Friday

I included most of what I did today in my official "reflection" blog. That really took up most of my day. Many of the stops that I didn't write about where high points of this very, very hilly land where we could point out various locations we have studied about. Nabi Samuel was probably one of my favorites. I'm struck at how much smaller this land is than I had imagined. From these high points we can see so many cities. In fact, at our wilderness stop at the end of the day it wasn't hard to see both Jerusalem and Jericho at the same time.

I also find myself becoming immune to old stuff. At our Gezer stop we gathered to talk at a small lookout area. It was actually a place to see a tomb from 1600 BC that had been uncovered, but we didn't even mention that tomb while we were there. We just moved on. There is so much stuff that is so old that I can't really be amazed at it all any more. By the way, I posted a picture of our teacher, Dr. Carl Rasmussen, lecturing at our wilderness stop so you can see who I'm learning from. The other pictures are of the remaining wall of Jericho and me in front of the wilderness.

After dinner I went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to see a couple of the specific locations inside. The crowds were much, much smaller on a Friday night so I got up to the stone of Calvary and into the sepulchre itself. On my way back I stopped at a shop to buy my wife an anniversary gift...I can't forget that! Now it is catchup on some homework and hopefully skype with my family.