Jerusalem!

November 18-21—Jerusalem!

After church, we drove to Jerusalem. We stopped at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. It actually is an entire area of land dedicated to the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, as well as those who tried to help the Jews during that time. There is a grove of six million trees planted just below the museum. Each tree dedicated to each holocaust victim. We walked through the children’s memorial, made up of five candles and twenty mirrors. However, when you walk through, because of the mirrors, it looks as if candles are burning from floor to ceiling. The children’s names, ages and place where they lived were announced as we walked through the memorial in both English and Hebrew. There are several gardens and memorials throughout before you head into the museum that are dedicated to various holocaust victims and those who helped or tried to help the Jews. We were only given 45 minutes inside the museum…I could’ve easily spent a few hours there. The most moving section, for me, was the hall of records. As you walk into this circular room, there are binders which hold all six million names of those who were killed in the Holocaust. From Yad Vashem, we headed to the Manorah (sp?) that is located behind the Knesset (the parliament building). We checked into our hotel around 8pm.

We left the next morning at 7am for Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall are located! The Dome of the Rock is pretty incredible. We had a lecture by there about the history behind it. Then we headed down to the Western Wall. I loved the western wall. We were there on Bar Mitzvah day. We saw men in their traditional robes and the 12 year old boys reading from the Torah. The female members of the families were on the women’s side of the wall, standing on chairs, cheering and throwing candy on the men! It was so interesting! There were several other people there to pray and many people write their prayers on slips of paper which they stuck into the crevices of the wall. It is a very holy place to the Jewish people. From there, we drove to the Garden of Gethsemane. However, it closed at noon, we were not able to go inside. WE then headed to St. Peter’s Church, where Peter denied the Christ the third time. We saw where Jesus was imprisoned for a short time. We then went to the Garden Tomb. We were able to see Golgotha, which now lies above an Arab bus depot, then we saw the tomb, and then we had a lecture about the last week of the Savior’s life. What was so cool about the area around the Garden Tomb were the pavilions set up around the tomb for different groups to do worship services. So as we were walking through the garden area, people were singing and worshipping in all different languages. I loved that! Our group went from the tomb, back to the Western Wall to go into the tunnels being excavated behind and under the Western Wall! I had no idea…and I can’t imagine digging those out either! WE had to walk through the Arab quarter at 9[m at night through the narrow streets of the Old City. We were suppose to have an armed guard with us, but none of the guards even followed us! We made it to our bus alright, thankfully!

On Tuesday, our guide took us to the city overlook, which is just across the way way from Dome of the Rock. We went to see the Pools of Bethsada (sp?), and there is a church called St. Anne’s church with amazing acoustics! A couple groups of the kids sang hymns and then we all sang a few hymns together. Our tour guide told us how lucky we were that no other group came in during the 30 minutes we occupied the church. Usually it is very busy. From St. Anne’s Church, we took a tour through the Old City. We stopped at the place where Jesus was tried, scourged and where the crown of thorns was placed on his head. We could see the inscriptions in the stone of the games the Romans played with him there to mock him. As we walked through the Old City, it was really quite interesting. There were mostly vendors, which we did get a little time to shop there, we saw how they transport food. We saw a guy riding a donkey and people balancing big trays of things on their heads. Some people had carts and they attached a small tire and chain to the back. As they went down the steps, they would put their foot on the tire to use as a break! In the afternoon, we went to Palestine. Someone told me to put a ring on my left finger because it would lessen any problems I might have with the men there. I joked with John, who was sitting with me on the bus, that I was now his pseudo-wife if anyone approached me. I didn’t have any problems though. There is a huge wall being built between Palestine and Jerusalem. Apparently, it has already lessened the amount of violence. Our bus driver and tour guide could not go into Palestine with us because it is not safe for them. So we had to board another bus which took us through the checkpoint and into the city of Bethlehem. The people of Palestine rely heavily on tourism. We saw a church where supposedly Christ was born. What is interesting about this church is there are three different churches inside. Armenian Orthodox, Catholic, and….oh..I can’t remember the third! But you walk into this huge hall and at the front of the hall are the three quarters. We walked down into an underground cave to the spot they believe Christ was born and we sang a few Christmas songs. What was scary about being in the church were the armed guards with their fingers on the triggers….eek! As we drove out of Palestine, there were two murals on the wall. If you analyze them, they can be a little unnerving. When we stopped at the checkpoint, two armed guards boarded our bus to “check” us. They had their gunpoints up and their fingers close to the triggers…it was quite an interesting experience. The kids were a little freaked out, I guess I was a little as well! We were very happy to be back on the other side! We were dropped off at our hotel a little early so that we could pack up for our early morning departure to the airport….3:30am was the time we needed to be on the bus. As we went through security, we were questioned three times about the group we were with and our belongings. My bag did not meet the security requirements because I was carrying a book. They did not open my bag, they simply asked me what book I was carrying, where I got it, and when I bought my suitcase (which I thought was a little random). I passed after answering all those questions. I'd rather have them be extremely thorough, than let stuff slip. We flew to SLC via Vienna and JFK. Total travel time, from the time we left for the airport….30 hours!

I learned so much from this trip and it has made me thirsty for more knowledge and understanding about that area of the world! I have been asked to return in May as a chaperone, and again in October for the peace conference. What I enjoyed most about the trip was digging! I loved it. It was so interesting! I thought I worked hard, but after being there and doing manual labor...I need to improve on my work ethic skills! I also enjoyed getting to know the people I had the oppportunity to travel with, especially the kids. They are a good group of kids, and at times they probably saw me as the "bad cop" a I enforce the standards and rules set for them, etc....a lot of it was more to keep them safe and ensure them a good experience, but they were a lot of fun and I look forward to working with them in the future!