Sept. 12, 2007

Jocelyn Schmidt
Class Journal
We had a really exciting day today. After attending an early morning Arabic class and Old Testament class, we had the rest of the day off to do what we chose. After grabbing a bite to eat, we decided we’d go see the King David Museum down in the Eastern part of the Old City. Unfortunately, nobody checked a reliable source for the open hours. A group of about thirty of us made the 20 minute trek down to the gates just in time to find out that we missed the deadline by three minutes! Some people wanted to go shopping and another group wanted to see if the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was open. The group I was with decided we would try the Rockefeller Museum as an alternative, but lo and behold we missed that deadline by five minutes as well- horrible luck. Hot and frustrated we were ready to give up and go home, but in a last attempt someone suggested we try the Garden Tomb. So we turned around and after only a few wrong turns we found the right place. At one point we saw the “old man’s face” on Golgotha’s hill and thought we had found the correct street. Not long after we turned, we noticed a large gathering of people on the dead-end street (most of them staring at us), a large garbage bin with smoke billowing out of it and an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability. It wasn’t until that point that we also noticed the buses and deducted that we had entered the off-limits bus stop area. We quickly departed from that area and found our real destination. Entering through a large gate and a visitor’s area, we discovered to our delight that we would finally be able to take a tour. Our guide was a pleasant British Christian man. He gave us the history of the gardens, some insights of the crucifixion and bore his testimony of the Savior. The gardens were absolutely beautiful and it was fascinating to listen to our guide’s opinions and knowledge concerning the place. We took pictures around the empty tomb and of the garden grounds. On the way home, we also stopped by St. Stephen’s Basilica, which is a Cathedral built in honor of the first Christian martyr. We weren’t able to get a tour or a full description of the history, but we spent some time just looking at the grounds and buildings. It had a beautiful courtyard in the entrance with pillars and statues and the inside of the cathedral was really spacious and pretty as well. That night, things quieted down and most people either worked on their homework or played soccer in the gymnasium.