yom kippur

It’s been a while since my last post but that’s because this week was midterm week. So I moved into the library and pretended that I wasn’t even in Jerusalem. Who knew that we would actually have to work here in Jerusalem? Not me.

I finally got out of the center yesterday and went to the western wall and Jewish quarter of the Old City. Today is Yom Kippur, the most important holiday in the Jewish religion. It’s the Day of Atonement where Jews seek forgiveness for their sins as their new year begins. Since all holidays begin at sunset, we decided to go to the Western Wall to see if anything was happening there. Well, since I’m not allowed to be in the Old City after sunset, nothing was actually going on there yet. There was definitely a buzz in the air though as we walked around. People were dressed in nice clothes and feasting before their day of fasting.
As I went up to the wall and thought about Yom Kippur, I had a hard time. My problem was that I couldn’t think of repentance and the atonement without thinking about Christ. As I thought about that I realized yet again how lucky I am to have the knowledge of the gospel. My ability to repent of my sins is only through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He atoned for my sins and that is why I have the ability to become clean again and live with my Father in Heaven once more. Jesus Christ is our means to salvation. I am so grateful for that knowledge. Knowing what the Savior did in Gethsemane gives us so much reason to rejoice. The gospel truly is good news.






Today we got to watch two more sessions of General Conference and they were SO good! If anyone hasn’t seen it yet, get on lds.org and watch/listen/read it!

If you remember from my post last weekend, one week ago today was when I saw that lady get hit by a car. Well it’s been on my mind all week and I’ve really been wanting some closure on it. So today I went with a few friends to the hospital right by where the accident happened to try and find out what had happened with her and if she had any family and things like that. We talked with a security guard who told us all about her. She was a nurse at the hospital and she lived just across the street. She had lived and worked there for 20 years. She grew up in an orphanage because of family issues. She had never married or had any children. She was a cancer survivor. She passed away a few hours after the accident. She didn’t have any family come to her funeral. Learning all of this about her was really good for me. I felt the spirit so strongly telling me that even though no one on this earth probably really misses her or needs her, Heavenly Father loves her. She is a beloved child of God just like everyone else. And now she is in a place where she can fulfill dreams that she was never able to do here. I feel as though I know her. I hope that someday I will. “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10).