Day 2 - BYU, Holy Sites, Dead Sea, Haunted Graveyard

Shabbat Worship

So normally I go to church on Sunday, but the LDS church in Israel holds services on Saturday, respecting the Sabbath of Israel. Services are held in the Jerusalem Center, where I was a student in 2000. Unfortunately, the theatrics of the Second Intifada have now died down and we worshiped without the sound of tear gas guns firing off into the Palestinian neighborhood just south of us. I wish I could say the same about my experience in 2000.

A rockin' congregation in the Holy Land

I'm covering up the Dome of the Rock in this shot. When I took a photo from this spot in 2000, plumes of smoke covered up the Dome during riots. I guess I'll just have to go back again and get it right. 

The Jerusalem Center has a series of olive presses. Students have the chance to participate in both olive and grape pressing events during their stay at the Center (I even picked the olives when I was there). Although these are not considered religious icons of any sort, they remind us of the heavy weight that Christ bore for us in Gethsemane, otherwise known as the "olive press." 

This video contains a view of Jerusalem from the backside of the Jerusalem Center, where the other pictures were taken. There are many nice views, including the people. 

Mother and me at one of the olive presses. She's kinda lit up like an angel!

Wow, this picture sure shows the weight! This is me next to an olive tree. Such trees are important symbols of Christ. Olive oil has been an important part of the economy of the Middle East for thousands of years. Olive oil is used in cooking, healing, cleaning, anointing the sick, and other important functions of life. Olive oil as a life source becomes a powerful metaphor for human salvation when we reflect on the bloody agony of Christ in Gethsemene.

This picture is from the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives. In the background, there is the Sealed Gate, or the Golden Gate, which will be opened at the Second Coming of Christ. The surviving Jewish population will come pouring out of this wall to the location near where I am standing to meet our Messiah.

Me at the Church of All Nations...oh yeah...

This is Golgotha, or Place of the Skull, one of the candidate locations of Christ's crucifixion. I didn't get a shot of the Garden Tomb, which is just to the left of this picture, because of the large crowds. My Sunday school consisted of archeologists and biblical scholars visiting Jerusalem. In class, I learned that the tomb next to this hill is probably not Christ's actual tomb because the tomb is more reflective of an Iron Age tomb. Because Christ's tomb was evidently freshly hollowed, the scholars in my class ruled out this tomb as the actual spot. Yay for gospel scholars in Sunday school.

After taking a nap, we all went to the Dead Sea. Here we found a Mermother basking in what was left of the desert sun.


Shooting off the big guns at the Dead Sea.


Wallowing around in the Dead Sea mud.

Later that night....

Yep, I still have my Sunday shirt on. This picture is the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the southern end of the ancient Temple Mount.


If you thought San Antonio drivers were bad...



A different angle of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.



Elizabeth and I walked through the Muslim graveyard in front of the Sealed Gate at around midnight. Yes it's creepy, and no we probably shouldn't have, but your trip to Israel is not complete without a good scare. This gate is guarded by the spirits of the dead as well as an Israeli policeman at the top of the gate.