A view of Temple Mount from the Garden of Gethsemane (Mount of Olives)…
Our day today began on the Mount of Olives. We had a extra person along on this day of touring, too–‘Ganit’ was her name. She was a local who was studying for her tour guide exam and wanted to spend a day with Malcolm so he could work with her and train her. He’s very good at that. We were pleased to have Ganit along for the day. It gave her a lot of practice with her English too!
Malcolm Cartier, our guide & friend, along with ‘Ganit’ our guest guide for the day…
From the Mount of Olives, we had the most beautiful view of the Old City of Jerusalem (see picture above). After getting a group picture taken, we descended down the Mount to the church known as ‘Dominus Flevit’ (Our Lord Weeps). We spend some time in their garden looking at the views, as well as some bone boxes that were on display there. We then kept going down the Mount all the way to the Garden of Gethsemane. There we saw some olive trees that date back to the time of Jesus. How amazing is that? We ended our time here with Maria Nelson leading us in devotion and song… (What a blessing that girl is!)
After our bus picked us up at the bottom of the Mount, we then proceeded to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum). What a moving experience having Malcolm, our Jewish guide, lead us through this horrible history of the Jewish people. We also saw the memorial of all those who died in ‘camps’ during WWII, as well as the memorial to the children who went through the same. No, this is not biblical history, but it is a part of the history of God’s people. And what a powerful way to tie all of their history together, which leads to a better understanding of who they really are–as a people and as a nation.
In the afternoon, we headed south into the region of Bethlehem. Before we got to Bethlehem (literally, ‘house of bread’), we stopped off at Herodium, the Herodian palace of King Herod set in a conical mountain that was built to mark his tomb, amongst other things. It was an incredible climb to the top of this mound, but what a view from the top … and oh what we found! This fortress was another example of why they called Herod ‘the Great’. He was a great builder! He definitely had his problems, but no one can deny all that he accomplished regarding his building projects…
Model of what Herod’s tomb may have looked like up on Herodium…
Next, we headed into Bethlehem. We came in to Bethlehem by the old highway (due to an accident on the main highway). But that was O.K., as it gave us some new views to look at. We stopped off at a restaurant for a late lunch of Shwarma (chicken pita) & Falaffel (vegetable pita). I just love Israeli fast food!
On our way to the Church of the Nativity (birthplace of Jesus), we made a quick stop at the Bethlehem Souvenir Shop, owned and operated by the Tabash family–a Christian family living in Bethlehem. With the Christian population in Bethlehem somewhere around 7-8%, we want to do all we can to support them there. This shop specializes in olive wood carvings of all kinds…
Anna Smoot and Jannetta Green, absolutely enthrawled with the Christmas Story from Luke 2, read by Pastor Rom Pegram…
Picking up a local guide (because we were in the West Bank), we proceeded up to the Church of the Nativity–the traditional site of Jesus’ birth there in Bethlehem. ‘Sana’ was the young guide who helped us up to the church, where Maria led us in ‘Silent Night’, we read the Christmas story, then went in to see the site. This is the first time I’ve ever been in Bethlehem on Christmas, by the way! It was Christmas for the Armenian Church, so when we went in to view the cave–the place of Jesus’ birth as we ususally do, they were having a worship service. So, we went to the Catholic church (St. Anne) next door and viewed the cave from there side. Again, it gave those of us who’ve been there a few times a new view of that particular site. How special, by the way, to be in Bethlehem on one of the three Christmases they celebrate there (depending on what church you belong to).
Bethlehem at Christmas
We then headed our ‘chariot’ (as Malcolm likes to call our buses) back to the hotel in Jerusalem for dinner and overnight. (On our way in, we dropped both Peter Sensenbrenner and Rich Gauthier off at Notre Dame for a 6:30 PM mass–one of their special requests for this trip!) For the next two days, we’ll be in the Old City of Jerusalem. What exciting sites we still have to see…
Until tomorrow, Pastor Rom