A WEEK FULL OF EVENTS!
Sorry for the delay in an update from the Holy Land. It was a busy week which made it difficult to get this blog post up. So here is the rundown on this past week. Enjoy!

Sunday: The Biblical Zoo

The zoo made for a relaxing break from our studies and busy days on field trips. I had forgot how much I love going to the zoo. There were hundreds of young kids there on field trips and I quickly realized that adults don't generally go to the zoo without kids. We didn't really care though...we are kids and who doesn't love animals! We are in bible land so of course there was a noah's ark!Part of the zoo experience was a 3D movie about bugs. It was fun to watch but i might have got a little bit more out of it if I understood Hebrew.
Monday: City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel

Just a quick history lesson on the City of David...

The origional City of David is located south of the Temple Mount on a small ridge. King David conquered this city (called Jebus) and made it the capital where he and Solomon ruled over the Twelve Tribes of Isreal. The city of Jerusalem grew to the northwest and the City of David remained an important section until the Babylonians destroyed the temple (that Solomon built) in 587 BC.

The Gihon springs provides water to the city. This water system was changed from its origional engineering by Hezekiah in efforts to protect against the Assyrian siege. Part of our field trip was walking through Hezekiah's tunnel. This field trip just moved up to the top of my favorites list. It might be because we were walking though water in the dark and the it wasn't hot! This is a great contrast to our regular outings in the heat of the sun, hiking up mounds of dirt, or should I say tels. For your information a tel is an archeological dig. Don't get me wrong, I love tels but I struggle to keep each mound of dirt straight in my head. I love it all but water is always a bonus around here. (below is Jane and I making our way though the tunnel) You can tell how deep the water was at the begining where we got in. Most of the way, the water level was below my knee.Part way through the tunnel we turned off our flashlights and slowly felt our way along. Ashley and I pretended to be scared. Of course I was just acting though, remember that I loved the tunnel!Meet Ashley Bradshaw! Ashley is a dancer if you can't tell. She recently switched her major from dance and plans to apply for the nursing program. After we made our way toward the light and out of the tunnel we had fun taking some pictures while we waited for everyone to make it through.The tunnel carried water about 1/3 of a mile from the spring to the Siloam Pool. The pool was inside the city wall so no water escaped the fortified city. This pool was still used in the New Testament era and below you can see some of the remains of this pool. You can read about what happend here by reading in John 9. Jesus cured a blind man by having him wash in the pool of Siloam. It is a great lesson about spiritual blindness.

Wednesday: Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. The name means "a name and a memorial" taken from Isaiah 56:5. After an orientation by our teacher Mr. Yarden we went on a 3 hour guided tour through the museum. It was packed with people which made it difficult to really see all of the exibits but it was very interesting to follow the history of the holocaust. I think this will be a place that I will need to return to with a small group so that I can explore the exibits more closely. One thing I found interesting was that at the exit of the museum you come out looking at a land where modern Jews now live. Our guide made the point that although this was a great tragedy, we need to look to the future and the future is full of hope. I think that is important to remember.



Thursday: Seder Dinner
Our Judaism teacher led us in a wonderful Seder Dinner. All of the students got involved in preparing and performing. I was lucky enough to help prepare the floral arrangements for the head table. We took a taxi into town and picked out some flowers and then came back to the center and went to work. I had almost forgotten how much I love playing with flowers. I knew my floral design class would pay off!

These are my new running buddies. Katie and Lisa are two of my best friends here and I love hanging out with them. Last week we decided to start running. It is our new goal to go every morning and so far we are 3 for 3. I am sure that you have heard that every road in Jerusalem is uphill. I am here to tell you that it is true, especially when you are running. I am yet to find a flat road in this city! Jerusalem is beautiful in the morning and that makes it worth running up the hills.
Friday: Orson Hyde Park and Gethsemane



Photo shoot...by Friday afternoon everyone ready to get out of the center. We decided to walk over to the Garden of Gethsemane. We went through Orson Hyde Park and decided to take a few photos. Lisa loves the timer on her camera because it takes three pictures in a row. If you can't tell, we had a great time with that feature!


Those seen below: Heather, Jena, Kyle, Jane, and Lisa


This picture is a sample of the boy to girl ratio here at the center. There are 19 boys and 60 girls. The boys are great to follow girls around to various shops and escort us on our various outings. I don't think they really mind it too much! Of the 20 pictures we took I think this was the only normal one we got. The Garden of Gethsemane

This shows a little different point of view of the city. I liked that you can kind of see the temple mount from this view and see how big it is.

After little trip out of the center, we had to get back to the center to get ready for Synogogue. I attended a reformed Jewish Synagogue. I spent most of my time trying to figure out where we were in the reading. Once again it would have been helpful to know Hebrew! The rabbi was very welcoming to us and pointed out what page they were on every now and again. After the service he answered questions and showed us some Torah Scrolls. It was a wonderful way to welcome in Shavuot.