Old City Jerusalem

I don't know where to begin. We went into Jerusalem. I think all I can do is post pictures and give brief descriptions. It was amazing and I am still processing what I saw. So let's take a walk through Old Jerusalem.

Entering the walls of Old Jerusalem was like entering into the time of Christ... sort of. The walls are mostly the ones built by Byzantine sometime around 1100 AD but there a few HUGE rocks at the base of the walls that were from the time of Herod!!!

We walked through corridor after corridor of gift shops and Falafel houses. The entire city sits within one square kilometer and is populated by 30,ooo Israeli's and Palestinians. There are four quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim.

We started in the Christian quarter where the Holy Church of the Sepulchre. That is where most believe Jesus was crucified and buried. There is a giant church built on top. In some ways the church really takes away from the experience of being where Christ gave His life but in other ways it is an expression of His people's gratitude and that I can appreciate too.

When you first enter, this is what you see. They believe this is where they washed Jesus' body before His burial. When we first arrived it was

pretty empty but as we left, it was surrounded by a group of Russian believers bowing and kissing it.

We went up some extremely steep steps to the where they believe Jesus was crucified. The picture doesn't do it justice. At the right and left there is glass on the floor where you can see the rock formations that held the two thieves. Under the visual of Jesus there is a whole where you can reach in and touch the rock where Jesus' cross stood. Whether or not it is the exact place, its beautiful and powerful to imagine.

As you wrap around the church, there are lots of alters and paintings of scenes from the days of Jesus. This is where they believe Jesus was held before he was tortured and killed. The Crusaders were said to have locked themselves in it without food or water for three days to experience it.

The tomb where some believed Jesus was buried in and resurrected from, has a line wrapped around it of people who want to go inside to touch where His body may have laid. Yesterday, there was a large group of African christians there along with some Russian and Norwegian believers as well. Kind of felt like heaven.

There was a group of tour-guides-in-training as we were walking through. One of them invited us to go down into a tunnel with them. She said very few people ever get to go down. Even the guide herself had never been down there. As the tunnel opened up into a room, she explained that it was a room from the temple built for Aphrodite before the church was built. This was from the early AD centuries. This drawing of a boat was drawn in 330 AD. We felt VERY priveledged.

Next, we went to the Western Wall. This is in the jewish quarter. Is one of the few sections of the first temple that is accessible. People come and write prayers and stick them in the cracks of the wall. Austin and Drew had a dress code as they entered.

Here is a picture of my prayer:)

The men and women go to separate sides of the wall. Women on the right. Men on the left. Also, when you leave you have to walk backwards because it is considered dishonoring to turn your back on the wall.

The last place we visited within the walls of the Old City was the Temple Mount, where the first temple was located and where the final one will be built. In the Muslim faith, it is where they believe Muhammad rose to heaven. They call it the Dome of the Rock. In the Christian faith, right where the Muslim dome is built is where the Holy of Holies was located within the first temple. You can see why there is so much controversy as to who the location belongs to. It is actually pretty amazing to see both faiths co-exist there.

There are cats EVERYWHERE here. Just thought I would add that tidbit of insider info:)

From the courtyard of the Temple Mount you can see the Mount of Olives, where Christ ascended into heaven. Since christians believe it is the sight where Jesus will return, people pay lots of money to be buried there. They believe those closest the descension of Jesus will be resurrected first. You can see the hillside is covered in graves.

We left the Old City and ventured down the street to the Garden Tomb. This is where the rock quary forms what looks like a skull so many people think this is Golgotha, as described in the New Testament.

The tomb there is much less gawdy. Even if it isn't the exact location, it gives you a great visual of what it might have looked like, even 2,000 years ago.

It is all so amazing. We are back to training for a couple days. Tomorrow I might show you pictures of that, introduce you to our new friends. Miss you all so much. I can't believe I have only been gone for 5 days.