Western Wall and the Garden Tomb

This week has been incredible! We started off the week with a geography field trip visiting the Augusta Victoria Tower, Elias Monastery, Nebi Samwill and other overlooks of places surrounding Jerusalem. At the overlooks we could see the Mt. of Olives, Kidron Valley, City of David and Mt. Moriah (where the First and Second temples were built, where the Dome of the Rock now sits). The Elias Monastery overlooks Bethlehem and just behind it is where the 6 Day War took place- we stood at the bunkers and trenches for our lesson- a little overwhelming to think about. From the look out at Nabi Samwil (Nabi is Hebrew for Prophet, Samwil- Samuel) we could see the Benjamin Plateau where 70% of the Old Testament took place. This overlook also held the cenotaph for the prophet Samuel and a synagogue as well. It was a great field trip to get a good overview of the locations of everything. So throughout this week our teacher was able to just point at a map or look outside and we would know where the event took place that we were studying that day. It has been so fun to go on the balcony of the Jerusalem Center while studying the Old Testament to help place everything in my mind- when will I get to do that ever again?!?
With all us girls dressed with clothing to the wrists and ankles and our boys with Kippas on, we were able to witness the Jewish welcoming of Shabbat (the Sabbath) at the Western Wall. The men and women were separated by a perpendicular wall. It was so moving to watch them reading the Tora out loud and rocking back and forth toward the wall. On the men’s side, they also sang and danced in circles to welcome Shabbat. They worship at the wall because it is the closest they can get to where the Holy of Holies was before the temple was destroyed. They don’t even have a temple there but yet they worship there each week, many every day. Many of us felt the spirit there as we witnessed their dedication to God and their religion. It made me reflect my temple attendance and ponder about my dedication to the Lord. They regard this site so holy that when they are done praying at the wall, they walk back wards so that they never turn their back toward it. What an experience it was to witness this.




After sun set we couldn't use our cameras at the wall because Shabbat had started, so this is our picture shot just outside the wall with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

The crowning experience of the week was visiting the Garden Tomb. Not only were the surroundings a gorgeous garden, but it was the most peaceful place we’ve encountered so far, and probably will remain the most peaceful of our trip. The garden is in the middle of the city and neighborhood just outside the Old City walls. It was incredible to me how amazingly quiet and tranquil the atmosphere was for its’ surroundings, like we had entered onto temple grounds. We had a guided tour of the garden which ended at the tomb. I felt the spirit very strongly as our guide (a Christian pastor from England) bore his testimony that our Savior was resurrected and rose on the third day and that this was where it had taken place. Our group gathered after going through the tomb to sing hymns about Jesus Christ and we all took time to write in our journals while we were there. I’m excited to go back and spend more Sunday afternoons there.



Going into the Tomb



The director, Brother Brown told us that when he accompanied President Hinckley to the Garden Tomb, he (Pres. Hinckley) stopped in front of this sign and said, "I do!". So do I.