Final day in Israel - Sunday

Sunday was our last day in Jerusalem. We had already seen all of the biggest things that we had wanted to see while we were there, so we decided to just wander around and check off a few of our things on our back-up list. We started with a yummy breakfast again at the same restaurant that we had been eating at every morning while in Jerusalem. Then we tried to make our way to the temple mount to try one last time to get in. We had both worn pants even though it was hot out, just in case it was open. A guard had told us that it would be open on Sunday, so we were hopeful. I think we got there at about 9:10 and there was a changing sign that noted that it closed at 9 am. So we missed it again.

We reviewed our options and decided to visit King David's city. King David's city is the ruins of the original Jerusalem at the time King David took over. This old city was actually built about 2/3 of the way up the hill whereas the current old city (the city where it was at the time of Christ) is only built on top of the hill. The only part of the city that is in the same place is the temple spot.

King David's city was pretty cool. Originally, we weren't planning on going because it cost a little bit of money, but we were both glad that we did. We just went on our own instead of getting a tour guide, but we were right in between two tour groups so we got to hear a lot of their explanations anyway.

The first spot was where they think King David had his palace. That was up toward the top of the hill close to the temple. It was cool to think about David walking around there and his being up on his rooftop that fateful night instead of being off to battle with his army.



Then as we walked down the hill we got to see the ruins of some of the homes that they think were the homes of some of the wealthier inhabitants of the city. There is one that they discovered in their excavations that had a room that had been sealed off by the dirt. When they opened it they found evidence that it was a record room that had been burned when Jerusalem was destroyed a little after 600 BC. It was fun to imagine that this may have been the home of Lehi and his family or the home of Laban or even that Lehi and his family  may have been walking around in this part of the city at some point in their life before they left Jerusalem.





We continued to walk around and got to see other ruins as well as look across the valley and see ancient tombs carved into the Mount of Olives dating back to this time. We learned that this is the most sought after burial place for Jews dating back to when they first settled here. The Jews believe that when the Messiah comes he will come on the Mount of Olives and that the resurrection of the dead will begin here. At the bottom of the hill you can see the holes for the ancient tombs, but up the rest of the side of the mountain are more modern tombs that have been added over the years. It is thought that there are more than 70,000 graves in the Mount of Olives cemetery right now.

I guess I didn't get a good picture of it so here is one a found online. It was pretty amazing to see all the graves up the side of the mountain.

Then we got to go into the tunnels of the city. From the explanations that we heard it was hard to tell who exactly started these tunnels, but the idea was to build safe passageways to get to the water so that if enemies were outside of the city they couldn't cut off the water supply. We walked around to the different water spots and then we had a choice of two tunnels to travel through. One was dry and lighted and the other was pitch black (you had to bring a flashlight) and filled with waist deep water. We felt the water and it was really cold, which would have felt nice on the hot day. However, we had our long pants on from wanting to go to the temple mount and no one else was going that way. So we decided to stay dry. I know my parents had gone the wet way when they visited Jerusalem a few years back and had really enjoyed it, but we were happy that we chose the dry way.



After seeing a few more of the ruins of King David's city we made our way back up to the current old city. We got to the entrance spot for the temple mount and the electronic sign was flashing that it closed to visitors just 15 minutes earlier. It was a bummer that we just missed it again, but there was no way for us to know that they were going to open it up for that short period of time. We had gotten some pretty good views of it from the BYU Jerusalem Center and a couple other times when we were on the rooftops, so we were okay not getting to walk around it.

After that we decided to just make our way to the airport. It was about 2 or 3 when we were done with everything in Jerusalem and our flight didn't leave until a little after midnight, but we knew we had a journey to get to the airport and we were both pretty tired at the end of our 2 week trip. First we had about a four mile walk with our luggage to get to the bus station. When we got to the bus station it was all under construction and so we had a little trouble finding our bus. We finally found the spot to buy our tickets (just about $5 each from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv which we thought was pretty good) and then went to sit in the terminal to wait for our bus. There was another bus loading up on the platform where ours was going to leave from so I decided to run and find the bathrooms. Unfortunately they were 4 floors below where were at. And then when I got there I had to pay to enter them. And they were super dirty and didn't even have toilet paper in the stall I decided to use. You would think that since we had to pay money they would be taken care of a lot more. By the time I got back to our platform Rebecca was sitting there alone - the bus had come and gone. Fortunately another one came just 20 minutes later. When we got to our terminal we had to go through all of the customs and security again. I don't know if he was joking, but one security officer asked us what we were doing in Jerusalem as he was checking our passports. I told him we were tourists. And he said "what? you were terrorists?" I thought I saw him smile when he said that, but we quickly corrected him.

The flight home all went smoothly. We got to watch a couple more movies and had a couple meals. On the two separate flights Rebecca and my movie players were having difficulty, so Delta ended up giving us both $25 gift cards to a merchant of our choice from a list of about 20 different ones. I have been having some good experiences on Delta and now that we don't live in Alaska any more I think it is time we changed our frequently flier program and credit card over to them. We landed in Salt Lake at around 11 am and we just had to make our way down to American Fork to pick up our car. We took the Trax and then the Frontrunner and ran into a celebrity on the Frontrunner. It was Mallory Everton from Studio C. She got on our train just a stop after us. We watch that show occasionally, so we both thought it was pretty cool. I saw her first and pointed it out to Rebecca, but Rebecca missed her. So Rebecca walked around the train at the next stop to see if she could casually see her. She did and came back reporting that she would ask for her autograph if she walked by our seat before we had to get off. She didn't so we didn't get one, but I would have been embarrassed to ask anyway.

Rebecca's sister-in-law picked us up at the train station and fed us some pizza before we started our 3 hour drive back to Pocatello. It was so great to see our children again. I don't know if they were as happy to see us since it sounds like Grandma and Grandpa Little really spoiled them while we were away. We did get a lot of hugs at least. It was a wonderful trip, but we were really excited to be back home!

Jerusalem on the Sabbath - Saturday

I think I mentioned this previously, but if not, we decided to observe the Sabbath according to the Jewish schedule (from Friday night to Saturday night). This fits with what member of the church who are living in Jerusalem do. So on Saturday morning we woke up and walked the 2.5 miles to the BYU Jerusalem Center. We had to walk through the old city and then down through the Kidron Valley. The Kidron Valley separates the old city from the Mount of Olives. We found out in our walking on a very hot day that it is super deep. It wasn't so bad going down it, but by the time we got to church coming up the Mount of Olives my church clothes were soaked with sweat.

Luckily we got there early because there was a guard at the gate who wanted to make sure we were members and who wasn't supposed to let anyone in after 9:30 (church started at 10:00). They have a strict policy based on an agreement they have with the government that only members can go to church there and no one can do any proselytizing.








So we had a few minutes to look around at the gardens surrounding the center and take in the great view of the city. We made sure to get in the chapel quickly though because we wanted to get good seats. They have the chapel set up where all of the seats face these huge windows so that everyone can see the old city while they are listening to the speakers. It was really neat. There were some great talks by some of the students who were there and it felt good after all of our travels and all of the things we were hearing from other religions and churches about Christ to listen to the gospel that was familiar to us again. Sunday school and priesthood/relief society were also really good. It looked like there were a lot of visitors like us there, maybe about half of the congregation. Then most of the other people there were students and maybe about 10% were people who lived in Jerusalem. I am guessing those families were the teachers at the BYU Jerusalem Center.

After church we walked to the southern part of the Mount of Olives to the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden. Orson Hyde was the first LDS missionary to visit Israel and while he was there he dedicated the land for sharing the gospel. Years later they purchased the spot where he dedicated the land and built a nice garden there. We found a shady spot and sat down on some rocks for a picnic lunch.



Just across the street from the Orson Hyde garden was the Garden of Gethsemane. This was small but still neat. Some of the olive trees looked very old and Rebecca read somewhere that some of them in the garden were more than 3,000 years old. In looking at the trees you could see that the main stumps was super old and gnarly, but then young new branches were grafted in that would then give the fruit. It would have been nice to be able to walk around in the garden, but only a path around the perimeter was open. I guess that is for the better though because with all the tourists that visit every year the trees probably wouldn't last very long.













On a side note about the things tourists do; one of the churches in Jerusalem claimed that they used to have the cross that Christ was crucified on. However, when tourists came to visit it they would kiss it. And then, wanting to bring a piece back home they would sneak a bite out of it while they were pretending to kiss it. Over time, with so many people taking bites, there was nothing left of the cross. I don't know if that is really true and I am sure that the church did not have the real cross in the first place, but it is an interesting story.

Then after the Garden of Gethsemane we made our way back to the conference for another talk that I had to give (again down and up the Kidron Valley so I was nice and sweaty again, just in time for my talk). This was the last talk of the whole conference so I didn't think anyone would show, but there was actually a pretty decent crowd. The talk went well and after it we went back to our hotel. We waited a few minutes and then took a walk outside to see if things really opened up after sundown when the Sabbath was over. So about 30 minutes before sundown the streets were empty, but then right after sundown people started filing out shops started opening up and it was all pretty lively again. It was pretty cool to see so many people in a country all observing the Sabbath together. In Jordan we thought the same thing. Although their religion is way different it was neat to see everyone in the whole city following the guidelines of Ramadan together.

Day Three in Jerusalem (Friday)

On Friday we had a busy walking day. We wanted to start with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the morning, then make it to the market about 3 miles away to see the hustle and bustle before the start of the Jewish Sabbath, and then 3 miles back to the Lion's gate to do the via dolorosa walk at 4 pm.

This time I think we entered the city by the Jaffa gate. We spent a little time exploring a castle that was right inside the gate. 

And then we made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the site where many other Christians believe Christ was crucified and buried. It is possible, but we didn't have the same feelings while we were there. It was super crowded and noisy, had a very strong smell of incense that was making it very hard to breathe, and it was mainly just walking around seeing the inside of the church.

This was a stone that they believe Christ's body was prepared on before being placed in the tomb. Many people would lay their heads on it and cry and pray.

This huge painting right behind it was pretty impressive.

Upstairs in the church you could see a section of the rock that they believe is Golgotha. The church was built over the hill so this part that is open in glass is the only section you can see. They believe that this crack came from the earthquake that happened when He died.

A couple more parts of the hill.

Then what they believe is the tomb was located inside this smaller older church that was built first, with the larger current church built all around it. We had to get in a long line to get inside of this church. And then we just went into a couple small rooms with the smallest and last one having a stone wall that I am guessing was the wall of the tomb. There was a priest stationed outside of that one and he made sure that everyone only got about 30 seconds at the wall. Lots of people prayed there when it was their turn and the priest had to be kind of forceful with moving people through.

The market was extra busy and fun when we made it there. We did get some cheap bread and fruit. We also got to try a lot of different dried fruit, like dried watermelon and dried starfruit. We spent an hour or so there and then made our way back into the old city. When we got to the Lion's Gate we were told that they were not doing the via dolorosa walk this month because of Ramadan. Although we had just walked some distance we were not too disappointed that we couldn't do this. Usually the walk is led by some monks and it is supposed to follow the trail that Christ took while carrying the cross through the city. It makes some stops at sights of his trial before Pilate and where he was beaten and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. However, it also makes stops where churches were built to commemorate the first, second, and third time he supposedly stumbled while carrying the cross. I think it is generally recognized that this is not the actual walk Christ did, but we thought it would be a fun experience anyway. Since that was canceled we just wandered through the old city a little longer. 

With the start of the Sabbath everything was pretty quiet as we made our way back to our hotel. All of the shops and restaurants were closed and there was hardly anyone on the street. It was a huge contrast to what we saw just a couple hours earlier.

Day Two in Jerusalem (Thursday)

Our second day in Jerusalem started off with an excellent breakfast. Since our hotel was so small they didn't have a breakfast area. Instead, they gave us vouchers to use at a restaurant just a block away. It was a pretty fancy restaurant with our dishes costing maybe around $20 a piece. I got the croque madame which Rebecca told me is a French dish. This restaurants version of it had to eggs on top of croissant which had smoked salmon and a cream cheese spread inside. It was super good. It didn't stuff me like the previous all-you-can eat breakfasts, but I was way more than satisfied based on the taste. It came with a salad on the side (salad seems to be a breakfast dish there), which I gave to Rebecca to eat for me. Rebecca got shakshuka, which is a traditional Israeli dish with eggs and tomatoes baked together. She had read about it in one of the guide books and had been wanting to try it. She said it was delicious too.





After the breakfast we made our way to the conference site. I had my first of two presentations that I needed to make. This one was on mindfulness. I was asked to be on an expert panel on the topic where I just responded to questions from the audience and moderator. Although I have done a few research studies on this topic, it is not one that I am super passionate about. The panel and my comments did get a favorable response though and I got to see some of the researchers that I collaborate with that I haven't seen for a while.

After attending some of the conference we were off to visit the old city of Jerusalem. Our first stop was the room of the last super. The walk from the conference site to the old city went through a quiet planned community that was really pretty. I wasn't very impressed with the last super room. Basically, it is just the spot where they think the last super might have taken place. So a church was built on top of it and we got to go into an upper room in that church. So maybe it was in the same location, but we don't know what the room actually looked like. Also, there were tons of people in it with tour guides loudly talking in several different languages, so it was difficult to feel the Spirit or anything there. This was a big change now that we were in Jerusalem. Whereas in the other places that we visited we were one of only a few people around and we had lots of quiet moments, in Jerusalem there were tons of people (tourists and locals) and we had to specifically look for times where we could just sit and ponder on the events of Christ's life.









Right below the room of the last super they have King David's tomb. I don't think the Jewish people really believe that King David is inside of it, but it still seems to be a pilgramage place for them. Outside a Jewish individual offered to walk us inside and he gave me a kippah to wear while I was inside. Rebecca and I had to separate again since there were male and female viewing sides. When the man brought me to the tomb he told me to touch it and take pictures of it. Then he asked me for money. When I told him I didn't have any money to give him he snatched the kippah off my head. I quickly made my way out of the room since they had lots of signs indicating that the heads of males needed to be covered in this area.



We next went to Caiaphas's house. This is supposed to be the spot where Christ was taken for his secret Jewish trial that shouldn't have taken place at night. Caiaphas was the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem at the time. This is also thought to be the site where Peter denied Christ for the third time and the cock crowed afterward. Again, another huge church was built here so we didn't spend very much time looking around. It was a pretty building though.



These buildings were all outside of the main walls to the old city. The old city is pretty cool. It is surrounded by these huge walls with just a few (maybe five or so) small gates to get into it. Some of the gates could fit a small car (and we definitely saw them trying to crowd in), but others were just for walking in. We wanted to go to the Western Wall first, and so we entered the city by the Dung Gate. I guess the Dung Gate was the one that they historically used for their garbage spot, hence the name.





The Western Wall was just inside this gate. We had to go through a security check point to see the Western Wall, partially because it is the most sacred site to the Jews in the world and partially because there have been a number of conflicts here between the Jews and the Arabs. As we approached the wall I had to cover my head again, but they had paper kippahs that they were giving out to all of the men. Rebecca and I also had to split up. There were many people praying at the wall and some bar mitzvahs that were occurring. The bar mitzvahs were interesting because of the split between the men and women. It seemed like they would do some parts of the ceremony with just the men and then they would travel over to the divider where all the women were crowded peaking over. They would then lift the boy up to the top of the divider so the mother and other women could see him and kiss and hug him and say their own prayers. We were glad that we made it there at an especially crowded time with a few bar mitzvahs occurring all at once. In the wall there were also lots of tiny prayer papers. I guess people write their prayers on these papers, role them up small, and then shove them into the cracks of the wall. It is amazing that the wall has stood up for thousands of year with all of the wars and now prayers it has been through. This wall is one of the original supporting walls for the temple that was originally built by Solomon. The actual temple spot is now owned by the Arabs and is a sacred spot to them (It is the spot where Abraham, a prophet in both religions, took Isaac to sacrifice him, and where they believe Mohammad traveled to commune with heaven).  The Jews will not go into the temple spot even when it is open to the public because they do not want to accidentally walk on the location where the Holy of Hollies used to be (they do not know exactly how the temple was situated). So they stay outside the wall and worship there. The Jews also believe that this is the spot where all creation started.









After the Western Wall we wanted to find the Lion's Gate. This was one the other side of the old city. Julia had read about it in one of her history books and so she gave us a special assignment to go there. It is also thought to be the spot where Pilate presented Christ to the Jews to see if they would release him and where he was flogged and began his journey carrying the cross. The old city is a maze! None of the roads were straight and the majority of them were very skinny just enough room for walking. Then the buildings were all a couple of stories tall so you couldn't look up to see any landmarks to try to orient yourself. Added on top of that, there were sections that you couldn't go into because they were part of the temple mount and only open to the public at certain times (We tried a few times to get onto the temple mount but because of Ramadan they only had it open to the public a couple hours during the week. Each time we tried to go there police would stop us, say it was closed, and give us a new time when we could visit. But, when we would show up at that new time it was still closed and we were told to come back at a different time). So we got lost in the old city a lot, but that was okay because we were not in any rush and we were able to just enjoy our time looking around.

We eventually did find the Lion's Gate and saw a few churches that were built on the site where Christ was beat.









Also in this area were the Pools of Bethesda where Christ healed the lame man who couldn't make it into the water on his own. That was closed so we just had to peak at it through a window that we found.



As we were wandering around we also came upon the site where they believe Christ was held prisoner by the Jews over night. A church was built on top of this place too, but they had stairs to beneath the church to what they think was the original prison. I am not sure if this one was open to the public, but we followed a Greek group in that were doing some sort of religious services there, so we got to see it all.







We then just wandered around a little more through all of the markets that were in the Arab portion of the city. This section was particularly crowded, we were told because of Ramadan. After wandering around we made our way to the Damascas Gate and then the garden tomb.



We both felt like the garden tomb was the best part of Jerusalem. This tomb is situated just outside of the old city walls. And even though there is a lot of hustle and bustle all around, they have this garden closed off and it was very quiet and peaceful there and both Rebecca and I could feel the Spirit while we were there. Many of the Christian religions do not recognize this as the site where Christ was crucified and buried; however, some of the prophets in our church who have visited Jerusalem have said that they believe the garden tomb is the correct spot.

There was a tour guide who walked us around and told us about the history of the garden and the evidence that supports the possibility that this is the actual site. We first saw Golgotha or Calvary where Christ was crucified. The guide showed us the hill with the skull in it, but told us that he was probably crucified down where they buses are rather than up on top of the hill. She told us that at the time the Romans wanted to punish their prisoners down by the walkways so that those who passed by could easily see them and the pain that they were experiencing.



The guide also showed us an ancient wine press in the garden that dates back to the time of Christ giving support to this actually being the garden of a rich person back then.



And then we got to see the tomb. It was really neat and Rebecca and I found a spot to sit, eat a few snacks, and just ponder for 30 minutes or so.


This is inside the tomb where Christ's body was probably laid.


An example stone that would be rolled in front of the tombs. They think that the actual one was a lot bigger in order to cover the door for this tomb.


Just like the pictures that we grew up seeing in the scriptures.

After seeing the garden tomb we made our way back to our hotel and then out for dinner.