Via Dolorosa

Marhaba from Jerusalem!

Wow, is it ever time for a blog update? It has been quite a while since I have updated, and quite a lot has happened since then. I will start from the beginning of this week.

At the end of last week I started getting sick, but it wasn't too bad. Just a regular head cold it felt like, so I felt alright with going out on my free day on Sunday. So I did, and it was a great day! We went to a little down called Ein Karem to go look at the Chagall Windows in the Hadessah Hospital. The windows are 12 stained glass windows, each one representing a son of Israel. At first glance they really don't seem that significant (to me anyway), but the more I looked at them the more fascinated I became with them. They really were incredible and I enjoyed them.

The Chagall Windows

After we saw the windows we walked down a little trail that followed the valley and walked up to the Church of the Visitation. The church was closed until later that afternoon so we just explored the city until it was time to go back to the church. This town was so cute, I loved it. I felt like it was very European, like Italy or something. Cobblestone streets, flowers everywhere, very green and charming. I really enjoyed it. There were a ton of hills though, I felt like every road we went up to explore was very steep up hill. We went to the Church of Visitation and then we went to the Church of John the Baptist where I met a Franciscan who lived there and I talked to him for a little bit.

Church of the Visitation
Church of John the Baptist

The only bad thing about Sunday is that all of the activity pretty much sent me over. By the end of the night I was very sick and had lost my voice almost completely.

Monday we our field trip to the City of David, including our trip to Hezekiah's tunnel which I was very excited about. The only catch is that I was late for the bus and got left, so I spent a morning alone at the center. I was really sad about it, but it was probably a good thing because I was still feeling pretty sick. I also got out that afternoon and went to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and went to some museums, which were cool. The next day I went to the doctors at the center and they said that I had bronchitis and gave me an antibiotic for it. I slowly but surely have gotten better and have returned to health.

Yesterday a big group of us got out of the center and went to the Christian Quarter or the old city to walk the Via Dolorosa with the Catholic Priests and Catholic pilgrims. Lent started this week and people here are celebrating it. The Via Dolorosa is the road that Jesus walked from where he was charged by Pilot to Golgotha where he was crucified. There were fourteen stops along the way signifying something that Jesus did at the stops. We would stop and the Priests would explain what happened and then everyone would recite prayers and sing. The last few stops were in the Church of the Holy Sepluchre where Christ died and is was buried.

Church of the Holy Sepluchre

Right when you walk into the Church of the Holy Sepluchre there is a piece of stone where Catholic believed Jesus' body was prepared for burial. At this point a lot of people knelt down and would reverently touch the stone. Priests in the church really like incense. The place smelt so strongly of incense, sometimes it was almost unbearable.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, stone where they prepared Jesus' body

After we walked the Via Dolorosa me and three other people went and explored a little further. We found an Ethiopian Monastery and talked to a monk there. We then went down into Helen's Cistern where ancient people gathered their water. It was a huge cave deep in the earth and it was wet and damp. At one point the lights went out and that kind of freaked me out. But on the sign for the cistern it said that down below we would find a "musical surprise" which we thought was funny, so we sang a few hymns and a few other songs as well. After that we went home to make it back before sundown. The rest of the night was uneventful, I tried to get homework done but it was Friday night and I felt like I deserved to relax, so I watched Cool Runnings instead. Such a good movie. Helen's Cistern at the Ethiopian Monastery

Today nursery went great, my partner brought her Ukulele for singing time and the kids were mesmerized by it. It was fun just to be able to sing and enjoy it rather than chase kids around the bomb shelter! I really like my calling.

Tonight we went to some permanent ward member's house for family home evening (on the Sabbath). It was so nice to be in an actual home! And I can't tell you how amazing it was to eat homemade brownies. You really don't realize how much you love the simple things in life, like sitting on a couch or walking on plush carpet until you don't have it anymore. We were all living the change of setting for a few hours.

And now it's time for bed. This week is going to be a good one, I have three tests I think. Yikes! So with that, حسن الليلة!