Besalos mucho

View of Mount Zion from a Jewish Cemetery

Remember my blog post about people kissing cheeks in Spain? Well people here people are the same, except it is all about kissing objects that are holy. Everywhere I go, no matter what religion current inhabits a holy site, people kiss everything. From the Western Wall, Mary’s Tomb, to Holy books. The nurse inside of me wants everyone to sterilize his/her lips before and after every kiss. Seriously, how many people have kissed that?!? It is like when you take CPR classes and you use alcohol wipes on the dummy’s mouth afterwards so that the next person who uses the dummy doesn’t get contaminated? Anyways, it is definitely interesting to watch.

I’m trying to make this blog completely neutral. Religiously, politically, etc. so if it even seems like I am taking sides or saying anything bad about any religion, my intent is not to.  My purpose to come to Israel was not to solidify my previous opinions (or I guess, more the opinions of others that I have heard), it was to come learn and understand.

I have come to realize that in Israel, no one is neutral. Everyone has an opinion and a history lesson to teach you. It is wonderfully educating, yet I still don’t know what really happened. I mean, I wasn’t here and I guess neither were they (about most historic things in the past). You can ask two people to explain the history of a certain holy site and you will get completely opposite stories.

The next few paragraphs are about my religion: if you don’t want to read it skip down 3 paragraphs J

Today I went to a couple of Christian sites with a church friend after church. We saw Gethsemane and Mary’s Tomb. It was extremely interesting.  First off, Gethsemane (literally meaning oil press- it sits at the bottom of the mount of olives) is where Christians believe that Christ came the night before he was crucified and took on all of our sins individually. It is an integral part of the atonement, because we believe that through Christ’s payment for our sins we can repent, become better, and become closer to God. We believe that we can overcome spiritual death (sin) and physical death (by being given eternal life after death) through Christ’s sacrifice and payment for our sins.

“I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

“Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” - D & C 19: 16-19

It was really interesting to be there. A lot of different sects of Christianity say that the actual garden is in a different place. I think there are more than three spots proclaimed to be where it happened.

An olive tree in one of the supposed spots of Gethsemane

I have been thinking about it a lot and in order to become closer to God, you don’t necessarily have to be at a “holy site”. It is cool to be able to go visit those places, but I think that the real factor in coming closer to God is the genuine time and effort you put into it. Now that I have been to Gethsemane I am not magically a better Mormon or Christian. To get closer to God I think it is best to have straight communication through Prayer, read the scriptures, etc. etc.

We also went to the Jewish cemetery that sits on the Mount of Olives. It is extremely beautiful and holds graves of a lot of really important Jewish people. You can see a wonderful view of the old city, the city of David, and mount Zion from it.

Jewish Cemetery

Fun fact: Gethsemane means "oil press" in Aramaic. There are loads of olive trees there -> olive oil.

 Tuesday I am going to the Israel Museum- where the Dead Sea Scrolls are! So many things to see!