President Uchtdorf's Visit and the Upper Room Evening

So the last week we were in Jerusalem was AWESOME.

There are several reasons that make that statement true, two of which I will discuss in this post :-)

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf visited the JC with his family! In the LDS (Mormon) church, we have the same organization as the biblical church. So, we have a prophet and a quorum of 12 apostles who are called of God to lead our church. President Uchtdorf is the second counselor in the First Presidency. He is an apostle of the Lord and it was so exciting for him to visit!!! His family was traveling through the Holy Land for 10 days, and the last week we were in the JC they were staying with us! So we saw them at meal times and in hallways, etc. It was so cool!

Our last Friday in Jerusalem we participated in a humanitarian project (actually, we did this project pretty much every Friday we were in Jerusalem). We were putting together hygiene kits to donate (bags with towels, soap, toothbrushes, etc...)

I was in charge of putting soap into the bags. President Uchtdorf came in to see us working (he and his wife were getting a tour of the building) and as he passed me, he patted me on the back and said "Good Soap" Needless to say, I was a bit starstruck... haha :-) So here is Katie, Jane, Kirstin, and myself holding up our "good soap" hahaha

On the Sabbath, we had district conference (an annual meeting for all of the surrounding areas to gather for church) We were lucky enough to hear Elder Bruce Porter (of the 70), his wife, and President and Sister Uchtdorf speak to us. It was really great.

Also, I ran into the Uchtdorf family in the hallway (since I was living on the 5th floor/guest housing due to my leg) and they asked about my leg and I explained what happened and they wished me good health, and Sister Uchtdorf gave me a hug :-)

One of the JC traditions for the last sabbath in Jerusalem is a "Upper Room" evening. So on our last Sabbath, we had a special evening in the Auditorium. The stage was set up like the Last Supper would have been set up for Jesus and his disciples

Brother Jackson, Professor Stratford, and President Uchtdorf all spoke to us about the Last Supper and bore testimony of Jesus Christ. We also had a few musical numbers. It was really incredible to hear an apostle of the Lord bear such a sincere testimony of Jesus Christ on one of our last nights in Jerusalem. That was truly an unforgettable experience.

President and Sister Uchtdorf (center) with the JC students and faculty surrounding :-) (I am in the second row to the right of the group)

Basically, this day was awesome.

-E