Walking the Old City

It is 6:33 pm here in Jerusalem, and I just got done with class about an hour ago. The past two days have been really great. We had orientation, and after showing us our schedule, the owner of the place told us we will basically be running where Jesus walked because they packed our schedule with class time and a lot different places to go. I also asked Brian what my name in Hebrew is and he told me it "Javan." Pretty cool!  Yesterday and today we got to walk the Old city. It was very cool... We got to go to A LOT of places, like temple on the Mount, David's tomb, the Western Wall, Pool of Bethsheda, the upper room, and we also saw the first Protestant church and many other historical sites. The JUC is on Mt. Zion, although, I found out that the people here have changed which hill they called Mt. Zion about 2-3 times. From the city streets we can see Mt. of Olives and Bethlehem. We also got to go up to the temple mount and it was cool to picture Jesus teaching at the temple and the disciples preaching the Gospel there! It was huge. When we were there, Brian was not allowed to talk about the Biblical History of the temple, and no Bibles were allowed because now the Dome of the Rock is there and Muslims go there to pray.  I asked my friend loudly "Do you have your Bible?!" because I wanted to read about when the disciples and Jesus were there...completely forgot it was forbidden.


The four main groups of people found here in the old city of Jerusalem are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Armenians. When we were at the Western Wall, I was able to witness Jewish males and females of all ages reciting the Torah and praying. The women are only allowed about one third of the wall while the men are separated by a barrier with 2/3 of the wall available to them. Yesterday was the beginning of the feast of the Pentecost which is found in Acts 2. It says "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." It was actually a windy morning yesterday, whereas the day before had been hot and dusty, so the professor excitedly pointed out the "mighty rushing wind" that we had yesterday morning, on the day of the Pentecost. When we went into the city that day, the Jewish Quarter starting getting less busy as the people went home to prepare for the feast. Later that night, we went back into the city to see them celebrate the feast at the Western Wall. There was music and dancing. It was amazing to see, but it also made me sad at the same time. I was sad because the people are not worshiping Jesus. They are worshiping the Wall and the Law. They worship the idea of righteousness through works. Where is their hope when their works  fail?

We also got a chance to walk through the gates surrounding the city: the Zion gate, the Damascus gate, Dung gate, and Herod's gate. The Damascus gate led us through blocks and blocks of little shops, it was pretty overwhelming! I was nervous because they told us girls we had to be careful around there.
Even though I was modestly dressed I still felt nervous. The way you dress is really important here. At Holy sites we have to wear clothes that cover our neck to our knees, and women should never show their knees or shoulders.


Two rules that Brian told us about different sites that we go to around Jerusalem: 1)If a place has a name that's not really where it happened and 2)If it has more than two said locations it is historically true. Oh and we witnessed a fight, it was intense. This has been interesting. :)


While we are learning the Biblical History of the land, I have also had a chance to meet some AMAZING believers here. It has been a joy to meet people who are so passionate about the Gospel. :) There are about 100+ people here at the school, and most all of them come from great Gospel centered seminaries around the U.S. Included in these believers is Zac, one of the shop keepers. He is a believer and he is so passionate about Christ and sharing the Gospel, and he is in one of the best areas to do it! Its definitely dangerous for Him to be doing that but He does it anyway, Glory to God! :) It has been a great time here so far. There is so much more I could write but I can't remember it all now....I waited to long to write this, hehe. But there are only four computers so I can't be on too long unless it's really late or really early.