live loved: day 5

Dear caroline, jenny, AND evan,

So I have been back from Israel for about a month or so and I am just now finishing the descriptions of the last few days. Can you say procrastination? my bad yall...Looking back through these pictures just reminded me of how blessed I am to have gone on such an amazing trip. Since it's been so long since I was in Israel, I don't exactly remember every little detail, so cut me a little slack :)

First stop on day 5 was the southern steps of the Temple Mount. These steps lead up to the temple and we know for a fact that Jesus climbed these steps! So cool, right? I didn't get a good picture on my camera, so I stole one of Sus's pictures!

Southern steps with the whole crew

David's tomb and the Upper room were next on the list. The building they were in was built over where they think the tomb is around the 11th century. When the Muslims invaded Jerusalem, they didn't touch this building because the consider David to be a 'true prophet.' This site is one that is shared by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. And there aren't very many of those..

This is a statue of David outside the building where his tomb is located

The Upper room is where Jesus had the Last Supper with the disciples. This isn't the exact location or building, it's just a replica! The real site of the Upper Room is on Mt. Zion.

This is a picture from inside the Upper Room

After the Upper Room and David's tomb, we went to Caiaphas' House on Mount Zion. The view from the top was gorgeous! You could see all around in the valley and you could see the Dome of the Rock in the distance. It is now the site of St. Peter in Gallicantu and under it is the pit where they think Jesus was held after his arrest.

This is one of my favorite pictures from this day.

It was such a beautiful day!

The door leading into the church had the coolest door! It was a picture of Jesus, His disciples, and a golden rooster. Jesus is holding up three fingers and pointing to Peter and he is telling him that he will deny him three times before the rooster crows. Check it out in Mark 14:27-31! I love the expression Peter has in the picture. He is probably thinking, 'who me? uhh..yeah I don't think so!'

There was lots to see at Caiaphas' house..He must have had it going on back in the day, so many things happened at or near his house! Outside the church we went to the steps that connected the Kidron Valley with the city. These are the steps that Jesus walked after he had be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The steps are in ruins, obviously, so we couldn't walk on them..major bummer

Our final stop of the day was at the Israel Model City Museum. By this point in the day, it had gotten so cold and windy that we just wanted to get back on the bus. I loved our guide to death but..he could talk for HOURS. I'm not kidding. It felt like we were there forever and it was right before dinner and it didn't help that we were all starving. It was a lovely model, dont get me wrong, this stop just lasted a little too long in my opinion..We were there around sunset and the rays from the sun were coming through the clouds. Oh it was so beautiful!