Garden of Gethsemane, Bethlehem

Saturday, Oct. 15th.
This morning we left at 8 am and after a bit of sightseeing of the old city we headed to the Garden of Gethsemane on the mount of Olives.
We went to a quiet, private garden from which we had a view of the temple wall and the golden gates.  The gates are now closed but they were used as the entrance of the temple by the Lord Jesus and the disciples. Here we spend a quiet and reflective time. It was moving to know that in this area our Lord prayed to the Father and was in such agony that He broke out in bloody sweat. He was suffering in humanity and He bore the wrath of God all alone, while his disciples were sleeping somewhere nearby.Olive trees can thousands of years old. This is a picture of a very old olive tree. As soon as we were out of the garden we were in the middle of a large crowd of tourists. As everywhere else a church was built on the site, which we entered as well.
After this we went to a place that was like the upper room and also into a dungeon, a pit, in which the Lord possibly spent part of the night before his death. In this type of a pit, the prisoner was placed in it from the top. It was pitch dark. Here we read Psalm 88, which ends with "...and darkness was his friend". Sam carried his Bible with him everywhere.
We came to a place where there is an old path of stones, which dates back to the Bible times.
From here we headed to Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus. We saw the church of Nativity, very old church from the year 200. We had to bend down to enter the church. I found it very humbling to have to bow to enter the church. We also went in the church right next to it, in which we sang some hymns together with some other groups. Very nice!
Presently, Bethlehem is a Palestinian city. Every car, pickup truck, walker is checked. No one is allowed to leave without a permit. Many Palestinians work in Jerusalem for low wages, their families are not allowed to go and see where he works as they do not have a permit. Often families are separated and cannot visit each other because roads in Israeli hands cross Palestinian territory.  No produce is allowed to be brought out and sold elsewhere.
As tourists we had no problem whatsoever crossing the borders. They asked where we came from and some were confused when we said from Australia and Canada. What! that is the opposite side of the world! :)
Here we are walking in Bethlehem.
We went to 'The Shepherd's Fields'.We visited a cave similar to the one used at the time of Jesus birth.  The cave has an upper place for the people and lower for the animals.