1024. Brief notes about the BYU Jerusalem Center -- on Saturday, April 28th, the Jewish Sabbath.

Today is Sunday, and the last Sabbath I had was on April 28th, Saturday, which is when they hold the Sabbath in Jerusalem, to go along with the day the Jews celebrate the Sabbath there.


I was in front of the beautiful arches at the BYU Jerusalem Center!



I had requested before to be able to play on the beautiful organ there, and the lovely Sister Janice Clayton who was the organist for the Branch there, allowed me to play.  I played "The Holy City"  (Jerusalem), and was so full of gratitude and just thrilled to be able to do it!


This is looking toward the front of the chapel there, and you can see the beautiful city of Jerusalem through the big windows in the arches!  We had some very inspirational speakers there, and I will tell of them, and what they had to say in a future blog.  I need more time to get it ready, but I wanted to post this on the Sabbath Day here at home!


   A view from below, showing the 16 acres it is built on.  There is quite a remarkable history of how the Church acquired that land, and the native architect that designed it, which I will tell later.


  A view from the fence below, of part of the city you can see from the BYU Jerusalem Center.  They city is large, built on several hills!  The Dome of the Rock is the large building with the gold roof.  I'll tell it's story later also.

I took this picture, and you can see the Dome of the Rock in the distance, almost at the skyline a bit left of the center of this photo.

I am enjoying so much my memories of that wonderful trip, now that I have become more rested, at home!  I will be thinking about it and writing about it for quite a time to come.  It was a life-changing, and testimony building experience to be in the same city, and also country where our Savior Jesus Christ lived, taught, and died!  I mentioned while there that in my life I have studied Church History, and my histories of my pioneer ancestors, and the Prophet Joseph Smith so much.  I have loved and studied the life of our Savior, but in the future I will do that much more! 

 I now have "walked where Jesus walked".

Comments

Ben Alder said…
Do you know what Pal, I actually had my recital at the St. George tabernacle and it was on Passover day of April 23, 2016 and base where you were. "The Holy City" (On the footsteps of Jesus Christ). That was title of the program that I tittled. So I was wondering if you went there has inspiration or what? That was a big coincidence in my opinion. I'm glad you went.
May 6, 2018 at 9:02 PM
Thoughts and Stories, by Pal said…
Thanks Ben! It was really an inspiration to me to play that organ. If you ever get a chance to go to Israel and Jerusalem, call ahead to ask if you can play the organ. You have to get permission from the organist at the BYU Center, and sometimes they don't have time to let you play. Perhaps later in the day, or another day of the week, but we were there only for a sacrament meeting and then had to leave. It may not be as hard if you are not on a tight schedule.
May 8, 2018 at 10:19 PM
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