Neot Kedumim

This week we went to Neot Kedumim, a biblical landscape reserve. We talked about some of the 600 plants mentioned in the bible and their significance. We also talked about the importance of water, both in a physical sense and a spiritual sense. We made delicious pitas, stew, hyssop tea, and flavored cracked wheat (some were flavored with honey and some with salt and olive oil). It was so fun cooking in the outdoors!

(lentil stew)

(crushing up hyssop to spice up our pitas)

(hyssop tea)

 

Then we watched a Torah scribe at work. When a scribe copies the Torah, he must make sure the number of words on each line is exactly the same as in the Torah. They must be kosher when they write. Everything they use to write with and on (like a bird's feather and deer hyde) must be from a kosher animal.

 

 



We also had the opportunity to be shepherds for ten minutes. Our tour guide gave us instructions about gathering all the sheep and goats together and leading them along a path, avoiding imaginary holes.  It was so difficult to get the flock to go where we wanted them to go. Finally, we gathered them all together and started on the right path, then we realized that there was a lost, wandering goat. We asked our tour guide if we needed to gather him in with the flock. She said, “Of course!” So a few of us struggled to bring him into the fold, but finally succeeded.

 This experience taught me so much about the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. A good shepherd notices the one and goes after him/ her. He does not avoid the weak or difficult sheep. He replies with the attitude of our tour guide, “Of course we need to gather in the one! This sheep is important to me.” He is sensitive to the needs of the sheep in his fold. He protects his sheep and leads them to green pastures and still waters (rapid waters will catch sheep and take them under). He is compassionate, tranquil, quiet, and calm. He is a gentle and reliable leader.

 Jesus does all of these things for us. He is the Shepherd of my soul. He is the gate and the way to peace and happiness in this life and the next. Christ declared, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The Lord has blessed me with an abundant life, through the Atonement. The Good Shepherd cleanses me, heals me, restores me when wandering, builds me up and helps me to remember who I am, sanctifies me, and transforms me into someone far greater than I could ever be on my own.

 As I reflected on this experience, I read my Dad’s favorite hymn, “Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd” (LDS Hymn’s No. 221). Verse three reads,

“Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,

Dear are the ninety and nine.
Dear are the sheep that have wandered, out in the desert to pine.
Hark! He is earnestly calling,
Tenderly pleading today;
‘Will you not seek for my lost ones,
off from my shelter astray?’

Verse four continues,

Lord, we will answer Thee gladly,
‘Yes, blessed Master we will!
Make us thy true undershepherds;
Give us a love that is deep.
Send us out into the desert,
Seeking thy wandering sheep.’”

 Christ calls us to be His undershepherds. There are sheep who are wandering, hungry and helpless and cold. May each of us rise up, follow the Good Shepherd, and invite others into the fold, that they too may enjoy the abundant life Christ has made possible for each of us. Remember, “Every person you meet is a VIP to our Heavenly Father” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, You are My Hands, CRApril 2010). May we all be a part of this great work as it moves forward on both sides of the veil.