Early Tuesday morning we drove to The Mount of Olives. From there we had a terrific view of the Old City of Jerusalem, and it's many walls, both old and new, as many new walls are erected between the Israeli and Palestinian areas. We visited the Chapel of Ascension and then walked the Palm Sunday road to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is easy to see why this was a place Christ and the disciples spent much time, as it is a tranquil oasis. We then entered the Old City again and visited the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the lame man in John Ch 5.
We next stopped in St. Anne's Church (Mary's Church) where we began singing "He is Lord" and a group from Rwanda joined their voices with ours. They smiled and chatted with us afterward and it was a special moment spent with "friends".
We were then "turned loose" in the old marketplace in Jerusalem for lunch and shopping. A little restaurant was found by some of the group, where they had some marvelous "Israeli" pizza! What a treat!
On the way down thru the marketplace (which is a rough, old stone path) Gordon decided that he had walked way past his limit that day and cried "uncle" for the first time. (We had walked ALOT and climbed even more!) So a shopkeeper by the name of Samir Husseini, offered him a seat in front of his shop, while we went for lunch. Melody "delivered" his pizza back to him, and Samir took Gordon to his table to dine! Of course, by the time lunch was over, Gordon had another good buddy in Jerusalem. There are some really nice people all over the world!
We then went to the Garden of the Tomb, where we were able to enter the empty tomb and then we had a communion service in the Garden. This was the highlight of our day as Pastor Kevin and Pastor Dennis led this service and truly made it special for us.
We continued to our hotel for our last night in Jerusalem tired and with achy feet, but what a wonderful day we had!
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