Overlook fieldltrip

On Monday was our first field trip! This one was called the Jerusalem Overlook Field Trip because we mainly just went to different overlooks around the city. It was really neat to see the city from all different angles.

The first outlook we went to was called the 7 arches outlook. As soon as we got there, my teacher, Brother Judd, asked if the camels where there. Of course everyone starts looking and there they were!! Haha He told us that the man with the camel will want a tip if you take a picture of the camel. He also told us NOT to ride the camel. So basically we could look at the camels but nothing else. Even though I couldn't take a picture it was still pretty cool because I got to see a camel! I really hope that I get to ride one while I am here! While we were there we could just see a really cool overview of the city. You could see it from an angel that was a lot different than from the JC.

After that overlook we went to Augusta Victoria Church of the Ascension. While we were there we learned that there are many churches of the ascension on the mt. of olives. Even though there is it was still a beautiful church. The murals where beautiful and the organ was huge. It was really neat because right when we walked in and sat down we were able to sing a hymn. We sang be still my soul and the acoustics where AMAZING!! There was this gorgeous mural on one of the walls that was a mosaic of Christ on the cross. It was beautiful to me. The colors that were used just made the mural so much more powerful. For example they chose to make the sky look red which really stuck out to me because it basically symbolizes the blood that Christ shed. While we were there we also got to go up into the tower of the church. Now because of my almost paralyzing fear of heights I had a little of trouble climbing to stairs. Once we were up there I was pretty much fine because everything was fenced in but on the way up I was GLUED to the wall! It was a really pretty view and you could see a ton of stuff from up there. You could see the Judean wilderness which was crazy cause it is basically just what its name implies, a wilderness.

After Augusta Victoria we drove a little ways to the Bethlehem overlook. It was really neat because where we were standing you could see the now city of Bethlehem and we were standing in the hills where the shepherds would have been watching their flocks. We talked a lot about the importance of Bethlehem and I learned that Rachel, Jacob’s wife, died and was buried right outside of Bethlehem. I definitely want to go visit where they think that it because I think that it would be really cool! Anyway so while we were there we got to sing “O little Town of Bethlehem” which was really cool! Then we took pictures and we found this little grotto which is like what Christ would have been born in. It is basically just like a little cave in the side of a hill but it was pretty neat! There was also the little rock structure near the grotto that me and Sarah took pictures by and it was the huge flat rock which was broken in half. We decided that It looked like where Aslan died in the Narnia movies! It was kinda funny J

So then after that we went to a lookout that was a part of the aqueduct. It was really cool cause there was this neat mosaic on the ground of where the water traveled from and It was super far. I think it is amazing the things that were made soooo long ago and the intuition it would have taken to create things like that! I know it is just something as little as a water system but it really amazes me. Then we went to a place called Nabi Samwell. This site was really cool. This site was originally believed to be Samuel’s grave site but, as it turns out, it’s not. Haha but it was really neat. You could see and very different view of the city then we have been used to. There is also this building in there that has a a mosque and a synagogue. It was very very run down and not many people where there but it was really cool cause we were able to go into the synagogue. It was my first time going in one and it was very interesting to me that they men and Women were separated for worship. There was a cenotaph in there which is an empty sarcophagus. The cenotaph was meant for Samuel and it was really neat to see the women praying over it. After that we had a little lesson about Samuel and Saul and it was really neat!

It was an awesome day! Beautiful views of a beautiful city and the History behind it is amazing! I am in awe of how unknowledgeable I am about the history of this land and I definitely look forward to learning more!