I really shouldn't still be awake here. We leave for our all day trip through the land of Benjamin in less than 7 hours and I still need to sleep and get up and pack and eat breakfast, and here I am at a computer posting on my blog. Oh well, I don't really care. I need to tell people about today!
I just finished journaling and I wrote 9 pages for today. That's actually not a record for this trip, but it's getting close. What we did today was just way too exciting to put off writing about! In the morning we had our New Testament Old City walk and in the afternoon we had our Old Testament Old City walk! I've been all over this city about 4 times now and I still can't get enough of it! I love it here!
Backing up. Two days ago our class started here at Jerusalem University College. Our professor, Cindy Parker, is amazing! She is clearly very passionate about the subject of Biblical Geography and knows more than I can imagine about the topic! I feed off her energy and everything I learn is new and exciting! We've learned about water and rocks and hills and valleys and farming and weather cycles and festivals and building materials and much more. It's incredible to see Bible stories and passages come to life! I've especially enjoyed seeing the imagery first hand that David wrote of in the Psalms.
Monday afternoon we recieved a tour of the Old City, learned the main roads and saw the main buildings, learned the surrounding valleys and hill and gates. We went to the Pools of Bethseda and touched the Wailing Wall. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy and cold, but that turned into a blessing on Tuesday!
We woke up on Mt Zion to see snow covering the ground! It was still coming down with huge, wet flakes and everything looked frosted. Cindy had lost her voice, so that with the snowy weather gave us a very relaxing day. We still had 5 hours of class, but that's much less than the 9 hours planed! The director of JUC, Paul Wright, taught us in the morning after giving us an extra hour to walk around the Old City and take pictures of the snowy land. I, not having a camera, simply walked around the city from Jaffa gate to Zion gate singing and watching the snow fall. Linford took charge of our afternoon class and taught from Cindy's notes. That meant we were done at 2:20 instead of 5:30. None of us were complaining!
This morning, actually mostly by the end of yesterday, the snow had all melted and everything was just wet. It was still quite cold and sprinkles fell from time to time. The New Testament sites we saw today were: the claimed upper room for the Last Supper, excavated sites all along the Temple Mount, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I enjoyed the steps up to the Temple Mount the best for some reason. I think I just liked the image of a bunch of rabbis and Jesus sitting there teaching their disciples. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is something else! I'm a bit disappointed that it looks nothing like the hill of Calvary or a tomb, but I got over that. I saw the tomb that was supposably empty on Easter morning and it most certainly wasn't empty! Tourists formed a huge line to get into the tomb and there were always at least 2 people in there! All through the morning, Cindy (in a very quiet voice or with Linford being her microphone) shared Bible passages that suddenly made a whole lot more sense.
The afternoon started and ended with Hezekiah. First we saw a section of the "broad wall" that would have been built in his time to defend Jerusalem from the north. Then we spent a whole lot of time in the City of David, a tiny portion of the Old City. It is all on the Eastern Hill with the Kidron Valley on the east, the Hinnom Valley on the south and the Central Valley on the west. At some points the ridge is only 25 meters wide, but a wall halfway into the valley made the city big enough to actually be a city. The temple mount is much, much wider than the Eastern hill at that spot!
There is no good reason to build a city on the Eastern Hill as opposedthe Western Hill except for the spring of Gihon in the Kidron Valley. That water source is why the City of David existed. It is why the Jebusites built the shaft that David could use to attack the city. It is also why Hezekiah dug a really long and windy tunnel under the city. We got to walk the entire length of Hezekiah's tunnel today! There was always about a foot of water and at times closer to 2.5 feet! The ceiling was rarely high enough to stand and the walls were very narrow. Plus it was pitch dark. We had so much fun for those 15 minutes!
A few more notes: I've played 4 games of "up and down the river" in the last 2 days and had way too much fun doing so. I started and will soon finish reading "Three" by Ted Dekker. Many songs poured through my head today, including "Thief," "I Want to Be Like You," "Will you come and follow me," "Missin' You," "Be Thou My Vision," and randomly "Sweet April Child."
Alright, I really should sleep.
I just read this to the rest of your family and Paka. We had supper together, then Jess and Sara and Heidi came and we told stories about when you and your siblings were small, and then after they left I checked WAAG! -- and you were there to tell us about your day! Your siblings were jealous of your 15 minutes in the water tunnel. Now Darrel has "April Child" stuck in his head. April says she is going to have to examine your hands when you get home to see if they look like your father's -- as you are probably picturing, she's been sitting next to your twin examining his hands.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great post Daniel--I am trying hard not to be jealous of the amazing time that you are having and all the incredible things that you are learning--it would certainly make bible reading come alive to see and hear and know what you have learned.
ReplyDeleteThanks for updating your blog even though it meant not a whole lot of sleep for you!
I hope you guys sang in Hezekia's tunnel! That was my favorite part..i'm pretty sure we did all Disney songs but you probably did menno classics which would also be fun. Sounds like a good time!
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