Jerusalem

I don't have a lot of time to be on the internet, but we have some down time now without enough time to go into the city so I figured I should do an update. Jerusalem is amazing! I can't believe that it has only been a week since I've been here. So much has happened, I'm not going to even attempt to talk about what I have seen and the things I have learned. If you have specific questions about anything email me at jessbass91@gmail.com, I would love to hear from anyone and everyone :)
But I wanted to share some of the things that I learned in my Old Testament class yesterday. First of all, the teachers here are all incredible, they know so much about this land and are so eager to help us learn and get to know the culture and people here. Anyways, we were in Genesis studying about Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. Before class started, Brother Muhlestein asked us to write on three separate sheets of paper 1) our greatest desire 2) our greatest ability 3) the most important person to us. He gave us the definition that an Abrahamic sacrifice is being willing to give up what means the most to you besides the Savior. He said that if there is anything we put out trust in besides God it WILL fail us. Therefore, God, because he loves us will help us to put him first in our life by making sacrifices. Then he asked us to hold out our pieces of paper for someone else to randomly select for us and that would be the thing we would have to give up or sacrifice. Mine was the opportunity to become a wife and mother. He said that even the most worthy goals and things that align with the doctrine of the church are sometimes asked to be sacrifice in order to put God first. I'm realizing now that writing this isn't nearly as powerful as when I heard it in class. But as I sat there thinking about what it truly means to put my Heavenly Father before every other person and goal I realized what that means. I know that sometimes we have trials and obstacles put in our way that are only meant to make us better people. We may not always know the reasons for the trials we go through, but we have to trust the Lord and put him before everything else in our lives.

I love you all! I'm having the time of my life and I am so grateful for this opportunity.
On a side note, not only do we take religious classes here but we are also being taught by an Israeli and a Palestinian to learn both sides of the political debates here. We are also taking a geography and history class about this land. I am loving all of my classes and especially the time I have every day to explore a new site in the old city. This is a wonderful place!
Oh, I was also called to be the second counselor in the primary presidency here. I'm still learning my responsibilities, but I'm really excited for it! Our primary president is the director's wife and she is so helpful in getting me adjusted to this new assignment. We have about 30 kids that are in the Jerusalem Branch of the Israel district. As I sat in primary last week listening to the sharing time I had a newfound appreciation for all my primary leaders that were patient with the rowdy kids during sharing time.