This morning we finally—FINALLY—got to go to the Jerusalem Center. I thought I was prepared for what it would feel like to be back, but as we stepped inside the doors and into the chapel, I just broke down weeping at all the emotion of being back. It’s like finally coming home after being away for a long time. Our bus had arrived early, so we got pretty good seats and were able to wander around the grounds a little, something I honestly didn’t do much while I was a student. I also didn't fully appreciate until this week how incredible and unique the view from the Center is. None of our hotels have even come close... Matthew, after seeing my reaction, was kind enough to ask around about being able to go down and see some of the old stomping grounds. One of the service missionaries there gave us a very long (and kind) explanation about insurance that means they can’t have any non-students below floor 6, so that was a little disappointing, but not unexpected.
After church, I really wanted to walk over to the garden of Gethsemane by way of Orson Hyde Park, but as I was sitting in Relief Society, I started to wonder if I actually remembered the way well enough to get there. I asked this cute student I sat next to if she could give any directions, and she didn’t know where the turnoff was off the top of her head, but she mentioned something about a dirt path. I was half hoping there would be a group of students going that way about the same time for us to follow, but that didn’t happen, so I just had to rely on vague memory and vaguer directions. And guys—I totally did it! The whole way to Orson Hyde Park, I kept vacillating between *This seems right* and *We are going to end up lost in a private Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem* but we just followed a straight course after the turnoff where I thought it was, and eventually we found ourselves in the right spot!
It started to rain almost as soon as we got to Gethsemane, but I was really grateful the rain had held off long enough to walk down memory lane (literally, haha). We hung out inside the church waiting for the rain to let up enough to walk to Lion’s Gate, and then we went to St. Anne’s, which is also the site of the pool of Bethesda.
After St. Anne’s, we followed Via Dolorosa and the stations of the cross up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We got lost, but only a little, and found a little square I don’t remember seeing before. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there were priests doing some kind of ritual around the eticule (where the tomb is), among and around all the tourists. I think the Greek Orthodox hold their services on Saturday because the Catholic church has dibs on Sunday, or something like that. We went upstairs to see the cross but didn’t get in line for the eticule this time. Hopefully it won’t be as busy on Monday.
Then we ran a couple of errands (we haven’t had a moment of free time all week) and made our way out of the Old City. We discovered the light rail wasn’t running, I’m guessing because of Shabbat, so we decided to walk to the hotel, about two miles away. It didn’t seem that far and was really quite pleasant… for about 20 minutes. Then it started to rain. I was wearing a poncho, but it can only do so much. But Matthew was really enthused about the idea of walking, so we persevered (with a break at a bus stop when it really started coming down, to wait out the worst of it). And now we’re at our final hotel for the visit! (This is number 5, I believe.)
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