Shabbat Shalom

For those who do not speak Hebrew, that means "Good Sabbath". Anyway, this branch is very interesting. It's an otherwise normal branch, but it gets taken over by students so it feels more like a student unit. It's weird. Today, though, there was hardly anyone who does not live in the Center was at Church. All the roads are closed today for Yom Kippur. There was, however, a movie scouting crew visiting. That was cool, I guess.

This afternoon we walked through Orson Hyde Park on the way to the Church of All Nations and the traditional site of Gethsemane. I really liked that church. I thought it was very interesting. I'm sorry that there aren't pictures of it, but I wasn't thinking and didn't take my camera. The entryway looks like a gnarled olive tree. On the wall behind the altar are some very interesting mosaics of Christ suffering in Gethsemane and His betrayal. Just in front of the altar is the stone that it is believed was the stone that Christ suffered on. There are nine countries represented in the ceiling. I quite enjoyed identifying them. Some I am not certain of because I'm not that good at reading Latin. They are, I believe: The US, England, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Germany, Canada, France, and Brazil.

Tomorrow morning we go to Egypt. I will be sure to put up a bunch of pictures when I get back.

And the walls came a-tumbling down.

So, today we went to Jericho. It was pretty cool. We saw all sorts of things. Things like:
A neolithic tower, the oldest building in the world. And:

The bases of the walls that Joshua and Co tumbled down then climbed up. Also:
The spring that Elisha healed. This things pumps out about a gallon of water every 3 minutes. I got to drink some of it's water. It was nice and cool. Very refreshing in the heat of the Jordan River Valley.

The Western Wall

So, we just got back from visiting the Western Wall. It was really cool because it was not only the Sabbath, but a holiday. I and two other guys got invited to join a group dancing, so we did. That was an amazing experience singing and dancing at the Western Wall. It was super fun.

Shana Tova!

Shana tova, everyone! That means "happy new year" in Hebrew. It was one of the first phrases we learned in my Hebrew class because today is Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Yesterday I was in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with a group, and we got invited to a Rosh Hashana dinner at a Rabbi's house. Of course, we went. It took us a while to be able to find his house, but we got there in time for the symbolic foods. It was super fun. And it was my first date. Ha ha. Seriously, though, I had never had a date before. I could see what the Rabbi was talking about when he said that some people interpret the "honey" in "land flowing with milk and honey" to mean date honey. One drunk man kept shouting "Welcome to Chicago." We had to leave early, but it was still worth it.

Ramadan ends tonight, so that means big Muslim celebrations tonight and big feasts for the next three days. Should be very exciting.

My new favorite way into the Old City is Lion's Gate.

I like it because there aren't that many people around there. It is where the Via Dolorosa begins. The Via Dolorosa is supposed to be the path that Christ took while carrying His cross to Calvary. Right within the gate is the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. The Bethesda Pool is right next to that.

Today we got to go to the Temple Mount to the Dome of the Rock for a few minutes

I took this screenshot of Google Earth so that you could see where I was when I took those two pictures that you see floating there. The one on top is actually on the other side of the arches. We were only allowed up there for about 5 minutes because we got to the security checkpoint at ten minutes before 11, when it closes for the public.

We've got all sorts of cool stuff lined up, like Jericho on Monday and Egypt the next week.

Good Sabbath

So, here in Jerusalem we have the Sabbath day on Saturday. The Church decided that the Jewish Sabbath was best for the branch here. The Muslims have theirs on Friday, and most Christians have it on Sunday. Today was our fast Sabbath, being the first Sabbath of the month. I find it very interesting that the Muslims just finished their fasting for Ramadan last night, and we fasted today.

I learned some cool stuff about the Church in the Middle East. Yes, the Church is in the Middle East. There is the "Middle East Desk", kind of like an Area. There are districts in Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There is also a Stake in Saudi Arabia, with the "Desk" in Dubai. I guess the Church is in more places than we realize.

I also happened to run into Jay Williams and his family. Honestly, I didn't remember them. They used to be in our stake about 10 years ago. But still, small world.

I am in the Spanish speaking Sunday School class. It's kinda cool. There are people in the Branch from Bolivia and Venezuela. It was pretty cool.

Now we're watching The Prince of Egypt. The library has a lot of good movie selection, even though I haven't gone to check myself.

Some Pics

Here are a couple pictures from my room's porch. One at night and the other during the day. Enjoy.

Day Two

First of all, here is a map of where the Center is. If you just zoom in you'll be able to see it.



View Larger Map

The Center is the building right along the bend of of the 1949 Armistice Agreement Line.

So, today we had a walking tour of Jerusalem. We walked from the Center through the Old City to West Jerusalem. We quickly stopped by lots of sites like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was interesting to see the general "Okay..."ness of the Mormons. I thought it was really cool. I look forward to going there again.

On the way out we met a money changer named Aladdin. He gave us these cards that were a dollar bill with his face on them and said "In Aladdin We Trust." He was funny. There were also a lot of other merchants who knew who we were and expressed a great like for us.

We also saw the ceramics shop where the cover for the November 1998 Friend was made.


Well, that's about all for now. Class starts tomorrow. Probably won't have much to say about that. I'll post as interesting things happen.

Arrived Safely

So, it's been a long day. Er... two days. Got up at 6 in the morning (MDT) and slept about one hour on the plane. It's now 9:40 Jerusalem time. Also, almost bedtime, gotta be up early tomorrow to get to know the city.

The plane rides went very slickly. All on time, early even, no hiccups. From Salt Lake to New York I sat next to a guy who claimed that the aliens who are working to make the world run how it should are going to finally succeed this month, after 35 years of trying, to get rid of the IRS and the Federal Reserve. Then social security will go, and we will all have do-everything ID cards. And the lies that are power lines will be replaced by zero-point energy.

Got into Israel on time and went on the hour-long bus ride to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. There was amazing scenery. Along the road there were blown-up trucks and things that were left as a monument to the '48 war.

The view from the Center is amazing. Every room has a great view of the Dome of the Rock. Every so often we hear the Muslim call to prayer, which is especially cool now that it's Ramadan. They do extra singing, extra loudly.

We met some of our teachers today, they all seem really fun. Tomorrow we go and get to know the city. It looks like it will be a blast.