We Come From Obama

Ok, so this is going to be a shorter blog b/c I don't have much power left on my computer and quite frankly, I don't want to say much. So today we made our way to Jerusalem. We were supposed to start at the top of the Mount of Olives, walk down into the Kidron Valley, and walk up to the Lion's Gate and Enter Jerusalem at the Via Dolorosa. That's the ideal way to enter according to Trisha. Unfortunately, we took too long and one of the churches we were stopping at in Jerusalem were closing, so we had to ride the bus from the Kidron Valley to the Lion's Gate. Less than ideal.

We stopped off at a couple of churches on our way down the Mount of Olives. The first one was called Pater Noster and have "Our Father" written in over 100 different languages. The second one wasn't memorable at all. Then we happened upon a Sister from a Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to Mary Magdalene. We weren't supposed to go there, but she offered, so a few of us went. The church wasn't the awe-inspiring part; the Sister was. She spoke with such passion and vulnerability and her faith was so strong, that I was moved almost to tears. K and B and I agreed that we were moved here more than any other place yet on the trip due to her passion and faith, not the church. We then visited the Garden of Gethsemane and another church b/f driving to the gate.

In Jerusalem, we first stopped off at a French church dedicated to Anne, the mother of Mary. It was a Crusaders church, fairly well preserved, and the acoustics were fantastic, so we sang three songs so we could her the reverberations. Then we walked many of the station of the cross along the Via Dolorosa. Once again, nothing really stands out. We had lunch at a pretty nice restaurant and us veggies had hummus and falafel. Awesome! But my dream of having chocolate once we got to Jerusalem was dashed...oranges again! Then we walked to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which has the last 5 stations of the cross. The building is shared by 3 major churches (Roman Catholic, Armenian, and Greek Orthodox) and three minors, which I don't know all of them. We went into the tomb of Jesus first, which was apparently built over the original site. I, of course, was quite skeptical, but even Trisha apparently believes that the original tomb once stood there. We also saw part of the rock where Jesus was crucified and could put our hands through a hole to touch the rock. I was the only one who declined. First off, I think it's creepy and envision my hand being taken off. Secondly, I'm skeptical about the whole thing. Trisha could tell and told me that she was skeptical when she first came, but now she loves it. The only part I enjoyed was down a passageway leading to where Helen apparently found the remains of J's cross (yeah right!) there were hundreds of crosses etched into the walls from pilgrims in years past. To me, that's cool.

After the church, we walked to our hotel. The Old City was not what I expected. There are buildings on either side of the narrow raods, like in Bethlehem. You feel so enclosed and you can't see anything. We walked through the marketplace streets and there were so many people! At one point, I had to hold onto YoHan's bookbag and K held onto mine and we choo-chooed out so that we didn't get lost. I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not that madness. The hotel is an improvement and the bathroom is much better, so I guess we can stand it here for six nights. Dinner had no hummus though, and was almost completely American-type food. Boo! It was Connie's birthday, so we had cake (chocolate!) which is good b/c there was no chocolate for dessert. K commented that she didn't realize how much she missed chocolate until we didn't have any! B actually went out and bought some; she even took orders. So I had a Snickers, but I'm thinking that I should have just gotten a bar of chocolate. I miss it so!!!

After dinner we watched the inauguaration of Obama. It was wierd having all of us take over the lobby, running people out with the volume of the TV. Many people clapped and almost all of us stood and sang along with the National Anthem. In Jerusalem. Weird.

Internet was a pain in the ass to get on last night! I was so frustrated! Tensions are running high and we don't really want to be around some people. Hopefully we can avoid them as much as possible and make the best of our trip.

At dinner, YoHan perfectly summed up how some of us have been feeling all trip. K and B and I were discussing the days events and how we didn't really enjoy any of the sites besides the Russian church with the sister and that was b/c of her passion. We all have come to realize, some more than others, that buildings don't always inspire us. We asked YoHan for his opinion b/c he was sitting with us, and he said something like: Jesus is not in the buildings; Jesus is in me, in my heart. They try to make Jesus be in the places, but he's not; he's in me.

So there you have it. The reason why I am more inspired by one Sister's faith then all the sites we've visited combined summed up in one statement. Thanks YoHan!