Off and Running!

So today I got to take a quick tour around the city of Jerusalem!  It is absolutely the most amazing city ever, and it’s so eclectic!  So we walk down Mount Scopus (where the Jerusalem Center (JC) is located) into the Kidron Valley and on our way down we passed a hospital, it looks nothing like a hospital in the United States, it’s pretty much an old rundown building with a couple of rooms, and that is where women deliver their babies!  I hope I get a chance to do some service work there. 

So we kept going and started to walk up the other side of the Kidron Valley. 

As we looked over the valley from the other side we could see the Hebrew University that looks a lot like the JC (we share Mount Scopus with it) and also the Orson Hyde Garden, which actually leads to the Garden of Gethsemane!  Crazy I know, the Garden of Gethsemane is barely a 5-minute walk from where I am living for the next 4 months! So we continued on and after another 2 minutes we had reached the Gate that led to the Garden Tomb, which is where many believe Christ’s body was buried for 3 days before he was resurrected.  We didn’t get to tour anything today, but hey I have 4 months to do it all!! 

So we walked through East Jerusalem, which looks very rundown in an American’s opinion but I like the feeling its different, and I like different.  We ran into a bunch of different vendors who were so excited that the Mormons were back in town.  And Brother and Sister Condi if you happen to read this I met Jimmy today!!  I told him I knew you and he was so excited!  I will have to go back and visit him.  So finally we got to the Damascus Gate where we entered the Old City, and it was like hopping in the Tardis (for all you Dr. Who fans) and going back some 2,000 years!  Although I was still reminded I was in the 21^st century because there were fake designer bags hanging everywhere for sale :p  We walked through the tiny streets and past all of these vendors.  We stopped for a bit at an Austrian Hospice to get a little peace and quiet.  We were able to go up to the roof and see everything we had walked through so far, and boy it didn’t feel like we had walked very far but we actually had!  We got to see different towers that were built by different churches hundreds of years ago as their followers began to take pilgrimages to the Holy Land.  As we went back down to the street we stopped for a second to look inside of our first church that was located in the Hospice, and the detail and the care that goes into each and every church is amazing!  The murals and the overall workmanship must have taken years!

My favorite was when we went to the Holy Church of the Sepulchre, which is run by three different churches, which is of course just asking for argument and contention, so the key of the church is actually owned and used by a single family that is not member to any of the three churches and the key is passed down from generation to generation!  The Ethiopians, the Greek Orthodox, and something that starts with an “A” but I am totally blanking out… well they operate the church.  Anyways within this church there are so many different things!  There is a marble slab that many believe is where Christ’s body was prepared.  There is also a hole in the ground, which is supposedly in the same place where the hole was dug for Christ’s cross when he was crucified.  Finally, they also have a tomb in the church where others believe is the place where Christ was laid for 3 days before he was resurrected (so there are 2 places in total where people believe Christ laid for 3 days). 

Even if these people were wrong and Christ’s body was somewhere completely different… I don’t think it really matters.  What matter is the fact that millions of people love their Savior so much and will do anything they can to come closer to Him.  It really hit me today that it truly must have taken divine intervention for such a humble shepherd like Christ, who taught simple obedience and kindness, to have such an awesome effect on the world for thousands of years after his death.  His Gospel is true.  I know that I am living for the next 4 months in a very holy place that holds the respect of most of the world.  I can’t wait to be able to spend more time in this city, to walk where Christ and his disciples walked, or to kneel where Christ was crucified.  My life in general… is truly about to be changed!!