Shabbat Shalom

I just finished church. So awesome. We sit in the auditorium, which is inside the really big archways near the top of the center. Those archways are floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the city and since the auditorium has stadium seating and a stage that is lower than most of the seats, we get a panoramic view of the city as the backdrop for Sacrament meeting. My jaw almost hits the floor just thinking about it. This has got to be the most beautiful place in which to attend church. I imagine the ceiling is like that of an old awesome synagogue, being higher in the middle, as there are more arches about the arched windows in the auditorium.

Sabbath School and Relief Society are held in the dome theater, which has fantastic acoustics, making you sound really loud any time you speak. The Gospel Doctrine teacher reminds me a lot of my little sister’s husband – funny. The branch itself is extremely diverse and there are plenty of young families and newly married couples. The Americans are mostly students or people working for the U.S. consulate. Did you know that Costa Rica is the only country that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or maybe just that recognizes Israel as a nation at all? So that’s why the U.S. embassy is in Tel Aviv and not in Jerusalem. There you go. Other members are locals, Filipinos, Russians, Hispanics, and an interesting mix of a bunch of others. Our Relief Society President is an Israeli (born in Jerusalem) and was raised Greek Orthodox, but when she went to BYU in Provo, she converted to the gospel. And in her testimony today she said expressly said that location is not important – it’s the things happen in those locations that are important.
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Okay, I just got back from the Garden of Gethsemane……not such a peaceful place, at least the place in which it’s traditionally held to be. There’s a big Catholic church there and fenced in olive trees. It’s pretty, but there were a lot of tourist (including some from Nigeria, who wanted to take pictures with us!) and the noise of the city. We decided to take a detour on the way back and walk through the Kidron Valley. HOLY AWESOME!!! It’s a terraced valley between the Mount of Olives and the Old City, which sits up a few hundred feet from the valley floor. There are lots of rocks, rough and unclear paths, grassy patches and olive trees…and donkeys. It’s semi-wild, but since there are very few people and not cars, it’s very peaceful – just the Gethsemane experience that we were expecting. It was just an hour before sunset, so the dusk lighting was absolutely beautiful. I’ve been taking pictures….finally, so as soon as I find a good connection, I’ll upload the best ones. It’s been a great Sabbath.