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.