Day Six: 6 Sept. 2010, 21:23

Today we went on a 'Geography of Jerusalem' field trip to get acquainted with the areas around Jerusalem.  It was really cool!  We visited a bunch of places w/in 15 miles of the city.

We started at a hotel overlook on the East side, (still on the Mount of olives) right by a cemetery of ancient Jewish graves (they had a bunch of rocks on them--we learned what that meant too).  There was a beautiful view of the city as the sun came up over the mountain.  We learned about the 'Mount of Corruption' where Solomon let his gentile wives build statues to false gods (ironically enough, now there is a Palestinian Government Post there) and the 'Mount of Evil Counsel" (where there was a British and now is a U.N. installation haha).  We also talked about the Kidron valley and the four peaks of the Mount of Olives, and discussed how small the original Jerusalem was.  There was also a camel there and a donkey, but I didn't want to pay just to take a picture of them.

Next we visited the Augusta-Victoria tower, also located on the Mount of Olives. It serves as a Lutheran church, a hospital, and cafe; we walked in, sat down in the chapel, and sang 'A Mighty Fortress is Our God'.  One of my favorite parts of the day for sure :) it echoed and everything lol.  We then climbed 220 stairs to the highest point overlooking Jerusalem (~2700 feet above sea level) and looked into the Judean Wilderness (wilderness in the bible apparently is a desert), Jericho, at Nebi Samwel off in the distance, and in the direction of the Dead Sea (it was too hazy to see it).  The church itself was built by Keiser Wilhelm II just before WWI started.

Next we went to the Elyas Monastery at the North end of Jerusalem, right before one crosses into Jordan (the West Bank territory).  Notably there's a huge wall between Israel and Jordan right there since ~2000 due to the war, so we don't get to see much of Jordan.  But, we did look directly at Bethlehem (and the Church of the Nativity, which is very probably where Jesus was born according to my professors)--the City of David!  We saw the vineyards on the SE side where the shepherds would've heard the Angel Gabriel proclaim the tidings of the Savior's birth.  We also discussed the most probable route by which Lehi and Nephi left Jerusalem to the NE, as well as the Way of the Patriarchs from Hebron to Jerusalem (the most notable was Abraham--we stood approximately where he would've stood as he looked up at Mt. Moriah, where he took Isaac as a sacrifice).  We got another look at the Judean Wilderness there too--w/in 15 miles the elevation drops from ~2600ft. above sea level to some 1500ft. BELOW sea level at Jericho, dropping from 25in./yr of rain in Jerusalem to only 5in./yr (hence why it's such a desert).  We saw the Herodian built by Herod the great (a fortress shaped like a volcano) in the distance (also where he is buried).  We sang 'High on a Mountain Top' and read Micah 5:2, which event took place right below us in the plane that we were looking at.  Cool place :)

We stopped at a place called the Haas Promenade, which was a view of Jerusalem from the South.  It was a gorgeous view of the temple mount and we learned some interesting history about it.  The Temple of Herod was HUGE!  No wonder it was such an impressive sight in those days--it still would be today!  Randomly, they were selling ice cream there and I thought it was funny.

We then traveled to Nebi Samuel, the traditional site of Samuel's burial (although since found incorrect), which had an old Crusader church that had been turned into a Mosque.  Dr. Chadwick pointed out Hussein's palace over on mount Gibea, where Saul was born, and told us how Richard the Lionheart had come to visit Jerusalem in that very place.  Towards the North we saw the hills of Ephraim's inheritance, the plane on which the battle in Josh. 10:8-14 took place--the Lord held the sun in one spot so that Joshua could overtake the fleeing armies, as well as the city of Gibeon on a hill where Solomon plead with the Lord to give him wisdom.  Off in the distance we saw Beth-el, where Jacob laid stones for a bed and had a dream about the ladder going into heaven (also where Abraham built an altar in chapter 12).  It doesn't sound as neat as it really was being right there, but it was such a cool feeling to be in a place full of so much OT history and significance :)

After the field trip I came back home and did some homework, goofed around for awhile, took a short nap, and had dinner.  We organized our FHE groups tonight (I'm a group leader..yay. thankfully we have a pretty chill group, and it's funny), and now I'm updating my blog and cleaning out my e-mail while everyone else finishes their homework they didn't do before lol.  Tomorrow we start our Jewish History class, hopefully it won't be too bad but the booklet for it looks as intense as our Near Eastern Studies course (3 credits vs. 2...oh dear :S  )

Well, that's about it for today.  Till tomorrow then!