I can hardly believe how fast everything moves here. I've only been here 50 hours and I've accomplished more than I ever thought I would in the first day and a half. I just wanted to do a quick update.
This afternoon, I found out some kids were going to the Garden Tomb. I wasn't going to go because we're going to the Garden Tomb next week, and I wanted time to spiritually prepare. But my talk was on following the spirit, and the spirit was reminding me of a promise I made to someone before I came that I would never say no to an opportunity. So I accepted.
It was so good to get back in the city, and we're even starting to find out way around. We got straight to the Garden Tomb without any trouble. This is where we, as Mormons, generally believe Christ was resurrected. On our way there, a bunch of the people in the streets knew we were Mormons. Haha! It was awesome. I'm smiling just thinking about it. They will say things like, "MORMONS! JOSEPH SMITH!" hahahaha! Or, "MORMONS! We have olive wood. Come find." Or, my personal favorite of the day was as we were walking into the Garden Tomb, a man there said, "Hi Mormon. Bye Mormon." HAHA! I love it!
So we got to the Garden Tomb, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Jerusalem so far. So gorgeous. Everything is so well preserved, there are birds singing, and it is such a peaceful place. You can definitely feel the spirit there. Another one of my favorite things about the Garden Tomb is all of the different Christians that congregate there. There were so many Christian groups singing hymns in so many languages (I think I recognized Russian, but I'm not sure). It was beautiful. I sat there with my friends, and we just pondered. Some of them went into the tomb, but I had no desire to wait in the line, so I went and looked at Golgotha instead. The entire place was really a spiritual experience. It was so beautiful there. We were only there for about 40 minutes because we had to go back for dinner, but I will go again next week. It's only about a 25-minute walk away. I might even go before next week. We, as Mormons, aren't allowed to read the Book of Mormon there, or even bring a Quadruple combination, but it is a great place to sit and ponder.
After we got back, and after we had dinner, a group of us was going to go to the Orson Hyde Gardens. Unfortunately, it is a dangerous place to go on the weekends, so we went to the Garden of Gethsemane instead. It was really beautiful there. It's about a 20 minute walk away, and it's a lot different than I expected. It's about the size of my old apartment (really small), and just a small, fenced-off garden just on the outskirts of the city. I believe some of the trees date back to the time of Christ, so that's cool. But the olive trees are beautiful, and, like the Garden Tomb, it was one of the places in the City where I have really felt the spirit. It's just so peaceful and beautiful there. I got a lot of pictures, of both the Garden, and of people there. It was so beautiful.
I can't believe that in just one day I saw the Garden Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane, and when I woke up this morning I wasn't even planning on it. Heck, when I woke up this morning, the biggest thing on my mind was speaking in Church. So crazy.
Tonight, they had a talent show (of sorts). It was essentially just a way for President Ohman to find out who could sing, play the piano, play the organ, etc. There are some unbelievably talented people here with me. One of my favorites was a girl who played the organ. It was amazing.
I wanted to show that I could play the piano, so I had a piece of music that was an accompaniment for a singer. I knew Michelle could sing and wanted to show that she could sing, so I actually showed it to her, said, "Can you sing this?" and two minutes later we were on the stage. Haha. She actually did amazingly. And it's a beautiful piece to begin with.
But, I feel like I'm really growing here. And, I've only been here for 50 1/2 hours. :) That's less than twice as long as I was flying. Haha. I hope that sentence made said. I'm really tired. I haven't slept since 6:00 this morning, when I woke up to finish my talk, so I'm going to bed now. You guys would be proud that I kept myself from napping so that I could sleep better at night. :) I feel like I'm getting on a good schedule. I start classes tomorrow and have to finish my reading in the morning. Wish me luck!
This afternoon, I found out some kids were going to the Garden Tomb. I wasn't going to go because we're going to the Garden Tomb next week, and I wanted time to spiritually prepare. But my talk was on following the spirit, and the spirit was reminding me of a promise I made to someone before I came that I would never say no to an opportunity. So I accepted.
It was so good to get back in the city, and we're even starting to find out way around. We got straight to the Garden Tomb without any trouble. This is where we, as Mormons, generally believe Christ was resurrected. On our way there, a bunch of the people in the streets knew we were Mormons. Haha! It was awesome. I'm smiling just thinking about it. They will say things like, "MORMONS! JOSEPH SMITH!" hahahaha! Or, "MORMONS! We have olive wood. Come find." Or, my personal favorite of the day was as we were walking into the Garden Tomb, a man there said, "Hi Mormon. Bye Mormon." HAHA! I love it!
So we got to the Garden Tomb, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Jerusalem so far. So gorgeous. Everything is so well preserved, there are birds singing, and it is such a peaceful place. You can definitely feel the spirit there. Another one of my favorite things about the Garden Tomb is all of the different Christians that congregate there. There were so many Christian groups singing hymns in so many languages (I think I recognized Russian, but I'm not sure). It was beautiful. I sat there with my friends, and we just pondered. Some of them went into the tomb, but I had no desire to wait in the line, so I went and looked at Golgotha instead. The entire place was really a spiritual experience. It was so beautiful there. We were only there for about 40 minutes because we had to go back for dinner, but I will go again next week. It's only about a 25-minute walk away. I might even go before next week. We, as Mormons, aren't allowed to read the Book of Mormon there, or even bring a Quadruple combination, but it is a great place to sit and ponder.
After we got back, and after we had dinner, a group of us was going to go to the Orson Hyde Gardens. Unfortunately, it is a dangerous place to go on the weekends, so we went to the Garden of Gethsemane instead. It was really beautiful there. It's about a 20 minute walk away, and it's a lot different than I expected. It's about the size of my old apartment (really small), and just a small, fenced-off garden just on the outskirts of the city. I believe some of the trees date back to the time of Christ, so that's cool. But the olive trees are beautiful, and, like the Garden Tomb, it was one of the places in the City where I have really felt the spirit. It's just so peaceful and beautiful there. I got a lot of pictures, of both the Garden, and of people there. It was so beautiful.
I can't believe that in just one day I saw the Garden Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane, and when I woke up this morning I wasn't even planning on it. Heck, when I woke up this morning, the biggest thing on my mind was speaking in Church. So crazy.
Tonight, they had a talent show (of sorts). It was essentially just a way for President Ohman to find out who could sing, play the piano, play the organ, etc. There are some unbelievably talented people here with me. One of my favorites was a girl who played the organ. It was amazing.
I wanted to show that I could play the piano, so I had a piece of music that was an accompaniment for a singer. I knew Michelle could sing and wanted to show that she could sing, so I actually showed it to her, said, "Can you sing this?" and two minutes later we were on the stage. Haha. She actually did amazingly. And it's a beautiful piece to begin with.
But, I feel like I'm really growing here. And, I've only been here for 50 1/2 hours. :) That's less than twice as long as I was flying. Haha. I hope that sentence made said. I'm really tired. I haven't slept since 6:00 this morning, when I woke up to finish my talk, so I'm going to bed now. You guys would be proud that I kept myself from napping so that I could sleep better at night. :) I feel like I'm getting on a good schedule. I start classes tomorrow and have to finish my reading in the morning. Wish me luck!
:)
ReplyDeleteI AM proud of you not napping. Good work. Also, I am sure your talk was incredible! Way to go!
ReplyDelete