December 27, Tuesday: Beautiful blue-sky day.  Deanne, Nicholas, and I walked to Augusta Victoria church where we played the organ (Nicholas pumped) and climbed the tower for the view.  Then to the Russian Church of the Ascension (according to tradition, John the Baptist’s head was brought here).  Deanne walked home, and Nicholas and I continued down the hill to the  Kidron Valley.  Up the steps, saw the south wall of the Old City; wandered through City of David excavations; up to Mt. Zion, Cenacle (traditional site of the Last Supper), Tomb of King David, and the Jewish Quarter. We took the bridge onto the Temple Mount, walked around and enjoyed that, out the Council Gate, then saw the Little Western Wall, Cotton Merchants, out Damascus Gate, where Deanne picked us up by the Rockefeller Museum.  We got our favorite Palestinian chicken dinner to go in Wadi Joz and headed home for a great dinner and visit.  Nicholas played beautiful piano music for us in the Auditorium. What a treat.

Replica of the Ark of the Covenant at Augusta Victoria

Nicholas pumping the organ

Russian Church of the Ascension

On the Temple Mount

Wednesday we woke up to learn that Nicholas’s flight on American Airlines had been cancelled.  A 90-minute call to a nice agent in Mexico City got him rebooked on El Al.  Whew. Before he left, we went to the British War Cemetery, one of our favorite places.  Such heart-rending epitaphs.  Then off to the YMCA carillon and enjoyed playing there (although with his perfect pitch, the transposing feature drove Nicholas crazy).  

Two WW1 soldiers from the same regiment, killed the same day, 

and buried in the same grave.

Linda Margetts (organist at Temple Square), her husband Bert, their 6 kids, and all their grandkids, a total of 42 people, came for a tour on Thursday.  Linda and I were organ students at the same time in 1969 at BYU, so it was a fun reunion.  I gave them a super demo of the organ, and then Linda played a couple of pieces (“Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” and the finale of Bach's St. Matthew Passion). 

We went on a favorite 3-mile loop walk around Hebrew University. On the way back, we passed the "competing" Christmas tree by City View Restaurant. Their tree may be taller than the Center's, but our tree is much more beautiful! The sun was out which made for a lovely walk.

There were 200+ visitors for Sabbath services that we weren’t counting on.  It's always a surprise for us to see how many guests show up and how many of them we know! There are always a couple of friends and acquaintances at church. Jim accompanied Emily Judd on the cello playing "Abide With Me." Sagit Zilbermann, a very musically talented woman in the Branch, played her handpan (classified as a subset of the steelpan) and accompanied herself singing “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” Here is one of her YouTube links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHkmDJsrk-c&ab_channel=Allegra%26SagitMusic

Jim taught the 5^th Sunday lesson on Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints, talking about our experience as service volunteers here. 

We had a New Year's Eve Branch potluck lunch after the meeting.  Later in the evening, we joined the faculty and service couples here in the Center for a fun New Year’s Eve party of treats and games. 

Earnshaws, Judds, Properzis

Nicholas made it safely home and was welcomed by piles of snow! Jameson and Erika have been in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with her family for the new year which also had a ton of snow. Everyone will be back in Provo on January 1. Jameson and Erika only have one more semester at BYU. Can it be? Big news for Jameson: he accepted a position with the Casper Wyoming Police Department starting May 1. Nicholas is awaiting more acceptances to law schools before he makes that final decision.  It will be a year of transitions for us all!