What an amazing roller-coaster ride I had today! I have had huge ups and downs, but thankfully am ending my day with an "up." I want to start out by apologizing for the delay in my last blog post, we had some internet issues at my hotel and I was unable to connect all day.
As I just mentioned, today was one full of emotion for me. We started out going to the Yad Vashem Memorial to the Holocaust, and as you can imagine it was a tough visit. I have studied the Holocaust a lot throughout my life, but the pain and shock of the event never seems to go away, no matter how many times I read about it. The museum was of course shocking, and it was very difficult to get through. However the hardest part for me was the children's memorial. You start out by walking into a room with a few pictures of Jewish children. You then move into an all dark room that contains five lit candles. The light from these candles is reflected by a bunch of mirrors, which makes it look like thousands of stars twinkling all around. This is supposed to remind us of the 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust. Now, I am not a mother yet, but all I could think about while going through this room was my beloved nephew, and my two youngest brothers-in-law. All three of these wonderful people in my life are the age of most of these children that were killed. I could not imagine losing them in such a horrible way, but even more so them having to go through such a terrifying ordeal. It was a heartwrenching memorial. So many times we go to memorials such as this and think something along the lines of "wow, how horrible..." and then kind of move on with our lives. I know for myself I have rarely had the courage to try to put myself in the same situation these people faced. What if I lost my mother, sister, husband, or child the way these men and women did? It was extremely difficult to think about, but it made me appreciate and grieve for these people so much more than I had in the past.
After the Holocaust memorial, we went to the Hertzl Cemetary, which is like the Arlington of Israel. It was so peaceful and quiet, and yet once again you were reminded of the pain of these soldiers sacrifice. You knew that these were sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives buried there. The youngest Israeli soldier buried there was only 10 years old when he died fighting in the Israeli War for Independence.
After a really tough morning, we went to lunch at one of the local food markets. Now let me tell you... this market made Walmart on Black Friday look peaceful. Since it was the afternoon before Sabbath, everyone was there grabbing last minute supplies. You could hardly walk through the tiny alley ways, and had to put American manners aside for a bit and just shove your way through like everyone else. It was quite the experience. I told everyone in my group that I'm never complaining about Walmart again. :)
The next part of my day consisted of seeing the Pool of Bethesda (which was very pretty), walking the Via Dolorosa following the Stations of the Cross, as well as seeing the Church of the Holy Spulchre. This is one of the places people think Christ was crucified, although if you talk to many in the Evangelical church they say it was in a different place. To me the placing doesn't really matter, it's remembering why Christ was crucified. Whether or not I was looking at the exact location of the crucifixion was irrelevant to me--I was standing in the same area where Christ died for my sins, and it was very powerful. It really reminded me of the immense love my God has for me and how desperately He longs to be in a relationship with me for all eternity.
We then headed to the local market in the Christian Quarter in the Old City. I actually got really good at bartering and got a lot of neat stuff for fairly good deals. I didn't think I'd like bartering, but it became a really fun game for me to see what kind of deals I could get. It was definitely a cultural experience for me.
After the market we headed to a host family's house for Shabbat dinner. It was probably the most amazing social experience I have ever had. We sang a bunch of upbeat Israeli songs, clapped our hands, and laughed until our sides ached. The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was even better. Even though the family was Jewish and not Christian, the experience really deepened my faith and brought such joy to my heart to be singing to my God and enjoying the moment. It was something I will never forget. However, I was not able to take pictures once Shabbat started, so I apologize for my lack of pictures today.
Well, only 3 more days left in the Holy Land for me. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you again (especially you, Ryan! :) ), but at the same time I will be sad to leave this wonderful place. I have learned so much and know this is a journey I will always remember. I want to thank all of you again for your prayers, I love you all and can't wait to share my adventure with you when I get back.
Picture: Pool of Bethesda (top left & right, middle left), Via Dolorosa (middle right, bottom right), my new friend, Aundrea whom one of the merchant's here thought was my twin (bottom left), and the crazy market (bottom middle--this picture does it no justice)
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