Hi there,

Our last day in Jerusalem began on the top of the Mount of Olives at a church named Pater Noster (latin for "Our Father"), where the Lord's Prayer is displayed, in mosaic, in over 100

languages with new languages going up all the time.

The experiance continued as we made our way to an overlook of the City of Jerusalem, where we took some pictures and took our last look at the City from the Mt. of Olives.

We then began our walk down the long steep road toward the Kidron Valley where we stopped briefly in a Jewish Cemetary to learn about the burial traditions of the Jewish Faith. This cemetary is sufficiently old that there are graves there that date back to the time of King Solomon.

After we left the Cemetary, we stopped at Dominus Flavit, a church built to commemerate Jesus sitting on the Mount of Olives and weeping over Jerusalem. There is a tomb on the grounds of this church where we learned the meaning and use of ossuaries, where deceased Jews bones were buried (stored) in family plots. The church, one of the most beautiful spots in Israel, had a service going on while we were there, so we didn't get the opportunity to go in and take any pictures to share with you.

Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, we spent some time in the Garden of Gethsemane where once again Graig led us in worship and we savored the beauty of being close to where the Savior had been. The Garden is separated by a road and the part we worshipped in is apart from the traditional site and only available as a result of our guide's networking and influence, (the tip didn't hurt anything either). The time was seriously special and a quiet repose from an otherwise busy day.

We left the Garden of Gethsemane and went into the Church of Nations.

We then got back on the bus to be driven to the Upper Room, where we learned about the Passover Meal, that Jesus and His disciples likely had and then off to Caiaphas House, where we went into the church of St. Peter of Gallicantu (The Rooster Crows), where Jesus was imprisoned in an old cistern over night awaiting

His trial before Pilate. This is also the place Peter denied being a follower of Christ three times and as Jesus had predicted at the Last Supper, the Rooster Crowed.

There are a set of steps on a trail that goes from the Kidron Valley by Caiaphas House where Jesus, travelling from the Mt. of Olives to Jerusalem would have walked. The stones on the trail are original to the time of Christ however, the trail is now closed because they are uneven and apparently someone had injured themselves walking up them. Additionally, some inconsiderate pilgrims had been breaking up the stepping stones to illegally take home souvenirs of the Holy Land. We were able to walk on them in the courtyard of the church and once again say with authority that we'd "walked today where Jesus walked".

Lunch was next on the docket and we had a great meal at a Kibbutz in Jerusalem

We, after lunch, entered the old city through the Lion's Gate, where we visited the ruins of the pools of Bethesda and sang in the Church of St. Ann, Mary's mother. Tradition has it that Mary, Jesus mother, was born where the church now sits. The church is all stone and has incredible accoustics, so we sang several hymns and sounded great, reminiscent of the Choir's tour several years ago.

We left the church of St. Ann and walked to the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem and began our walk along to Via Dolorosa, where Jesus walked on his way to His crucifixion. As you can see from the pictures, it's a busy crowded noisy journey, probably much like it was when Jesus walked the route.
We stopped and learned about each of the stations of the cross, where each represents something that happened to Jesus along His trek to Calvary. After learning about Jesus sad journey, we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, occupied by several denominations of Christiandom and one of two sites believed to be the site of Jesus crucifixion and burial.

The other site believed to a site of the Crucifixion, is the Garden Tomb, next to a rock outcropping that resembles a skull.

Next to the scull looking rock is the Garden Tomb, where we were able to see what Jesus Burial Tomb might have looked like and the possibility that we were actually in the place of Christ' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

A person may choose one of the two places as likely to have been the genuine site however; the important thing to remember, is that wherever Christ was crucified, buried and rose after 3 days, He did in fact do those things and specifically to save us and give us eternal life. That in and of itself is a reality almost too much to comprehend.

The day and our time in Jerusalem ended with a great service in the Garden Tomb, where we shared in the Sacrament of Communion, and experienced the appropriate conclusion to our trip to the Holy Land and the experiences that will have matured us all spiritually.

Graig has been the best teacher any of us could imagine, raising our knowledge of the Word and whetting our appetite to study the Bible and know our Savior better.

Thank you again for following our BLOG. I can't tell you what a special trip this has been and it isn't over yet. We will be seeing Megiddo and Caesarea Meritama tomorrow and then be off to Tel Aviv, where sadly some will be flying home and others of us to Turkey where we'll be taking a bus to Greece.

Please keep praying for us, we really wish you were here with us, but will have to settle for boring you with our pictures and stories.

Have a great night& day tomorrow.

Doug