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.