Jerusalem on a Sunday

Greetings from The City of David!!!

 

It is Sunday afternoon, and I am getting some things done :-) Sundays are like Saturdays around here--we have church on Saturday, and Sundays we pretty much have as free days. This afternoon I've been going through pictures, working on homework, getting ready to go to Jordan (we are leaving soon!) and doing some much needed laundry. This morning I went out into the city with Sawyer and Jacob Justice (I can't help but say his last name every time I say his name because not only does if flow well, but also it's awesome). We went to the Tower of David Museum and then to the Temple Mount:

 

Jacob and Sawyer at the Tower of David

This courtyard has pieces that are from basically every era of rulers in Jerusalem. The structure was originally a fortress in the time of David and has been rebuilt several times.

The Citadel is located near Jaffa gate (West Jerusalem) so we got a great view of the Old City from the top of the tower.

The tower to the left is from the Church of the Redeemer. On the horizon is the Jerusalem Center! There was a sign post with a picture of the horizon that labeled various important buildings and the JC was labeled (as "Mormon University")

Yet another picture of the Dome of the Rock (I LOVE this building)

the grey domes to the left are from the Church of the Holy Sepluchre (the traditional place where Christ was crucified, buried, and resureccted). The tower in the middle is the Church of the Redeemer (Lutheran). The Dome of the Rock is to the right. On the Horizon is Hebrew University (on Mount Scopus--directly north of the JC)

Sawyer and Me

There were these guys filming the view while we were up there. I asked them what they were filming for and they hesitantly told me "BBC" so watch out for some footage of Jeru :-)

If you notice the pigeons on this wall, their tails are facing out. In fact, one of them pooped on me. It only got on my hand and I had some hand sanitizer with me, so it wasn't a big deal... but still... (also, we had just been talking about how another girl in our group got pooped on yesterday and it was just such ironic timing)...

Jacob and Sawyer pretending to be archers...

Jacob and Sawyer looking at these replicas of Roman standards that would have been carried in front of the marching army.

This city has such incredibly beautiful architecture!!!

 

We saw some of our classmates at the Citadel too and I snapped a picture of Paige from far away.

This arch is so cool.

One of the exibits shows the arrival of Kaiser Wilhelm in the 1800s. There is this photo booth where you can take a picture in front of a realistic back drop and put stickers on it and stuff and then email it to yourself. Jacob and Sawyer had some fun with it :-)

Jacob didn't like this one because he said I was supposed to be serious...

So we took this one, and It turned out much better :-)

That's when Sawyer came over and he and Jacob started having some fun with it :-)

Glass Grass

After we were done exploring the Citadel (and we watched this awesomely horrible 15 minute movie giving the history of Jeru, but simplified so that a small child could understand...) we headed over to the Temple Mount.

We saw some of our classmates at the Western Wall, and ended up hanging out with them for a bit while we all walked around the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall

Tyler and Jacob bought Kippas right before we went into the Western Wall area. You can barely tell from this picture, but they have a Star of David and say "Jerusalem"

Behind me and Jacob is Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the third holiest place in Islam.

This is the front entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque (you have to be a Muslim to go inside)

 

There are arches like this on all four sides of the platform on which the Dome of the Rock sits. According to Islam, these arch ways will be the scales on which the life of man will be judged at the final judgement.

Sawyer, Ben, Alyssa, and Jacob Justice

Ben, Tyler, Me, Sawyer, Alyssa, and Jacob in front of the Dome of the Rock

I loved this shot of the Dome through the archways (same arches as mentioned above)

love love love this building (and the ground on which it sits)

 

 

I had a really wonderful Sunday. This city is incredible and the people in this program are fantastic. I love it here!!!

 

-Erika

 

PS: If any of you want to contact me, (I probably should have said this a long time ago...) the best way is through email, which I check more often than facebook. My email address is erikalarsen9@gmail.com

 



Jericho Field Trip

Shabbot Shalom!!!

It is the Sabbath (Saturday) here, and I am finally getting around to posting pictures from our field trip to Jericho that was this past Thursday. We spent half a day visiting the city of Jericho, seeing the ruins of Herod's winter palace, and walking around the road between Jericho and Jerusalem where the Wadi Qelt is (and where the story of the Good Samaritan is placed)

           

Getting on the bus :-)

The sign behind the camel says "Sea Level" Jericho claims to be the lowest city in the world--it is quite a bit below sea level. As soon as we passed this sign, Brother Judd led us in singing "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid... 

Our first stop was Jericho, which claims to be the oldest city in the world (as far as written records go, it appears to be), the lowest city in the world (the city is below sea level as aforementioned), and the place with the best bananas in the world (they were pretty good...). 

Me and Susana in front of the fountain that says "Jericho"

We saw these dogs laying in the sun :-)

Me and Paige--behind us is the traditional Mount of Temptation, which is where Jesus was tempted by Satan after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights

this is a neolithic tower that was discovered in Jericho and dates back to 9000BC 

This is a monastery that is on the Mount of Temptation in commemoration of Jesus Christ

We are re-inacting the destruction of Jericho by Joshua's armies (see Joshua 6:20)

Lindsay is super stylish with her jean jacket and fanny pack ;-)

Skylar, Heidi, and I are standing in front of this wall that dates back to the Middle Bronze Age (and is hypothesized stayed up throughout the Late Bronze Age). When they discovered it, there was a pile of mud bricks on it, and in several places, the mud bricks had spilled or been tipped off. It is somewhat likely that this may have been one of the walls that fell when Joshua's armies sounded the trumpets in Joshua 6:20. However, there is no way to know and there isn't really much evidence to prove either way. Regardless, this is the spot where that ancient city would have stood :-)

These are remnants of the mud bricks at the base of the wall.

This is the spring in Jericho. It has been running for thousands of years and continues to gush out 1,000 gallons a minute, supplying the modern city of Jericho with water :-)

      This spring is also the spot where Elisha healed the water in 2 Kings 2:21

Sarah trying pomegranate juice--there is tons of freshly squeezed juices in the Near East :-)

This tree is cool, so we took a family picture on it :-)

Sarah trying the "world's best banana" and in all honesty, it was an excellent banana :-)

This tree is the same type of tree that Zacchaeus would have been sitting in as mentioned in Luke 19:2-8

We are cool :-)

It was Tye's birthday that day!!! hooray!!!

Our next stop was to see the ruins at Herod's winter palace :-)

Kara has a rad hat.

The wind tried to blow it away, but Kara wouldn't let it :-)

Yay!

These excavations reveal what would have been Herod's "bomb shelter" basically, Herod was very paranoid and if his enemies came to kill him, he would hide in this area that is close to where his palace was.

Hunter teaching the class about Herod's palace (We are all assigned a different site and when we get there, we share our research before the professors tell us the rest of the information...I thought this was a rad shot...)

Susana hanging out on a rock near Herod's palace :-)

Spencer and Jacob reenacting Herod's murder of...well...everyone... haha ;-) Herod "the great" was very paranoid and had a ton of people killed including his wife, his brother in law, his son, etc... Behind them is the remains of the winter palace :-)

Me and Paige (and Eden) 

This was taken from the window of the bus--these camels were just hanging out...

On our drive to Wadi Qelt, the road is super windy, and I snapped this picture of this totaled car that had apparently gone off the cliff...

artistic...

cool tree...

In the distance is Jerusalem

In the distance is Jericho

Behind me is the Judean Wilderness and the St. George Monastary

This area is the Judean Wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho. This is the setting for the parable of the Good Samaritan

check me out--the hills of the Judean Wilderness are MASSIVE.

the greener parts are where the Wadi (river) has gone through

Happy Birthday to Tye (aka Tynamite) 

Sawyer meditating--what a stud.

On the bus ride home--we passed a ton of Bedouin villages that are basically tents/lean-to structures/bits of scrap metal made into shelters... It was really interesting...

Sidenote: Jericho is in the West Bank, so we were in Palestine-controlled area and had our security guards from the JC with us the whole day... It was really interesting!!!

Love you all!!!

-Erika