July 29, 2022

It was another week of trips, worship, and learning more about Jerusalem. There is so much to learn.

The students held another Humanitarian project and filled hundreds more school supply bags with the same enthusiasm and energy. Plus, more 80's music blaring!

Jim and I were invited to speak at church on the Sabbath. Our Branch President thought that 2 youth speakers, 2 musical numbers, and 3 adult speakers would all fit in a 35-minute timeframe. I stood up to speak at 11:25 (meeting ends at 11:30). Jim was scheduled to speak last. Let's just say that he'll be speaking next Sabbath.

The best part of the meeting was that Jim was accompanying Brandon Buckner (nicest guy, best voice, lots of energy, from Manhattan) on a beautiful arrangement of "How Great Thou Art." Jim was playing the piano accompaniment on Brandon's iPad. Every rehearsal went perfectly. But this time, the iPad didn't work when he touched the iPad corner to advance the page. He kept tapping and swiping, all the while Brandon is singing this emotional song. The pages weren't advancing. So Jim is vamping (the show must go on!), I’m panicking, Brandon is singing. I motioned to a student (Salem) and told her to help him! She got up and made a few quick adjustments on the iPad and by the last page and finale, he had music again! Everyone could see this happening. Lesson learned: don’t use an iPad for accompaniment! Stick with good old-fashion paper!

That evening was the student musical fireside. The students insisted that Jim and Brandon repeat the song with Jim having a working iPad! It was a great reprise. The students were outstanding with their talents—original piano pieces, guitar, vocals, violin duet, and “I Am a Child of God” in 15 languages. Very impressive.                                             

On our "day off," the senior couples had an excursion to the Knesset, where we saw the Israeli "Declaration of Independence," Chagall tapestries and mosaics, assembly rooms, and more. Our guide, Joel, who was originally from New York was terrific, and explained briefly how the Israeli government works. Still not sure we understand it all though. Then on to the Israeli Museum, where we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and had another excellent guided tour through archaeological areas in the museum.

 Our guide, Joel

 

Chagall tapestries

 

Knesset Assembly Room

 

             Outside the Knesset with the Earnshaws

 

                    Dead Sea Scroll exhibit

We explored Malcha Mall. It is farther from the Center but worth the trip. It is a 3-story mall with tons of stores… not many we’d need, but it was fun to peruse. They have food courts as well. SO many people were there. There is a lovely grocery store in the basement where we shopped. I found Quaker Oat Squares! Each trip, each store, there is something new. Best news--2 hours of free, covered parking.

We went with the students on their Christian Quarter walk one morning… actually ALL day—8:30 am to 4:00 pm. We covered a lot of ground, walking 5.5 miles all within the Old City.

St. Savior's Church, the Pool of Bethesda, St. Anne's Church, all 14 Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, Church of the Flagellation, the Holy Sepulcher, Christ Church (Anglican), St. Mark's Church (Syrian Orthodox), and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer to climb the tower. It was a wonderful experience despite the heat. Director Eric Huntsman is so knowledgeable about the region. We met interesting people along the way. My favorite was Deacon Michael at St. Mark’s. He wanted us all to know that we believe in the same Jesus. What a great thought. While singing in St. Mark’s Church, two men walked in and joined our group. As we moved to another room, they came with us and asked us to sing Amazing Grace and few other hymns. We were happy to. When we asked one gentleman where he was from, he would only tell us “from far away.” He spoke English and no noticeable accent. He also had a wonderful singing voice. There is a story there.

The only unfortunate incident in the day was when we paused for lunch. We only wanted something to drink (another 98 degree day!). We ordered one Coke Zero and one pomegranate juice. 60 shekels (about $19) later....

St Savior's Monastery

 

Perhaps Orson Hyde carved his name into this door at a hostel while he was in Jerusalem in 1841 

(look at the bottom left corner).

Pool of Bethesda

 

Church of the Flagellation

Notice the crown of thorns in the stonework.

 

Christian Quarter streets

 

Church of the Holy Sepulcher unction stone where, by tradition, the body of Christ was laid after the crucifixion.

 

St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox Church

Having spent Sunday at the Israeli Museum and Knesset and seeing so many depictions and renderings of menorahs, it was interesting to go to the Christian Quarter and see so many versions of the cross. Christ Church actually had a stained-glass window with a large olive tree in the center. The far right branch is in the shape of the cross but at the top of the cross, other branches grew out that formed a menorah. A very inclusive church!!

Knesset - wheat, olive oil, vine, pomegranate, barley,

fig, honey - Deuteronomy 8:8

 

Israeli Museum tiled floor

        Israeli Museum

 Israeli Museum

 Israeli Museum

 Jerusalem cross

 

St. Anne's Chapel, by the Pool of Bethesda

 

Christ Church - the cross and the menorah

We met with 10 students at the YMCA carillon. It is always surprising that they will walk 45 minutes in hot weather to come. But they do! and love it! Most have never seen such an instrument and when you hear those bells up close, it really is powerful. If any student feels comfortable enough to play, Jim lets them. The trick is that you can never practice without people hearing you--a lot of people. There usually are a few brave souls. The carillon console is in a room that opens to the stairwell. Anyone walking to the top of the tower can come in to watch. This trip we had 6 Israelis join us. We all had such a good time singing to the music and watching Jim play. 

We had a staff meeting this week regarding the Pre-Season Concert occurring this Sunday. It will be the first in-person concert at the Center since March 2020. Everyone is excited about it and as the music service couple we get to be involved in hosting the event. The 2022-2023 season opens officially in September. For now they will only be in-person concerts and will not be streamed.

 JULY 22, 2022

This week the students worked on a humanitarian project, putting together school supply kits for local children and schools. With 80 students, you can get a lot done in two hours. They worked fast and happily together. It was quite impressive. They also had loud 80's music playing and everyone was singing along. Very fun.

We started Sunday with a visit to St. George’s Anglican Cathedral for a 10:00 am service. It is a beautiful church with an open courtyard entry. As suspected, there is an organ inside that Jim was itching to play. The service was conducted alternating Arabic and English. The organist there (Inna Dudakova) comes to practice at the Center here, so we had already made a connection with her. Four BYU students were also at the service. One of them, William Pratt, is currently the student organist at the Center.

Jim played an Evensong program for the students on the Sabbath. Evensong is a long tradition in the Anglican Church. Deanne thought it would be a nice thing for the students to have a short organ and hymn-singing program before Sabbath dinner at 4:00 pm. We had 70 people show up. Jim played great big anthems and, with Deanne conducting, we all sang three rousing hymns. It was a hit!

Jerusalem, by Hubert Parry

Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise, Hymn 41

Jupiter Theme, by Gustav Holst

 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, Hymn 72

Abide with Me, by Dale Wood

God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand, Hymn 78

The Barkers came with us on another adventure day. We are all so new that we just go and follow Waze and a hand map. Sometimes we get where we need to without incident-- sometimes we get lost.

One day we drove to the Mamilla Mall to show Patty that there are some upscale places in Jerusalem. 

          

Then we walked across the bridge to the Jaffa Gate. We were going to go on the Ramparts Walk atop the Old City walls, but it was too hot. So we ventured into the Jewish Quarter and ended up in the Christian Quarter at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Jim ran into a Brazilian priest who is assigned at that church. 

 

Part of the tiled floor at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Jim is our valiant tour guide when we go out. It's not always easy! We did see the Hurva Synagogue and Square with the many shops and restaurants, the rooftop lookout in the Armenian Quarter, and tons of little back streets that seemed to just be a big maze. Happily, we did stop for gelato along the way to cool down. 

 So many feral cats here!

We joined a group of students for the Kotel Tunnels walk. This walk took us under the Western Wall area to the original Western Wall. It was amazing to look at the size of stones used and the depth at which the wall goes. How did they construct things without power equipment? It was a lovely, cool evening, perfect for walking.

       

     

Below the Western Wall

 

The visible Western Wall

And Happy Birthday, Jim! We started the morning with a walk over to the Botanical Gardens at Hebrew University. It was amazing to see a pine tree next to an olive tree next to an arbutus next to a cypress next to a palm tree. They had a lovely herb garden as well. We walked on the very clean and modular-looking campus to find that many U.S. and Canadian families and celebrities have donated a lot of money to this university. 

 Pomegranates

 

Zionist tombs located in the garden

Off to Ascension Café to have a birthday shawarma. It’s close by, good food, and such friendly service.

We drove over to the YMCA for another carillon concert. Some of the students came, plus the Barkers, and Mike and Ann Tilden. Mike works on security detail for the US Embassy here and is the 2^nd counselor in our branch presidency. Jim gave a little intro and explained the carillon mechanisms, then sat at the keyboard and played away. Mike requested Happy Birthday, which Jim played while we sang.

In the evening, the Barkers and Earnshaws came over for some birthday watermelon and celebration. What nice friends they are.

Each week we get closer to having tours reopen at the Center. We look forward to that. The first in-person concert will be July 31st though. Everyone is happy about that.