To Hell and Back

Yes, yes, I literally went to hell, and I made it back alive, barely though. One thing to tell you about it, is that it is pretty warm there, and bright, and I was with some other people, so I don't know how that plays into anything, but yeah, I think it should somehow. Anyway, I shouldn't get ahead of myself, we didn't start the day in hell after all, and it was quite the adventure getting there after all.

It first started with a division of the people. Some people made a day trip to Tel Aviv to go swimming and see some of the museums out there. I decided not to becuase they were going to be my scout team, seeing all of the good stuff so that when i get to go i don't waste time looking. Also I didn't know if the museums were any good, so they got to spend their money checking for me! It did end up being a good thing that I didn't go, becuase they had all the problems that one could have trying to find things, and didn't get to do much, so mission accomplished!

The rest of us split up into smaller groups and went out into the city to do some homework, and by homework, I mean going to see old testament sites around town! We started off in the Kidron Valley, staying close to home and going to the Orson Hyde park which is just around the mountain from the JC, about a 5 min walk or so. One thing that I have learned is that things are not always as they seem. You should look in your bible at the picture of the Hyde park, and then you need to add garbage to the grounds and scortch marks to some of the stones. It is really sad how in disrepear the grounds are. Becuase it's an open park, anyone can come in, and unfortunatly, just the way that Satan normally works, he trys to ruin things that have sacred value. The picture in the back of the Bible is taken from the top ampetheater and to the right is supposed to be a plaque on which is written the dedicatory prayer that Bro. Hyde gave. Now there is just a big hole, and it looks as if fires were built around the area. I have always thought it anoying that there are gates up everywhere blocking certain areas, but I do now understand why. Stupid people really irritate me :( Our little group found another little sitting area and read some scriptures from the OT prophets about Jerusalem, and It was quite the feeling to get such a few of the city and think that most likely the view I had was similar to the prophets who were making the prophecies about the city.

Gethsemanie is practically touching the park, and so we went there next. I really didn't see anything new, we were not able to get into the private area of the garden because of the throngs of people, but we did meet this guy named Julius who was a missionary Father who had brought a group from Nigeria to the Holy Land. It was cool to talk to a few other believers and get to know them and thier faith a little better. I did have a neat experince in the Chruch of All Nations again, just proving that going to places more than once can allows you to learn more than one thing! The spirit in so many of the holy places is strong, and you can learn so much, but you do have to ask, both for the spirit, and the knowledge that can be given to you.

From those gardens we decended into the Kidron Valley itself. Right now it is very dry and those burns I was telling you about don't help the view, but there is alot to see down there. It still amazes me to see off of the coffins that are on either side of the valley, Muslim on the temple mount, Jews on the Olive mount, and a little christian one inbetween! They still are separated, even in death. Anyway, you go down this little path, and it leads you to some really neat tombs that were carves right out of the rock. The first one is Absaloms Tomb. This was one of David's sons who wasn't the best of guys all the time, even kicked his dad out of Jerusalem, but at the death of Absalom, David still cried and wept for his son (2 Sam 18). Oh, and to let you know, at each site we read scriptures that relate to the site that we are at, so it really is a neat experince, and it means so much more than just going there and taking cool pictures.

A few meters down from Absalom's tomb is both Zechariah's tomb (mostly known for 2nd coming prophecies) and a tomb that looks cool. I say 'really cool' becuase it's cut right into the face of the mountain, and because the family that it was made for, the

Benei Hezir family, doesn't mean much in history. They did think at one time that is was the burial place of James, the brother of Jesus, but they don't think that anymore. Unfortuatly you can't get up to the Benei tombs, because they are really cool (we tried climbing to no avail) but all of the other tombs that I have mentioned are neat because you can walk all the way around them and see from different angles. They are large, and they are great for having lunch at!

From those tombs you walk all the way down the valley until you enter the Arab town of Silwan. There a little tombs all along the side of the valley that you can see, but we didn't make the climb because none of them are named. Silwan is a nice little town. We stopped for a little while to eat and get our bearings, and then we went down to the lowest place in the valley, and it connected to the Hinnom valley, or Valley of Hell.

The Valley of Hell is ironicly named, because it is actually a pretty nice looking valley and goes really far down, and makes a nice little cut on the other side of the old city. It was named for this because of all of the child sacrifices that used to go on in the valley (2 King 23:10). We have heard that every once in a while they still happen, but I don't know if I believe that, most of it is in West Jerusalem and the people we met didin't seem that bad! But yeah. The tomb of Shebnah is in this valley, and we found a place that seemed right for the description that we had, so we read about what happened here (2 Kings 18:18 or better, Isa 22:15-25). We also found the church that is supposed to commemorate the place where Judas committed suicide, but it was closed and is only open on tues and thur, so we are going to have to make a trip back come other time.

We then hiked all the way up the valley and got back into the Old City, and did a little adventureing around David's tomb. There really isn't much of a tomb there, it is a Crusade finding, but they think that he is buried below. And when I say 'they', i mean this guy that volunteered to show us some things, and then asked for 10 shekles each for his services. Yeah, well, there were 8 of us, and we wen't dumb. We gave him a tip, probably too much anyway, and sent him on his way. That is the last time that I take some 'free help'. Anyway, we went back to Dormition Abbey because we had more time today than I did last time, and it was really neat. before I had not noticed that each of the women of the bible were represented in mosaic above where Mary was. I include the picture of one of my favorite stories in the bible... anyone know what this refers to?

We then hiked all the way through West Jerusalem to Ben Yehuda st to get gellato. This is the first time that I have had gellato, and it was good, but not worth the hike that it took to get it! I don't think that I'll do that again! Anyway, then we just walked back to the JC, and I showered, and yeah. I was so tired. We had left at 9am and I got back at 530pm ish. It was a long, long day! Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed my hell story, and i'll update you about my little trip to Jeracho tomorrow! Love you all!