Bethlehem Field Trip

This past Monday we went to Bethlehem, It was awesome. We started out at the Herodium, a large man-made mountain that Herod the Great had made for him as a fortress. It is also the newly discovered (2007) place of his burial. It was a really neat place. We had a lesson as normal about the site, but then Professor Schade spoke of Lehi and his family because from the top of the Herodium we could see the possible path and terrain that they would have traveled as they left Jerusalem into the wilderness. After that we went to a few churches the first was cool, there was some tombs that were the supposed tombs of the shepherds who came and witnessed the birth of the Savior. Another church we went to really quickly was the Orthodox Shepherds' Field which had some really cool paintings in it. It was a short walk to lunch from that church. The place we ate was a cool spot; it was like a huge tent. The food was pretty good and we had a good time talking. We then loaded the buses and went over to the Church of the Nativity. This is the traditional site of the birth of Christ. The Church was super cool, the pillars inside had old faded paintings that were dark and ominous. We waited for a while to get in to the actual site or grotto. The church was built right over the grotto, so we had to go downstairs slowly because of all the crowds of people. It was kind of hectic in there, the monks and clergymen where yelling at everyone to hurry because there was a service about to start, people were squeezing by each other striving to have a moment at the monument marking the birthplace and also get a picture with it, and on top of that it was super stuffy and hot down there. I tried to have a little moment, it wasn't what I wanted but because of all the people and chaos I quickly got out of there. We sat in a different chapel in the same building until we all came out of the first sight. We then entered another grotto with many pictures and shrines to different saints and religious figures. We all met in the cave of Saint Jeroam who translated the Bible into Latin there. There was a really cool stained glass window there of him translating the Bible. They allowed us about 20 minutes of free time in the Manger Square across the street from the Church of the Nativity. I went to a Olive wood shop and frantically found a nativity, we only had so much time and I wanted to make sure it was a good one for how much I had to spend. I was a little stressed because time ran out quick. I got a pretty cool Nativity though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, I am happy with it. It was my goal to get one in Bethlehem. I ran back to the group and we walked to the buses  then off to what the Professors were calling "Mormon Shepherd's Field" I'm guessing because it's where they go every semester. We were singing Christmas Hymns the whole day, but especially on our way to the "Mormon Shepherd's Field". We had such a sweet devotional out in the fields overlooking Bethlehem. Professor Schade gave us time to read Luke 2 and contemplate those events, then we had a testimony meeting, I bore my testimony. It was a very spiritual experience.  

Shepherd's Field with Bethlehem in the background