Saturday September 8, 2007

KatieVargo

Today was the first Shabbat of the semester. It was nice to be able to sleep in, but do to the effects of jet lag, it was hard to kill the time before we could go to breakfast and choir practice. In choir practice we sang a great arrangement of a hymn done by Bro. Galbraith. It seemed like nearly everyone was in the choir. It was fun to sing and look out and see The Old City of Jerusalem. It was much easier to stay focused on the Savior during the sacrament, considering our surroundings. We did not have sunday school, but instead an extended Relief Society and Priesthood meeting. We met in the Dome Theater and the acoustics were amazing. We did not need a microphone and because of the dome shape of the ceiling it felt like you could whisper and everyone around could still hear what you were saying. We went around the room and everyone introduced themselves and said an interesting fact. It was fun to hear all the different personalities of each girl. Sister Ludlow gave a wonderful lesson on keeping the sabbath day holy. She ended with a great quote from Ezra Taft Benson about how the Lord blesses those who live His gospel.
After church it seemed like most people took a little nap, and then at 3 PM, a lot of people went to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations. The reality of what occurred there was hard to believe. It was nothing what i thought it was going to be like. There were no large spiritual experience walking through the area. It was a testimony to me that just because we are here, in this land where all of these events occurred it does not make the atonement any more real to me. It was amazing to see the Church of All Nations. It was a beautiful building with stain glass and elaborate depictions of the atonement, but the spirit was not there. Then the guard let us into the gate across the road where it was locked. Most tourists were in the main part, but i guess the security guard let us in because we were the Mormon students. Through this gate it felt more what i thought it would be like. There were a lot of olive trees and path ways to walk around, it was very pleasant. We all came back and ate dinner which tasted great. I think everyone was pretty hungry. We had ward prayer and then a bunch of people were mingling in the snack bar area. Stephi was attempting to give everyone nick names. It was quite comical to hear everyone talk. There were also fireworks for a wedding around 10 PM. It took me off guard to hear, i thought it was shooting at first. Then i saw bright lights in the sky. They were kind of small fireworks.