Thursday October 18, 2007

Thursday, October 18, 2007
Katie Vargo
Today, was kind of a rough day for me. I had a stomach ache in the morning but it ended up going away slowly through the afternoon. It seems like a lot of people have colds, or upset stomachs. Hope fully everyone will be able to feel better soon. I think everyone is just tired, school has been intense this week. Its funny, I feel like the days just fly by here, and there is never enough time to do all that we need to. Its good though, because I am learning a lot. My room mates, and I am sure a lot of other people went into the old city and went shopping. Bailey and Allie were both very excited about the new skirts that they bought. I had Hebrew class twice. I love that class! It is so much fun, we are already writing and reading hebrew. I never would have imagined it is as easy as it is. It feels like we are making up a secret code, like we are little kids passing notes. It looks very different from english writing. We sing songs at the end of every class that get stuck in your head for the rest of the day, they are fun. After dinner I studied for our Old Testament quiz, some people watched movies, some did homework. It was yet another great day in Jerusalem. The time is going way to fast!
It is hard to just focus on just one thing that I have learned while studying the Old Testament here, but I have had the thought of the kings David, Saul, and Solomon on my mind. It hit me how they all started out good, and trying to keep God’s command. Yet as time went on each of them was sucked down by different things. Satan knew exactly what would get each of them, and he got each of them to fall and leave God. This, in and of itself hit me, that Satan knew what to throw at each of them individually to tempt them. This is good to remember, we need to be aware of what we are up against. Now they are left with nothing no eternal happiness. It hit me how important it is to endure to the end faithfully. Brother Ludlow talked about those pivot points in each of our lives, and how we just keep ascending striving to return to our Heavenly Father. If we just can endure to the end and remember to be humble and try to always be improving. If we do this we will be able to counter act the tricks that Satan will use against us. We can learn from the mistake of the Kings, and not make the same fall they did. Always looking toward Christ and using the Atonement actively in our lives.