May 16th, Jerusalem (Sabbath day)

Sabbath in Jerusalem has turned out to be a wonderful experience. I woke up early and put on my best Sabbath dress I had with me. That meant a t shirt and shorts and headed up to the BYU Jerusalem Center. I actually walked up there with a girl named Jenny. Last night while I was writing you all e-mails she walked into the hostel and asked me where I was from. She then asked if I went to BYU to which her response was, "me too!" Small, small world. She had actually attended the Jerusalem Center before and had no problem finding our way there.

Church was great, although I felt a little bit strange in my t-shirt, shorts, and beard. But as it turns out, they have college age travelers pass through the Center for church ever so often and they did not even think twice about how I was dressed. One of my old home teachees is actually at the Center right now and it was great to see her again. As it turns out, her and her roommates were excited to spend some time around Jerusalem today and invited me to tag along. We walked through Orson Hyde garden and down through Gethsemane. We all spent about 45 minutes there quietly pondering over our scriptures.

They had to get back to the Center for dinner so we all parted ways. I spent the rest of the day at the Garden Tomb and then wandering around the Jewish Quarter of the city. NOT a bad way to pass the Sabbath in Jerusalem.