WELL, HI! I feel like it's been forever since I blogged (not counting the quote). Not because it has actually been forever, but because so much has happened.
I never blogged about this, but this past Monday I went all around Jerusalem and looked at it from a bunch of different angles. It was amazing.
Our first stop was the 7 Arches Hotel. You could see the entire Old City of Jerusalem from it. Behold:
I was, however, disappointed that I didn't get a picture of a camel kissing me. We were in too much of a rush. But I will survive. *le sigh*
Stop # 2 was the Augusta Victoria Church! AH! I loved it here! We sang "Be Still, My Soul" inside it, and it had an 8-second reverberation. We are not the best singers. But inside this church, it sounded amazing. My friend Becca and myself are trying to get a group to go there to sing hymns on our own time. We will probably do that soon, because it was amazing.
My friend Jess and me in the Augusta Victoria Church:
Stop # 3: The ancient site of Gibeah! Don't tell me that that sentence doesn't strike excitement into your soul. This was where Jonathan fought the Filistines. And it is right between the ancient lands of Benjamin and Judah. Yeah... Additionally, it was the site of the ancient temple of Saul. Unfortunately, King Hussein of Jordan wanted to build a palace there, so he destroyed the ancient ruins. *moment of silence* But we still found a rock from the originial temple! *cue excitement*
The rock:
Next spot was Nabi Samuel. نابي سامول. ّIt's apparently the ancient burial site of the prophet Samuel. Except they got it wrong. But it was a valiant effort!
This spot was neat because the Muslims built a mosque here when the Ottoman Empire conquered the area (Muslims, Christians, and Jews all believe in the prophet Samuel), but the Jews turned parts of it into a synagogue. So it's a Mosque on top and a synagogue on the bottom. I actually got to go into both, and there were Jews studying in the synagogue (which was super small)! My friend Sharla laughs all the time because of how Jewish she thinks I look, and to verify her point, the Jews in the synagogue thought I was Jewish. They kept speaking Hebrew to me and were confused when I told them I never had a Bar-Mitzfah. Haha. They eventually got the point, and then talked to me in English. But it was funny.
Outside Nabi Samuel was a view of the ancient city of GibeoN (different than GibeaH). This place is cool for two reasons: 1) it was the site where Joshua told the sun to stand still so he could protect the people of Gibeon. Also, in 1 Kings 3, it is the site where Solomon asks for wisdom. Here's a picture of my friend Jess and me outside of Nabi Samuel. I just like it because it's super adorable of both of us:
I already uploaded a picture of my friend Troy and me battling outside this area, so I won't upload it again. But pretend I posted that picture here.
2 MORE STOPS AND THEN I'M DONE!
The next stop was the Haas Promenade look-out point. From here we could see the UN building (built, ironically, on the Mount of Evil Counsel), and a bunch of other stuff. This was mostly just a lookout point. Picture of myself on this one. I hate pictures where I'm not with other people, but it gives a better view of the city:
And here's one with my friend Becca:
The FINAL stop: Mount Eljas, a place to commemorate Elijah when he fled from Jezebelle. Roger would be interested to know that from here you could see trenches from the Jordanian side of the 1967 War. So crazy that it was so recently. (this place literally is living history).
On the other side, though, you could see the City of Bethlehem (which is considered to be in the West Bank). We were in what was traditionally considered the Shepherd's Fields, so here we sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful." It was fun. :)
Brother Judd also pointed out that this could easily be the way that Abraham, David, Ruth the gleaner, Joseph and Mary, as well as the way Jesus Christ walked. He also said that it could be the way Nephi and Lehi came. It was a cool thing to note. :)
I'm not uploading any pictures from here because I don't have any particularly good pictures, and it takes a long time to upload. And I'm tired. But pretend like I did because it would be neat.
(/end blog post).
I never blogged about this, but this past Monday I went all around Jerusalem and looked at it from a bunch of different angles. It was amazing.
Our first stop was the 7 Arches Hotel. You could see the entire Old City of Jerusalem from it. Behold:
Stop # 2 was the Augusta Victoria Church! AH! I loved it here! We sang "Be Still, My Soul" inside it, and it had an 8-second reverberation. We are not the best singers. But inside this church, it sounded amazing. My friend Becca and myself are trying to get a group to go there to sing hymns on our own time. We will probably do that soon, because it was amazing.
My friend Jess and me in the Augusta Victoria Church:
Stop # 3: The ancient site of Gibeah! Don't tell me that that sentence doesn't strike excitement into your soul. This was where Jonathan fought the Filistines. And it is right between the ancient lands of Benjamin and Judah. Yeah... Additionally, it was the site of the ancient temple of Saul. Unfortunately, King Hussein of Jordan wanted to build a palace there, so he destroyed the ancient ruins. *moment of silence* But we still found a rock from the originial temple! *cue excitement*
The rock:
That picture of a rock took me ten minutes to upload. Totally worth it.
Next spot was Nabi Samuel. نابي سامول. ّIt's apparently the ancient burial site of the prophet Samuel. Except they got it wrong. But it was a valiant effort!
This spot was neat because the Muslims built a mosque here when the Ottoman Empire conquered the area (Muslims, Christians, and Jews all believe in the prophet Samuel), but the Jews turned parts of it into a synagogue. So it's a Mosque on top and a synagogue on the bottom. I actually got to go into both, and there were Jews studying in the synagogue (which was super small)! My friend Sharla laughs all the time because of how Jewish she thinks I look, and to verify her point, the Jews in the synagogue thought I was Jewish. They kept speaking Hebrew to me and were confused when I told them I never had a Bar-Mitzfah. Haha. They eventually got the point, and then talked to me in English. But it was funny.
Outside Nabi Samuel was a view of the ancient city of GibeoN (different than GibeaH). This place is cool for two reasons: 1) it was the site where Joshua told the sun to stand still so he could protect the people of Gibeon. Also, in 1 Kings 3, it is the site where Solomon asks for wisdom. Here's a picture of my friend Jess and me outside of Nabi Samuel. I just like it because it's super adorable of both of us:
I already uploaded a picture of my friend Troy and me battling outside this area, so I won't upload it again. But pretend I posted that picture here.
2 MORE STOPS AND THEN I'M DONE!
The next stop was the Haas Promenade look-out point. From here we could see the UN building (built, ironically, on the Mount of Evil Counsel), and a bunch of other stuff. This was mostly just a lookout point. Picture of myself on this one. I hate pictures where I'm not with other people, but it gives a better view of the city:
And here's one with my friend Becca:
The FINAL stop: Mount Eljas, a place to commemorate Elijah when he fled from Jezebelle. Roger would be interested to know that from here you could see trenches from the Jordanian side of the 1967 War. So crazy that it was so recently. (this place literally is living history).
On the other side, though, you could see the City of Bethlehem (which is considered to be in the West Bank). We were in what was traditionally considered the Shepherd's Fields, so here we sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful." It was fun. :)
Brother Judd also pointed out that this could easily be the way that Abraham, David, Ruth the gleaner, Joseph and Mary, as well as the way Jesus Christ walked. He also said that it could be the way Nephi and Lehi came. It was a cool thing to note. :)
I'm not uploading any pictures from here because I don't have any particularly good pictures, and it takes a long time to upload. And I'm tired. But pretend like I did because it would be neat.
(/end blog post).
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