First arrival in the holy city of Jerusalem late the afternoon of Monday, May 19th, we had teachings from Kay Arthur on Mt. Scopus.

May 20, we queued up in the morning outside of the Dung gate for security check before entering the old city. Visited the temple mount, the Dome of the Rock, before walking down along the Via De La Rosa, stopping by the place where Pontius Pilate washed his hand before condemning Jesus to be crucified. We had lunch at the Fountain Coffee shop in the old city, No. 62 Dabbagha to be exact. We walked through a few of the old city gates, and I got to see what Jesus meant by the eye of the needle, which is more or less a small door in the big gate that would still open even after the gate is shut and sealed after sun down. We shopped at Cardo, then saw the golden menorah and the western wall. Got to pray at the western wall, which had separate section for men only and women only. Afterward we had Kay's teaching on the southern steps of the temple.

In the early morning of May 21st, we had Kay's teaching on top the mount of Olives, at the sanctuary of the Dominus Flevit. Then we walked down the Palm Sunday road on which Jesus rode the young donkey into the city the beginning of the week that he was crucified. We entered the garden of Gethsemane, spent sometimes praying individually.
Then we headed out to the tower of David and visited the History of Jerusalem museum. We took a walk through the old city again, had lunch and then we went into the western wall tunnel. I got to pray at the foundation stone of the temple in the tunnel, which is the point closest to the Holy of Holies.

Day 8, Thursday May 22nd, it's our free day in Jerusalem to do whatever we want. Some choose to rest, some went back to the old city to shop some more. I, Beth, Dolly and a couple other folks went to visit the Knesset, basically the Israeli parliament but they do not like to call it parliament like any other nation. Knesset is a word found in the old testament, basically meant a big assembly. It has 120 members, 12 tribes, 10 men each tribe. It takes 10 men to assemble a synagogue, which came from the story that if had there been found 10 righteous men, God would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The member's desks were arranged on the floor in the shape of a menorah. The seating arrangement is as followed: the speaker is on the dais. The prime minister sits in the middle, facing the speaker. The coalition are on his right. Opposition on his left and the independent are behind him.

Afterward I and Beth went to visit the Israeli Supreme Court. We went into one of the courtroom and listen to one of the case's proceeding. We thought at first it was a military tribunal of some kind but then later we realized it was an appeal case of a Hamas member.

Thursday night, we went to see a dance performance at the YMCA, which Avi our tour guide told us about. His daughter would have been one of the dancers had she not taken ill that evening.

Friday, May 23, we went to visit Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered. We went on to Masada, the last Jewish holdout in the rebellion against Rome that started in 66 AD and ended in 73 AD, three years after the Jerusalem temple had been burned to the ground in the year 70 AD. They have a slogan that Masada shall never fall again, ie. there will always be a nation of Israel from now on. We rode a cable car to the top and back down. We ended the day at the Dead Sea. The water is as clear as can be but feels like oil in your hand. I actually floated. They told us not to get our heads in the water nor try to swim. I did it anyway to see what it's like. The worst is when the water got into my nose. It cleared my sinuses like eating wasabi. It tasted bitter in my mouth and it got my eyes watered.