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