The City of David

Our field trip for this week was in correspondence with the story of David and Solomon in 1 and 2 Samuel and the reign of the Judean Kings. In Jerusalem, there is a big excavation taking place outside the "old city" walls. Interestingly enough, this excavation is the the original city of Jerusalem, the ancient city of David. As part of the trip, we visited what they believed to be the foundations of David's palace, went through Hezekiah's Tunnel, and visited the excavations at the Pools of Shiloam. It was an awesome trip. My favorite parts were the Tunnel and the Pools of Shiloam. The tunnel was built by Hezekiah before the invasion of the Assyrians. It connected the only spring in ancient Jerusalem, the Gihon Spring, to great resevours at the Pools of Shiloam and other places. They cut a tunnel out of solid rock to connect them and rediscovered them today. Water still runs through the tunnel and we were able to go through it. There is no lighting, so we had to bring a flashlight. We walked through this tunnel, stooped the whole way with water running past our feet. It was awesome! The way I was walking reminded me of "Private Eyes" when the Butler tells the two idiots to "walk this way".
Once we came out of the tunnel, we arrived at the Pools of Shiloam, a reltively new excavation. This was basically the first place I have visited where I could stand on the stones and say, "Jesus could have walked on this stone". It brought chills to me and I ended taking as many pictures as possible. I feel so much closer to Him since being here. I was blessed to go to the Garden Tomb two days ago on the Sabbath and read from 3 Nephi 8-11. As I read and came to the part when Jesus spoke a voice in the darkness, I was impressed by His loving invitation to all people to return to Him. Then I read of His appearance to the Nephites and as I read Chapter 11, I substituted personal pronouns for every reference to the Nephites. I realized that their experience then is not going to be so different from mine at the Judgement Day. I felt the spirit so strongly and I was able to bear testimony of the Risen Savior Jesus Christ at the place where He might have been buried, all in my journal. It was a sweet experience to do that and then walk on the very stones where He healed the blind man at the Pools of Shiloam. I am so blessed to be here!