3 Religions in One Day

Sunday was 50 days after Passover, which is Pentecost for Christian churches and for Judaism, it is known as Shavot. I was able to visit and experience 3 different religions and see one of the most important buildings of their religion for each: Western Wall which is the closest to their temple they have, Dome of the Rock which is the shrine for Muslims, and the Lutheran church where they have their church service.

We were allowed to leave the Jerusalem Center at 4:30 in the morning (which is not usually allowed, we can only leave after the sun is out) and we walked to the Western Wall for the Jewish holiday. We watched the sunrise and I was able to get a good view of how packed it was there.

There were many men in white because it symbolized purity and some non-Orthodox Jewish women were wearing floral
patterns to represent spring. A nice Jewish teenager explained to us all about this holiday.

There wasn’t much to do there, many groups started to sing prayers and celebrate but we just stood around awkwardly so a group of 6 of us went to start a line for the Dome of the Rock because if you aren’t there early, you’ll be in line for forever. I brought my airplane blanket which was super nice because we didn’t have to sit on the dirty ground. 3 of the group went out to find breakfast (which they brought back amazingly yummy bread) while we sat and saved our spot.

with Devery and Lane girl talking while waiting for our food!

I went with Lauren to find a bathroom and long story short we walked half way around the Old City with false directions and ran into an open area full of Jews where this man lead us down a sketchy alleyway to a sketchy room for a bathroom. After we were done and thanked him, he told us, “Your eyes, are so bright! Like BZZZ!!!! So the light in your eyes is so bright like BZZ BZZ BZZ!!!” It was quite funny. Lauren and I just looked at each other and laughed and thanked him. We ran back to our line, thinking they were just about to open but it had been open for a half hour already, we were waay late. Everyone was over the awe of the Dome of the Rock so Lauren and I were rushing around admiring and taking pictures so the group could leave. It was so beautiful. I am definitely going back some time.

View towards the Mary Magdalane Church

The tile work is so beautiful

Muslim women at the Dome of the Rock

It is so beautiful!

Lauren is so great at taking pictures!

After we left the Dome of the Rock, we walked to the Lutheran church to attend the Pentecost service. It was pretty similar to an LDS service in the point that we sang, they had sacrament, a sermon in the middle (although from the priest not an member being called), and they preached of Christ. What was cool was we were having church in an old Crusade building that was thousand years old!

Lutheran Church Tower

Inside the English section of the Church where we had our service

Afterwards, we went to the Israeli Museum which showed all kinds of archaeology objects they found and how they relate to the Bible. There was so much stuff and we spent 3 hours and we were rushing. I want to go back and slowly go through everything they found because it is amazing how much we have for how long ago it has been preserved.

Throughout the day, and especially as the man told Lauren and I of the light in our eyes, I was full of gratitude for my religion and you could see the little truths each religions had but I know that we have the full truth. I know Christ is our Savior and that He atoned for ours sins. I am so grateful to be here and learn about so many religions and open my mind to the wonderous world that God created. Happy Pentacost!