Jerusalem

Christian Jerusalem Field Trip

6 April 2009

Another field trip! Woo hoo! We just went around the Old City to various sites associated with Christ. One of the big stops was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is one of Sham Sham’s favorite places. In that church it has all of the sites that Helena determined to be the sites of the burial, crucifixion, condemnation, and other such things. It is an incredible church
with incredible, old, old, old mosaics all over the place.
There were some fun little caves too. Woo hoo for caves!
Then we went to this church where Father Angelo, a cool dude, told us cool things about his life. I think said something like doing what he does means you have no money, no wife, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But I’m not sure if he said that or not. Somebody did at some point because I heard it somewhere… :)
Father Angelo showed us how Orson Hyde, one of the early apostles,  had carved his name on this door in one of the rooms.Then we went in to another church and Brother Skinner (or maybe Brother Huff) taught us about the “eye of the needle.” Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven. The stones near this arch are Herodian stones, 2000 years old. That opening on the side is called the eye of the needle. It was there for people to get through when the gate was closed. Perhaps that is what Jesus was referring to, because it would be extremely hard for a camel to get through this opening, especially with their awkward movements.
Can you see a camel getting through here? Not really. I guess it must be pretty hard for rich people to get into Heaven then.
Also at this church were paintings of Czar Nicholas and his family. There was a painting of Princess Anastasia. I LOVE THAT CARTOON! Anyways, the Romanovs stayed in this room for a while. I went in this room. Cooooooool beans. 
The next church was Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, when I had gone to mass about two months before. It was awesome going in there again, because we got to sing my favorite song… “SHINE! JESUS! SHINE!” We sang that song when I first went there and when we came here for the field trip and Bro. Skinner asked if anyone had a song they wanted to sing, I yelled out, “671!!!” Oh I love Shine, Jesus, Shine. Best song ever. 
After the churches, a group of us went and learned about the Shroud of Turin, which is possibly the cloth that Christ was covered with in the tomb. There’s a lot of evidence that’s supports it, but that’s kinda crazy. It was really cool learning about it though. I am learning so much here. I don’t want to leave.

No Comments

Leave a Reply