Free Day of New Testament Sites

Yesterday we had a free day in which we jam packed a ton of sites into.

First we tried to go to go to Schindler's grave but it was randomly closed, so we weren't able to do that. But we explored a cemetery next to it and we all agreed that it felt a lot like we were in Narnia.

Schindler's Grave Attempt #1

Me at "Narnia"

After "Narnia" we went to what's called the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu which is a church built to commemorate when Peter denied Christ. This was a beautiful church and I really enjoyed it. The art work inside was actually very different from other Catholic/Christian churches, it was mostly stained glass and light and sunny, as opposed to the dark and dreary art work in other places. When Elder Holland came to Jerusalem he said that this was his favorite site, and I agree with him. It was really pretty and I felt the spirit as we sat in the cave prison in the bottom of the church where the Peter and John were held in prison. We read the story of Christs' crucifixion from the Bible and sang some hymns. There were a lot of other tourist groups and they were taking pictures of us as we sang.

Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu

Inside chapel of Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu

Sitting outside of Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu. Notice the Dome of the Rock in the left hand corner. Yeah, I live in Jerusalem!

We then went to Dormition Abbey which is a church built for Mary (and it also makes an appearance in the Da Vinci Code). The building is really beautiful. In the basement there is a crypt where they have a statue of a sleeping Mary with shrines made to six other significant women in the Bible. Honestly I thought the sleeping Mary was a little creepy. It reminded me of Snow White. But we sat and talked about Mary and her role in the Savior's life and that was really good. Once again this site was packed with other tour groups.

Dormition Abbey

Sleeping Mary

I don't want to be trapped with the sleeping Mary forever...

We then went and saw David's tomb which was cool, but nothing too significant, more like something to check off a list. We also went to the Upper Room where the Last Supper may or may not have happened. It had actually been turned into a mosque since the Last Supper "happened" there (a lot of sites claim to be where events happened, but the fact is we really can't know). But the Christian church has reclaimed it and it's once again a Christian site but still has Arabic and other Muslim traits in it.

So we had a good day, saw a lot of New Testament sites which were spiritually fulfilling as well as fulfilled a class requirement. Good day!

I just liked these dudes lighting candles outside of David's Tomb