Saturdays

Today was the Sabbath so we have church on the eighth floor of the building. It was really interesting to worship on a Saturday. I keep having small panic attacks that I forgot to do my homework for class on Monday, but then I realize I still have all day tomorrow. Some people are having a hard time with us changing church to follow the Jewish people, but one, it makes it easier for the JC employees that are Jewish, and two, Sister Nickel (housing admin) said that "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Her meaning was that it's not the specific day that makes it a holy day, but the activities and the worship we participate in during it.

The eighth floor auditorium where we hold Sacrament meeting is a huge glass room where we can see the city from the seats. It was really amazing to partake of the sacrament in the very city that it was first instituted. Very humbling. There were a few branch members there and then some local tourists. Today was Fast Saturday so the testimonies were great. Relief Society and Sunday School were also very good. There is also a very small youth program and primary. The branch president is currently working on callings. 

After church basically every student ran out of the building to get to the city. We have been stuck in there since Thursday afternoon and we were tired of it already. It was really fun to actually be out on our own. We have security badges that we have to scan every time we leave and when we come back so that they always know who is inside and who is out in case there is an emergency. 

We went to the Garden Tomb and Golgotha. It was so interesting to compare the feeling of the Garden Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Garden Tomb was so quiet, peaceful, and reverent while the Church was busy and loud. Both are considered sacred places, but one just feels different. On the door of the tomb is a sign that reads, "He is not here, for He is risen" and that was so powerful. Seeing the site where he was probably crucified was also pretty humbling. I was with a couple of girls and we were talking about how we have seen all of these places in the pictures in the back of the bible, but we never thought we would actually get to see them. We joked about taping our own pictures on top of the other ones. 

After that decided to go back through some of the city. We walked through Damascus gate and down the street all the way to the West wall or the "wailing wall". It was really interesting to see all the people putting their prayers into the wall. We didn't stay long because it was almost time for dinner and since it was Fast Sabbath we were starving, and everything in the city smelled sooooo good! 

Tomorrow is a free day so we might be getting a group to head to Tel Aviv to go to the beach, but we aren't sure if they will let us yet. And I still haven't been able to post pictures which has kind of been frustrating. But, hopefully tomorrow. 

The highlight of the day was definitely the Garden Tomb. I know that even if that isn't the actual place of His burial it does not matter because He is risen. I know that He lives and I know that He is the Son of God. I am so grateful to be here in this holy city.