When Death Strikes, The Students At the BYU Jerusalem Center Turn To Christ.
Whenever you leave home for school, you often leave behind family and loved ones. That is what students at the BYU Jerusalem Center face every time they choose to study abroad. Because of this, often the students bond together into a family unit. That is what happened with the students of the 2016 BYU Jerusalem Center summer program. In the middle of their summer studies, tragedy stuck back home for one of the students, Rebekah, her sister Rachel passed away unexpectedly.
Everyone wanted to help Rebekah. It was in the middle of this, that one student, Allie Gardner, had an idea while she sat at church overlooking Jerusalem. She loved to sing and the idea was to make a music video with all the students testifying of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Eternal Families, and the promise that Rebekah would see her Rachel again. She shared her idea with some of the other students, they loved the idea. One student, Kathryn, who had a talent for photography became the videographer for the project. Allie and Kathryn spearheaded the project.
Testifying of Christ In Jerusalem.
The idea was simple, they were living in Jerusalem. They were already planning on visiting sites in and around Jerusalem. Sites ranging from the Holy Sepulchre to Capernaum, the Garden Tomb, the Sea of Galilee, the Pools of Bethesda, and more. As they would visit these sites they would film Allie singing. As Allie put it “My mind’s eye was totally opened. I saw the exact shots we needed to take, exactly where we needed to go. I was filled with a sense of urgency to get started.” The song they choose was “I know that my Redeemer lives.”
From the beginning, Allie was firm that she did not want to video to be about her, the focus should be Jesus Christ. Kathryn knew that to do this, she needed other footage in the video besides her singing. What they decided on doing was to record silent interviews with as many of their fellow students as possible. A silent interview is where you are asked a series of questions but you cannot say anything in response. Even without words, you can see their emotion and testimony shining through, the light in their eyes testifies “I know that my Redeemer lives!”
As they began filming they realized that they were on a very short timetable to record as they visited these holy sites. Not only was their time short, but they also did not want to disturb any other visitors. Filming was hard, but they remained fixed in their purpose, in the words of Kathryn: “The purpose of our video was to share our testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that through Him we can live again.”
Capernaum and the Garden Tomb.
They struggled to capture the majesty of the holy land and of their testimonies on video. This struggle continued as they went to Capernaum. Everything changed as the pondered, prayed and wondered around Capernaum. They found the remnants of a synagogue and started to film there, that is when it finally started to flow. In the words of Kathryn “Few times have I felt so strongly that my Redeemer lives. From that moment on I knew without a doubt that Heavenly Father wanted us to create this music video and that it was going to be something special.”
Throughout this experience, Allie had been praying for a chance to touch someone’s heart. They felt that for the final verse they should go to the Garden Tomb. As they were filming a Portuguese man was exiting Christ’s Tomb, he was weeping and thanking God in Portuguese. She felt that this man was the person she had been praying for. At this point, she sang the fourth verse.
“He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
“I know that my Redeemer lives!”
As she finished singing this final testimony the man came up to her and thanked her for her song, together they sang “I Stand All Amazed” She sang in English and he sang in Portuguese. By the time they finished the song, everyone was in tears. And she knew that God had answered her prayer. And the Spirit confirmed the words of the hymn, everyone there knew that their Redeemer lives!
The Video.
Now that you know the back story, here is the video!
Testimonies of Christ.
Kathryn: “I never expected anything big to come of this video, it was just a small opportunity to help comfort our friend who had lost her sister. I do hope, however, that somehow we are able to bless and comfort others through our video.”
Allie: “In the Holy Land, we are not allowed to talk about the Church. But it gave us an opportunity to bear our testimonies and be witnesses of Christ even though we couldn’t specifically reference the church. Every shot was a miracle. Many times we didn’t know the camera was rolling and the shots ended up being perfect. We didn’t make this music video. God did.”
Whereas I was not in Jerusalem for the filming of this video, I want to add my testimony to that of Allie and Kathryn. I know that my Redeemer Lives! I know that He can and will comfort you in sorrow, I know this because He has comforted me. In the past three years, my grandma, two uncles, and my auntie, a cousin, and my best friend have passed away. It has been so hard. But I take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus Christ brings. Because of Him, “death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!” and I will see my loved ones again!
PS. If you’d like to hear more music from Allie, feel free to like her facebook page.
For Pinners.
