Today was our last full free day in Jerusalem. It was kind of long, but that was because I tried to make the most out of it. We had a great time! Leaving early in the morning, we went to the far side of the city, a part that I had never been to and walked through a ritzy neighborhood called Yemin Moshe with European style roads and houses. It made me feel like I was walking through Europe somewhere. From there, we made our way to the YMCA bell tower to ring the bells there with a member of our Branch, Brother Walter Whipple. He is the nicest guy around, the inspiration for Mom on getting her Masters and also is an accomplished Concert Organist. He plays the bells at the YMCA every Sunday at noon and invites the students to come. We play hymns that echo around the city, our little way sharing the gospel with others. After lunch and some shopping in the old city, we went to the headquarters for the Terra Sancta (Latin- "Holy Land"), the name of the Franciscan Monks who run the Catholic holy sites in Israel. There is a friendly little monk named Father Angello who gives Mormons tours of the building who took us back into a small room in the Terra Sancta building. He is a Filipino who was a multi-millionaire and lived in many different countries before becoming a Monk and taking his vows.
The Franciscans, as well as the other orders of Monks and Nuns, have three vows represented by three knots on a rope belt they wear. They are: poverty (they aren't allowed to have private possessions), Chasity, and obedience. As Father Angello liked to explain the three vows, "no money, no honey, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Anyway, the special room that he showed us was the storage area for all the precious things the Terra Sancta has come in possession of over the years. They included solid gold and solid silver candlesticks, crosses, mother-of-pearl murals of the last supper and crucifixion, the great royal cape that Napoleon wore when he was crowned Emperor, etc. The coolest thing he showed us, however, was a
700 year old book of Gregorian Chants. The book had to be lifted by two people and it was roughly 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 feet long. We were joined on the tour again by Brother Whipple, who is a music expert, and he sang through some of the chants with Father Angello. It was awesome to see and hear! To finish the day, we decided to join a group of people that were going out to West Jerusalem to eat dinner. On the way, we visited the Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch headquarters in the Old City. From there we went out to eat at a small restaurant and afterwards ate the most delicious gellato I've ever had in my life (berry cheesecake flavor). Then we hurried back to the Center and arrived just in time to hear our Elder's Quorum President give a forum address. He works for the Foreign Service and is on his first assignment, being the religious attache to the Jerusalem Consulate office. Interestingly enough, his major in college was International Relations and his minor was Middle Eastern Studies (the same thing I am interested in). He is the man who deals with all the different religions here in the Holy Land as the US representative. He is a great guy and I talked with him for about a half an hour afterward about how he got into his line of work. What he does just fascinates me and after seeing that I was full of questions, he gave me his e-mail address and told me he would answer any questions I had and, further more, put me in contact with anyone I needed to ask questions to. His advice was very helpful. Now we'll just see what the future holds.
Today was our last full free day in Jerusalem. It was kind of long, but that was because I tried to make the most out of it. We had a great time! Leaving early in the morning, we went to the far side of the city, a part that I had never been to and walked through a ritzy neighborhood called Yemin Moshe with European style roads and houses. It made me feel like I was walking through Europe somewhere. From there, we made our way to the YMCA bell tower to ring the bells there with a member of our Branch, Brother Walter Whipple. He is the nicest guy around, the inspiration for Mom on getting her Masters and also is an accomplished Concert Organist. He plays the bells at the YMCA every Sunday at noon and invites the students to come. We play hymns that echo around the city, our little way sharing the gospel with others. After lunch and some shopping in the old city, we went to the headquarters for the Terra Sancta (Latin- "Holy Land"), the name of the Franciscan Monks who run the Catholic holy sites in Israel. There is a friendly little monk named Father Angello who gives Mormons tours of the building who took us back into a small room in the Terra Sancta building. He is a Filipino who was a multi-millionaire and lived in many different countries before becoming a Monk and taking his vows.
The Franciscans, as well as the other orders of Monks and Nuns, have three vows represented by three knots on a rope belt they wear. They are: poverty (they aren't allowed to have private possessions), Chasity, and obedience. As Father Angello liked to explain the three vows, "no money, no honey, and there's nothing you can do about it." 
Anyway, the special room that he showed us was the storage area for all the precious things the Terra Sancta has come in possession of over the years. They included solid gold and solid silver candlesticks, crosses, mother-of-pearl murals of the last supper and crucifixion, the great royal cape that Napoleon wore when he was crowned Emperor, etc. The coolest thing he showed us, however, was a 
700 year old book of Gregorian Chants. The book had to be lifted by two people and it was roughly 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 feet long. We were joined on the tour again by Brother Whipple, who is a music expert, and he sang through some of the chants with Father Angello. It was awesome to see and hear! To finish the day, we decided to join a group of people that were going out to West Jerusalem to eat dinner. On the way, we visited the Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch headquarters in the Old City. From there we went out to eat at a small restaurant and afterwards ate the most delicious gellato I've ever had in my life (berry cheesecake flavor). Then we hurried back to the Center and arrived just in time to hear our Elder's Quorum President give a forum address. He works for the Foreign Service and is on his first assignment, being the religious attache to the Jerusalem Consulate office. Interestingly enough, his major in college was International Relations and his minor was Middle Eastern Studies (the same thing I am interested in). He is the man who deals with all the different religions here in the Holy Land as the US representative. He is a great guy and I talked with him for about a half an hour afterward about how he got into his line of work. What he does just fascinates me and after seeing that I was full of questions, he gave me his e-mail address and told me he would answer any questions I had and, further more, put me in contact with anyone I needed to ask questions to. His advice was very helpful. Now we'll just see what the future holds.
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