Sabado. :)

I am getting used to the time change now. :) I didn't wake up tired! yeahhh. Hoy, we went to the top of Mt. of Olives and from there we could see Gibeah, Navi Samuel, Dome of the Rock, and the size of the Temple platform, it's huge! And we could also see everything else pretty much. It's great because if you go to the top of any hill, you can see the whole land, everything is so close to each other! and you can see the valleys, the Dead Sea, everything! From this side we could see the "golden gate" which tradition says is the gate that the Jewish Messiah will go through when He comes, and apparently it has been blocked in an attempt to keep him from coming. He has already come! I could see the Hidron Valley below us, where the disciples went to hide according to another tradition. I could see the Mount of Offense where Solomon built houses and temples for his wives, the Potter's field where Judas killed himself by hanging or fell and spilled his guts, a cemetery below us with tombs that date back to Jesus's time and Solomon's pillar on a tomb but it is most likely not his tomb, but a tomb that belonged to a priest from the second temple period with the same name. Tradition here has it that those who are buried on the Mount of Olives will be resurrected first. Where did this idea come from? So you can imagine all the tombs that are here.
We went down to see the church of Dominus Flavit which is a church in commemoration of the time when Jesus came over the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem. It is in the shape of a teardrop, kinda. We also saw the Church of all Nations which commemorates the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed by Judas after praying so hard he sweated blood. Judas knew where Jesus was because Luke 22:39 says it was Jesus's custom to go there.
We also went to Herodium and got to look around at the remains of King Herod's palace, it was so cool, he had tunnels carved out in the mountain! so we go to go in and walk through these tunnels inside the mountain. It was done for the water system and for soldiers. It was nice and cool in there which was nice because it was kind of a hot day today. They have also recently discovered Herod's tomb, so we got to see that also.
The last place we went was to Bethlehem to see the church commemerating Jesus birthplace. It was built in the Byzantine era and has great big pillars and lots of decorative lamps and stuff hanging from the ceiling. Historical documents and Greek Orthodox traditions say Jesus was not born in a manger but in a cave, and so we got to go see that. We waited about one hour in line, and then went underground into a room which had a fourteen point star on the ground which is where they say Jesus was born. Why a fourteen point star? For all of the generations of the house of David. It was not that exciting, there were so many people around and there were vendors inside of the church trying to sell incense and candles. Three different groups share this church for services: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Christians (don't know what denomination..). We ended the day with going to get another view of Jerusalem from a hill...it was really nice. :) God gave us an amazing breeze! I really enjoyed seeing where Biblical accounts happened....We have a day off tomorrow! I'm hoping to go check out a church service in the city... I left out all of the academic stuff but if you're interested in it let me know! It'll help me study for my test on Monday...ahhh! :) Miss you all!! God Bless you. :)