Dome of the Rock and Cool Field Trips!!

There have been a lot of fun events lately that have happened here in good old Jerusalem.  We have been on a coupe field trips and also went to my favorite place in Jerusalem... The Dome of the Rock!!!  I was so excited to go there!  It was so beautiful!  Although, when we were there we got in trouble twice for being kind of loud.  Ya we are definitely foreigners... also referred to as "loud Americans."  They came over to us two times and let us know that we were standing in a holy place and we felt really awkward both times. Oops.... Well at least we know not to laugh or talk very loud next time we go!  That might be a struggle for me, but it's so worth it.  It is sooo beautiful!  Anyway, everything else is good here though!  haha just the usual at college.. Not getting enough sleep, having crazy amounts of reading, tests all the time, and freaking awesome friends everywhere!  I am having a blast being able to go out in the city and go to awesome places all the time hanging out with such fun people!  Here are some pics of some of the recent places that I have been...

Here I am in the old city.  This is where we go at least three times a week to look around 

and maybe buy things from people running their little shops.  I love this place.

This is on our field trip a week and a half ago.  If you look closely there is a freaking donkey behind me! hahahaha it was sooo loud while our professor was trying to teach us about Herod's Winter Palace.  He finally gave up after he realized that we couldn't contain ourselves because we were all giggling so hard.  I can't believe that I actually saw a donkey!

Here we are at the top of the palace.  

Melissa (Garry), Alvin, and I are just standing on some pillars. 

Do you see the mountain behind me?... 

That is the Mount of Temptation where Christ was tempted by Satan.  So cool right?? 

Here we are at the city of Jericho.  This is supposedly the oldest city in the world!!! 

Here is the Western Wall.  We went here for the Jewish holiday "Shavuot."  This event is to celebrate when God gave Moses the Torah (the first five books of Moses) on Mt. Sinai.  We went there around 4:30 am because we wanted to watch the sun rise.  Jew's were praying everywhere toward the Western Wall.  It was super cool.  This holiday is celebrated on the same day as passover, so after this we went to a Lutherin passover meeting.  it was really cool.

Here I am standing in front of the Dome of the Rock! 

Climbing up the stairs to get closer to it. 

Finally so close to it.  Isn't this pic cool? 

Here's another side of it.  Just some information about this place... This building supposedly has the stone that Abraham almost sacrificed his son on.  Muslims believe that Abraham was sacrificing Ishmael, whereas we believe that Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.  

This building is also located on the temple mount where Solomon's temple was located.  Jew's choose not to go on this temple mount because they do not know where the "Holy of Holies" was located in Solomon's Temple.  They are waiting for when the third temple is rebuilt for them to visit the temple again and perform their rituals and sacrifices.

Here's me and Garry flexing our muscles because this is where Samson was born!

This is where David slew Goliath. We did a reenactment of the story.  

Alvin was Goliath because he is 6'4". It was pretty funny!

We got slings and tried to launch rocks... Didn't really work in anyones favor except for the kid in our class that was teaching us how to use them.  haha but it was cool to watch him! 

Here's Alvin and me in a cold cave after we had been outside in 100 degree weather for like six hours in pants!  I thought I was going to die.  When we got into this cave I thought we were in heaven... 

We also sang a few hymns in the cave and the acoustics were amazing!!  It was pretty cool :) 

One of the caves that we went in had an olive press. Legit right? 

Finally at the end of of our field trip. These were graves that people were buried in.

We had a lot of fun on this field trip, but by the end we were all going crazy because we were in the sun for so long.  I didn't know it was possible for humans to be outside in this weather for so long.  hahaha dang what ev's.  Looking forward to the rest of the summer!!  Bring on the heat baby!!