Down the Wadi

As if hiking through and up the side of a canyon wasn’t enough of a workout, I braved another wadi on Wednesday evening. Paul, a minister in Rock Hill, SC and an avid woodsman, invited MB and I along with a few others to explore the caves he saw at the bottom of the valley just outside our hotel. After scarfing down a quick but delicious dinner, we headed for the hills with quite the large group. The rather sloped descent probably dropped 200 feet vertically. The surface of the hills, a crumbly dry dirt filled with small rocks, was rather difficult to navigate, and it took quite a bit of calculating to get down (not to mention that it was quickly getting dark).

Only Paul, John, Nate, and I made it all the way down. Not satisfied to just climb back up the way we came, Paul spotted another cave ahead of us and led another arduous climb. What we found was worth the trek. We shinnied our way into a large opening in the side of the mountain, filled with short tunnels and ledges…and a couple of pigeons that nearly scared the daylights out of us. We just poked around a bit and reflected on what David in the Psalms must have really meant when he talked about God hiding him the cleft of the rock. Being out in the wilderness and visualizing the verse made it so much more real.

We would have stuck around for a bit longer, but seeing that it was almost completely dark, we decided to start the precarious hike back to the hotel. Our first challenge was making our way up a nearly vertical 20 foot rock/dirt face. I’ve never been scared climbing…but then I’ve never had hand or foot holds come loose when I grabbed them. We took the scarp quickly but as carefully as possible. We stopped halfway up the hill to breathe and watch the stars beginning to come out. The whole thing was beautiful, and we couldn’t help but wonder who might have made that climb before us.

--Jenni

Here and Gone Again...

You are probably all wondering where in the world we have been. we hoped to have to given you all an update last night when we got in, but were exhausted after our trip and had to prepare for our test this morning. here is the brief synopsis of the past three days.

Tuesday we headed off at 7 am for the Elah Valley where david fought goliath. we too collected five smooth stones...ok ours are more like pebbles. we then made our way through a variety of antiquity sites to ashkelon , coastal city on the mediterranean.

wednesday we visited several ancient sites related to the patriarchs including arad, beer-sheeba, beth-guvrin, and hiked through a wadi system (up the wall of a canyon).

thursday was centered around the dead sea. we climbed an ancient fortress of herod, masada. after touring his palace, we ran down the back side of the mountain (literally) called the snake trail. we drove on over to en gedi where we floated in the dead sea a bit before lunch. after eating our fill of hot dogs, we hiked through another wadi and were thrown into a waterfall. the last stop before heading back to jerusalem was the essene community of qumran.

tonight we celebrated with a shabbat meal and are packing for tomorrow's early morning departure to galilee. once again we don't know about our internet connection and will be gone until tuesday night.

we hope to tell tales later of turkish coffee, hiking a variety of wadis, benadryl, feast of first fruits, bill of gath, burial tombs, and gymnastics in the bell caves. we have many stories to tell, but not enough time to type before we leave. hopefully the pictures jenni posts will fill in part of the story.



---emby

About JUC

Many people have asked just what exactly MB and I are doing over here. Summer school…right? That’s actually about all we knew when we hopped on the plane. Now, being here over a week, I figure it’s about time I share a little about the school’s history and the point of our studies (some of which MB has elaborated on).

Established by Dr. Doug Young in 1958, Jerusalem University College is a remarkable Christian establishment, surviving all of the turmoil of pre-1967 Jerusalem. In October of 1967 JUC moved to its current location, about 100 yards from the 1948 green line. JUC doesn’t really have a “campus.” The series of connected buildings is more like a fortress. This place IS history. I’ll explain...trust me it’s fascinating.

Let’s start with the foundation. The visible bedrock scarp that makes the building’s foundation is the edge of the Hinnom Valley. The scarp recognizably dates back to the time of Herod. Close to the area he build a lookout and wall. Most likely this is the very scarp that Jesus walked across when He lectured on Ghenna (the Hinnom Valley), which used to be Jerusalem’s perpetually burning landfill.

Now, the actual building…dating back to the 1850s, it’s one of the oldest under the British influence. Most of the visible stones date back to that time. Since that time the building has served a number of purposes. At one point it was an Arab school. Most fascinating in my mind…the buildings served as an Israeli military outpost between 1948 and 1967 when Jews were denied entrance to the Old City. About 25 feet down from our window is a cable that stretches out from the brick wall across the valley to some unknown by us destination. Soldiers used the cable line as a makeshift carrier system to transport supplies and people to the Jews holed up in the fort.

Dr. Young found the property in shambles, walls broken down, windows busted out, bullet holes everywhere. Since that time JUC has been a place for international students to come and take history, geography, culture, and religion classes related to Israel.

The campus has a couple of other interesting features. First, it has a small biblically based garden, containing pomegranates, a grape arbor, and various species of roses. Second, the school has access to a large Protestant cemetery behind the garden. It has some rather famous residents including associates of Oscar Schindler, bomb victims from the King David’s Hotel bombing in 1947, Flinders Petrie, the father of modern archeology, and Horatio Spafford, the writer of “It Is Well with My Soul.”

Ok, so what we’re doing? We are part of one summer school group which studies primarily the geography of the land and how it has impacted history (much of what MB has shared already). The school does have resident professors, but quite often, adjunct faculty, all experts in their fields, lead these short-term programs. Our professor, Dr. Carl Rathmussen, is a professor at Bethel University, but has spent at least 20 years in Israel. He and his wife Mary were here for both the 1967 and 1973 conflicts as well as the Intifada in the 2000s. In three weeks, MB and I will earn 4 credits in this program.

So, there you have it. We had our first test today over OT/NT Jerusalem as well as our field studies. We think we did pretty well…and tomorrow it all starts up again.

--Jenni

P.S. Tomorrow morning we leave on a 3 day field study. I’ll be taking the computer, but no promises on having the internet. So we’ll look forward to sharing more on Thursday night if not before.

First Shopping Trip

after a quick bite of schwarma (my favorite word), jenni and i decided that it was time for some random shopping. leaving the familiarity of the sunny, bright plaza by dov and moshe's store, we headed into the suk. as we entered labyrinth, we lowered the shades in order to avoid eye contact with shopkeepers asking us to enter their shops. we looked like naturals for about 50 yards. but the deeper we went the more obvious it came that we didn't really know where we were going. one ambitious shopkeeper tried especially hard to convince us to stop by calling out saying we dropped something just as he threw something to the ground, but we kept up our momentum and moved along speedily in with our bob jone's walk. passing through a variety of colors and smells, something shiny caught our attention. skirts--bright colored skirts. entering the store, there was already two spanish-speaking ladies engaged in negotiations buying us time to browse without being preyed upon. these ladies drove a hard bargain which put us in good standing for later negotiations. after about 10 minutes, jenni and i started our own transaction for two pure silk skirts and two decorative scarfs. we decided to go ahead and purchase them today... not only because we liked them.. but also because we knew we most likely wouldn't find our way back to the same store. the total price for the whole lot was 300 shekels. jenni did most of the talking and we worked him down to 190. being unsure of whether or not we had been ripped off, we stopped in dov and moshe's shop to chat. dov asked us what we bought expecting that we had been had on our first shopping trip. sheepishly we handed over the bag and admitted the price we paid. ready to poke fun, dov's smirk turned to genuine surprise at the quality of the items we had purchased. he complimented on actually getting a good deal, and told us that we couldn't really have done too much better. becca had told us that getting ripped off the first time was part of the experience, but thanks to our good bluffing skills and the example of our spanish friends we escaped with a good buy and some skirts that hopefully we won't see anyone else wearing at bju.


---emby

Sunday on the Mount of Olives

With so many churches in the area, we have quite the variety to choose from for morning worship here in Jerusalem. But on this Sunday, MB and I chose to attend a service out of doors. Our pastor friend James, a minister in Oregon, invited us to join Kevin and Brad on the Mt. of Olives as he preached a sermon to his congregation via video. Happy to spend a little more time on that side of the city, we hopped in the taxi and zoomed to the other side of town. Upon arrival, James was unable to record clearly because of the overcast sky and wind. So we all sat down on the mount and he just shared with us the message that he would have given to his church.

Starting in Genesis 22 with the story of Abraham and the binding of Isaac on Mt. Moriah (the place of the temple). We traced the significance of the need of sacrifice throughout the Bible, spending much time on the Levitical priests and meanings of the offerings. Many of you already know...on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest would bring two goats, one to be sacrificed, the other to be let into the wilderness. The "scapegoat" symbolized the taking away the sins of the people. After determining though lots which goat was to die, the other had a red cord placed upon his head until he was taken outside the city wall and released by a Gentile.

After this discourse, James immediately explained how Jesus, besides being the ultimate sacrifice, was also the ultimate scapegoat. When the people screamed for him to be crucified, they used the same word meaning "take him away." The same phrase was used by John the Baptist when he cried "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." Jesus, his head circled in red blood from the crown of thorns, was taken away out of the city by Gentiles and crucified. The symbolism is so beautiful. The Jews depended on the sacrifices of Yom Kippur to cover their sins for a year. Jesus' sacrifice covers our sins for all eternity.

I want to learn the traditions of the Old Testament Jews. Besides their beauty, all traditions, stories, holy days...everything is made complete in Jesus. We've explained that the changes in geography happen rapidly. A ten minute walk would have taken Jesus straight into the wilderness that night he agonized in Gethsemane. Yet He chose to stay. Jesus died during Passover week, which means that the priests were making sacrifices continually for the people. Supposedly the excess blood would flow into the Kidron, the valley separating the Temple and the Mount of Olives. Jesus might literally have had to walk through that coming and going on the night he was betrayed. He knew what was coming--His own sacrifice.

The worship this morning was powerful. Jerusalem is powerful. Moshe is right. There's a reason why we all come. There's almost a piece of our soul here...for the believers, that piece is our Savior.

--Jenni

5/19

temperature forcast today--upper 90's. once again and most likely for the remainder of our trip, our classes and days in the field will be relentlessly warm. although stopping only four times today, we visited several locations--mount of olives, dominous flevit, a franscican shrine and an ancient neocropolis, garden of gethsemane, church of all nations, a vineyard, the herodium, bethlehem, church of the nativity, peace center, and a jerusalem lookout.

sitting on the mount of olives in the cool of the morning, viewing the temple mount, dr. c. presented to us people's attraction to jerusalem. why did people come here. it's off the major road, actually out of the way. jerusalem, only 15 acres in size with a population of 1500, when david made it his capital seems rather insignificant. the significance lies in the presence of God in the city. God resided in the temple, making the city almost like eden when God walked among His beloved. hoards of people swarmed to this city, and they have ever since. the most striking part of the lecture was the explanation of God's presence up until now. dr. c. read various passages, beginning in genesis. God's presence moved from Eden, to the tabernacle, to the temple...but the temple was destroyed by the babylonians (many debate whether or not it even reappeared in the second temple). the presence of God was gone, until the presence was made flesh...in the person of His son. when that temple was destroyed, the presence began to dwell in the temple of every believer--with Jesus Christ our high priest. the most gripping thought--one day, when the new heaven and earth appear, God's presence will once again dwell among His people, personally. in five minutes we traced God's presence from genesis to revelation...and the experience was chilling.

after visiting the dominous flevit church and viewing the tombs there, we went to what is believed to be the garden of gethsemane (john, you are right.. it is very peaceful). dr. c didn't lecture here, but rather let us wander the garden. still cool in the morning air, the quietness allows your heart and mind to reflect on the moment. dr. c gave us some time to just wander the small grounds and pray or read if we wanted. ending the peaceful moment we went to head across the street to the church of all nations, but the garden keeper had wandered off and we were locked in. eventually he returned and we crossed the street to the church built to commemorate the events of the garden as christ prayed before being captured by the jews.

we picnicked at the herodium, herod's fortress/palace south of jerusalem. as we climbed the hill across the remains of the 200 stairs herod had placed on the side of his mountain, we felt the intense heat of the day. the thermometer on dr. c's camera bag read well over 100 degrees. the pride and bigotry of herod was seen as we looked over what remained of this site. we could see the swimming pool that he once had (we wished they had recreated that site) for which he had water carried in from the aqueducts. he had towers and guest rooms, bath houses and royal apartments all decorated with the opulence of a roman official. on may 8th, professor ehud netzer of hebrew university announced his discovery of herod's gravesite on the side of the fortress. the remarkable tidbit about this site is that herod built all of it. there was no mountain. herod built walls and then placed "the earth" on it as a hebrew archeologist explained to us.

our last stop was bethelehem, the birthplace of christ. we went to the church of the nativity and the peace center.. more monumental churches. aside from the buildings, jenni and i began to contemplate the plight of the people. everywhere we go we are approached by beggars and peddlars hoping to make some money from the "rich americans." poverty here is in stark contrast to the states. in most cases, in the u.s. a person can find a job. but here..bethlehem has lost her grip on the economy. the intifada has made lasting impressions on this small village keeping tourists away and leaving many of its people in want.

we stopped at the lookout to review...to pick out what we can recognize on the horizon. today was our last class before our first exam on monday. i hope we are catching more than just a sunburn.

---emby

hopefully you all aren't getting too bored with the tomes we are writing about our experiences. we are trying to condense all we see and learn and make it as fun for you as for us. we really love hearing your comments and getting emails. thanks so much to everyone keeping in contact... and just for reading.

beauty in the dust

stumbling out the gate at ten to seven with eyes still fuzzy from sleep, we made our way just below the jaffa gate to meet our classroom/bus for the next 11 hours. we saw more places than i think i can remember, but will try to relate what we saw. here is a mini preview of what we saw--nahil refaim, beth-shemesh, gezer, nabi-samwil, lookout, old-testament site of jericho, and a second lookout. some of you recognize those names, but others... you are still struggling to sound them out. don't worry... we had the same difficulties. we were working on maps the other night and reading them out loud

and one of the professors walked by laughing at us.

starting out, we headed south of jerusalem and into the hill country for a brief stop over-looking a green lush terrain which was a stark contrast to the wilderness we traveled through later in the day. the first significant stop was at the ancient site of beth-shemesh. an area once filled with vines, wheat, and olives as well as foxes and lions served as samson's playground. beth-shemesh was also the place where the ark of the covenant was received when it was sent back to israel after capture by the philistines.

gezer, the front door to the hill country, found us in a sea of waving grasses in red and brown. looking at the ridges and valleys (nahils/wadis), the ability to understand that whomever controls this valley and the surrounding low hills commands jerusalem's first line of defense is given. the park also contained portions of a solomonic gate and an old water system. if not for a slight breeze, our walk through the thistles and tall grass would have been much warmer as the sun bore down on us. i think i understand why they recommend bringing hats and large water bottles.

tired, thirsty... we headed back to the bus and the ride to nabi-samwil for lunch. knowing pita and hummus was coming, jenni and i were very excited. after our picnic, we hiked up the hill to the large mosque where both jews and muslims have prayed since medieval times. although several hills from ramah, where scripture states samuel was buried, tradition holds that he was buried on the hill at nabi-samwil. from our vantage point on the roof of the mosque, we traveled the four corners and could see at times over 15 miles into the distance. we could see the dome of the rock, the mount of olives, ramallah, gibeon, and others. we chose not to go the gibeon due to their negative attitude toward outsiders. after listening to dr. c's lecture, we acted like children playing on the roof and skirting across the domes on top. all to soon.. we heard dr. c's whistle for us to head back to the bus and head on to the next stop.

around this time, the majority of the class was beginning to realize that the sun was very warm and while the blowing wind kept us cooler it wasn't preventing the sun from leaving a pink hue to our skin. as we climbed on the bus, fervent application of a variety of SPF began, but the damage had been done. tomorrow's travel will be done by a darker...or perhaps brighter group.

the next stop was a lookout. from here we were able to look along the ridge route and visualize the patriarchs as they went about day to day life--abraham and lot deciding how to divide the land and jacob's travel to find a wife, to run from his brother.

leaving the lookout placed us on a road built with once switchback after another. driving in a small car, i would drive timidly, but our driver took our tour bus of several tons around corner after corner with expertise. grateful and safe, we arrived in jericho. although sometimes disputed, we could see the remains of what dr. c believe the be the very walls that the isrealites destroyed thousands of years ago. careful work by diligent archaeologists have made all this possible.

we wandered around this oasis in the midst of barren wilderness for a while and picked up some great dried fruit and dead sea mud mask that jenni and i are going to try later.

back on the bus we had one stop left before dinner. driving toward the lookout, jenni and i saw a camel at sea level. we knew it was sea level b/c we saw a road sign. we knew it was a camel because it had two humps. as we climbed off the bus, in what seemed to be the middle of the nowhere (it probably was) we were met by a line of small bedouin beggar children. their father stood off to the side with a camel for us to ride. high on the ridge, we could once again see far into the distance making out mount nebo and the transjordan hills.

wearily we walked back down the hill toward the bus. some rode the camel and some just laughed. it was a good end to a long day of lessons.

tomorrow takes us to bethlehem and the mount of olives.

--emby

Cafe Hillel

Feeling the need for a night stroll...somewhere, MB and I made a run with our JUC friends Abby, Nate, and John into the New city. None of us had been in this upbeat area yet, and we were good for an adventure. We quickly headed out, the chilly night air calling for jackets. Passing the Jaffa Gate and going down the road 1/2 mile or so took us into a rather modern area, complete with Mickey D's and BK (of which we took no part, of course), decorative lights, and clothing stores. Neither feeling the shopping vibe nor finding very good deals, we decided we needed coffee.
On the recommendation of Becca Pettit, we tried out a trendy coffee shop called the Cafe Hillel. It wasn't that different from a typical American shop--except for security at the door, bilingual menu, and the screaming fact that we are Americans. We sat in the open air crowded around a little table sipping our variety of orders--frozen vanilla lattes for Mary Beth and me (which we paid a ridiculous 20 shekels for...its the experience right?), iced americano for Abby, and strong cappuccinos for the boys. We swapped school and family stories, happy we came but all agreeing that we would take Brad's suggestion for 6 shekel coffee in the Old City (besides, the other place has baklava). We quickly headed back home, remembering we have to be on the bus at 7 am on the dot...or be left. But hey...hooray for friends and a little more knowledge of the area we might come back to when MB and I decide to do some serious shopping.

--Jenni

open air classroom

a brisk walk to the western wall began today's class. only this time, we headed behind the wall to the 36 acres that hold the dome of the rock and there our class began (ok... so he lectured all along the walk down to the wall). we looked at different columns and pillars noting the different styles from the different eras—byzantine, greek, roman. the actual dome of the rock, al aqsa mosque, and mosque where solomon’s stables once stood are no longer open to the public, only to practicing muslims. the rock in the center of the dome is believed by muslims to be the spot from which muhammad ascended through the heavens to God. in 685, caliph abd al-malik ibn marwan began the construction of the dome over an area long abandoned after roman destruction. during the crusader period, the al-aqsa mosque was used as headquarters. then during the ottoman period and now in modern times several renovations have taken place on the compound of the mosque. the details of the history of the plaza deepens the more you hear. but enough of the history lesson.. most of you are reading for personal interest. wandering around the plaza, i was amazed at the cleanliness. it wasn't exactly bj gallery green, but there was no trash or debris and what was there was being swept away by an older muslim man. one interesting thing we saw while on the grounds was a group of young poors playing soccer on a raised platform using shoes for a goal on one end and a qibla on the other. a quibla is the arabic word for the direction that should be faced when a muslim prays, so most mosques contain a niche in the wall and most plaza have markers that indicate the qibla..thus called the qibla. we spent about 95 minutes there walking, lecturing, snapping photos. who goes to the dome of the rock with out taking several pictures.

after the "bell" rang, we scurried off to our next class--the western wall. it seems our class spends several hours at the wall. today's lesson included observing the bar mitzvah celebration, recognizing several boys as grown-ups. bar-mitzvahs are celebrated at the wall on mondays, thursdays, and rosh chodesh days, when the torah is read. the class at the wall was brief and we soon headed to the jerusalem archaeological park to observe artifacts of digs spanning over 5000 years from the christian and muslim periods back to the bronze age (cannaanites). adjacent to the wall, the park sits next to the temple mount and remnants of the ritual baths used for purification as well as a portion of the stairs still with stones where jesus walked still stand. as dr. c read from psalm 121-2, we sat on those steps listening as the psalmist described jerusalem as sitting in the midst of the hills as well as seeking to go up into the house of the lord.

scurrying off like little school children, jenni, brad, abby, kevin, james, and i went searching through the shuk (shopping plaza) to find jenni some sunglasses. we are getting ready for some more serious hiking and the sun shines brightly. we knew we wanted to go back to juc friend, shabban's shop, ali babba's. but what we didn't know for sure was how to get there... it is in the shuk somewhere. without asking directions too many times, we found his shop and got jenni some cute glasses for only 20 shekels and 1 dollar. the conversion is about 4 to 1. if those glasses are holding up in 3 weeks.. i am going to ali babba's. from shabban's store, we manuvered like experts back to the jaffa gate and on to the campus.

school wasn't out for the day yet. we met back in the lecture room for our 2-6 session. thankfully, dr c. let us out a little after 5. all tired from a long morning, we took turns bobbing our heads toward the front of the classroom--but this doesn't mean that our lecture was boring. we covered the international coastal highway, the ridge route, and the beth-horon connecting route. dr. c keeps telling us that once we know the rules of the game, topography and geography, then we can play the game of history. AMAZING.. time after time, different people from different places take the same routes and follow the same paths as those several hundred years before them.

jenni and i worked on our pictures and then headed to dinner. i realize that we haven't mentioned the food recently... but it has been amazing. today's feast was no exception. the zucchini was amazing as well as the avocado salad (practically guacamole).

alright... time for bed. we are headed out before 7 tomorrow to visit the central benjamin plateau.

----emby

Jerusalem Day

The crowds were crazy tonight as MB and I, along with our fellow students John, Nate, and Matt made our way though the streets of the Old City. Our destination (along with everyone else in the city): the Western Wall and its plaza, filled and overflowing with singing, dancing, smiling Jews. Tomorrow (well, actually tonight since the Jews believe that evening begins the new day) is the celebration of Jerusalem Day--the 40 yr anniversary of the reunification of the city. In 1967 Jews reclaimed much of the city from where they had been ousted in 1948. The "unification" over the last 40 years has seen its times, for better and for worse. But tonight, everyone (well, the Jews) was happy. A large youth parade snaked its way from Jaffa gate to the Wall. Our group sided the procession passing circles of dancers as well as friends embracing everywhere. All the while the Star of David on white flags everywhere contrasted against the dark sky.


The only stressful part of the journey was actually reaching the Wall plaza. Hundreds and hundreds of people pushed their way up and down a relatively narrow staircase simultaneously. Feeling the need to experience this once in a lifetime celebration, the five of us jumped in line...taking about 15 minutes to reach the bottom, jostled and cramped, nearly falling the whole way. When our crowd reached the bottom, we desperately clutched each other’s sleeves and elbows making our way through the plaza. We came to a stopping point amidst the singing and shouting to snap pictures and try to find out from the locals what on earth was going on. We learned (through multiple attempts) that the party was to last for several hours with ritual prayers and songs.

You will never see anything like this in America. It was more energetic than any 4th of July celebration. These people take such pride in their nation. Also, the whole ordeal was surprisingly safe, just incredibly cramped. Sure there was security on the perimeter and throughout the crowd, but they just had a host of happy people to look out for. No drunken revelers, no violent intents...these people trust each other.

Two things I learned tonight...One, being in the middle of a big crowd where I don't have a blessed clue what's going on isn't really my thing. It was cool, but I'll save my thrills for elsewhere. Two, this city is incredible. This kind of crowd, people celebrating their nation, is just the kind of stuff you read about. The historic songs, the ancient prayers...all remembering who they are, where they've been, and what they will have to face. Jerusalem is a splintered city and always will be. But the joy like I saw tonight...who knows...maybe it's a glimpse of the joy we'll all have when Jerusalem is finally whole.

--Jenni

It's All a Wash

you know.. they say it never rains in jerusalem this time in the year. i suppose that our presence here is creating quite a havoc in the weather system. it almost seems like we are back in the fickle-minded south carolina.

after lunch we were to meet at the gate once again in order to head out for another field lecture from 1-5pm. we knew the sites that we planned on visiting. one of which was hezekiah’s tunnel. the tunnel was used for carrying water from outside the city walls at the gihon spring back inside without have to exit the gates… in case of siege. therefore, walking through this tunnel means walking through water that is anywhere from knee to about waste high.

getting ready for the walk, we dressed appropriately (including our great shoes) and brought only what we though necessary—cameras, flashlight, and purell. our walk began fairly calm.. although we noted it was about to rain, but a little sprinkle can’t hurt anyone. we headed through the zion gate about 200 yards from campus and walked through the jewish quarter to see the collonade, cardo, and a wall built during the time of the first temple. by this time the rain was coming down a bit harder, but we kept going heading for the temple mount. We saw the tomb of zechariah, bene hezir, and the pillar of absalom..

there was enough rain now for cars and buses to make a big splash as they drove by. not to be deterred, dr. c just kept on lecturing and walking. we stood on the eastern ridge looking down into the kidron valley and saw the location of the gihon spring. now.. we were standing in the midst of a downpour complete with thunder. where do we go?? there are no shelters nearby? we ducked into a walkway and attempted to huddle 40+ people under the leaves of a fig tree. how did we know? well of course dr. c knows, but there were figs still hanging on the branches.. as we were running toward the tree, hail was added into the mix. Water was now pouring down the streets and cars driving through created tidal waves soaking any remaining dry spot on pedestrians running by. we managed to skirt around a few corners and found refuge in what seemed to be a park area… we hoped to wait out the storm, but there was no release in the downpour.

dr. c released us to make our way back or wander around the city. since it was cold and we were wet, jenni and i jumped on the bandwagon with james, kevin, and brad to head back to juc with the 3 mrs. howells (just think gilligan’s island). after warm showers and dry clothes and some toast and jelly, we feel much better and are holing up inside awaiting a warm dinner.

hopefully tomorrow will be much nicer. we are headed for the temple mount at 7:30am.

---emby

mid-morning java

8 am class.
you would think after all the 8am classes that i have taken at bj, i would remember how much i dislike getting up early in the morning and then... trying to stay awake for the teacher...oh well. class is fascinating, but from 8-12 is a very rough time to stay awake. we spent most of the time learning about OT jerusalem--the history, significant facts, importance. the most fascinating part of the lecture was Dr. R's explanation of progression of event that took place where the dome of the rock now stands. jenni was especially lovin' it.

fortunately our teacher is gracious enough to give us several 5 minute breaks between the hours. at 10, he gave us a 25 minute break... and knowing how much we were struggling to stay awake.. james, kevin, and brad decided that we should run to the jaffa gate and get some coffee just inside the old city. and run we did... we booked it all the way up the hill to the coffee shop. jenni and i had worn our flip-flops to class assuming that we would have time to change at lunch before our afternoon walk... so we could feel the burn as we forged ahead. the air was still cool, but getting warm as the hot sun was starting to burn off the haze. i guess it was brad's turn to pay for the coffee so he treated us all to some amazing cappacinos. mmm.... i didn't have a problem staying awake for the second half of the class...

Church of St. Anne/Pools of Bethesda

"Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years."

This narrative in John's gospel is the story of the lame man, healed by Jesus amidst the crowds by the pool of Bethesda. It also sets the background for our most impressive stop today. The actual structures from Jesus' time cannot be seen today, but, as our instructor says, "once a holy site, always a holy site." The conquering Romans in 70 AD converted the pools into asite for pagan worship. Later Byzantium claimed the area and used the area pools for themselves. The Byzantine structures (though broken down) are the most recent. However, traces from as far back as Roman days can still be seen. Though mostly taken over by weeds and plant growth, the ruins are still explorable. We ducked under arches and even explored a Roman cistern.

Before reaching the pools, you have to walk through the complex of the church of St. Anne. The front gates open into impressive gardens, the walk leading up to a large stone church built by the Crusaders. Though the site of the pools is legitimate, the church was built on tradition. Crusaders thought a cave they found to be the birthplace of Mary to her parents Anne and Joachin. In honor of the grandmother of Jesus, they built a stone chapel. Amazingly, when Saladin did not destroy either of the sites upon his takeover. Over time they just fell into disrepair until the British Mandate.

We stopped a while at the church to reflect on our own faith, the chapel having an amazing tranquility (not to mention great acoustics). We spent time in personal and public prayer, followed by a time of song. Thousand of years have past since Jesus walked that land, yet somehow we still felt so close to the heart of God in that place.

--Jenni

first day of classes..

to even attempt to describe to you all that we heard and learned today would be impossible... and beyond all that you would most likely grow bored with what would seem to be another boring history lesson. but it is far from that.

our day in the classroom began with an orientation of what to expect as students of JUC. what might that be?? lots of walking. to begin, we walked around the campus. jenni and i had already done this, but we had yet to find the correct staircase to the roof and the view was incredible. a clear view of the valley of gay hinnom (biblically-gehinna) and king david hotel and tower for the ymca on the hill beyond. then it was back to the classroom and we met our well traveled teacher, carl rasmussen. his history with the school and the nation or israel contains more stories than we have classroom time, but it is interesting to note that he was here for the 6 day war, the war of yom kippur as well as both intifadas (uprisings). after a 95 minute lecture, we broke for lunch and then met at the gate for our "walk" of the old city.

our walk began at 1pm and ended shortly after 6 in the shop of our new friends dov and moshe kempinski. the beginning instructions for the walk was to find a new "buddy" who we didn't know. jenni and i met kevin and james, two pastors from oregon. our tour took us on several winding routes through narrow and wide streets in and out of a majority of the gates to the walled portion of the city--Jaffa, Damascus, Herod's, St. Stephen's/Lion, and finally Zion. we also weaved in and out through the four quarters of the city--armenian, moslem, christian, and jewish.

we went back again to the church of the holy seplechre, but this time we came in from the opposite side. going through the church for the second time, jenni and i were able to focus a little more on what dr. rasmussen was saying along with distinguishing between the six religious groups that share ownership of different properties within the church--greek orthodox, eastern orthodox, roman catholocism, ethiopian, coptic, and syrian. we also passed through several shops again and met some of the shopkeepers.. who were very anxious to give us their business cards.
we headed outside the walls through the damascus gate and saw gordon's calvary and garden tomb where some would dispute that the crucifixion and burial took place. winding along the outside of the wall we walked along a portion of the arab section before reentering through herod's gate. our next stop was the pool of bethesda.... and then back through narrow shop-laden streets out st. stephen's gate and into a muslim graveyard. amidst the tombstones engraved in arabic, we turned our attention to the mount of olives taking in church after church that was built upon "traditional" sights (saints burial, garden of gethsemane...etc.). once again we headed back into the city to visit the western wall before continuing the shorashim, the biblical shop, owned by the brothers (http://www.shorashim.com/). then it was home through zion gate and dinner.... since we have been dining on food at the JUC kitchen we have had a variety of food mostly american style. however, there is always hummus and a variety of fruits.

the homework for tonight wasn't too bad.. and jenni and i are already done, and i know that i am looking forward to sleep (but since when is that new)

side history note.
this year celebrates the 40th year since the War of Yom Kippur in 1973. tomorrow is Jerusalem Day (which partly began tonight with nightfall, which signifies the new day). however because of the 40th year the celebration will last the entire week and we are seeing signs of it everywhere--banners, lights, fireworks, stages set-ups.. the works.

---emby

last day before school starts...

after a late night working on maps, jenni and i had great plans to get up early and work on our maps before becca came to get us at 11. it was a great plan, but we woke up at 10:47... and it was a race to get ready. we threw on some clothes, brushed our teeth, and ate a quick breakfast of oranges, pears, and granola. becca came not to long after... but we decided to stay and eat lunch (first meal served by JUC) while she went to talk to Dov and Moshe. a group from cedarville arrived just before lunch (they aren't with our program).

now it was up to us to remember how to get back to the shop.. but we did it. we made our way back through the zion gate to the cardo (the shopping area). then we were off to the arab quarter of the city to visit the holy seplechre with one of the best guides in the city. walking to the church was a blur of color as we past under the scarves and woven fabrics peeking into shops filled with anything from beads to shoes to carpets to religious trinkets. the end of the road suddenly opened up to a courtyard which used to be a part of the church.
the church of the holy sepulchre, called the church of the resurrection is a christian church. The ground on which the church rests is venerated by most christians as golgotha, the hill of calvary.

becca took us in and we climbed the stairs to the area recognized as calvary--historians are positive of the sight as the very location where christ was crucified. over the rock where the crucifixion took place, 4th century Christians built a shrine. jenni and i touched the rock--we didn't want to have come so far and not take part in the whole experience. becca gave us a great tour and we were able to see the alter of the anoiting (the supposed rock where they laid Jesus after taking Him off the cross) and the seplechre (the place Jesus was reportedly buried). there we ran into a not so happy eastern orthodox father who shoved his way into the very small seplechre right behind us. becca also told us about the armenians, ethiopians, and several different orthodox sects. jenni is posting pictures so that you can get a better idea of what all we saw.

leaving the church we headed for yet another. we went to a lutheran church in order to go up the tower to see all the city. we should have counted the stairs... but we would probably still be counting...round and round and round we went the in narrow staircase. fortunately we made it all the way up and even back down without meeting anyone. otherwise we would have been greeting each other with a blessed hug. the view from the top was absolutely amazing. unfortunately our pictures from the top of the tower are a little washed out as the bright sun illuminated the white limestone of the city. but we'll be going back for more. back down we came and hiked back to campus.. a beautiful walk back under the tunnel of color, out the jaffa gate, and down our walkway blooming with flowers. after chatting a bit with becca, she headed home and we headed to the library with our maps. we had 1 left, and guess what... we finished right before dinner. wow... they took a lot of time and work, but we learned much. old and new testament will never quite be the same again. tomorrow we will have our first class and official walk through the land.

after dinner we headed out to get a brief view of the new city before the sun went down. we plan on finding a good coffee shop before too long. the VINTAGE has created coffee monsters in us and we haven't had any for quite some time.

well... it is time for bed because tomorrow we have to be ready for class... no sleeping in


----emby

sidenote: no guarantees for long posts once classes start. we believe in good grades

Sunday in Jerusalem

Both Jewish and Muslim holy days over, the hustle and bustle of the city resumed this morning, and MB and I got our first real taste of Jerusalem. Our friend and now trusted guide, Becca Pettit, picked us up at the school and guided us through Jaffa Gate into the Old City. Passing the Armenian Quarter, we stopped at Christ Church, a beautiful Anglican complex, for morning worship. After the minister's sermon on loving obedience to Christ and a brief time of fellowship, we three zig-zagged through narrow streets into the heart of the Jewish quarter.


Our first stop was at a bookstore in a plaza, where we met Dov and Moshe, two orthodox Jews that Becca meets with regularly to "dialog". They have wonderful senses of humor and love questioning people about their faiths. Mary Beth and I were truly astounded with the similarities between our two faiths (meaning traditions and practices). These men obey the law out of love for God, not viewing the law as a burden but as freedom (much like the kind of freedom Paul describes in the New Testament). It's amazing how much we could understand about each other's mindsets. So many Christians have a total misunderstanding the Jews, including the Jews' view of their own religion. Their "works" are not some artificial standard that they use as their ticket to get to Heaven. The two brothers are fascinated with "fundamental Christianity," seeing Becca is the first person to ever really discussed the movement with them. We had such a good time talking. MB and I have decided that we're going back to visit these two. They're wonderful people...and their shop is entirely intriguing. Everything is somehow Biblically based and relevant to history.


Outside of Moshe and Dov's store, we whisked through more corridors (I hope we remember when we go back), to the balcony overlooking the Western (wailing) Wall. Oh my goodness--incredible sight. The wall buzzed with tourists and the faithful alike, while the magnificent Dome of the Rock towered behind the wall, brilliant light reflecting off its signature golden dome.

Then, the most exciting experience of the day--our first real Jewish meal in the Old City. We found a crazy busy falafel shop (it smelled out of this world), and hopped somewhere in line. This place was tiny, but the line crammed in anyway. Before getting to the counter to order and pay (still not having shekels), we met a young guy who was actually a plain clothes body guard for the group in front of us, a bunch of Jewish-American college students. He was explaining the differences between shwarma and falafel when I noticed the large assault rifle he had slung across his back. Yeah, I think gun control here might be a little looser. =) MB and I finally found a table and quickly dove into our pitas filled stuffed full of the real deal--fried chick peas, cucumber/tomato, hummus, tahini, grilled veggies, pickles...yeah, Showmar's back home has greatly depreciated in my mind.


After taking some more pictures, we found our way out Zion Gate, past scads of school children (they're always touring their own city, being re-taught its history). Interestingly the walls Zion Gate is scarred, bullet holes still visible from the 1948 war. Coming out of the Gate passageway brings us within 100 yards of the our own front gate. Upon returning, Becca then showed us some of the historical significances of our own campus (EVERYTHING here is historical) and further answered our questions about the culture and gave us directions for the places we wanted to go this evening. Soon after we went back to the room and fell fast asleep.

This has been an amazing experience so far. I think I'm falling in love with this place.


--Jenni

evening recreation

after our 20 minute nap, we dragged our eyes open and forced ourselves to get up. we spent the next 3 hours working on our maps. i know... i know.. some of you are thinking how can it take so long...i don't know, but it can. they are absolutely fascinating. reading scripture and figuring out the relevance or "reality" of the land to the event intrigues us more the further we go. knowing now how much work and study the maps actually take, we are very thankful we are here early because we would be shooting ourselves trying to get them done before the final exam (let's face it.. they would never have been finished in chicago). we set our stopping point for 6, and headed back out on hevron road (the direction of becca's apartment). we found a convenience store and withrew some shekels. jenni had a craving for some of the amazing fruit we have heard so much about so we headed back to the grocery store and found some granola, cherry tomatoes, and a few oranges. the beauty of the land is amazing and jenni and i paused every few feet to take pictures of the view. we realize that most of it won't mean anything to many of you, but to some you might see the beauty. for others, you may appreciate the little "green man" who has helped us to safely cross many busy streets.

after we dropped off our food, we decided to take one last walk before dinner and dark. we really wanted to go up on the wall and be able to take pictures and view the city from there in order to cement in our minds the layout and different quarters that are so difficult to see when passing through the different stone corridors. sadly the wall was closed for the evening so we headed back to campus taking hundreds more photos as we walked back.

our room was looking a bit disheveled, thus some tidying was necessary. we wouldn't want to put our mothers to shame (especially on mother's day). next... one of the best things about our day--DINNER. since the session hasn't officially started no meals are being served. we are depending on the amazing chef skills of jenni and emby (no comment, brett). like last night's dinner, our feast was toast with hummus and tomatoes. we planned on having some of our oranges, but william (who is the JUC caretaker) was walking through the dining room and brought us a basket of pears. when i bit into the pear, i think my eyes almost watered. now i know what pears are supposed to taste like. wow.... it was amazing. needless to say jenni and i are saving our oranges for later.

well.... that about sums up our day...

---emby

Rainy day....

wow... we are really here. i think it really hit us this morning when we woke up around 5:30 to a choir of birds singing right outside our window. thankfully they quieted down and we were able to sleep a little bit more. .....

until noon when we got up. we ate some granola bars and then decided to go find becca pettit who we had met the night before. she had given us directions to the apartment where she is living. we headed out the front gate and realized the "light" rain was coming down a little harder than we thought.



we headed back inside to work on our maps. becca was looking out for us and called her friend hayley to come find us. thank goodness.. otherwise we would have been very hungry later today.

after spending several hours just chatting about home and families as well as history about the city and culture, becca sent us on our way directing us toward the 24 hour store (it was shabbat and all other stores were closed). we stopped on our walk back to campus for which it started raining. jenni and i picked up some hummus, bread, lemons (to help the taste of water), pretzels, and a tomato. we couldn't read a thing on the labels.. but we could recognize some different brands because of the symbols. i never knew the importance that graphic designers have in "branding." anyway... we couldn't really read anything, but spent 38,27 or roughly $10.

we finished our hike back to campus, dried out, and started work on out maps that we didn't finish before we left.

it is about midnight here and we are going to finish chatting with our boyfriends and head to bed. tomorrow's adventures hold church, money exchange, and wandering the old city.

goodnight.

----emby

Arrival

We made it....
After getting off the plane and making it through passport control and then walking through customs, we handed the map to the sherrut driver. He looked confused and wasn't sure he could get us to JUC. As he continued to drop off the other passengers, he told us that he knew every address in the city, but he had never seen ours before. He said we could go home with him... thankfully after much careful study of the map, he was able to drop us off at the university gate.

We unpacked and tried to make our rustic abode seem like home (or like a BJ dorm home). It isn't even close. No more complaints about margaret mack.
At this point we don't care and are going to bed...


--emby

Leavin' on a Jetplane

Hello everyone. As of this evening, we're heading off to the other side of the world for 3 weeks of summer school in Jerusalem. We're chillin' at MB's sister and bro-in-law's house in Atlanta for a little while before we head out. Our journey thus far has been relatively uneventful. The only casualty so far was my precious jar of Nutella which was deemed unlawful as a carry-on item and thrown out. Outside that, we're good to go. MB, the seasoned traveler, will most likely be snoozing by the time we get off the ground. (Stinks for me. I can't sleep at all.) We'll be back on the ground roughly 5:45 PM local time tomorrow.

So, stay with us for updates on what we're doing and lots of pictures that record our adventures in the Holy City.

Last Minute Changes

Well, MB and I are about to embark on our journey to Jerusalem...three days early that is. Due to last minute flight changes and the possibility of not making it to Israel until NEXT Thursday, we fly out today at 1:15 PM.