30 May 2011

I woke up a little later than anticipated this morning. I set my alarm, but I guess the sound wasn’t on. Or maybe I was just so tired that I didn’t hear it! Luckily, there was still thirty minutes left before breakfast ended so I was able to grab a quick bowl of cereal and make a simple sack lunch. Breakfast isn’t exactly my most favorite meal at the Jerusalem Center. It taste wonderful, but it is highly repetitive. We tend to have the same foods each day with a rotating “bread” item: pancakes, muffins, etc. I have turned to having a yogurt and fruit or cereal and fruit lately. You can only eat so many boiled eggs before you don’t like boiled eggs anymore.

I am happy to announce that we had zero classes today. It was a day devoted to service. What better use of our time could we have made? We split into different groups. Some students went to a preschool to teach classes; some worked with physically and mentally disabled teenagers; some, like me, prepped a few walls for murals. These walls are located by the playground at the J.C., one that was built for the professors’ children. Our main goal was to prepare the walls by painting a background and beginning to paint a stone arch. They were short on paintbrushes, however, so I delegated and chased around Brother Muhlestein’s and Brother Judd’s kids: Jacob, Sabrina, and Emily. These kids are some of the sweetest I have met. While they are crazy and loud, they are innocent and fun. We made our own mural out of chalk. Jacob proudly drew the letter S (although, I later found out that Sabrina drew it…he was only claiming it); Sabrina, Emily, and I drew a scene consisting of Rapunzel on a cloud with a palace, Flynn Ryder, and Max (the horse), in the background. It was basically the best chalk piece I have ever done – maybe not artistically but the piece itself will be remembered for years to come. I did take a few pictures, after all! I ended up staying twenty minutes later than everyone to help Sister Judd sketch out the arches for the mural walls. I wish we could have finished more, but I guess we have a couple more months left to finish everything.

I bounced back inside at about 10:40a to find out that those inside the J.C. already were stuck on lockdown. Apparently some teenagers around the neighborhood had been throwing bottles and glass around. I was slightly irked by the news, but I shrugged it off. I tried to do some homework and to study for a couple of midterms, but I couldn’t focus. Instead, I ended up watching Phantom of the Opera with Joshua, Ali, Camille, and T.C. Of course, people passing by stopped to watch as well because who can resist such an amazing movie and such beautiful music? It was nice to just relax and take it easy for the day. I probably should have tried to focus more on studying for midterms, but I can do that the next couple of days, right? We’ll see how that works out.

The hour or so before dinner consisted of a humanitarian activity to assemble hygiene kits. Within one hour, we assembled over 1,500 kits. It was amazing – crowded but amazing! I was in charge of rolling four different colored toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste into a towel. Oh baby. My forearm muscles are going to be huge. There was music and dancing and cookies; I had a really good time. It got stressful a couple of times, but we got through it well enough. I am definitely looking forward to making more hygiene kits. We are hoping to make at least 8,000-10,000 kits this semester. I hope that happens. If we have enough of these activities, it will definitely happen. We busted out those kits in no time at all. We had an excellent system. Service is such a wonderful opportunity to connect with the Savior, Jesus Christ. He spent His entire mortal ministry serving those around Him. Even now, He is still serving us, serving me.

My sunburn, I am sad to say, has not improved since yesterday evening. However, it is nice to be my own space heater! I just wish I could walk without wincing. Sunburns behind your knees are the absolute worst! Every time you take a step, your skin stretches. It’s awful. I spent a lot of the afternoon applying and reapplying aloe vera and taking ibuprofen and trying not to itch my legs. My favorite part occurred when my sweatpants got stuck to my legs because of the stickiness of the aloe vera. That was a painful situation…like ripping a giant bandaid off the backs of my legs.

Although I spent the day in the J.C., it wasn’t an awful day. I was able to be productive, more or less. The next couple of days will most likely be spent in a similar manner. While I will have 3-4 hours in the afternoon to go out and see the city, I do have three midterms on Thursday. That may or may not be taking precedence over walking around Jerusalem….unfortunately.