Week Two with the Students

On Monday we had a field trip called the Jerusalem overlook Field Trip. This was our second trip to try and orient the students. We started out on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem from the east. We got to talk about the geography: the main three valleys of Jerusalem: Kidron, Tyropean, and Hinnom; the city of David in the time of Melchizedek, David & Solomon; the temple mount with Solomon’s temple, Herod’s expansion, and the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa mosque; the city walls built by the Ottomans with the golden gate and Lion’s gate; and the excavation of the southern wall of the temple mount with the miqva’ot and the ancient stairs leading up to the temple. 

Next we moved to the Augusta Victoria church, hospital and hostel, also on the Mount of Olives. It is one of three towers on the Mount of Olives and is the highest of the three. We went into the chapel and talked about Kaiser Wilhelm II and his desire to be the new crusader who would make Jerusalem into a Christian city. We talked about the architecture of Christian bascilicas and talked about the role of art in Christian churches. We then climbed the tower (I started early because I knew that it would take me a while to get to the top and I wanted to catch my breath before the students arrived—but they were huffing and puffing as well!). Up the tower we were able to get a 360 degree view of Jerusalem, the Judean wilderness, the Jordanean plateau, the Herodian, and Nabi Samwell (where we would finish our field trip later in the day). 

Then we got in the bus and left for Tayelet or the Has Prominade which gave us a magnificent view of Jerusalem from the south. Here we were particularly able to see Jerusalem’s 3 valleys and also got to see the Mount of Olives and where Bethphage and Bethany were. This would also have been the place where Abraham would have first seen Mount Moriah as he came to sacrifice Isaac. Next we went to Mar Elias which is a traditional place where Elijah stopped on his journey fleeing from Jezebel and heading to Mount Sinai. Here we got a better look at the Herodian (the place where the Wise Men met with Herod), Bethlehem, the separation wall that the Israelis have built in an attempt to stop suicide bombers, the traditional place where Rachel (jacob’s wife) died in childbirth and we also got a great view of the “Way of the Patriarchs” where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob traveling along the upper plateau as they travelled north and south. 

Our last stop took us to Nabi Samwell which gave us a view of Jerusalem from the north east. Nabi (= Heb. for prophet) Samwell (Samuel). This has wrongly been said to be the ancient site of Ramah where the prophet Samuel died. It is a famous place because this is where the crusaders would stop and get their first glimpse of Jerusalem. It was also the place where Richard the Lion Hart stopped and retreated as he attempted to retake Jerusalem during the third crusade. From here we were able to see Gibeah, the ancient capital of Saul and Gideon, the place where Joshua asked the Sun and the moon to stop while he conquered the armies of the Canaanite kings. it was also the place where Solomon came to offer sacrifice and asked God for wisdom rather than riches. This was a wonderful place to stop and teach these scriptural passages.

Tuesday through Friday we had classes. This week I taught the stories of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses—yes we are moving very quickly. I have started sitting in on the modern Hebrew class, which I am LOVING.

On Tuesday I was also called to be the new Seminary teacher! This is very overwhelming because being here is already such a huge learning curve for me, and the Seminary class is on the Doctrine and Covenants, of which I know very little! Why couldn’t have been on the Bible or Book of Mormon???? This year we are trying out an online seminary class, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. This means that I have to complete 12 hours of training before I teach my first class on Tuesday night. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all. But in the Lord’s work, there is always a way.

On Friday night we took the students down to the Western Wall for the Sabbath evening. It was a WONDERFUL time. I think that we could learn a lot from them about how to celebrate the Sabbath. There were hundreds of people from all walks of Judaism singing and dancing and celebrating the coming of the Sabbath.

On Saturday after Church we walked down to the Garden Tomb and had a tour of it. It was fun to see the excitement in the eyes of the students as they really enjoyed that experience.

Tonight a group of us went to dinner on the Mount of Olives at the Seven Arches hotel. In it’s prime it was probably a very closely hotel. Now its a little run down, but we had our meet cooked on a stone at our tables. It was quite fun (and expensive).