Insights

Golgotha
















A different view of Dome of the Rock on Mount Moriah (Becky, me--with very windblown hair, Kristen A., K'eola)




The view of Jerusalem from the balcony off my room.





The last three days I have felt like Nephi when he said that he could understand the writings of the plates better because he knew Jerusalem. We have gone on a walking tour of the Old City, gone on a field trip to look at the Geography of the area, and today, since Saturday is the Shabbat or the Sabbath, we had church and got to partake of the sacrament on the Mount of Olives while looking out the beautiful windows of the Jerusalem Center toward the Old City. I never realized how close everything was to each other. On our grography field trip yesterday, the furthest we drove was fifteen to twenty minutes from the Center, and we could see Bethlehem and Hebron to the South, the Dead Sea, Jordan and so many other places. One of the greatest insights I had happened yesterday and today. We stood on a hill around where Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, and we talked about the faith that Abraham had in God, but today we went to the Garden Tomb, and a site where they think Calvary might be. One of the men volunteering there talked about how Christ was crucified on Golgotha, which was probably the highest part of Mount Moriah. I knew that Solomon's Temple and the Dome of the Rock were on Mount Moriah, but I never realized that Calvary was still part of Moriah. Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac was much more like Heavenly Father's sacrifice of his son than I realized. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father loves us so much to provide that sacrifice for us, and that he provides us with trials so that we can grow and become more like him.