Jerusalem!

I think my sticker for being a first time blogger is coming in the mail! jk Well last week i arrived in Jerusalem. The following Saturday (yes, I said Saturday), after Church, I went with a group of friends to the Garden of Gethsemane. Besides the big waves of tourists following a guide speaking into a mic and holding up a tall yellow flag to guide them around, it was really neat to be there. Looking at the trees, i tried to take myself back in time and watch what Christ had done to atone for all our sins. It was crazy to realize that I'm actually here.
After leaving, someone told us that we could enter the locked gate that entered into another garden. We told the guard that we were Mormon and he let us right in. This other garden didn't have any flowers planted. Just some huge trees and a few shrubs. It was nice to have it so quite there.


Saturday night we went to two different bonfires in West Jerusalem. It was a celebration in the Jewish culture. Some people loved us there and others spit on us. We were the only Americans there among the thousands of Jews. The bonfire was huge! When they first lit it ashes where flying everywhere.


Sunday morning a few of us woke up early to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the holiest Christian sight in the whole world. It encompasses Calvary and the tomb (the tomb was either here or at the Garden Tomb. Its debatable).

this is where it is believed the tomb was. Two churches own each side of it. Six churches have claimed things in the church. Its really interesting.


In there you stick your hand down a hole to touch the same rock Christ was crucified on

This is the spot where Christ's body was laid after he was crucified to be cleaned.
The immovable ladder (under the window). In 1852 a status quo was established and no one was allowed to move anything around from the Church, hence why the ladder is still there.