Goodbye to Winter Semester Students, April 24, 2019

The final day for the students arrived on April 24, 2019.  They had to put all their bed linens in piles and clean their rooms of all garbage and set their packed suitcases up on the 8th floor.  I helped with room checkout, which was actually fun because I could compliment the students and say goodbye.  I was surprised at the mounds of linens, the difficulty packing (most students put it off until the last minute) and the fondness with which students said goodbye to me.  The students are the best part of being here in Jerusalem! 

Surprise Visit from Mitt Romney! April 23, 2019

The students had dinner and a memories night on April 23rd.  While eating dinner, an incredible BBQ of kabobs, we were told that Senator Mitt Romney and his wife were coming in for a visit.  The staff quickly set up a microphone, very close to where Lee and I were eating, and Mitt and his wife spoke to the students. Their message was that what the students would remember were the friendships they had developed and the testimony of the Savior they had gained.  Sis. Romney talked about the importance of the family and how her husband always told her she was doing the most important work of all.

Pater Noster and Dominus Flevit, April 22, 2019

On this same trip we went to Pater Noster, which has a cave where it is believed that Jesus used as a place to teach because it was private and cool.  A modern church is built there now, but the cave can be walked through.  It is believed that part of the teachings were the Lord's prayer, and on the grounds there are plaques of the Lord's Prayer in many languages.

Finally, we went to Dominus Flevit, that has a beautiful view of the Old City.  It is believed that this is where Christ (Matthew 23:37) said that he would have gathered the people as a hen gathers her chicks.  We were told that in Greek that phrase reads "but you did not desire it" instead of "you would not".  It was total rejection of Christ.  The alter at the modern church has a painting of a hen.  We took some pictures of the Old City from the church.  One thing that the the church builders did, was put a cross in the window so that when you look straight ahead the cross is superimposed on the Dome of the Rock!

Many Jewish graves--ancient and modern are placed

Church of Bethphage, April 22, 2019

After going to Lazarus's Tomb, we got back on the bus and drove 30 minutes back to Bethphage, to see the Church of Bethphage, that celebrates the place where Jesus began His triumphal entry.  We look at 1st Century tombs, that were places where someone had dug holes in rocks to place the body. One of the tombs had a stone that could be rolled over the opening.

The church has medieval frescoes.  The drawings depict the meeting between Jesus and Martha; two disciples bringing Jesus an ass and a colt, Lazarus rising from the dead, and on the side facing the altar, a drawing of a crowd of people holding palms.

Lazarus's Tomb, Bethany April April 22, 2019

We joined the students on a bus ride into Bethany, where Jesus stayed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  This area is about 1.2 miles from Jerusalem, but it is now in the Palestinian area and can only be accessed by a 30 minute drive, due to the walls that have been put up.  This is one place that historian's are 99% certain is the real tomb.  It is now part of a Franciscan church, but is accessed by climbing down a steep rock-hewn staircase and finally getting into an area that one has stoop to down to enter.  Bro. Barron spoke to the students before going into the tomb (only 4 people could go in at a time due to the small space).  He mentioned that Jesus came on the 4th day of Lazarus's death.  Jewish tradition was that within 3 days, the person's spirit hovered in the tomb, but by the 4th day, all was gone and the person was dead in every sense.  Jesus raised Lazarus on the 4th day after his death to show that He had power over death.  The Pharisees sought to kill Lazarus also, because so many people accepted Christ because of Lazarus. 

The drive into Bethay

Standing in Lazarus's Tomb

 Climbing down the stairs to get to the tomb

 The Byzantine church that still exists but has been replaced by the Franciscan church for actual services.When we went into the Franciscan church we sang "He Is Risen" just before the Mass began--this was by invitation of the Friar.

The Upper Room night, April 20, 2019

The Upper Room night is a student experience of what the Last Supper may have been like.  The triclinium table was set on the stage of the auditorium, ready for the meal.  Students read scriptures and Bro. Skinner introduced the evening by saying that in this setting, perhaps Peter sat where the servant usually sits, and that is why Peter claimed that he should wash the Savior's feet. There were three musical numbers; two from the choir that Lee played for.  It was a very lovely, contemplative evening overlooking the Old City, knowing that we were just yards away from where it happened.

 Kathryn Andelin, Briton DeMars, Libby Templeton, Sam Halterman, Madison Van Vleet, Abraham Smith-Driggs, Rachel Clayton, Caleb Hintze  sang "Mary, Why Weepest Thou?"

 The choir sang "Behold The Wounds In Jesus' Hands" with Lee at the organ

Triclinium Table

Choir singing " Our Savior's Love"

Masada and the Dead Sea April 15, 2019

At Herod's Winter palace at Masada--it was in the 70's but the direct sun still was hot, so I wore a hat and sunglasses.  The efforts Herod had men go to, to build this incredible palace is impossible for me to comprehend.  The hubris of such a man is unthinkable to me.

On the air conditioned bus after going to the Dead Sea.  Lee and I enjoyed watching the students get in and float, but we had no desire to ourselves.  Many students got salt in their eyes and in small nicks in their skin and were very surprised at how painful it was.

Qumran and En Gedi, April 15, 2019

Monday, April 15 we took a field trip bus with the students to visit Qumran, En Gedi, Masada and the Dead Sea.

At Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered:

Cave 4 where many scraps of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Other caves had more intact scrolls that had been put in jars and were better preserved.

Below is a picture of us after having climbed up and up and up and finally reached this water fall in En Gedi.  Several of the students got in the water and under the falls and had a grand time.  It was sometimes a treacherous climb, with wet rocks causing slippery conditions.

 Under this lush length of bamboo trees is a very dark pathway that we traversed to get to the Falls featured above. It was pretty treacherous as the rocks were wet.  I fell a few times.

Bro. Barron talked about 1 Samuel 23:29 and 24:1 where it states that David went to the wilderness of En-gedi.  Were these one of the caves where Saul slept while David, not willing to kill him, cut off part of Saul's skirt so Saul would know that David could have killed him?

I love 1 Samuel 24:10 where David says to Saul:  "Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee to day into  mine hand in the cave; and some bade me kill thee:  but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed."
Bro. Barron then likened this to our day, when we might feel tempted to say something negative against the Lord's anointed--be it the Prophet, Apostles, Stake President or Bishop.  He said that even though men, especially a Bishop or Stake President might have personality quirks or things that annoy us or that we don't understand, that we should not "put forth our hand (or mouth) against them".  He gave an example from his life when he and his wife planned to move and had put down $1000 in earnest money on the house.  Right after this the Stake President learned that Bro. Barron was moving and felt a deep feeling from the Holy Ghost that Barrons should not move.  He actually called Bro. Barron and told him that as Stake President, he didn't feel good about the move.  They later met and talked about it.  Bro. Barron and his wife decided to follow the counsel of the Stake President and lost the $1000, which was a huge sacrifice at the time.  Bro. Barron then said that that decision brought untold blessings to them, which they could not anticipate.  He didn't elaborate.  But he did tell the students that they should not speak against the Lord's anointed.

Palm Sunday, April 14, 2019

Lee and I attended the Palm Sunday celebration that started at the House of the Early Fig Church in Bethphage, where the people shouted "Hosanna" and put down clothes and palm leaves in the road, to herald Christ, as their King.  We walked to the church and were part of thousands of Christians who were also there to commemorate Palm Sunday.  Young children sold Palm fronds.  There was an official processional with the Catholic hierarchy,  then nuns, monks, a group called "Hebrew Speakers for Christ, Boy and Girl scouts troops, bands, etc.  We did not do the whole walk, as we had to get back to the Center to prepare for that night's concert, but we enjoyed seeing how Palm Sunday was celebrated.  Here are some pictures:

We Dig It ! (we dug it), April 7, 2019

Lee and I went on our first (and probably last) archeological dig on April 7th (Sunday is not the Sabbath here).  During excavation to build a new freeway several years ago, stones were found, placed in such a way that it became obvious it was an ancient building.  Excavation stopped and the site preserved (the freeway became an overpass) and the archeological excavation started. It is estimated that this was from the time of Hezekiah and appears to be a temple complex with other governmental buildings. This is about 6 miles from Jerusalem. Here is what had already been dug in the last few years:

The picture above is of large graineries, where grain was stored.  This is considered too vast of storage to be for a village, and it is posited that perhaps is was a storage place to feed the people in Jerusalem.

At first we were asked to work with another seasoned volunteer from Czech Republic, who had worked the site since it opened, and we scraped dirt to get down to a floor level that could be seen from the vertical cut.  We found lots of pottery shards, which were all saved.  Pictured below are Lee and me with a large shard that looked like the top, rounded molding of a jug.

While we were working another group found an intact item that we were asked not to disclose, so I'm not showing a picture of it.  But it was very exciting!

I don't know if we were doing a bad job or they just didn't need us anymore, but we were reassigned to another area to dig out dirt with pick ax (Lee) and shovels (Shawna) that had underneath all the dirt, a floor, which had been covered with dirt sometime in the past to preserve it for this year's dig.  For 90 minutes we pickaxed to loosen the dirt, shoveled dirt into sandbags to make a perimeter, and carried buckets of dirt to a ravine and tossed the dirt out so the buckets could be refilled.  It was horrible.  We never uncovered the floor either.

After 90 minutes straight, we were completely done in and were supposed to be there for 4 more hours!  I knew there was no way we could keep digging for that long, and luckily, the head archaeologist called for a break.  We consulted with the other couple we had come with and the wife said she had a term paper she hadn't started that needed to be written, so we decided to go home early.  It's a good thing too, because it took four hours just to recover enough to get ready for the concert we were in charge of that night.  The next day I could hardly move or moved with a lot of pain of previously unused muscles.  Still, we are really glad that we got to experience an archeological dig!  We know more now than we did!

 

This is the ravine where we dumped over 100 buckets of dirt. This doesn't count the 30 sandbags we filled with dirt too.

Some pottery shards we found while digging.

General Conference Time! April 6-7, 2019

We usually make "Conference Cake" to eat at General Conference time, but this year we made "Conference Cinnamon Rolls" for the student group that came to our apartment to do their Come Follow Me lesson.  In Jerusalem, the Saturday AM session was broadcast at 7 PM, so we had regular church in the morning, then the Come Follow Me group in the afternoon and then watched the first session of General Conference.  Lee and I watched the other sessions during the week, but today the Jerusalem Branch watched the rest of the sessions in place of having Sacrament Meeting.  Favorite talks?  I loved Elder Renlund, Sis. Eubank, and Elder McKay's talks. I felt that Elder Renlund's talk was about my wonderful parents, who showed small acts of faith and reaped a huge bonfire of blessings.  I am ever grateful to them.
Lee's favorite was Pres. Eyring's "The Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells".

Kotel Tunnel, April 4, 2019

Lee and I went with the students to do the Kotel Tunnel, and it was fascinating to see parts of the Western Wall, which surrounded the Temple Mount in the time of Jesus.  The part that is seen, where people put their prayers and messages is much smaller than what has been excavated underneath.  Here is an explanation: 

After the Six-Day War, the Ministry of Religious Affairs began the rigorous process of uncovering the entire length of the Western Wall. 

The Western Wall Tunnels were finally excavated almost twenty years later. In spite of the numerous obstacles this project initially proposed, archaeologists were able to uncover 2,000 years of Jerusalem’s rich history. 

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These discoveries included ancient cisterns, aqueducts from the Hasmonean period, and remains of the Herodian road which ran parallel to the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall of the Temple Mount is one of the most magnificent and significant remnants in Jerusalem from the days of the Second Temple, destroyed approximately 2,000 years ago.

The Western Wall stretches along almost half a kilometer, but today, the part visible to all at the Western Wall Plaza is a mere 70 meters of it. The tour of the Western Wall Tunnels (Kotel Tunnel) allows visitors to reach the segments of the Wall hidden from view, and to touch the original and special stones that tell the story of the Jewish nation. Visitors to the Western Wall Tunnels walk through ancient and fascinating subterranean spaces with exquisite archeological findings, such as large stone arches, water pits, an ancient water aqueduct that ends at the Strouthion Pool, and more.

The Ritual-Bath Complex and the Hasmonean Hall

Over the last several years, archaeological excavations have been conducted underneath the usual tour route in the Western Wall Tunnels. These have uncovered magnificent ritual baths from the Second Temple period. One of them even has water today! The site includes the Hasmonean Hall where the members of the Sanhedrin apparently gathered outside the Temple Mount, and the Hall of Eras where remnants were found dating back to the First Temple and up to modern times.

The Great Bridge Excavations

The Great Bridge served those walking between the Upper City (where the Jewish Quarter is today) and the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period. It also carried water coming from Solomon’s Pools adjacent to Bethlehem to the Temple Mount. Recently, the bridge’s arches were excavated, uncovering a rich array of remnants, unique etchings, and much more.

Section A Excavations

Fascinating remnants that tell the story of Jerusalem throughout the ages have been uncovered under one of the most important synagogues in Jerusalem, Ohel Yitzchak, from the 19th century. The remnants found here span periods from the Second Temple to the days of the British Mandate. They convey the stratification of the city as history unfolded.