Sunday 22 June 2014 St. George Cathedral, American Colony

June 22, Blaine went to mass at St. George church near the American Colony.  I was worn out. 

 

I read a book about the American Colony titled OUR JERUSALEM by Bertha Spafford Vestor.  She was the daughter of Horatio and Anna Spafford the founders of the American Colony.  I was originally interested in this part of Israel's history because we have helped the Spafford School in the Old City with a BYU grant and now we are teaching English as part of their summer school program.  The Spaffords lived in Chicago in the 1880's.  They had considerable wealth in the real estate market.  Then the Chicago fire hit and took a lot of their estate.  They decided to go to Europe to get away.  At the last minute Mr. Spafford had a business deal he had to stay for so he sent his wife and 4 daughters.  On the way, a ship ran into their ship and all of the children drowned.  Mrs. Spafford was found floating in the middle of the ocean on a piece of the destroyed ship.  Her life was saved. They went on and had 2 or 3 more children and their 4 year old boy died from disease.  In an effort to make sense of their tragedies, they moved to Jerusalem to live where the Savior lived and suffered.  The book is about their experiences here.





Linda in front of pictures of Anna and Horatio Spafford at the American Colony hotel.



This is the main house where the colony settled.  The house was purchased from a Palestinian with 4 wives so there are 4 parts to the house.  The house is now an upscale hotel- The American Colony Hotel.

The patio is a restaurant where we sat and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream.