.

Cool view of the Monastery.

Strikin' a pose.

Funny lookin dog on a horse. So funny.

Me during my buckwild horse ride.

At a Muslim Mosque. Us girls had to cover our heads and wear these black robe things. We looked like dementors from Harry Potter.

Band pic in Amman.

In Jerash!

Just performing some Shakespeare in Jerash. We're really famous now.

The River of Jordan. Crazy to think that this is the river the Christ was baptized. What a special place. You'd think the water would be a little cleaner though.

This last week we went to Jordan for 4 days! Oh my gosh it was so much fun! Some of the girls and I were joking around and acting like we were going on some crazy party trip so we kept saying MARDI GRAS 2012! So that's what we considered our trip. haha Turkey will be Spring Break and Galilee will be Senior Trip. Anyways we left early Monday morning to go to Jordan. Jordan really isn't that far from Jerusalem but since it's a different country it took a while to go through the border and stuff like that. The first day we stopped at a bunch of different sites, one of them being Machaerus, where John the Baptist was beheaded. That night we stayed at a hotel and had live cultural music and got to dance with the workers! It was so much fun!! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera then so I need to get those pictures from everyone else.

On Tuesday we went to PETRA! That was so interesting and fun! We hiked up to the monastery and dang, that was quite the hike. I was seriously sweating and it was really hot. We took tons of pictures then ate lunch. FYI every meal we had this whole trip was buffet style. I seriously are TONS and am almost positive I gained like 5 pounds. But hey, YOLO (you only live once, another popular phrase said among us here). Leaving Petra we got to ride some horses back to our bus, that was pretty fun. Although my horse didn't go as fast as I wanted it to go and the guy leading me didn't really understand me when I asked him if he could make it go faster. Sometimes it is just so hard to communicate here. I don't talk THAT different right? I'd say Arabic and English are pretty similar... Ok fine I'll admit it, they are totally different. Anyways Petra was amazing. I loved it.

Wednesday we went to many different places. Amman, Jabbok river (where Jacob wrestled with an angel), and Jerash. All these places are pretty amazing and have so much history behind them. It's so crazy that I get to go to all these places! It is surreal.

Thursday we went to a cool Roman Theater. It was pretty cool cause our teacher Brother Huntsman has a great voice so he sang to us in the theater and one of our Arab guides sang for us too. Then us girls planned a dance and performed it. So much fun! In brother huntsman's blog he should be posting those videos soon. After that we drove and went to the River of Jordan where Jesus was baptized. That was a very special place. We sang some hymns and that truly brings in the spirit so much. One thing I love so much here is that on the field trips we'll sing hymns at a lot of the sites; songs that have meaning to the site. It really gives you a better understanding and appreciation for the places.

Days Go By

2012-01-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

Me with an overlook of the city. It was windy, obviously.

Sorry it's been so long! So much is going on and it's a little stressful trying to recap everything so bear with me please. It is very scattered, I'm having a tough time with blogger right now so I apologize in advance. My teacher has a blog that is explaining the places more if you want to check it out www.huntsmansintheholyland.blogspot.com

Oh the things I have to catch up on.


Ok there are so many stray cats here! Its insane. In Ecuador there were always stray dogs and here it is cats. I always pet them but I had a dream the other night I pet a cat with rabies so I think I might be done with that now.

Shaban letting us try on some of the traditional clothes. He loves us Mormons.

The Western Wall. We went there Friday night for their bringing in the sabbath and it was so cool. It was insanely crowded and everyone was singing, dancing and praising. It was such a happy feeling.

I had my first falafel the other day and oh man, it was pretty good! I kinda thought I wouldn't really like it for some reason but it is really good! So if you ever have the chance to try it I would definitely recommend it.

Yesterday some of us went to the Dome of the Rock. It is a beautiful building with a lot of great detail. Unfortunately we weren't able to go into the actual building because we weren't Muslim, I felt a little left out.

Today we went to Jericho. They told us to have lower expectations for it because It can tend to be a bit of a let down but I actually found it really interesting! We went to the tel of Jericho, which is cities built on top of each other after one is ruined. You'd have to see a picture to understand more but they dug down the tell and found ancient cities from times of the Bible and supposedly even some before the Bible. It was super cool. Crazy to think that that stuff is still actually around. We also saw Herod's winter palace.

Cute little boy with his baby goat.

In Herod's Winter Palace.

Just watering the pond.

At the tel-Jericho. So much love.

Just walking in the spring in Jericho, the main source of water for the jerichoans(sp?)

Me (and my hymn book) in front of the Wadi Kelt. This is in the Judean Wilderness where Jesus fasted 40 days.

My new obsession: Fanny Packs. I know I made fun of them when I was younger and recently I'm sure, but I seriously love them now. Whoever invented them is a genius. I'm sure all the locals here can identify me as a tourist miles away with it but I don't even care. It's the most convenient thing ever. I can now understand why people wear them and will show respect for them rather than laugh at them like I used to. So I'd just like to thank my mother for letting me borrow hers while I'm here.

Totally rockin the fan pack.


I swear I have other clothes. It looks like I'm wearing the same outfit as in the picture before but I'm wearing a different shirt. Don't judge.

So I joined a basketball league at the JC! I'm so athletic. NOT. My poor team, I suck at basketball but it was really fun to play. This was before with our game faces. Joe (one of the teacher's son) was our coach.

Team huddle before. I have some post game pictures but I refrained from putting them up considering I was so red and sweaty from not even playing good. But in my defense I was told I played better the second half after being mentored by my good friend Boone.

The other day Me, Boone, and Shealeigh went to Zedekiah's cave. It was really cool!

Just doing some yoga at Avdat.

Drinking the tea at the Beduin Women's Complex.

All bundled up!

Pictures!

2012-01-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

A model of Old Jerusalem at the museum. Pretty cool to see it how it used to be and compare it to how it is now.

Is there something in our teeth?

Some cool mirror thing at the museum

Colgate toothpaste with Hebrew and Arabic writing!

Looking pregnant with our neck pouches under our shirts.

Just some of us who went out to the Museum on Sunday. We went to Aladdin's money exchange before. So I've met an Aladdin for those that were wondering if I would ;)

Beautiful Orson Hyde Garden with an overlook of the city.

My roommates!

On our way to the Orson Hyde Garden there were a bunch of boys outside the Center that wanted a picture with us. They were pretty obsessed with getting their picture taken, I have like 5.

Ok so I have a lot more pictures that I need to upload onto my computer from this last week but these are the only ones that are on my computer now. Things have been going great here! I seriously love all the people here and It's awesome going through the city. It has rained 2 days this past week which wasn't too exciting but it's fun to just hang out with everyone and do fun things!

Busy Busy Busy

2012-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Ok it just took me a while to figure out how to post. haha Sometimes my computer will be in Hebrew and I can't figure out how to fix it. So that was confusing.

Anyways so we had out first field trip this last Monday! It was a lot of fun but was really windy and cold so we were definitely ready for it to be done. We went to many different sites and overlooks of the city. It is quite the city, there is so much to look at. I am still confused as to what is what in some places but figure I have about 3 more months to figure it all out.

What I really liked about our field trip is that we would sing hymns at many of the different sites that we went to. We went to an place that overlooked Bethlehem and sang Christmas songs, it was very special. We actually get to go to Bethlehem in March so I'm excited for that!

We do so much walking here! I feel like I should be skinnier by the time I get home and have super toned legs but I doubt that will be the case considering I eat so much food here. Today I had 3 pieces of chocolate cake... don't know what overcame me but it's definitely something I hope doesn't happen again. The food is pretty good, obviously.

The people here are so awesome and I'm having even more fun the more I get to know everyone. I think I have almost everyone's name's down so that's nice. My sleeping schedule is still way off and I have been waking up at least and hour and a half before my alarm most mornings. It is a little frustrating. Maybe it's because I left my teddy bear Stanley (whom I received from a special friend) at home. His presence is missed at night.

So the center issues us a cell phone for security reasons as we go out to the city. I have already had 2 missed calls from random numbers and some random man called me yesterday. I'm so popular here.

Anyways I'm just rambling. I should definitely be doing my homework right now. School is pretty hard here! Just a lot of reading but it is very interesting stuff so it's not too bad. Sometimes I just wish that school was never an issue.. but that's just me being unrealistic.

Love you all and hope things back home are going well! I love getting emails so if you want to email me my address is lettywursten@gmail.com. Good night (Jerusalem time)!

Sabbath

2012-01-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

So I swear soon enough I'm going to try and post pictures soon. I just have to go to the Hebrew University, which is not too far from here, to do that.

Things have been going great! Yesterday (Saturday) we had Sabbath. They do it on Saturday here because that is when everyone else has Sabbath so it just works out better that way. Church was great though. It was fast sabbath and a lot of people bore their testimonies and they were very powerful. There are not very many members here and the students make up like half of it. I think it is pretty cool that in a place where there is a very low amount of Christians, some of the locals are LDS. It is a testimony to me that the church is true. No matter where you go you can always find the church, although in some places it may be small.

I'm in the choir. Yes, I'm trying to expand my musical abilities. It's cool though because they have the choir sing five minutes before church starts so it's a great way to invite the spirit! Music can provide such a strong spirit, it's great.

So after church we went to the Orson Hyde Garden. It is a beautiful garden! We went and wrote in our journals and read our Scriptures. It's a great place to ponder and feel the spirit. I guess close by the Orson Hyde Garden is the Garden of Gethsemane. Well, where the church believes that it may be. It was so special to think that I was close to the place where Jesus Christ felt our pain and prayed to Heavenly Father saying, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." I can't even imagine what the pain and sorrow he must have felt at that moment but I am so grateful that he went through that for me. His atonement has blessed my life and continues to bless it. Knowing that I was near the area where that all happened was a very humbling and special experience. It's not everyday that you can be in the place where Jesus walked and did the great things that he did. I've learned about the Atonement all my life and it just makes the whole thing seem more real and special after visiting this place. This is the city where it actually happened! That is truly amazing. I am so grateful to be here and learn more and strengthen my testimony in Jesus Christ.

Today is Sunday, which is our Saturday. It throws me off though cause I keep thinking that it is Monday. So we have all day to do whatever we want! I'm planning on going to a museum we have to go to for one of our classes with some people so that should be fun! There is so much to do here so I'm glad I have the 4 months to get it all done!

Oh! So if you want to write me a letter, which I know you all do, my address is:

BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies
Letty Wursten
P.O. Box 19604
Jerusalem, 91196
Israel

FYI: Packages are really expensive so I would advise not to do it. Even though you are all itching to send me a package!

Home

2012-01-05T03:09:00.000-08:00

I titled this post home cause I'm in my new home for the next four months! The flights went well and pretty smoothly. I read the Hunger Games (and finished it!) the whole first plane ride, which was 5 hours. My eyes were pretty blurry for a while after that. After waiting in the JFK airport for a while we got onto our 12 hour flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. The flight went pretty well and they provided food so that was nice. I guess I slept a lot of the plane ride cause I woke up drooling a couple of times. Also, the girls I were sitting by told me I slept most of it. Hopefully I wasn't snoring or anything.

We got here yesterday and have been so busy since. A lot of orientations and touring of the Jerusalem Center and today we toured the actual city! It was so cool. We went to a lot of different places I can't even remember all the names right now. The city is so different here. It actually reminds me a lot of Ecuador. The buildings are flat and the driving is crazy! Also, the markets are really crowded and lively. I almost got ran over by carts full of fruit a couple of times. They don't mess around. We went to the place that most believe where Christ was crucified and resurrected. It was pretty cool and its not a positive that that is where it happened but it still is very interesting. We didn't get to hang around there very long cause we were just doing a short tour and we have the whole 4 months to go to all those places on our free time. They didn't even let us bring cameras cause it would slow down the tour. I'm excited to roam around a little more and get to know the city even better.

Today we have another orientation and then I already have a lot of homework to do! We are very busy here. I like my teachers a lot though. I have Eric Huntsmen as my Old Testament teacher and he seems like he'll be a great teacher with a lot of enthusiasm!

So this whole thing hasn't really seemed completely real to me even after getting here. I just felt like I was in a big building with a lot of other students. After this morning it is finally real to me. I went to bed at like 9:30 or 10 last night (I was exhausted!) and woke up at 4:15 this morning and was very awake. So as I was lying in bed this man on a loud speaker over the whole city starts talking in a different language( Hebrew or Arabic, I don't know). The Muslims have prayer 5 times throughout the whole day and it goes over the whole city. The prayer lasted between 5-10 minutes, so you're sitting there listening to this man prayer at like 4:30 in the morning. It was very interesting to me though. I admire the Muslims, I think praying 5 times a day is a great way to always remember the things that you believe and strive to always keep it in your daily life. Just the daily things we go through can distract us from the things that we believe and strive for. If we prayed more throughout the day we'd always have the spirit of Christ with us because we'd always be inviting that spirit to be with us and always reminded of it as we pray. I think that is so awesome. They are an example to me of dedication and love for what they believe. Anyways I thought that was pretty cool. Oh, and I never fell back asleep. Jet lag sucks.

I should probably start some of my homework now but It's been tons of fun and I've met a lot of cool people so far! I can tell this is going to be a really fun experience but also a great learning experience as well. Love you all!

Goodbyes

2012-01-02T21:28:00.001-08:00

Ok so this might be my last post for a couple weeks, I'm not sure how everything will be once I get to "The Holy Land." Today was orientation and it was very informative. It started to make the whole thing seem real. I don't really know how to react to everything, I'm so excited!! Tomorrow will be all day of flying.

So luckily I was able to see some of my good friends before I left. Jessica, Mckenzie, and her sister Kelby. Jessica lives in Salt Lake and Mckenzie is doing an internship in Salt Lake this winter so we met up for frozen yogurt, which ended up being a difficult task for me considering I got lost on the way, and the way back. But it was great to see them! I also got to talk to one of my best friends Lexi on the phone for a while until my phone died on her. That was my last time talking to her for a long time since she is leaving on her mission Feb. 15! Makes me really sad to think about that, but I am so excited for her!!

I was also hoping to meet up with my good friend Ben since he is in Utah as well, but that didn't work out:( I'm grateful for all the great family and friends that I do have who love and support me and I will miss them all so much! It is hard saying goodbye to those that you love. Tomorrow will be sad saying bye to my parents.

Next time I post I'll be in JERUSALEM!!! :)

Not the best one of me, but it has us all in it. Jess was a little hungry as you can tell..

Love them!!

Quality Parent Time

2012-01-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

So me and my parents left this morning to drive to Salt Lake. Last night was New Years Eve so I didn't get home till 4 this morning, which right when I got home we packed the car up and left. I had had no sleep at all so I slept over half the drive which was pretty nice letting my parents chauffeur me. They love doing that stuff for me since I'm their favorite child.

Anyways so we got to hang around Salt Lake a little today. We drove around and then stopped at Temple Square. I love Temple Square, it is such a beautiful place and has a great spirit about it.

So I guess when I was younger I got in "trouble" at the tabernacle so my mom tried to take me outside to spank me (the things I went through as a child) so I grabbed hold of one of these pillars and wouldn't let go. I don't remember that and its hard to believe considering I was an angel child and still am. Anyways, this is a reenactment.

Me and my parents in the Tabernacle.

Mom and Dad looking good in front of the Salt Lake Temple, which they were married in!

Me and my Mom. I always thought I had a small head but not anymore.. my head is like two times her size! She also hurt her rotator cuff right before this picture so she is doing a good job hiding her pain.

Me in front of a display of Old Jerusalem. Thought this was appropriate considering I will actually be there soon! AHH!!

Me on a random bull.

...I had a difficult time getting up.
Me, again, in front of the state capital!

It's been nice just hanging out with my parents before I leave them for almost 4 months!

Tomorrow is orientation and then I fly out the next day! So excited!

First Post

2011-12-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Ok so I have always been kinda opposed to having a blog for just me. It makes me feel weird. So picking a title was really hard for me. Discussing with my sister possible names we came up with some good ones such as "The Confessions of a Blogaholic," "More Issues Than Time Magazine," "I got 99 Problems But a Blog Ain't One of Them," "The Secret Life of Letty Wursten," "My So-called Blog," and many more. We were laughing pretty hard.

Anyways so most of you may know I am going to Jerusalem this upcoming winter, which is less than a week now. I'm starting to freak out a little. I am more nervous right now than anything and packing sucks. From what I think I can only take one piece of luggage and its really hard to narrow down clothes. Only one piece of luggage for 3 1/2 months. Geez.

So aside from me complaining about packing and being nervous I am really excited! I can't wait to experience the culture and stories in Jerusalem. I know it will be an experience that I will forever cherish. Seeing the places in the Bible and experiencing the places that Christ walked will be truly amazing.

I will try my best to keep up this blog with many posts and pictures but we'll see how I do. Hope you enjoy! :)