What happens now??

Since the passing of our beloved President Hinckley, many people have been asking myself and friends of mine, 'what happens now?' in regards to succession. I would like to shine some light on this for anyone wanting to know.

Here is an offical church news release reguarding the process:

The highest-ranking governing body in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the First Presidency, consisting of the president and his two counselors, or advisers. This three-man body supervises the work of the entire Church in all matters of policy, organization and administration.

The second-highest presiding body in Church government is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They serve under the direction of the First Presidency and have heavy administrative responsibilities to oversee the orderly progress and development of the Church throughout the world. The First Presidency and Twelve Apostles are regarded by Latter-day Saints as prophets who receive divine revelation and inspiration to guide the Church.

The appointment of a new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints happens in an orderly way that — remarkably in today’s world — avoids any trace of internal lobbying for position or rank. Viewed by members as a divinely revealed process, it is devoid of electioneering whether behind the scenes or in public.

Moreover, it is not only the structure of Church organization that governs this process. There is also a deeply ingrained tradition in the Church that personal aspiration for leadership at any level is inappropriate. Instead, the emphasis is on personal worthiness and a humble willingness to serve when invited.

When the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passes away, the following events take place:

1. The First Presidency is automatically dissolved.

2. The two counselors in the First Presidency revert to their places of seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Seniority is determined by the date on which a person was ordained to the Twelve, not by age.

3. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, now numbering 14 and headed by the senior apostle, assumes Church leadership.

4. The senior apostle presides at a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve to consider two alternative propositions:
i. Should the First Presidency be reorganized at this time?
ii. Should the Church continue to function with the Quorum of the Twelve presiding?

5. After discussion, a formal motion is made and accepted by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

6. If a motion to reorganize the First Presidency is passed, the Quorum of the Twelve unanimously selects the new president of the Church. The new president chooses two counselors from among the Quorum of the Twelve and the three of them become the new First Presidency. Throughout the history of the Church, the longest-serving apostle has always become the president of the Church when the First Presidency has been reorganized.

7. Following the reorganization of the First Presidency, the apostle who has served the second longest is sustained as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve. The only exception is when the second-longest-serving apostle has also been called into the First Presidency as a counselor, in which case the third-longest-serving apostle becomes acting president of the Twelve.

8. The president of the Quorum of the Twelve, along with the rest of the apostles, sets apart the new president of the Church through a formal laying on of hands.

Since the Church was formally organized on 6 April 1830, there have been 15 presidents, including President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Gaza

Here is another solid article I highly recommend if you are interested in what is going on not far to the north of us. (far enough it doesn't effect cairo so don't worry too much about us)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/01/27/AR2008012702062.html?hpid=moreheadlines

President Goron B. Hinckley

The President of our Church died yesterday at 97. He greatly influenced my life and helped me understand important teachings that has changed my life. He did so many wonderful things throughout his life.

NY Times wrote a wonderful article about him

http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

the church website has one as well

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/

He was truly a Prophet of the Lord and served a wonderful life of service on the earth. I feel happy he will be reunited with his wife and am grateful for all the important things he accomplished during his life.

A Job for Me?

I just got offered a job here! I am going to be the elementary school music teacher at the American International School (which is attended by Egyptians). I am so nervous and excited. They said to think about the offer over the weekend and call them back on Sunday! Wow. I'm going to be so busy! And it is not going to be easy, but I already and excited to be so challenged (besides even if it is terribly hard, I'll only be doing it until the end of June!)

Send some celebratory feeling my way!

Skull Hill

It was sure hard to capture the features of the hill that make the appearance of a skull, so we took a few...It is kinda cool looking, so I thought i'd post some of the up and to show the features and the bus station. There is a look out point from the back of the park overlooking the buses and the hill---that's where we shot these pics.

The Garden Tomb

The Garden Tomb

The Garden Tomb

The Garden Tomb was the most peaceful place in all of Israel for Casey and I. We really loved it. The park was so beautiful and nice. It was an ancient garden with a huge underground chamber for water so beautiful plants could grow. Skull Hill was next to the garden which served as the ancient rock quarry for the Jews. Since the rock quarry was right outside of Damascus Gate which was the road to Damascus many people passed by. It was like a main highway into Jerusalem. The Jews would use the area around the quarry to stone people and the Romans used it for Crucifixion b/c it was visible to a high number of travelers and seeing someone on the cross would deter criminals.

Today the area hasn't changed much. It is one of the busiest areas of the old city and at the base of skull hill is a bus station. It was weird to see something so ancient and famous the back wall to a bus station. All the buses parked along the wall of the cliff type hill. Then, as I learned of this was the same in ancient times I realized wagons, camels, donkeys etc.. were merely replaced by buses. Somethings never change. Anciently it was a center for mingling travelers from distant lands to buy/sell good, or to set out on a journey, and toady it is about the same with markets and the transit station.

There are features in the face of the hill that caused it to be named skull hill. When Casey and I looked at it we were surprised to see the features of the skull in the side of the hill. The tomb was not far from the hill. It was carved out of a single rock and the chamber was on the ride-hand side. There was also a channel for a large rock to roll over the entrance. Although all the little facts were fun and interesting to see, the garden was centered on the memory of his resurrection. It was the only place in Jerusalem so focused on Christ and not on all the traditions, jewels, relics and material things. It was such a humble place. There was no magnificent church or denominations boasting ownership. A British foundation bought the land a very long time ago and has kept the garden beautiful meek and peaceful. I felt it was in the true spirit of Christ. He lived such a humble life and was buried in such a humble place. The son of a carpenter who bore the sins of the world yet didn't even have his own grave, as he was buried in a friends. It felt like the garden was more like the true depiction of what Christ would have wanted. All the signs, scriptures, and words posted throughout the garden were in remembrance of the fact that he had risen and lives. It was wonderful to be able to spend time away from the contention of Jerusalem and feel the peace and love of God in this peaceful garden.

The Western Wall

After leaving the burnt house museum we found ourselves on the way to the western wall, kind of by accident. We saw a circle with a bunch of buses and thought maybe it was a bus station, so we descended a bunch of stairs to check it out. When we got down there we saw it was a security check point for entering the Western Wall.

We made it through security after being thoroughly checked and walked a little ways before reaching the sign in the 2nd picture. The Western Wall is basically the western retainer wall for the 2nd great Temple. The Jews rebuilt the Temple after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the 1st and 'scattered' Israel into his massive kingdom. When they returned 70 yrs later they rebuild the great Temple. It remained until 70AD when the Romans destroyed it. This is the most sacred place for Jews. Everyone says it's a little crazy there b/c of harsh contentions, but we didn't feel that at all. People were approaching the wall and praying and everything seemed okay. We felt the most tension in Bethlehem and the mt. of Olives. Bethlehem is to be understood b/c they are caged in like dogs, but we will get to that when we post pictures up from our visit to Bethlehem.

One fun aspect of staying in the Muslim quarters just inside of Damascus Gate is that we were in the middle of all the markets. On the way back from the Western Wall it was around 4pm and since all the sites close around that time we would go back to our hostel and hangout. It was much better to be indoors at night, b/c it was freezing! and b/c it's safer in the evening to be indoors. On the way back we passed lots of shops, it's almost like an indoor/outdoor mall. The streets are stone paths with stone walls are arched cemented/stone roof with holes every few meters for light. In the muslim quarters it is solid markets and our hotel was just a small door in the mist of these markets then as you walk up some narrow stairs it opens up into a beautiful lobby and a 3 floor hostel above the market streets overlooking the city. As I was saying, on he way back Casey couldn't pass up the candy shops. It was great to just pick out candy and go back to our room and eat and read, write in our journals, and chat it up.

The Burnt House

Here are some more images of what we saw. Sorry if it's hard to get a picture of what it looks like. It was very difficult to take pictures b/c in most area we were so close it was hard to take a picture(the building was build over the homes and the walkways are just feet above them) and in some areas they did some restoration work or the structures were so well preserved we were waking through the rooms and hallways.

The past picture shows stair descending under an arched roof. This is how their walkways were. In many cases you could walk the rooftops and stairs decendend into the homes or there were narrow covered streets. It is the same in the more modern old city of Jerusalem.

The Burnt House

Off the beaten path lies two of the most fascinating museums we attended in Israel. One of the advantages of doing things on your own is having the time to explore the less visited sites that your groups miss. The Burnt House of Kathros was one of them.

In 1970 Israel was preparing an area for construction when they came across ruins of an ancient home. They immediately called in an archaeological specialist who discovered the home had been from around 70AD and had been severely burnt. The remains telling an interesting story of the family who lived there and paints a vivid picture of live in the 1st century AD.

What remains of the home is the basement walls around 4 feet high and many artifacts. Since then many homes have been discovered all built on the slope of a hill facing the Temple Mount. The homes were inhabited by rich priest families. The first one we visited was inhabited by the Kethros family, this is known b/c of the family named marked of their pottery. This is a famous priest family mentioned in Jewish Scripture. The Jewish scripture called Talmud tells us about the Kethros family, "Woe is me because of their poison pens...For they are the High Priests, and their sons are treasures, and their sons-in-law are trustees, and their servants beat the people with staves."

Among the artifacts was a roman spear and a girls arm ripped from her body. The stone of the home had suit on it from being burned to the ground. This is from the well documented invasion Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD. In less than 3 days they burned the Temple to the ground, burned the city, and slaughtered the inhabitants. It was a very sad point in the History of Jerusalem. Th only remains of the magnificent Jewish Holy Temple is part of the Western Wall which is the holiest of all places to the Jews.

There were so many remains of pottery, walkways and homes in the 6 or 7 homes excavated. It helped Casey and I to be able to visualize life in the first century. It was interesting to note how all the homes faced the Temple and had large balconies which opened up toward the Temple. The whole city was oriented in that direction.

The history was interesting as well. The Jews accounted the first Temple being destroyed b/c of idol worship and wickedness. However, they account the 2nd destruction of the Temple due to hatred within their own ranks. The fundamentalist wanted to wage war against the Romans and the majority wanted no war, so as they were fighting amongst themselves the Romans broke down the wall of the Temple burned it and entered the fortified city. It is also important to note the extreme corruption of their Priest who rose to the level of aristocracy. Much of their contention was with the Sanhedrin and Priestly aristocracy. However, it is interesting how plain it is for Christians to see the fulfillment of prophecy. When Jesus was battling against the wickedness of the Priests he prophesied that the Temple would be torn down in just 3 days and that one stone would not lay upon another. The Jew laughed him to scorn. It was interesting will all this, what Christians would consider, evidence of the fulfillment of prophecy isn't obvious at all to other people. In another Museum the Jews accounted for the Crucifixion of Christ by simply saying he was killed by the Romans. The account of Christ by the two scriptures in much different. To Jews he was a great teacher of the law that made the Romans agery and they did away with him then his followers made him into something he is not. By the Christian account he is the Saviour of the world, despised and reject by his own and innocently crucified.

It was truly amazing to see these homes, and to gain a better understanding of how people lived in the 1st century.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

We stayed in a hostel Called Hashimi right inside the Damascus Gate. We soon found out it was the perfect location b/c it seemed to be a 10min walk from everywhere! We arrived late at night b/c we took buses from Cario to Jerusalem saving us around $700 but increasing the travel time by about 10hrs:) However, it wasn't that bad b/c we were able to see the beautiful desert mountains of Sinai, hang out in the gorgeous hollywood style Israeli city Elait, and see the beautiful scenery of the Dead Sea. When we woke up the following morning we walked up to the third floor of our hotel (for breakfast) and saw the most beautiful view of Jerusalem,,,We were Shocked at how small it was!!!! We ate the most delicious hummus, soft flat bread, and olives while looking at the beautiful ancient city and the mt. of olives. The funniest part of the view is that it looks like solid rooftops without streets or walkways. I thought to myself 'how do people get around? it looks like solid buildings' The city is divided into 3 basic quarters Christian, Jewish and Muslim. We had an outline of what we wanted to see in each quarter, so we ate breakfast looked out onto the city and decided what we wanted to see first.

The first place we went was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. When we stepped out of our hotel we realized why the city looked like solid buildings. All the walkways were covered with small opening every few meters to let light in. All he buildings and walkways were made of stone---it was so fascinating even to walk the streets. Since we came when most schools are opening there were no tourists. It was a little ere to walk down deserted streets in the morning hours, but we did enjoy the feeling of being some of the only ones in most of the museums, churches, and other sites.

The Church of the Holy Sepluchre is built over the Temple of the god Apollo built by the Romans when they ransacked Jerusalem in 70AD. The mother of Constantine, Queen Helena, came to Jerusalem and pointed at a bunch of sites and said Christ did this here and that there, was killed here and buried there, etc. etc. After she said he was killed and buried where Appollo's Temple stood they built a massive church and preserved it as a sacred spot with lots of relics.

The Church is beautiful and it was very reverent inside. It is divided into many chapels from many different denominations. In the past they have had some nasty battles over space and privilege. The Copts and Armenians in particular fought hard over spaces in the church and took it all the way up to the Israeli Supreme Court. They stole each others keys and all kinds of nasty things. Most of those contentions have settled now, and every morning at 4am a Muslim comes to unlock the door and open the church b/c it was decided Muslims could be a neutral mediator party.

We loved the church. As I said it was beautiful and felt special. I'm not saying I believe Christ was crucified and buried there, im not much into relics and that short of stuff, but I do think the stories are cool and enjoy seeing them and hearing them. Casey and I felt it was special that the people put so much time and energy to make a gorgeous chapel to celebrate the importance of Christ's sacrifice. We felt God's love poured out upon this place as people exercised there faith in respecting and preserving the importance of that act of love.

Views of the Old City

here are some views of the old city taken from the Citadel. The first picture is BYU Jerusalem which is on mt.scopus(same mt as the mt of olives just one peak away) We have some more pics we will post of the park next to BYU Jerusalem, but it was the most beautiful and peaceful place we experienced in Israel. The next is the Dome of the Rock which is near Mount Zion which was the great Temple during the time of Christ, which was destroyed in 2 days by the Romans in 70A.D. The Dome is an Islamic structure build over the place where supposedly Abraham sacrificed Issac or Ishmael if you're Muslim. Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran, but people say that Mohammad was carried away by the Spirit to Jerusalem then translated to heaven in the twinkling of an eye. Many historians say that when the Arabs conquered the Middle East from Saudi Arabia through north africa to spain all the way up to parts of France around 650AD they built the Dome of the Rock as a political statement to show that Islam was here for good and that though Christianity was the Old faith Islam was the new.

Whatever the case. It sure is an amazing structure...It was interesting to be able to see the writing around the sides of the Dome and it didn't look just like Art I could tell some of what it said about Mohammed's Journey and life.

There were many interesting parts of Jerusalem that taught me so much about life during the time of Christ and taught me so much about the history of this fascinating city throughout it's extensive history.

we will be posting much much more

Around the City

We just got back from Israel. These pictures are just from around the city. It was a really amazing trip... we saw so many things in such a short amount of time! These are just various shots from around. In the old city, which is surrounded by walls still, the walkways are very small, no cars could fit down them, but they drove tractors down them. Anyways, they were lined with shops, like the entire old city was one huge market (which I suppose it may be). We saw a ton of these candy shops, and in Egypt, they don't eat candy like this, how could I resist filling up a bag or two!?

Baptism in the Red Sea

About 1:30hrs away from our apt. in Maadi is the Red Sea. On Christmas Eve we went out to witness the baptism of Soren. Casey and I teach primary in our branch of about 60 members here in Cairo. We love the kids and it has been nice to be able to get close to them. Since our church villa doesn't have a baptism font the people getting baptized here have a choice to either do it in a tank(I think we have one?) in the back yard or go to the Red Sea. In our experience people opt for the Red Sea. We drove out there then we just pulled of on the side of the road and found a good spot between resorts. It is a spot the members of our church have used before, but it felt funny jusy pulling off the side of the highway and saying 'yup this looks good let's just do it here'. It was a wonderful experience. We were able to witness a special ordinance in a special place. I love how they are wearing white Middle Eastern Gallabeyyas(dress). I have a grayish black one...they are supper comfortable, but when I wear it I really look egyptian and many friends(esp my wife) joke that I look like a Bowab(door man) we get a big kick out of it.