Tuesday 22 July 2014 Goodbye to Scott, visit to Russian Church of Mary Magdalene, ship pillows and hygiene kits to Gaza

 

Tuesday morning Scott left to go home.  He had a noon flight so caught the transport van at 7:00 a.m.  He was detained with questions for over one hour, probably because he booked his flight so close to coming over.  His plane was the last to leave before they restricted American airlines from flying into or out of Ben Gurion Airport.  They had a missile warning while he was being interrogated and had to seek shelter in a part of the airport without windows.  We were sad to see him leave as we had a wonderful time with him.

 

Mom does look a little sad or tired

 



Blaine and Scott outside our apartment.



Tues July 22, after Scott left, we went to the lower entrance of the JC to see what had happened the night before. There was a lot of explosions, sirens, yelling, fires, and police chasing the kids. The lower gate has turned into a Palestinian hotspot at night.  The locals have set up shop with couches, tables, burned tires, and lots of rocks they throw at the local Israeli police.

They have moved the garbage dumpster into the middle of the road so cars had only 1 lane. We walked into the Old City and stopped at the Russian Church located just above the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.  It's called the Convent of Mary Magdalene. The visitor hours are limited (Tues. & Thurs. from 10:00-12:00 a.m.)

 

This is the stairway leading up to the church.

 



The gardens were beautiful



I think the outside of this church is one of the prettiest in Jerusalem



The nuns were busy working.

 

There was a wide variety of flowers and trees

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The Dome of the Rock is just across the Kidron Valley.

 

The mural was Mary Magdalene telling Tiberius that Jesus had been resurrected.  We asked for the scripture that told about it but the nuns said it was in the book of Mary Magdalene, which we don't have.



The panels reminded Blaine of the same design in some of our temples.



Mural of Mary and Christ.



That afternoon we took a load of pillows over to Hebrew University as part of a humanitarian delivery to the Gaza Strip.  We had already sent humanitarian kits as part of the delivery.
 I'm not sure if they will get through to the people that need them.  It was some Palestinian students from Hebrew University that organized the aid.



Two Palestinian boys met Inas, Namati, Blaine and me to pick up the supplies for Gaza.