Week 2: Jerusalem Overlook Field Trip, Sabbath at the Western Wall, Garden Tomb

Wow. The days are long and the week is even longer here because we do so much in one day! I go to bed exhausted every day! But it is truly a joy to be here in the Holy Land. I imagine I won't want to leave when August comes, but that is a long way off.

But enough of that. We have a long email ahead of us, so lets get started!!

The beautiful city of David, the original Jerusalem

Monday was our first official field trip, and they took us to 5 different sites that overlooked the city so that we could get a feel for the countryside. Our first stop was at the Seven Arches hotel, which gives a full view of Jerusalem from the east. 

Our next stop was at the Augusta Victoria hospital on the Mount of Olives, which was built to commemorate the Ascension of Christ. We went up in the tower and got a good look to the south, at the separation wall and the two valleys that surround Jerusalem, the Kidron and the Hinnom. We had a lesson from Dr. Skinner, who teaches Ancient Near Eastern Studies and who is just the smartest, wittiest person. He explained that the Mount of Olives basically functioned as an open air temple, and drew a lot of parallels that made me so glad I have gone through the temple, because they would have gone right over my head. Katie and Alissa, the temple is the goal. Aim towards it. 

The view from Nabi Samwel. Gibeon is the hill
on the right, and the land of Ephraim is those
hills to the back. 

Afterwards we drove to the north of Jerusalem, to Nabi Samwel, which is a synagogue that functioned as a crusader fortress when they first came to the Holy Land. They named the hill MontJoy, or Mount Joy, because it gave them the first view of Jerusalem and they were happy to finally see it after traveling so far. It's a place with lots of great architecture, and it's where the Jewish people commemorate the prophet Samuel's death--thus the name Nabi Samwel which is Prophet Samuel in Arabic. This hill itself basically functioned as a temple for Samuel, where he talked with God and had some amazing visions. The Jewish people come there to pray because they believe that their prayers are heard better when they are in a place associated with Samuel, since God listened to Samuel very well. It was my favorite place by far, because we looked off to the north. 

Directly north is the town Gibeon, which is now my favorite story. Read Joshua 10, and look at the picture I'll attach, because that is where that happened. Amazing. Further north is that land of Ephraim, which is so cool, because that's our ancestral homeland!! My professor made a point of emphasizing that the scriptures are our family history on that trip, and it made everything so much more real. 

We looked east and saw the palace at Gibeah, which is where Saul ruled from, and where much of the story of David happened. Along the ridge we saw the Patriarch's Way, which is basically how Abraham and Isaac and Jacob would have travelled the land when they went on all those journeys. 

Bethlehem in the distance. It was really hazy today. 

We stopped at a place south of Jerusalem as well, but the true gem was a hill halfway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The two cities are actually about 5 miles apart. We looked out towards Bethlehem, which is beyond the separation wall--we'll go there one time on a field trip--and talked about the birth of Christ and angels and shepherds, and looked out where it happened. The words "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." It was a special moment. :)

Emma in the Ottoman empire, which is what
we call our favorite study area.
Seats are coveted here. People will sit on the floor. 

The rest of the week has been spent closer to the center, but is no less exciting in my mind. First thing to mention is that we read. A lot. Every night. This program is not for the faint of heart, because we have so much. For perspective, I have 25 pages due for my next Palestine class (multiply by 2 because our packet has two book pages per page), 6 chapters of Old Testament on Tuesday (I honestly think we will read the entire old testament in 2 months, because we had 15 for Friday), 19 pages for Israel (multiply by 2 again), and a moderate 1 chapter for ANE. That's a wonderful total of 80-90 pages of reading by Tuesday and Wednesday. :) I'm loving the fact that I can read and understand very quickly. 

Otherwise, classes are amazing. All my teachers are so smart, have so much to teach us. My favorite class has to be Old Testament, because Dr. Mulestein is a funny teacher who teaches us amazing things about the scriptures. Combined with Dr. Skinner in ANE, any day with the two of them is a good day. My Palestine teacher is Dr. Bashir, who is one of the only non-Mormons who we can talk to about religion! I ate dinner with him and a couple other people on Tuesday, and we had an amazing talk about the temple and our understanding of covenants. Israel is taught by Dr. Yarden, who is a very sweet guy. He had us all go out and listen to the siren that commemorated the Holocaust Memorial Day on Thursday. They commemorate stuff with the air raid siren here. It was a solemn moment, and a quiet one. My group is quite loud all the time, but we were all silent for that 2 minutes. Arabic is taught by Mr. Iman, who is really funny. We are learning the letters and sounds, and there are 28 of them. Arabic combines both gutturals and rolled r's, so I'm basically going to kill this. 

Somehow, I am so hungry every meal, even though I spend most of the time between meals sitting. On Tuesday we had our first forum, where Dr. Whitchurch told us about the creation of the center. There were so many miracles involved. The center sits in the Green Belt, which is a government mandated no building zone around Jerusalem designed to keep the city beautiful. There were tons of protesters out in front while the center was being built, enough that the builders had military protection. Now they love us and our beautiful building. :) 

Jenna at the pool of Bethesda

I went out to the city on Thursday. Amanda, Emma and I walked to a pita factory--read, a store that has a pita making machine--and then over to the old city, where we saw the pool of Bethesda. Now that was amazing. They've dug all they way down--40 feet!--to the actual pools and steps. We got to go down in the cisterns  that would hold the water as well. 

My overall impression of the whole trip was that when people are honking, they are either mad that they can't go 70 or they are honking at us. Similarly, the people we pass are either really nice, like the boy that chased after us on his bike to give us back our map which we dropped, or creepy, like the man who asked if we needed a rich husband. We go out in groups, but I think I like to have a guy with us, if only because we avoid comments like that.

Friday was full of crazy events. I had lunch with our special, surprise guest. Ladies and gents, sit down, because I rubbed elbows with a powerful person today. Senator Orrin Hatch came to lunch today, and I sat at his table. Granted, I didn't hear a word he said, because he speaks a little louder than a whisper, and I was sitting four chairs away. But we got him a mic and he answered some questions about his trip and American politics and being a Mormon senator and such. He gave me a hug after, which was sweet, though I think he forgot my name not 2 seconds afterwards. The bragging rites still apply. 

That evening, we went to the Western Wall in the evening to welcome the Sabbath in Jewish style, with song and dance and prayers. It was a cool experience, to stand and watch women praying at the wall and then to have my turn as well. We sang some songs and danced as well. Well, the Jewish girls sang, but we clapped and smiled and looked at each other cluelessly and had a grand old time. The women's side (they split into men and women as you get close to the wall) was quieter before the Sabbath came and louder afterwards. We got to take vans back, which was very nice. We got caught in traffic, so my van sang some. Our rendition of the EFY medley was very rough, but we sounded beautiful when we sang our other songs. We watched the Prince of Egypt after, in prep for our trip to Egypt in a week. 

I talked to Mom that night as well. It's hard to find a time to call! That 8-9 hours difference is hard to work around, because the awake times for me are late for you! Right now as I write it's after dinner on Saturday, almost 7. We'll be having our after dinner snack in an hour. That means it's early Saturday for you guys. Maybe some of you are still asleep. :) Get up! It's almost 11! 

The Garden Tomb - it was actually really busy
so ignore any legs you see peeking out!

Today was our fast Sabbath, and we have so many visitors! The auditorium was full to the breaking point! I still don't have a calling, but I imagine I will soon. We had a great lesson and RS, and then we took off for a trip to the garden tomb. It's a very busy place, but I think I want to go back each Sunday. We went on the tour, and sang some hymns as well. The tourists hopefully enjoyed it. They took lots of pictures of the singing Mormons. I'll upload some pictures. :)

The next week is going to be full of prep for our Egypt trip. We leave in a week!!!!! But tomorrow is going to be great to, as our second free day approaches. :)

I love all of you guys! I hope you are all doing well. :) Send me some emails, or start some chats on Facebook with me. :) I'll do my best to respond!!

This sign is in the garden by the tomb and I loved it immediately

The church of St. Anne, Mary's mother. This looks like something out of a Lord of the rings movie. I was amazed. :) 

There are cats everywhere in Jerusalem. They're pests here.
This one was smart, because it's actually snoozing
in an enclosed area, basically a cage.
I thought it was funny. Behold the mighty lion.