Fragrance

Today we woke up in Israel, the beautiful town of Jerusalem for the last time! Sad day. We started off our morning by visiting the Mount of Olives. We discussed the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, and the story of Mary anointing Jesus with perfume. We discussed that we all have a “fragrance” or a reputation, and we need to make sure our aroma smells delightful. Do we smell like the world, or do we smell like Jesus? After Mount of Olives, we walked down to the Garden of Gathsemane were we discussed the arrest of Jesus. It was insane to be in the place where Jesus was betrayed, and to see the story we have all heard so many times brought to life. We continued down towards the city walls and stopped at the pool of Bethesda where Eric taught of the miracle that Jesus performed on the man who had been lame for 38 years. Bethesda means the house of grace and kindness from God. Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, and all he had to do was accept it and say yes.

All Jesus wants from us is to accept him and say yes to his offer of eternal life. After the pool, we traveled the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus supposedly walked to be crucified. We were actually waking down the road to the place where Jesus is speculated to have been crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was upsetting for me to see the extravagance and money put into this shrine for a Savior who calls us to simplicity and humility. That’s ok though. We went on to walk the ramparts, which are defensive walkways where soldiers would defend the city. We discussed what ramparts we have for our life, or defensive tactics, when the enemies try to get ya’. The last place we went was the Jerusalem museum where we saw the model of the city of Jerusalem during the 2nd temple period. We also got to see the dead sea scrolls, which was pretty wild. To end our day we had a going away ceremony and we thanked our driver Maer and our incredible tour guide Ronen.

We have all enjoyed and loved this trip so much, and are sad to see it gone so quick. Thank you guys for reading and staying tuned during these last two weeks. We got three weeks left and then Summer!

-Winson