Hezekiah's Tunnel and City of David, Pool of Siloam, June 10, 2019

This is on an overlook and you can see the Kidron Valley and the area where David conquered the Jebusites and built his own city.

Underneath, ruins have been found dating from the time of King David

A rare and exciting discovery: A bulla (seal impression) and a 2,600-year-old stamp bearing Hebrew names were uncovered in the City of David. The artifacts were discovered inside a public building that was destroyed during the destruction of the First Temple and were uncovered in archaeological excavations of the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem.The seal impression, dated to the First Temple period, features the words: “(belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King” (LeNathan-Melech Eved HaMelech). The name Nathan-Melech appears once in the Bible, in the second book of Kings 23:11, where he is described as an official in the court of King Josiah, who took part in the religious reform that the king was implementing: “And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the officer, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.”

This is the beginning of Hezekiah's tunnel, built to protect the water source for Jerusalem when it was under siege by Sennacherib.  We walked through the tunnel that still has running water--sometimes up to our thighs and other times to our ankles.  The tunnel is about 4 football fields long.  It was super fun and my pants dried in about 10 minutes, once we were outside!

The Pool of Siloam, as we saw it after getting out of Hezekiah's Tunnel  It looks different from the picture below because a walkway was built on part of the steps.

 

What archaeologists found in 2004:

In 2004, the stepped remains of the ancient Siloam Pool, long thought to be located elsewhere, were uncovered near the City of David. According to the Gospel of John, it was at this sacred Christian site that Jesus healed the blind man. Photo: Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.


 

Light Show in the Old City, June 9, 2019

After dinner at Nora's, we all went to the City of David Light Show, where the history of Jerusalem is depicted on the walls with light.  It was a lot of fun to see it and Jerusalem's long history is always sobering . 

Nora's Home in the Old City

The four service couples, Dennis and Margaret Lifferth, Mark and Mary Ann Morrison, and Mark and Marvel Earnshaw, and we had dinner at Nora's home before going to the King David Light Show.  Nora helps Palestinian women earn money by doing embroidery and other crafts as a non-profit.  The Morrisons, the humanitarian couple, help Nora financially, so we were invited there for dinner.  As you are walking down David St. alley in the Old City, you see what appears to be metal lockers and doors.  But behind those lockers are huge storage spaces and behind the doors are large living areas.   Nora's home is also her office and a small museum.

Nora and one of her helpers who cooked and served the dinner

Just outside Nora's home is what used to be Hezekiah's Pool, now an empty lot

At the light show, which projected pictures on the Old City walls, depicting the history of Jerusalem

June 9, 2019 Bethlehem Branch

Lee and I spoke in the Bethlehem Branch today.  There was one member of the branch there, plus the branch president and his wife and her cousin and wife.  It was a lovely meeting, and taking the Sacrament in such an intimate setting is lovely too.  I took pictures of the parking lot that we parked in before going through the security building--as we pass from Israel into the Palestinian territory (Bethlehem). 

Then we walked to the church building:

After the meeting Pres. Spendlove took us and his family to see the WALL that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem.  Apparently, Banksy, and other graffiti artists have painted all over the wall.

There is a building that is called "The Walled Off Hotel" (a play on words for Waldorf Hotel) which has a museum in it.

Next door is the Wall-Mart, which mostly sells spray paint, so you can go pain the wall.

And just so you know that we have real lives too, after getting back from Bethlehem, we went grocery shopping, did the laundry and ironed shirts (while HE who will remain unnamed took a nap :) 

June 8, 2019 Baptism at the River Jordan

Joel Crawford, the son of one of the expat families here, was baptized on Saturday at the Jordan River.  The river looks very muddy and it took a lot of courage for him to get in.  But it was a great service, with their family all participating.  We drove from Jerusalem down in elevation well below sea level to the banks of the Jordan River.  You can see how arid and dry it is.  I included a road sign directing to the Dead Sea and Jericho.

June 3 Collaborating on a new hymn

After the evening dinner, Lee and Cheyenne went up to work on a hymn they are writing/composing together.  It started on Saturday when Cheyenne had written words to a hymn and Lee volunteered to write the music.  They are still working on it, but Lee played the music as part of the prelude on Saturday for church.  That Saturday, unbeknownst to Lee, Michael Ballim was in town and complimented Lee on his glorious organ playing (Lee is especially good at prelude music and adding oomph to the hymns).  Lee replied that he was really  just an amateur, but Michael Ballim said, "No, you're not an amateur!"

June 3, 2019 Friends for dinner

We service couples have many assignments, but we also try to get together socially.  This night we had Cheyenne Campbell (the student who stayed here), Dennis and Margaret Lifferth, Jen and her son Ethan Hopkin, and Kivi and Lucy Baron, who Jen was babysitting for 10 days while Ross and Katherine went to Greece together.  We wanted to give Jen a break from cooking and it was fun to have everyone together.  In the end, the girls made mud pies while we talked.

June 5, 2019 Elder Cook speaks at the BYU Jerusalem Center

Elder Cook came to the Jerusalem Center and spoke with Rabbi Michael Melchior as part of the Jewish-Latter-day Saint Academic Dialogue Project, directed this year by Shon Hopkin, a BYU professor here this year.  Elder Cook spoke about listening and learning from each other.  He showed scriptural basis for commonalities between the two groups.  Rabbi Melchior, founder of the Mosaica Center for Religious Conflict Transformation in the Middle East.  He is also the Chief Rabbi of Norway.  He spoke about peace is a gift of God to the righteous and until Arabs and Jews are willing to meet each other as equals, God cannot send down peace upon this land.  He referenced Numbers 6: 24-26, the High Priestly Benediction, which says, "The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Lee and I sat in the front row, as Lee played an interlude piece on the piano, Hine Ma Tov, which Rabbi Malchior began to sing.  

Odds and Ends, May and early June, 2019

It is so hot right now that I don't go outside except for the tours (where now I carry an umbrella to shade from the sun), but the last week of May, I looked out the window and saw billowing smoke.  I went outside to investigate and the hillside just below the BYU Jerusalem Center was on fire!  I called Security to make sure they knew about it, which they did, and they sent the Maintenance crew down to fight the fire.  Luckily, they got it out, but it was a moment of wondering if we should evacuate. I didn't think to take a picture, but it about the size of the fire and the dried grasses.

FIRE NEAR THE JERUSALEM CENTER

Each Sunday night we (The Jerusalem Center) has a concert to which the public is invited.  The Auditorium is generally full, as it is premier Israeli musicians who come to perform--often members of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.  Several times Lee, who is the Emcee, is also asked to be the page turner for the pianist.  I got a picture of him yesterday during the practice.  It's all in shadow, as I didn't want to disturb the pianist and the drapes were still closed due to the bright sun (we opened it for the concert), but still, it gives an idea of what it would be like during performance.

LEE, THE BEST PAGE TURNER

ROAD RAGE:

  We were driving in horrific traffic and pulled into a left lane behind a bus.  Our tail end was partly in the other lane (this happens all the time here) and the man behind us was mad that he couldn't move.  He yelled and made gestures at us, but there was nothing we could do.  He had boxed us in between his car and the bus.  He got so mad that he got out of his car (at this point I locked my side of the car) and ran to the front of the car and took several pictures of us and the license plate.  Just then the light turned, the bus moved, and so did we.  Then the man was left getting honked at by other cars because now HE was holding up the traffic!  There are many traffic nightmares here.  BTW have I mentioned that I don't drive here!  (I again, didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of him taking a picture of us, so the picture below is a stock photo I got off the internet to give you an idea)

BAKING:

Baking is always an adventure.  Two days ago the student that had to stay here came over and we made cookies.  The were flat and needed more salt.  So today, while making more cookies as a
"reward" for coming to an extra Choir rehearsal, I decided to take the Nestle chocolate chip recipe and tweak it so it would produce a better result.  And it worked!  I added more flour, salt, baking soda and a 1/4 tsp baking powder and had lovely cookies, if I do say so myself!  Here, there is not good brown sugar, so I add molasses to white sugar.  There is something strange about the butter, but there is no English on the package, so I can't tell what is different.  But it takes almost a cup more flour to make the cookies turn out well.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Today was the Sabbath.  The students are in Greece so I (Shawna) led the music in Sacrament meeting and then played the piano for Primary.  I think leading the music is my least favorite job and playing for Primary my favorite.  We had about 100 people at the meeting, mostly tourists, but afterwards, the Jerusalem Branch had a potluck dinner.  I brought a huge crockpot full of homemade chili, cornbread and cookies.  They were all eaten!  Cameron's friend, Brigham Wilson, who grew up by the Henstroms, and is a 2nd cousin to Dow Wilson, was here and stayed for the potluck and conversation afterward.  We drove him to Tel Aviv, so he could fly out the next day and I took a couple of pictures.  It was a beautiful day at the beach and hundreds of tourists and locals were walking, swimming, and enjoying!

Lunch in the Shuk--May 30, 2019

The Shuk, as it is lovingly called by locals and tourists is a maze of alleys with all kinds of spices, fruits, vegetables, cheese, restaurants and fun!  We have gone a couple of times.  This day I went with Cheyenne, a student who had to stay here during the Greece trip because she got sick, Jen Hopkin (wife of one of the professors) and Margaret Lifferth (here with her husband, Dennis, as a service couple).  We decided to get lunch and explore a little. 

 

Jen recommended  a vegetarian place called Jahnun Bar, which says it serves "Yemenite Fast Food"I had a Malawach, which is caramelized onions,, tomato and egg wrapped in a cross between Phyllo dough and a pancake. 

I tried to get a picture of the chef flipping it 4 feet in the air, but could never get the shot--still it was a fun place to eat and we got there just before a long line started.