The Garden Tomb

After church yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the Garden Tomb as a Center.  We split into our two classes and had a little tour of the gardens.  Our tour guide was Martin from England.  He comes out every year for three months to give tours of the Garden, so he was super knowledgable about the area and the history behind it all. The first stop was Golgotha.  It is on the outskirts of the Garden Tomb property, but you can still see it. After a little discussion there we moved over to some benches by the Tomb.  Martin talked with us some more and then we stayed as a class for a few minutes to sing a hymn.  We sang I Believe in Christ and the spirit was so strong.  The tomb was very touching as well and a lot smaller than I had imagined.  One thing that I noticed while there was how quiet it was.  The Garden Tomb is located in the middle of East Jerusalem which is very noisy and busy all the time.  When we were inside the property, it was very quiet which amazed me.  There was a sense of peace there that I loved.

Golgotha

On a more spiritual note-- I can't believe how much my testimony and love for this church grows so much every single day here.  It truly amazes me.  I thought I had a pretty good testimony about the resurrection but being able to be at the Garden Tomb somehow solidifies it even more.  I can not wait to see how much more I can learn and grow!  Along with my testimony of the resurrection, my testimony for hymns have grown as well.  When coming here, I knew that we sing a lot of hymns at sites.  I thought that it was going to be a little weird, but I love it.  We sang about eight hymns yesterday around the tomb and the spirit was so so strong.  There is something special about hymns and the messages they contain.  People that weren't from our group would stop and sit to listen to us sing.  Some even recorded us.  I am having such an awesome time here and I am growing so much.