Singing on the Sabbath

Today was another great Sabbath. I finally have decided to join the ward choir, so hopefully Sister Stevens will be proud of me. We have had two rehearsals including today’s and we already performed a song. It was crazy that we were ready. It was “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” so it was pretty easy, but it was beautiful.

Today is Yom Kippur which is the most holy holiday for the Jewish people so they don’t drive cars. So out of respect, the people in our branch were asked to not drive as well which made church basically only us students and the faculty. Because of that, I was asked to substitute in nursery for my professor’s three year old girl Tabi. It was pretty fun, but hard to keep her entertained. I was working with another girl named Kristen and she tried to teach a short lesson, but that didn’t work out too well. But, it was fun to just play with her.

We went to the Garden Tomb today as whole group. It was really amazing. We went on a guided tour and then the director of the site asked us to sing a few hymns. The last song that we sang was “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” and it was amazing. So many people stopped to listen or record us. Many people had tears in their eyes and they thanked us afterward. The spirit was really strong. It was one of the only times that we are legally able to bear testimony of this gospel in this country.

Going back to Yom Kippur, it technically started last night at sundown so as a group we walked to the Western Wall to see the Jewish people worship. It was very interesting to sit at the wall and watch the women (there is a division between the men and women) go up to the wall and pray. Most would pray in Hebrew and if they got really into it they would sing and sway. It was a very reverent and actually holy place. I got to go up to the wall, put my hand on it, and say a little prayer. Just thinking about all the young women that came before me and what they sacrificed to get to where I was standing was really humbling. It is interesting though because the more time I spend learning and observing the other religions, the more convinced I am that we have the truth. The whole truth. It has really solidified my testimony in the restored gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for it.