Our Crazy Life: The Sabbath

Thank heavens for instagram. It has helped me so much keep track of the days and what we did each day. It has been two months and I am still trying to record our happenings from our trip. Pause while I look back at day 6.... Oh day 6, one of my favorite days because it was the Sabbath. Notice I didn't say Sunday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worships on Saturday in Israel since that is the day recognized as the Sabbath among the Jews. The Church also worships on Friday in Muslim countries which is their Holy Day.

So Saturday, we attended church in the Jerusalem Center. My favorite place on earth to attend church. It is absolute the most beautiful site to partake of the Sacrament, although Galilee is right up there with it, but you will have to wait another week to hear about that. The Upper Auditorium, which is what they call it at the Center, has 3 walls of floor to ceiling windows and the back has a beautiful organ and pipes. The seating is stadium style so no one is in front of you to block your view of the Holy City.

Our family was able to sing in church, however, I must admit it was quite awful. I am not just being modest either. We sang with about 8 other people. We practiced the night before, but not with everyone and then we tried to sing parts. It did not go well. Just ask Hannah, a couple of measures in and she whispered to me 'don't sing'. I was standing next to someone who was singing a different part then me and I just couldn't find the right notes. Oh well, the rest of the meeting was so beautiful and I loved sitting there. We then had a beautiful Relief Society Meeting. Because it was Christmas and the students weren't there, although there were quite a few visitors, they only held two hours worth of meetings. We got to meet some wonderful people that were living in Jerusalem for various reason, students, Embassy, work. There are so many interesting people in the world.

After Church we had some lunch and then headed into the City to visit the Garden Tomb. The Garden Tomb is one of two sites traditional thought of as the resting place of Jesus Christ. Recent excavations have shown that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the other traditional site, was actually outside of the walls, and the more likely spot for the Tomb. However, I don't really care, the Garden Tomb is much more sacred and reverent. A non-denominational group from England cares for and runs the beautiful site. It is beautiful gardens surrounding a traditional tomb. It was unearthed back in the 1800's. It is completely different then the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so it is much easier to feel the Spirit, although Josh was on one, so it wasn't the sacred moment that I envisioned. It was also quite crowded. I have been there many times when it was quite empty. One of the benefits of living in Jerusalem for four months.

Howards and Stucki's.

Golgotha. The place of the skull.

Great view of the walls of Jerusalem.

Cute kids walking back with their Grandma.

We were able to walk around and enjoy the gardens and we ran into several groups from the Center. Our friends the Stucki's were there the same time as well as others. After our visit my mom took Josh, Benjamin and Grace back to the Center while Anne Marie, Kevin, my dad, John, Hannah, Caroline, and I went to St. Anne's Church. It is a beautiful stone church inside the city walls. It was built to honor the mother of Mary. It also sits outside the traditional site of the Pools of Bethesda. We were able to attend a beautiful concert there. An orchestra and two soloist from all around the world preformed the Messiah. How absolutely beautiful to listen to the Messiah being preformed in Jerusalem days before Christmas. It was truly a highlight and a once in a lifetime experience. I am so grateful that my mom was willing to go back with the other kids so that we could attend. I know that she would have loved it as well.