Free Day!

Hello everyone-

Yes, we are all still fine. I'm sorry that there has been no news on the site in a few days, but we have been doing more all day excursions that require early morning departures, late night returns, and little time to work on the blog. I am in the process of working on the summaries of the days that we were away, but so much happened that I have found that I need my notes to remember what happened on what day. Just so you know, today we have another long day as we travel to the Dead Sea and the surrounding region. We leave for Galilee tomorrow, so everyone will be busy packing and getting ready for those four days. While we are away, it is unlikely that we will have access to computers so this may be the last posting prior to our return. I'm sorry. We'll do what we can!

Yesterday was a free day, mostly. We had a 2 1/2 hour class to prepare for our trip to the Galilee region. You can tell that it made a big difference for a lot of people. Many of us got laundry done, slept in, ate out, went shopping, and just generally had a good time. The Ashland group split up for the day, so I can only write about what our team did for the day.

We woke up early (yes, we didn't sleep in) and lined up for admission to the Temple Mount. Fortunately, we arrived at the gates just as the Mount was opening (7:30 a.m.) so we didn't have a long line to wait in.
Side Note: By the time that we left, the line was 4-5 people wide and down the block to the Dung Gate. People were waiting over two hours to get onto the Mount from that line.
The Mount was peaceful and very quiet. Israeli soldiers are posted at various locations around the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque to assure that nothing happens on the site. It was beautiful to see the early morning sunlight bouncing off the Dome. Unfortunately, the outside of the Dome is all that we were allowed to see. We were told by the guard at the door that due to the current political tensions the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque are both closed to anyone other than Muslims. We used the time on the mount to walk the parks that surround both buildings, to see the inside of the sealed gates, and to marvel at why there were randomly placed stacks of wheelchairs on the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall is one of the outside walls of the Temple Mount. Since we were so close, we decided to visit the wall so that one member of our group could have his first visit to the wall. It was a very busy day at the wall. The male side was filled with Orthodox Jews that were set up for prayers with a table or podium. It was quite a sight to see.

Two of us then departed for the Burnt House and Herodian Quarters. These two museums highlight the ruins of five homes from the Upper City (think the wealthy neighborhood) that were destroyed in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The walls still bear marks of the fire, but there are some beautiful mosaics that were discovered, mostly intact. Many of the homes only had basements remaining, but they were very elaborate and walking through them you get a good feel for what life was like for the families of the Temple Priests. From the Jewish Quarter we walked out to the city wall and walked on the wall back to the University for lunch. The rest of the day was occupied with praise and worship, lunch, class, shopping, and the like.

It was a much needed day of rest. My thanks to everyone that has been raising up prayers for the group. We continue to have amazingly clear weather. The temperatures have remained a comfortable 50-70 deg F. All of the instructors are surprised at how great the views have been from the Tels due to the great weather, so please keep the prayers coming. We are seeing many benefits and are deeply grateful.

God Bless,
ATS Sojourner