Saturday, June 22, 2013
In Israel the sabbath is Saturday, so we attended church today. We weren't sure how to get there, but we walked to a main street, saw a cab, asked if he knew where the Mormon University was, and he took us right to it. Only LDS are allowed to attend church there, so the guard checked before letting us in.
Sacrament meeting was in an auditorium with big windows, so as we sang "There is a Green Hill Far Away" we were looking right at the hill and the city walls. Some sang "very near" instead of "far away." The BYU center is high on the Mount of Olives looking down on Temple Mount with the gleaming Dome of the Rock. We could see all of the eastern and most of the northern walls of the city and much of the city and surrounding areas. We could see that northwestern Jerusalem is actually higher in elevation than the old city, including Temple Mount.
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| Bronze Relief Map of Jerusalem in Lehi's Time |
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| Bronze Relief of Jerusalem in 1517 |
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| View of Jerusalem from BYU Center |
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| Terrace of BYU Center |
There were only a few dozen students but they outnubered the visitors maybe 2 to 1. The site is beautifully landscaped and has a "Biblical Garden" with a winepress, olive crusher, and two types of olive presses. The Church doesn't own the land for the University or for the Orson Hyde Garden, it just has a 49-year lease on each, and the city maintains the Orson Hyde Garden.
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| Ancient Olive Crusher, Only Wood was Restored |
After church we got a ride down the hill with another visiting couple, took some photos of the "skull cliff" from another angle and walked home past Herod's Gate, Damascus Gate, and New Gate.
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| View of Skull Cliff from Bus Station |
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| Damascus Gate |
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