Today we spent time in the Old City of Jerusalem

This is the site where Solomon and Herod's temples once stood. This is the Dome of the Rock mosque which is the third most sacred spot for Muslims. They believe that a rock inside is one from which Muhammad ascended to heaven. They believe that the earth started to follow him to heaven but an angel stopped it from happening.



This is a close up of the tile work. It is really beautiful. Be sure and click on the picture to enlarge it. (Click on all of them.)

Br. Lund told us that the Jewish people are planning on building a temple on Temple Mount. They have all the material for it purchased and stored. They are waiting to get permission to build on Temple Mount.

We took a tour through the Rabbinical Tunnel and saw some of the original foundation to Solomon's temple and on top of that part of Herod 's temple foundation. Also in the picture is our cute Jewish guide.

Hezekiah's tunnel was made to bring water into the City of David in the 10th century B.C.. There was a spring outside the walls of the city but no water source inside. They worried that in a time of war they would be cut off from their source of water. They began to dig a tunnel through solid rock from the spring until they were inside the city walls. We were given the opportunity to walk the whole length of the tunnel 1,750 ft.. It took us forty-five minutes, it was pitch dark, (we used flash lights) and of course it was filled with knee to almost waist high water. For some reason the idea of doing it scared me to death. I decided several times that I would not do it. But I did and I felt like I had climbed by own Mt. Everest as I came out the other end. No pictures of this one it was too dark.

At the end of Hezekiah Tunnel is Solomon's pool in which they stored the water. This is where Jesus healed the blind man.

Today we also went to the Holocaust musuem, the Jerusalem Museum and Shrine of the Book Museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls are located.

At the Jerusalem Museum they have a wonderful model of Jerusalem as it was in Christ's time.

Then we went shopping in the Old City, very touristy. Then back to the hotel and fell into bed. :)
Major exhaustion!!!

Beit Lehi , David and Goliath

Today was a very different day for us. We first saw the field where David killed Goliath. This is an AA site meaning there is enough information about this event in the Bible and other historical records to be positive about where it happened.

Most of the day we spent at an excavation site called Beit Lehi. It is located about 22 miles south of Jerusalem. It is considered to be a very significant, "fruitful" find and there is some speculation that it was the home of Lehi the Book of Mormon prophet. Israeli soldiers made the first discovery of part of it in 1961. This is all you see on top.
Serious excavation of the site began in 1983 and what they have found is fascinating - it is a village or city with all the usual parts: olive press, wine press, synagogue, water cisterns, stables, columbaria (a room for keeping birds), pottery etc. The things they have found date this site at before 1100 B.C. possibly back as far as 1500B.C. (The time of Samson.) The site is being worked by a team of students from the Hebrew University

Part of the team working on the excavation. Below is one of the archeologists who is working on this site. He also worked on finding the burial site of Herod's tomb. You may have seen his picture in the National Geographics program on Herod the Master Architect. He is very famous and well respected as an archeologist.

We crawled in and out of many underground rooms. Their skill at carving out these areas was fascinating. It made history seem so real and me so connected to it.
The most exciting thing I saw was the tile mosaic floors that they have uncovered. They are beautiful! The tiles are tiny and the work so involved. I thought to myself - Oh, they loved beautiful things too. I could see them sitting there sorting the colored tiles and fitting them in to the intricate designs.
If you are interested and would like to know more about this excavation site visit the web site www.beitlehifoundation.org

Friday October 31st - Fifth day out - Temple Mount, B.Y.U. Jerusalem Center & Bethlehem

We left for the Temple Mount early in the morning and spent some quiet time at the West Wall or Wailing Wall. It is very reverent there not quiet but reverent. The first picture is of the men's side, as the Wall is divided into two parts and the women are on the other side. Notice the many different apparels on the men.


They put little pieces of paper in the cracks between the rocks. On the papers they write names of people needing a special blessing or a little prayer.







This is the Women's side. They were praying, (sometimes rocking as they prayed) studying their scriptures or appeared to be meditating. As I stood there with them I was really impressed with the reverence of the women. They ask that you back away from the wall rather than turning your back to it.

We took the Rabbinical tunnel under the West Wall and explored the foundations of the temple mount built by Solomon and just above it the foundations of the second temple built by Herod.




This is the entrance to the B.Y.U. Jerusalem Center. It is situated up on the Mount of Olives and you can look across the Kidron Valley and see Jerusalem from it's front yard. The building is spectacularly beautiful. They have a lovely organ and one of the missionaries (non-proselyting because they are not allowed to proselyte in Israel) played several numbers for us on it.



Next we were off to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. They believe that this is the place that our Saviour was born. Unfortunately in my book, three different churches are sharing responsebility for the upkeep of this building and as a result it is not well kept up. It's a case of everyone waiting for the others to do what needs to be done. It is very decorated and ornamented which destroys the usual picture of that night. You need to be able to shut out all the extra things that have been added and just focus on the cave.


Going down into the basement where the cave is located.

Pres. Lee said about his visit there "There seemed to be in this place a kind of spiritual assurance that this was indeed a hallowed spot. Down in the basement is the cave hewn out of the rock, which seemed to us to mark a sacred place."


This is a gold star that is suppose to mark the place where He was born. After visiting this site we went up to the garden area of the church and retold the Christmas story and sang Christmas hymns. Left with a really good feeling.

October 30th
Our third day out Mt. Carmel, Caesaria on the Mediterranean Sea, & Orson Hyde Square

The Mediterranean Sea



Caesaria - the sea port city on the Mediterranean built more than 2000 years ago. Much to my surprise I found that Herod the Great (the one who killed the babies in Bethlehem) is considered a very gifted architect and prolific builder. He built Caesaria to win points with Caesar in Rome. Much of Caesaria is still there. Pictured below is a fantastic aqueduct they built. This is where the Roman Centurion Cornelius became the first gentile to convert to Christianity. It is from this spot that Paul relates his conversion story to King Agrippa. He leaves on his mission from this point also.





Orson Hyde Square - a memorial garden at Netanya University which commemorates his blessing Palestine for the gathering of the Jews. Along the garden wall there is a plaque for each person from our Church who has blessed Israel. I don't remember all their names but there was about seven or eight. All of the presidents of the Church are also honored in this garden with a plaque and a tree.




President Ezra Taft Benson's tree and plaque

Today we also saw the site where Elijah's battle with the priests of Baal occured on top of Mt Carmel.

Third day out Wednesday 29th

We visited a number of Old Testament sites today. One of the most impressive was some Cananite fortifications that Joshua would have had to face as he fought to conquer the land. I can't imagine how they moved those rocks and stacked them but they did and that was quite a long time ago, no big equipment.



We also went up to Golan Heights that has been fought over forever. Starting in Old Testament times until today. From there we could see Syria, Lebanon, and of course Israel. Here we saw many young Israelite soldier and much evidence of the war in that area. The soldiers were very friendly and a lot of fun. All Israelites are required to give two years in the armed services.

Tuesday October 28th

I can't list all of the places we went today but let me tell you about some of my favorites. At the top of the list was Nazareth. They have constructed a life size model that represents what Nazareth would have looked like when Jesus lived there. They had shepherds in the field and carpenters working with authentic tools, women working with wool all in period costumes etc. All of the buildings were constructed with tools that they used 2000 years ago. They had constructed a synagogue that was beautiful in it's simplicity. It was very easy to imagine life back then. There was a wonderful spirit there. The feeling was definitely not like a theme park There was to much love and devotion there.

We visited the Mount of Beatitudes. Brother John Lund spoke on the importance of relying on the Lord"s promised blessings in the Beatitudes. He reminded us to take discouragement to the Lord and love those around us. Remember to add the key phrase "...who come unto me." to each Beatitude. (3 Nephi 12)

We went to Capernaum. Here Jesus healed the Centurion, here the woman touched Christ's robe and was healed. All that remains of Capernaum is the ruins of the synagogue. Matt 11:21-24

We also went to Yardenit which is the site on the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus. People were putting on a white robe and baptizing themselves. They did it with such reverence.

That night they took our group on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Marvin went with them but I had a cold and was not feeling well and exhaustion took the upper hand and I stayed at the hotel and slept.

From Salt Lake City to Jerusalem - one day at a time

We are back and our trip to Israel, Jordan and Egypt was fantastic, educational, exhausting, and spiritual. It was a life changing experience. I'm going to try and share it with you a little piece at a time. We left Salt Lake City at 11:00a.m. Saturday Oct 26th and arrived in Amman Jordan about 4:00p.m. Sunday Oct. 27th. A lot of hours on a plane; especially if you have long legs.

We stayed at the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort and Spa. It is located right on the Dead Sea. So our first experience was swimming and wading in the Dead Sea. The resort was extra beautiful, super clean and comfortable. The food was good, though we were warned that in Jordan and Egypt we should not eat anything that hadn't been cooked which made the beautiful fresh fruit and vegetable salad tables off limits. :(

On Monday we crossed the border into Israel. The only evidence we noticed about heightened tension between these countries was the difficulty crossing their borders. It took us four hours to go a very short distance. Most of that time we were just sitting on the bus at the border. Also a long time for people with long legs. :)

We were on our way to Masada where Herod built an amazing rock fortress on top of a high plateau. A group of Jewish zealots Sicariis made their last stand against the Romans on this site. They valued their freedom and the right to worship their God. They held out against the Romans for three years and ended up taking their own lives rather than live as slaves under Roman rule. If you haven't read about this story or seen the movie "Masada" starring Peter O'Toole I'd highly recommend that you do just that. It is an amazing piece of history and visiting this site made it very real. (I'll add pictures soon)

From Masada we then went to Tiberius but that's enough for today.