Day full of surprises!

July 12, 2010
We stumbled out about 10 this morning, planning on going up to the temple mount. We caught our faithful chariot and headed to the old city. We decided to make a stop at the Christian information center, just inside the Jaffa gate, in order to get some maps and information. The lady there informed us that it was a 15 minute walk to the temple mount and that it closed for muslim prayers in 20 minutes. Change of plans! We decided to walk in the other direction to the Zion gate and Mount Zion to see the upper room where Jesus and His disciples had the last supper. It may also be the room where the disciples hid after Jesus was taken up to heaven. They waited there for the Holy Spirit to come on them. We managed to find the correct place, thanks to Michele and Diane being there before. We sat and soaked it in for a while, then continued on. We stumbled upon David's tomb, where quite a few Jewish people were praying. We also came upon another holocaust museum which was set up by the survivors of the holocaust. It was in an old grotto like building and was also very moving. Unfortunately we lost Michele there as she didn't know that the rooms were all connected and meandering about. She went outside and panicked because she couldn't find us. Fortunately she decided to just sit and wait until we found her, which we did.
In the museum, there was a write up on Oscar Schindler and that he was buried in Jerusalem. Diane happened to be talking to someone who told her that he was buried nearby so we decided to find his grave. When Jewish people come to visit a grave, they leave a stone on top. We managed to find his grave easily because of the huge mound of stones on his grave.
Sheila had forgotten her camera in Sammi's van on our trip to Tel Aviv 2 days earlier so she had arranged for Sammi to pick us up at the Zion gate at noon, so we high tailed it up to the hill to the gate. Sammi wasn't there, so we split up to check the parking lots. We had to wait quite a while, and were getting worried because we couldn't find our 2 friends, or our taxi cab and we had an appointment at 1:00. Finally at 10 to 1 the cab showed up, with our friends in it and we roared off to the appointment. At one minute after 1, we arrived and paid for our tour, which was on SEGWAYS!!! Can you believe it! We received a bit of instruction, then zipped up and down the hills, up a switchback to the top of the highest mountain in Jerusalem, where there is a promenade. We followed the promenade and the guide gave us informative talks in a couple of places. We spent two hours on that tour and it was so much fun. It is really neat travelling with four other women as I get to do things that are outside of my box, I notice things I wouldn't normally notice and I even get mothered. I have had tears in my eyes several times as Dixie gives me the last of her water or makes sure that I remember to eat.
Anyway, back on topic. Sammi picked us up after the Segways and took us around town for a bit, trying to find the perfect widow's mite. We ended up in the Kidron valley and Sammi mentioned that we could dig in the dirt there, looking for treasures. It was still very hot then, so we took a side trip to the mall to eat and cool off, (Dixie also paid for me to have a pedicure because I have never had one before!) Then Sammi picked us up and took us back to the Kidron valley. We saw Absolom's and Hezekiah's tomb, which were very cool, then we dug around in the bank until dark. We found quite a few shards of pottery but nothing major. Then came the amazing part. Sammi invited us to his house for refreshments. Remember, we had met his family because he took them with us to Tel Aviv. He drove up to his house, which, we found out later is in the West Bank. His house is up on the mountain side and there were amazing views of Jerusalem and even all the way to the border of Jordan. His house was very nice and it was fun to see his wife and kids again, plus we were able to meet his mother who lives with them. They showed us around, we had juice upstairs, then went down to the garden living area which was amazing. The lemon, olive and palm trees, the patio and stonework, the fountains (not on, but beautiful) and the view down the valley were all stunning. We sat and had watermelon and some delicious mint tea. I also played and sang with the kids as they remembered me from before. It was a most amazing night. Sammi took us home (but he did offer to let us stay overnight.) As we went through the checkpoint, and saw the security wall we realized that we were in the west bank. These experiences have given us a heart for the muslim people, as well as the Jewish. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! These are real, beautiful human beings who God loves.