Friday November 9, 2007

Brittany Hofman

November 9 – Journal



Friday was our first day of New Testament class with Brother Ludlow. We wrapped up Old Testament with the final and turned over a new leaf with New Testament. Although I really enjoyed the Old Testament, I am particularly excited about studying the New Testament while living here in Jerusalem. What better experiential education could I ever receive in studying the New Testament than by living here in the same place that Christ lived and taught and healed? I am excited!

After class, a group of us took off via taxi to West Jerusalem. We were dropped off a few blocks away from the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. The Great Synagogue is a large building that was built in the style modeled on the Jewish Temple which once stood in Jerusalem. The sanctuary apparently seats 850 men and 550 women. To our disappointment, the Synagogue was closed (although, our guidebooks said differently). We convinced the doorman to let us in for only one minute. After getting in (there were 11 of us and one of him…how could he even put up a fight?!) we looked around the foyer area for a split second and then headed back out. There wasn't much to see and the rest of it seemed pretty quiet and closed. From the outside, I could see some intricate stained glass windows and could only imagine how beautiful they would have been to see from the inside looking out.

Next, we headed over to Mahane Yehuda street (located between Agrippa Street and Jaffa Street, a few blocks up from Ben Yehuda) to a "must see" open air market. It was really a fun experience. I was impressed with the cleanliness and fresh atmosphere, as well as the variety of vendors. There were fruits and vegetables, candy, Shabbat challah breads, clothes, souvenirs, etc. We ate some great pizza at the end of the market and practiced our Hebrew. After the market, we walked on down to meet up with some other students near Ben Yehuda Street, bought some ice cream and then caught our taxi back to the Center. The evening was spent getting some homework done before Shabbat.

Regarding my goals and desires for this New Testament section of the semester, I really hope to gain a better perspective of the four Gospels and their concurrent perspectives on the life of Jesus Christ. I also really want to make a better effort at really praying to learn by the Spirit before coming to class each day. I feel that this will help my testimony of the Savior and of his life grow, and in the end, I hope to be able to apply his teachings and examples with more meaning in my own life. As I mentioned in the first part of my journal article, I feel really excited to be able to have the experience of learning about the life and teachings of the Savior in the very land that he lived and taught in. My goal is to make the very best of my last 6 weeks here.