Garden Tomb and the Via Dolorosa!

Hi everyone!! It's been another incredible week!! and this time...PICTURES!! Yay! haha. They're low-quality because of the internet, sorry.
Sabbath was wonderful (: But very very busy.  We celebrate Sabbath on Saturday here. We had a marvelous day and took the sacrament just yards away from where the Atonement took place. Of course I cried (haha like I do every day here) and then after church most of us went together to the Garden Tomb!  It was a perfect thing to do on Shabbat.  I read John 20:1-18 there and cried (again). and took pretty pictures!  There are two places where Christians think Jesus was crucified and buried. There is a peaceful, but powerful feeling in the Garden Tomb.  I personally feel that it is the place where Jesus was buried and resurrected. The feeling there is so different from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is busier and filled with pilgrims wanting to touch the holy spot where Jesus was crucified.  I love both of the places, but there are different feelings and emotions that i associate with each place.  We only went to the Tomb for a couple hours or so, since we had to get back for dinner. So i was still fasting (it was fast Sabbath).  But it was worth it, even though I could have passed out haha, I was soooo hot and thirsty.  But we made it back home just fine.

I love this picture i took of the Tomb because the flowers remind me of springtime. It makes me think of the song my Grandpa used to sing to Grandma... "and their hearts were full of spring."  And how he's going to be resurrected someday because of our Savior.  and it will be springtime for Grandma and Grandpa again (: And Alvin will be resurrected too.  I could feel him and Grandpa near when I was at the tomb.  Oh I love the gospel! Families are together forever, because of what happened in this place!  And Gethsemane. I'll get there soon, i promise.

Sunday (it's like Saturday here. We switch holy days because we live in a different culture) we spent ALL DAY in the Old City!!  Every single day here is the new best day of my life!  We went from 9am til 6pm in the city today.  it was gorgeous.  So much to take in.  There were five of us in our group.  i bought a scarf so we could walk near the Dome of the Rock, since it is modest for girls to cover their hair in Muslim synagogues.

The inside of the Dome has been closed to non-Muslims since 2000, but every so often they will let people in.  if they're dressed appropriately, so i packed my skirt too. The scarf is blue and awesome! My first purchase in the Holy Land.  

So, we first went to the Western Wall, the most sacred site to the Jews. The last of their precious Temple.  I can now say that my tears have run down the Wailing Wall (even though we're not really supposed to call it that).  I even said a little prayer in Hebrew. "Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai eloihanu Adonai ehad."  it means Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord.  It was so special.  I can't believe it.  My whole world has revolved around this stuff since i was 14...and now it's all coming true.  This was most definitely my favorite place. We just went there again at sunset for Yom Kippur last night. It's the holiest day of the year in Judaism, the Day of Atonement where God writes about each of us in the Book of Life.  After Yom Kippur, He closes the book. So hopefully you've repented of your sins.  So I went to the holiest place in all of Judaism, on the holiest day of all of Judaism.  Words cannot describe how happy I am about everything every day.

Then we went to the Dome of the Rock.  It was gorgeous.  We also saw the spot that may be the location of the Holy of Holies.  It's on the Temple Mount.  The Dome covers the altar of sacrifice, but the Holy of Holies is somewhere else, and we know it is located over solid bedrock.  The only place like that, that we know of, is this little circle covered by a cupola on the temple mount by the dome.  It was so cool.  I didn't step on it because...you know. it's just too sacred.  Some of the other kids did though.  Nobody got struck by lightning or anything though haha(;

After that we went and did all 14 stations of the Via Dolorosa (where Jesus carried His cross. From Pilate's judgement hall allll the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that I talked about before, where many Christians think He was crucified and buried). I attached a picture of the streets we were walking (:

 it was amazing and so fun.  we only got kinda lost once.  We did pretty good because i have my uncle Jim's book, with all its maps and I already highlighted the Via Dolorosa.  That took a long time and it was so great!  If the Catholics go to all 14 stations, they receive indulgences for their sins.  So that's cool haha.  We ate lunch above a Coptic monastery...on accident...haha. it was fun though.  We walked the ramparts after that, which is a self-guided tour walking along the walls of the Old City.  i adore the city. my feet hurt like craaaaaazy at any given time hahaha but this is good for me. I LOVE THIS PLACE!! The stones sing beneath your feet, and the voices of the people who lived here just cry from the dust.  They want to be heard.  There are so many stories, and i only know a few. I love it.