Good friends Brad and Andrea and Kelly and Liz Burgon arrived for a week of touring the Holy Land. So great to have them come. Jim (Mr. Tour Guide now) took them on the grand tour! It started with a fun visit with Santa (of course), David Street shops, Udi the artist, Hurva Square, Robinson’s Arch, Western Wall (not crowded), Temple Mount to open, Lions’ Gate, Arab cemetery, Eastern Gate, Via Dolorosa, Birthplace of Virgin Mary, Churches of Flagellation and Condemnation, Prison of Christ, Austrian Hospice, Damascus Gate, passion fruit slush, lunch at Al Fayed restaurant, great falafels, shawarma plate, hummus, Garden Tomb (packed!), Christian Quarter, Ethiopian Church, Coptic Church, Holy Sepulcher (packed), Shabban's store, fabric store, changed money, Jaffa Gate, YMCA, carillon, and done!   That was only day 1.

While Jim was off with the Burgons, Deanne joined the students for their field trip, one she hadn't been on yet. The destination was Neot Kedumim (perfect weather, as opposed to 100 degrees on their last trip there...). This is a biblical nature preserve that allows guests to see how life might have been 3000 years ago. The guides taught about flowers and vegetation, farming, water storage, the students had to herd goats and sheep and then cook lunch over a hot campfire. They made really good pita and lentil soup! It was a lovely, pleasant day. Green grass and flowers on the hillsides!

Guide Sara

Tegwen and Eleesia crushing hyssop

Anna Ott making pita

The Burgons arrived at the Center for Day 2. First stop at Sea Level to ride the camel.  Traditional baptismal site. Bet She'an never disappoints! Deanne had packed a delicious picnic lunch. Up to Galilee, enjoyed visits at Magdala and Capernaum, and Church of Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. Drove home via east side of the lake, beautiful sunset. Schnitzel sandwich for dinner at a strip mall, and gelato (passion fruit). 

Day 3. Stopped at Good Samaritan mosaics national park; then Qumran; beautiful day there. Hiked to waterfalls at En Gedi, along with 1000s of school girls. Then to Masada, where they were lucky to get in 1.5 hours before it closed… but saw it all.  Drove home along the Dead Sea, but no swimming.

Day 4. A trip to Augusta Victoria, played (and pumped) the organ, climbed the tower.  Russian Ascension church was closed, too bad.  Looked in at Mosque of Ascension, shopped at Mt of Olives Bazaar, looked in at Pater Noster, took in view at 7 Arches, tomb of the prophets was closed!  Dominus Flevit was nice.  St. Mary Magdalene was closed.  Tomb of St. Mary, Garden of Gethsemane (where they were pruning the olive trees and we got some branches); played the organ at Church of the Agony.  Absalom’s Pillar and Hezekiah’s tombs.  

The Burgons had a few days on their own. We met up with them at Notre Dame of Jerusalem for buffet dinner on their last night here, very nice, and quiet place to visit.  

Thanks to Patty and Paul Barker and Deanne for staying at the Center for the tours and other music and humanitarian obligations in the week!

The Center has been hosting three vice presidents from BYU this week. One of the couples is Steve and Bobbie Tanner Sandberg. Bobbie's father John wrote the lyrics to hymn #138 which Jim wrote the music for. They seemed to be pleased with all of the good things that happen here with the students, staff and volunteers. They should! It's a great place.

Bobbie and Steve Sandberg

Dad joke of the week:

Q:  How did Mary and Joseph know that Jesus was 7 lb 6 oz when he was born? 

A:  They had a weigh in a manger.

Sunday.  Always feels like Monday because we have church on Saturday.  All the students left last Sunday for their week in Turkey.  We stayed at the Center to hold down the fort, do the tours, host the concerts, etc.  But we had another wonderful set of adventures while they were gone.  We went to the YMCA to meet our friend Rabbi Matt Berkowitz and several of his students who are studying to be full-time Jewish cantors. Jim gave them the tour of the carillon, and, being music students, they were very curious about the carillon and had good questions.  Jim played a Channukah tune for them, and they sang along.  Rabbi Matt left us with a beautiful blessing from the Torah.  He is so thoughtful and kind. We joined them for lunch--pizza (really good pizza) at a nearby restaurant. Then we walked to the shuk (the famous open-air market in West Jerusalem) and took in the sights and smells of the place.  On our walk we saw several other bits of “only in Jerusalem” local color.

Rabbi Matt Berkowitz (far left) and his cantorial students

The Shuk

We took advantage of blue skies on Monday and spent the day Caesarea on the coast.  We took our time wandering through the ancient Roman homes, temples, vaulted storage areas, the hippodrome, and the magnificent theater.  We also sat on the beach that was coated with interesting seashells.  Had lunch at Aresto, a nice restaurant inside the park.  Hot rosemary focaccia bread right out of their pizza oven, fish and chips for Deanne, and an Asian noodle stir fry for Jim.  The latter was good, but they don’t get the seasonings quite right here. We saw the Crusader moated fortress and ended the day at the famous aqueduct.  Such an engineering marvel that they could build an aqueduct about 8 miles long and slope it so meticulously that the water would arrive at Caesarea.

Caesarea National Park

So many shells!

Aresto Restaurant

Aqueduct

In solidarity with the students who are off in Turkey (Istanbul and Troy), we visited the Islamic Art Museum in Jerusalem.  They have a fine collection of artifacts from all over Islamic areas of the Middle East.  But the most famous part of this museum is the collection of priceless timepieces, many from the 18^th and 19^th centuries, including an elaborate watch made for Marie Antoinette.  Unfortunately the watch wasn’t completed until about 30 years after her execution.  The museum also has a display of paisley fabrics. Who knew that that design had its roots in Islamic lands?

Watch made for Marie Antoinette, but she never got it!

Quiet days around the Center with all the students and faculty gone.  However, we were happy to host several visitors from all over. Germany, Austria, Utah, Israel, California, Russia. So many lovely and interesting people! It really is one of the best and most fulfilling parts of the service here. 

4 friendly ladies from Tel Aviv and Netanya

Guests from Germany and Austria

Russians now living in Beer Sheva. Her 65th birthday.

Amir Brener (second from right) was the lighting designer for the new construction 

in the library and Upper Auditorium.

There was a Branch potluck in the Oasis after Sabbath which was fun. It's a little easier to manage with only 30 people! 

Jim, Naira Manougian, Yolaunda Keith, Jill Judd

Sagit Zilberman, Melissa Dodd, Jill Judd, Yolaunda Keith, 

and Heather Farrell

Branch members Judith, Steve, Jonathan, and Daniel Rona

And, yes, Jim is missing the best ski season in years in Utah! (He's trying to be brave!) Pictures of our neighborhood are lovely and white, but we aren't missing the cold and shoveling.

While the students were on a field trip, we and the Barkers enjoyed a buffet lunch at Notre Dame of Jerusalem hotel. Our Valentine’s lunch,  It’s a nice place. 💞 The food is average, but there’s plenty of it!  

We walked through the Old City, introduced Barkers to artist Udi Merioz, then went to the Armenian Cathedral of St. James.  Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion (in 301 AD). This church, dating from 420 AD, is dedicated to two martyred saints of that name, St. James the Great, one of Jesus’s apostles, and St. James the Less, believed to be a close relative of Jesus.  St. James the apostle was beheaded by Herod Agrippa, and this church is the traditional site of the beheading.  (His head is supposed to be here, and the rest of his body is supposed to be at the pilgrimage shrine at the Church of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.) Most of the current church dates from the 12^th century AD.  We were able to witness a service in progress, with chanting and processing by the Armenian priests.

Patty Barker

We went with the Rosens to visit the Ratisbonne Monastery in West Jerusalem.  It was started by a Frenchman who came to Palestine in 1855 as a missionary. He built a beautiful church and vocational school in 1874 on a hill that was then wilderness but is now in the heart of busy West Jerusalem.  The organ there is an exact twin of the organ at Notre Dame of Sion (a sister institution of Ratisbonne) on the Via Dolorosa, both built by the same French organ company in Marseille in 1893.  This organ is still in its original state and is in surprisingly good shape for its age and lack of anyone in this part of the world to maintain it properly.  Ratisbonne is now a Catholic seminary, with 31 students from around the world studying to be priests. Classes are in English, and they say 31 different dialects of English are spoken there.  Fr. Phat, a very kind priest from Vietnam, gave us an excellent tour.  We also met the rector, Fr. Stanislaus, who is from India.  We invited him and all of their brotherhood to come to the BYU Center for a tour—none of them has been here yet. 

With Mary Ellen and Mark Rosen

A young couple from Hong Kong came on a tour of the Center: Scot Mo and his wife Ling.  They’re originally from Mainland China, grew up Buddhist, studied in the UK (where they never encountered the Church); moved to Hong Kong where they met up with some missionaries, and he and his wife were baptized.  He is now a venture capitalist in Hong Kong and Elders Quorum Pres in his Mandarin Branch there.  Jim ended up taking them on a big walking tour (5 miles) of the Mt. of Olives, including Orson Hyde, Garden of Gethsemane, Kidron Valley, 7 Arches, plus dinner at Ascension Café.  

Scot and Ling Mo

Jim met Scot and Ling Mo at Jaffa Gate the next day and toured them all over—Jewish Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Garden Tomb, Christian Quarter, for 3 hours.  Had a good time. 

The students and most of the faculty are off to Turkiye for the week. We will be the only people here with the exception of Jill Judd and the four young Properzi children. It will be way too quiet! If only the cafeteria stayed open, it would be a real vacation :)

More evidence of spring every day! So many lupin and cyclamen here in the gardens and more to come!