Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Pool of Siloam

Today was probably one of my favorite field trips. We went to Hezekiahs tunnel. Back when the Assyrians were taking over everything right and left. Hezekiah had Jerusalem fortified and they carved out this tunnel that runs underneath the city of Jerusalem that diverted water down to inside the city. This secured a water supply within the fortified city. Since water was such a crucial thing it was important to have a supply that couldn't be cut off by the Assyrians. This tunnel is 1750 ft long. When they carved this out they had two teams start on different ends and they met in the middle. It's amazing that they were able to meet within inches of each other. It was so fun we got to walk through it, water and everything!!! As you can see the water at some places got pretty high. As you can see there were a couple of us shorties where the water got a little higher on us than everybody else. :) It was so fun though. Hezekiahs tunnel emptied into what was called Siloam Pool from Jesus time. Today it empties into another pool that they call Siloam pool but it isn't the same one that was there during Jesus's time.

Here is what the real Pool of Siloam would of looked like during Jesus's time. This is the pool that it talks about in the scriptures when the Savior when the Savior heals a man that was blind from birth. He puts mud over his eyes and tells him to go wash in the Siloam Pool.

I am sitting on the original stairs that were here during Christ's time. Right in front of me where the dirt begins is where the pool of Siloam would of began. The other picture is of me and my roommates Emilie and Bre on the stairs with the place where the pool would be off to the right. It was really neat to be here because I walked in a place that we know that the Savior walked.

The caroline bells and shopping at the Jewish Market

Yesterday Chelsie, Marianne,Krista, Celeste and I went with Brother Squires over to the Caroline Bells in the YMCA Bell tower. Brother Squires plays the organ here in the Center. Him and his wife take 6 people every sounday to go ring the bells. Me and Chelsie played Ode to Joy. I played the top hand and she played the bottom hand.

The bells are hooked to a thing that looks like and is set up like a piano. We each practiced on the fake piano and then we rang them for real.

Here is a look at the bells that we got to ring!

Here i am standing by the bells looking out of the bell tower.


Here we are all in front of the bells. We each got to play a song and then we all did the chime for the 12 o'clock hour. It was Awesome! We played for about 70,000 people that live in West Jerusalem. It was so much fun!!!

After we went to ring the bells we went and walked around West Jerusalem and saw some things then we went to the Jewish Market or what is called the Suk. It was so much fun. These are just some of the things that are ther. There are tons of fresh and dried fruit stands. There is also all different kinds of nuts. i bought these delicous what we call love nuts. They say they are just peanuts but they have this coating on them and they are so much better than peanuts. I also bought a ton of dried bananas. YUM!!! Below are some pictures that you probably won't see in the US to much.:) look at all those kippas!!:) the other picture is a shop full of spices. Even those reddish tree looking things on the counter are spices. i want to go back here on Friday because thats when its packed full of Jews getting ready for Shabot. :)

Christ's Church

I don't remember what day but i went to a church called Christ's Church. This church was built in the Ottoman period. It was built for the return of the Jews to Jerualem. They built it so they could convert the Jews to Christianity when they came back to Jerusalem. Inside the Church they made it look similar to a synogogue because they didn't want to make the Jews feel uncomfortable. They have a menorah and a star of david. They don't have any statues and any crosses in the Church. The only thing that they have that resembles a cross is in the stained glass window below. It is actually a grape vine. They really do grow like that. I thought that was so interesting because Christ is referred to as the vine in the scriptures. It was a beautiful church.

Outside and behind the church was this table painted like this. I thought that it was really neat. So of course i took a picture!!! Everything here is so religious or alludes to something religious. I love it!! Its amazign to think about how Christ is the bread of life and that if we eat of His bread we will never go hungry again. I know that to be true. It is only through the Savior that we find happiness and meaning in life. I love my savior and am so thankful for the strength and support and comfort that he has, does, and will continue to give me. I am so thankful to be here in Jerusalem the place where the Savior walked and taught and where he bled and died and then on the 3rd day was resurrected for me and for everyone. I know that the Savior did all of those things. I know that HE LIVES!!! What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

This was on the outside of the Church of Christ. The top is in Hebrew and then Arabic is below it. If i have to tell you what the 3rd one is than i feel sorry for you :) Jerusalem does need peace. I love the people here. It makes me so sad to here the stories that they tell me. So many people have lived here their whole lives or the most of their lives and haven't been able to trully live in peace. I have taken for granted a lof of the blessings that i have of just being able to live in the United States. My Palestinian teacher told us that when he was in the United States his favorite thing to do was to get on bus and just sit there and drive across the country. For him he felt so free doing that. Here there are so many check points that you have to go through all of the time. He lives in Bethlehem which is in Palestinian territory. Every time he comes in to teach us he has to go through border control in order to get into Israel. There are also many check points thorugh out the entire Palestinain territory. I am so blessed in so many ways that i take for granted everyday.

I might have already posted pictures of this church but i am not sure so i am posting them again. This is the St. Mary Magdeline Church. I think it is so beautiful. This is the second time that i have been here. This time a came with a bigger group. The group picture is of us on the steps that lead up to the church.



Right before you walk in the gate to the stairs in the previous picture you are met by these beautiful purple flowers. I love purple so i took like 5 pictures of the flowers. Lucky for you i decided not to put them all in here. The other picture is my favorite picture. Right when you go in the gate before you go up the stairs you turn left and go through an alley way and over to some really old steps. These steps were here during the Roman times and is one of the three places in Jerusalem that people are almost sure that the Savior walked on.



As you can tell by the plaque below we went over to the pools of Bethesda. This is where there was a lame man that was waiting by the pool and everytime the water bubbled in the pool the first person to get into the pool was healed. Well as we know he was unable to make to the pool. The next part of the story is when the Savior Heals him and as the plaque says the Savior says, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."




As you can see there has been a lot of excavation at this site and you can't see the pools. Infact where the pool would have been is actually covered by modern or should i say semi modern buildings. It was really fun to walk around the excavations though. Everything there is really really really old.


The last thing i am going to talk about today is the tomb of Mary. This is one of the places that people beleive is the burial place of the virgin Mary. It was really dark inside so the pictures aren't that great. Next to Mary's tomb was a walkway that lead to a cave. This cave (and a garden near by that i couldn't find) is where they believe is the place that the Apostles waited for the Savior while he was in the garden of Gethsemane and where Judas Ischariot betrayed him. Being here i realized how close this place really was to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is really close. It made me wonder how the Apostles could have fallen asleep while our Savior was going through the agony that he did while he was atoning for their sins and for all of our sins. I am just so thankful that the Savior did in fact atone for our sins. I know that he did. I know that because of him we can all become perfect in him. We can all live again in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know this to be true and am thankful for the testimony that i have of this.

Qunruntul Monestary and the Knesset

On our Field trip to Jericho we went to Quruntul Monestary. As you can see it is located right on the side of the mountain. Almost like it is part of the mountain. This monestary was built where they believe is the spot that Christ was tempted by Satan. There is another church on the very top of the mountain where another denomination thinks the place was. It was really neat. We had a little hike up to the monestary and it was really hot that day but it was worth it. It was a very quiet peaceful place not like that busy old city in Jerusalem.

As you can see the view from the top was pretty amazing! minus the power lines of course. The view looks out over Jericho or the city of palm trees as it is refered to in the Bible. You can't tell from this picture but there are lots of Palm trees in Jericho.

This is just a picture to let you see just how this Monestary was built. It was built off of the Mountain. As you can see one wall is the mountain and the otherside is what they built. It was awesome!! You might be wondering why i have a scarf over my shoulder when i said that it was a really hot day. The monestary is fairly i guess you could say orthodox and they advised us to take a scarf to cover our heads to show more respect. By the time we all walked to the top we were way to hot to put them on and nobody seemed to care.The other picture below is the room that they have to worship. I am sitting by the exact rock where they beleive that Jesus stood when he was tempted by Satan.

Another thing that i was able to do was to go visit the Knesset. This is what we in the United States would consider the Capitol in Washington D.C. I never would of ever thought to go there but they just recently had an election her in Israel. They have a democractic Parlimentary system that is really hard to explain. My Jewish teacher doesn't evem know exactly how it works. It was really neat to go there. They gave us a tour and we got to go into what we would probably call the legislature room. Like everything in Jerusalem there was lots of symbolism throughout the Knesset. I would have more pictures but we weren't allowed to take our cameras inside and i couldn't get a good picture of the outside of the Knesset. The picture of me by the statue is in the middle of the round about right by the Knesset. I thought it looked pretty cool.

The other day we took a walk down to the old city and we ended up going to the church of the Flaggulation and the church of the condemnation. As the names indicate they church of the condemnation is where Christians believe that Christ was condemned and the church of the Flaggulation is where Christians believe he was beaten and whipped. The first two pictures were taken at the church of the condemnation and the other picture was taken at the church of the flaggulation.

Today i had the opportunity to go and volunteer at the Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children. I worked with the hearing impaired. They had these high tech chips that were implanted in their heads that helped them to hear. They were so cute. We just played with them. It was a little difficult because they didn't understand English and we didn't understand Arabic. At first we tried to play ring around the rosies because it didn't involve too much instruction they just followed what we did. They didn't understand anything we said but they liked the falling down part of the song. After a while the teachers took over with the games and we just sat in on the games and played with them. They really enjoyed having us there. They always wanted to sit by us and hold our hands. After our games we played with playdough with them. After that i got out my camera and started taking pictures and the kids just went crazy. They all wanted to be in the pictures. I sat down on the ground and they all tried to come over and sit on my lap. It was so cute. I really had a lot of fun!!! I would love to go back again. Down below are a couple of the pictures that were taken. The one with the 3 of us girls i am standing with my roommate Bre and Janay another girl from the Jerusalem center. The picture with me and the little girls is them wearing the little crowns that i made for them out of the playdough.

The last day in Egypt we got to climb Mount Sinai and see the sun rise. It was amazing!! We got up at 2:00 in the morning and set out for the mountain. It was beautiful walking up the mountain in the dark becasue all the stars were so bright and beautiful. It was really neat to think about the promise that God made to Abraham that his posterity the Isrealites would be as numerous as the sands of the sea and the star in the sky. Also to think about the vision that Moses saw of the creation of the world. The other thing that i couldn't stop thinking about was the marvelous things that took place on that mountain. The burning bush and Moses being in the presence of God and being able to see him face to face. It was a marvelous experience. Despite the cold it was wonderful. When we got to the top of the mountain it was freezing!!!!!! We defianantly needed a winter coat. I had so many layers, scarves, blankets and i was still freezing. I could not feel my fingers they were so cold and i had gloves on. We were all cuddling with each other for warmth. Nobody cared we were just too cold to care.

When the sun rose it was absolutely beautiful it was so worth the hike and the cold. As the sun came up you noticed so many things that you didn't see before like that mountain range that surrounded Mount Sinai. I t hought that it was so beautiful!!!! On the way down it was like having a completly different hike because now we could see everything. I loved it!!! If i ever get to come back and do it again i will bring warmer clothes though. :)

Muhhamad Ali Mosque

One of the last things that we did in Egypt is go to the Muhhammid Ali Mosque. As you can see it is huge. I thought that it was really pretty. We all had to take off our shoes when we went inside. This is because when Muslims pray they touch their forheads to the ground. So, they don't want people walking around with dirty shoes on. We sat in there while our tour guide Emad taught us a little bit about the islamic religion and how they pray. It was really interesting. They say recited prayers. When they bend down and their forheads are on the ground this time is when they themselves get to say whatever they want to Allah. This is where they get to say their own personal prayer. This is something that i never knew. Just a little more about the Islamic religion that i thought you might like to know. Muslims have 5 what they call pillars or duties that they believe in. The pillars are: they beleive that there is only one god Allah and Muhhamad is his Prophet, during the islamic month of Ramadan they fast every day all day from sunrise to sunset, praying 5 times a day, giving alms to the poor, and making a pilgrimage once in their lives to Mecca.





Since i have been in Jerusalem i have wanted to get pictures of the people that live here. When i waas in the mosque was the first time that they wanted to take pictures of us. when we were sitting on the ground listening to our explaination of their religion there was a group on Muslim adults that were taking pictures of all of us while we sat on the ground. Then afterwards i was walking around looking at things and the 3 girls in the picture walked up to me and started talking to me so i was asking them their names and how old they were and they then they asked me if i wanted a picture. They wanted to know if i wanted a picture with them. So i took one of us. I thought that they were so cute. (not the best picture of me though :)) So anyways after i stood up from taking the picture this group of Muslim boys surrounded me and then i noticed that there friends were taking pictures of them with me. I thought it was so funny. I just stood there and smiled.


Here is a picture of what the inside of the Mosque looked like. I thought it was really pretty. During there 5 daily prayers they would lining this building praying. As you can see there is no furniture in the mosque that is because with they way that they worship they don't need furniture.







After we went to the Mosque we went to the Christian section of Egypt which isn't that big. Remember there are only about 10% of Christians in Egypt. We couldn't take any pictures becasue they were not allowed. It was really neat thought to see the Christian aspects of Egypt. We went to the church that was built over the cave that they beleive that Joseph and Mary fled to with the baby Jesus when Herod gave the order to have all the male babies killed.

To start out my blog today i thought i would share with you some of the beautiful views that i had from the hotel that we stayed in in Luxor. The Nile was right behind us and it was gorgeous looking out everyday we were there. One night we just sat there and watched the sun set. It was so nice.

One of the temples that we went to was the Karnak temple. It is the biggest temple that was built. This temple wasn't built for any Pharoah in particular but every Pharoah wanted to make his mark. It was built for the Egyptians greatest god Amunra the son god. Like i said each Pharoah wanted to leave his mark on it someway so each Pharoah would build their shrine to the god AmunRa making sure of course that everybody knew who the person was that added on to it. This is the temple had a lot of symbolism connected to the temples. They had a holie of holies that had an alter in it. It was for the god AmunRa but it was interesting to see the comparison to our temples. they had a holy of holies that was considered the most sacred place. Only the High Priest and the Pharoah (because he did whatever he wanted) could go into the holy of holies. Our tour guide said that the alter had power in it and he wanted all of us to touch it before we left. Yes my hand is the one right in the front with the watch on. I thought it was a little funny because our tour guide said that every time that he touches it he feels the power shoot up through his arm and then all over his body. :)

Everywhere we went in Egypt we always had security gaurds with us. As you can expect a while ago when they were having all of the suicide bombers tourism went way down and as i said before tourism is their number two source of income. So to help with this give security to all the tour buses that come through Egypt. They all dressed in nice suits and ties but underneath their suit jackets they were packing.

One last story that i thought was really amuzing was at the last temple we went to which was the temple for Ramses II me and my roommate Bre went to take a picture by Ramses head and when we got over to it our tour guide asked us to take a picture of him next to it so we did. Then i went over there and while my roomie was taking a picture of me i noticed that our tour guide took a picture of me too! kinda weird!!! I thought it was pretty funny though too!