Ecuador Day 12: Church at Zabala and the Start of Seminary

Getting up early for church was certainly worth the effort! I had forgotten what a hugging and kissing church Zabala is. Everyone is greeted with hugs and kisses from their brothers and sisters. One young girl asked Jon if I was a pastor from the U.S. When he said I kind of was, her comment was that I must not know Spanish then. She went on to say the only languages I probably knew were English and Chinese. I was kind of hurt because I also happen to speak Pig Latin pretty well. At least I think so…

Jenny led worship, and did a wonderful job of it. Granted, I didn't always know what was being sung, but I knew we were worshiping! As Cindy put it, we might not understand Spanish, but we knew what Jenny was saying! When we got to the preaching part of the service, I was in for a surprise. Marta talked about her journey to Zabala, and what it had come to mean to her. She then invited several different people up to talk about how they came to Zabala and how it had impacted their lives. Marta also called Jon and Karen forward to share about their history with Zabala. Many people there did not know that Jon and Karen had helped build the original church building not only before there was a congregation there, but also before they were missionaries here.

We also saw some pictures of what had taken place in the life of the church in the past year. We saw pictures of a big baptism service that had taken place earlier in the year. They made the celebration into a weekend trip for the whole church. It looked like a great time. The youth in the church also held VBS at several of our churches outside of the city. They went to Tonsupa for one of their VBS trips. Marta said that it went so well that people in the community begged them to stay an extra week, which they did. They worked with about 70 children, many of whom do not go to that church. I'll admit that I kind of wish I could have gone with them. One reason for that, though, is that Paula and Kati are fantastic cooks. The food looked awesome! I'll admit, I really like food. But the VBS looked awesome too.

Marta also went to Amazonas. Amazonas is a church that is south of Quito and is (as the name implies) in the Amazon jungle. The church building is so cute! It was interesting to listen to Jon and Karen's comments about the church because they've never been able to visit it. They were seeing parts of it and members of the church that they have never seen before. Part way through the slide show, Marta cut it off and told us that there were some sisters working hard upstairs to prepare some finger foods for the celebration who would like to see the pictures as well. With that said, we all headed upstairs.

We all got upstairs to find Jenny finishing up a lesson with the younger children. They seemed to be having fun. There were benches around the perimeter of the room with the children's chairs in the center.

Some of the kids at Zabala

There were some tables across the front that had snacks and three cakes on them. Karen, Cindy, and I made it upstairs ahead of Jon. We tried to go sit in the back and we were quickly informed that we had to sit behind the tables at the front of the room. We were not fans of this idea, but we weren't given an option. Jon managed to sneak in and grab a seat towards the back. Then they brought the projector and computer upstairs and decided the best place to show the rest of the pictures would be at the front of the room. Since they wanted us to be able to see them, they moved us to the back. This seemed like a much better option. Or it did until they moved the tables to the back. Not only were they moved to the back, but they were placed directly in front of us again.

I was pretty excited about the snacks on the table, but then they started bringing out potato cakes. They had cooked enough for everyone in the church to have them. Even better, they had some awesome ají to put on them.

Yum! Ají!

The potato cakes had beef and vegetables in the center. They were the best ones I'd ever had. Someone also brought out a plate with several more and put them on the table in front of us. Karen told me that we might as well eat them because they wouldn’t let anyone else have them. They were for us. Well, I felt bad about it, but I figured it would be bad to let them go to waste. They also had lemonade for everyone, but they brought us a big bottle of Coke. I asked Karen about it, and she said that many work campers won't drink the lemonade in case it's unsafe to drink. I figured I'd go for the lemonade anyway because I've never had something at that church that has made me sick. They are very careful to only serve food and drinks that are safe for us.

Karen cuts the cakes

The anniversary celebration lasted for about an hour, and we didn't leave church until about noon. We headed back to the house to eat lunch, but I wasn't the least bit hungry after eating at Zabala. We knew we'd have to leave for the Seminary in a few hours to get stuff ready, attend a worship service, and matriculate students. I took them time to take a nap. After all, it's Sunday afternoon, which I think is the best time to take a nap.

Little sisters: annoying brothers all over the world

Later in the day, we mosied over to the Seminary to get everything ready to matriculate students and give them their books and other necessary items. We did that for a little while and then headed next door for the worship service. Some of the young adults at Comite led us in praise and worship and then Jon shared about changes happening in the country that are changing the way Seminary is going to have to be structured in the future.

Part of the praise band

He then preached about the importance of getting education to prepare ourselves for ministry. After the sermon, he introduced those of us who would be teaching class. Manuel, the pastor of Comite is teaching a class on evangelism in the morning, I am teaching a class on other religions in the afternoon, and Cindy is teaching classes in the even on communication, conflict resolution, and addictions. Jon prayed for us, and then it was back to the seminary to matriculate students.

I was surprised at the age of many of the students. For a student to attend they must be at least 15, be actively serving in a church, and have the signature of their pastor. Many of the students are teenagers. The youngest is actually 14, but she's one of the most mature students here. Almost every student who signed up tonight are teenagers. We were told that there would be more students registering the next evening just for Cindy's classes at night. The reason for this is that they have to work during the day, but they are available to take classes in the evening. This is one of the first times, if not the first time, that there have been night classes. The hope is that they will be popular with those who work during the day but could attend at night if classes are offered.

After we finished up at the Seminary, we headed back to the house to get a bit of food and start thinking about bed. Because my class isn't until 2:45, Cindy and I don't have to be at the Seminary until around 2:00. This means sleeping in and study are both called for in the morning.

Israel Day 17: Modern Jerusalem

Here's my last impression report I have to write for the class. I still continue to do updates on the last few days here, but this is the last trip we took as a class.

Today was set aside as a day for us to mainly visit some of the more modern sites around Jerusalem. The day started with us spending several hours at Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem is a memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. I was unsure what to expect, but I was interested to see it. I’ve been to quite a few museums, and my least favorites are typically ones that mainly focus on history. History is just a subject that doesn’t interest me all that much. This museum was different.

Looking at the model of the place, the main hall doesn’t look terribly big. Dr. Rasmussen warned us that it would take a couple of hours to go through, but I was rather skeptical. The reason is that in most places such as this, I mainly look at the pictures and only read the signs that accompany the pictures that really catch my attention. I was unable to do that here. The stories told in the signs just draw you in. The most haunting aspect of many of the displays were the videos shown. Many of these videos were Holocaust survivors telling their stories. They were all so moving. It was like there was a magnet drawing me to many of these videos. Many of the people sharing in the videos were kids during this time. It was horrifying to hear them recount being lined up in front of pits with many others and then having soldiers shoot at them to murder them. Some of these kids were not actually hit but fell onto the piles of bodies anyway and were later to escape later. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. Nearly 90 minutes into my visit, I realized I’d seen less than half of the hall and I really had to hurry up and start rushing through. This is a place I really need to spend an entire day at to truly see and read everything.

This was one of the best, if not the best, museum I’ve ever seen in design. The exhibits and space add to the story being told without distracting you from it. I had no problem reading any of the exhibits as the light was never too low. It also had a very natural flow which kept people from really bumping into each other. I was just impressed with every component of the facility.

There were two places at Yad Vashem that really moved me. The first is the Hall of Names. It’s a large circular room with a deep pit in the center. Suspended above it is a large conical shaped piece that has hundreds of pictures on the inside of it. Around the perimeter of the room are probably thousands of boxes that contain the names and personal details of millions of victims recorded on Pages of Testimony (I had to look at their website to get it right). What struck was not the large number of records, but the vast number of shelves till empty. This is because they know that they have not recorded the details of all of the victims yet. They hope and expect to receive records on many more people.

The other place that really made me pause and reflect was the Children’s Memorial. This memorial is dedicated to the some 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. Entering the first part of the memorial, you see pictures of some of the children murdered set into a glass display. As you enter the main room which is very dark, you hear a voice reading the names, ages, and country of origin of many of the victims. All of the walls are mirrored and the reflect a candle in the very center of the room. These reflections make it appear as if there are thousands, if not millions, of candles in the room. This really brought home to me just how many children were murdered during the Holocaust.

While I had not known what to expect at Yad Vashem, it exceeded every expectation I could possibly have had. It was one of the most moving experiences of the trip for me.

After visiting Yad Vashem, we went to the Israel Museum for a little bit. The museum is undergoing extensive renovation which means that most of it is closed. The two main sections we wanted to see, however, were still open. The first is a 1:50 model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period. This model is positively amazing! During this time, Jerusalem had three different walls around it. I had studied maps and drawings of the layout, but it was fairly difficult for me to follow. Seeing these walls in “real life” made it much easier to understand the layout. I also had no idea that the Temple towered so high above the rest of the city. It was an amazing thing to see.

After looking at the model and discussing it, we moved to the Shrine of the Book. This is an exhibit dedicated to the Dead Sea Scrolls. They have some artifacts from Qumran as well as sections of various scrolls. They also have a life size reproduction of the complete Isaiah Scroll. The exhibit was impressive, and it was awesome to see documents that were that old. I think I would have enjoyed it more, however, if I could actually read and understand Hebrew or Aramaic. I’m not sure about this, but I suspect it would have made a difference.

We next drove to Shiloh to have lunch and see the antiquities site. The most interesting part of this location for me is that this is where the Tabernacle was located at one point. The only problem is that we don’t know for sure where the tabernacle was located. This is because the Romans later came in and built there as well. When the Romans built, they built on bedrock which means they destroyed whatever was beneath it. Because of this, there is not a lot of archaeological to help determine different buildings were located.

Our last stop of the day was at the Garden Tomb. This is a location I had looked forward to visiting. Stupidly though, I left my camera on the bus. Oh well, I got some postcards that have better photos on them than I would probably have taken. We first viewed a possible location for Golgotha. I actually had already seen this as you can get a good view of it from several different locations just outside the Old City or on top of the ramparts of the walls of the Old City. We then wandered through the gardens with the tour guide until we came to the tomb. It was an impressive sight to see. This really caused many of us to ponder if this tomb or one very close by was the burial place of Jesus. Our tour guide made the comment that the actual location doesn’t really matter to him because the tomb is not what we should be concerned with. We should focus on the fact that all we can do is look at various empty tombs because Jesus is alive! He made a very good point. It still didn’t answer my question about whether or not this was likely place though. I talked to Dr. Richter about it and she said that very few scholars believe this is the correct location. Many still believe the true location is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Regardless of whether or not the Garden Tomb is the true site, it is still a good visual of what the tomb may have originally looked like. Visiting the Garden Tomb was a great way to end our day of study and travel.

This day also ended this class except for the final exam we have tomorrow afternoon. This is a bittersweet moment for me. Part of me wants this class to go on much longer, but I’m also totally worn out. I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to drink from a fire hose, and my brain is overloaded. I now need time to unpack everything I’ve learned and seen on this trip. The good thing is that while the class is almost over, the trip is not. We will have almost three full days to rest, shop, explore, and revisit locations in Jerusalem that interest us. This means I’ll have the chance to eat more food in the Old City. Most of us went out to eat tonight to thank Dr and Mrs. Rasmussen, Dr. and Mrs. Wright, and Cyndi Parker for all of their hard work for this class as well as just to celebrate the end of the class. If the other food I find in the Old City is half as good as this, I’ll be a happy camper!

Israel Day 7: Free Day!

Sunday was our first free day in Israel. A few of us had decided pretty early in the week that we wanted to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for church that morning. For those who are wondering, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located over what tradition holds are the locations of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. I'll admit that I'm pretty convinced that Jesus was actually buried there. As for the crucifixion? I'm less sold on the idea as are a lot of other people. But that's all another topic for another day. Anywho, Dr. Richter decided she wanted to go since she had never been there for a service, so she organized a reasonably good sized group to go. We started off going to the Greek Orthodox service for a little bit, and then some of us started wandering around to see some of the other services taking place.

Greek Orthodox Service in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

I stayed at the Greek Orthodox service for about 30 minutes before I had gotten tired of standing in one spot for so long. That particular service typically last about 3 hours. I had trouble focusing because this little old lady kept yelling at our group if we stood in front of her, sat too close to her, or made people move if any of her friends came so that they could sit closer to her. This was rather entertaining at first, but got old quickly. It made the whole service feel pretty unwelcoming. That's the primary reason I decided to wander.
After being there a little over an hour, a friend and I wondered around the Christian Quarter of the Old City. I got this wonderful pastry/bread thing that was fairly eggy and had little bits of chocolate in it. I'll get pictures of it at some point because it was awesome! Plus, you can find them everywhere in the Old City.

A group of us met at 10 to do the rampart walk around the Old City. This is where you walk the ramparts of the wall from the Jaffa Gate all the way to where it runs into the Temple Mount. You can pick it up again near the Dung Gate, but we weren't motivated to continue further. It was interesting to see the city from such a different perspective.

Me surveying West Jerusalem from a watch tower located on the ramparts of the Old City. This tower was built sometime during 1536-1541

Roughly 33,000 people live in the Old City, but you wouldn't really know it just walking around on the street level because you don't see many residences. You mainly see shops and other places of business. From the ramparts, however, you could see the back side of the buildings and see where people live. It was especially interesting to watch the transition between the Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter. The reason for this is that about 10,000 combined live in the Christian, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. The remaining 23,000 people all live in the Muslim Quarter. That means that it is much more densely packed with people. You could really see this from the ramparts. From a perspective above the city, it was wall to wall buildings with a huge number of satellite dishes. It was unbelievable.

A view of the Dome of the Rock as seen from the ramparts on the north side of the Old City. Notice how densely packed the houses and apartments are.

After exiting the rampart just to the north of the Temple Mount, we made our way through the Muslim Quarter by way of the Via Dolorosa to just before the Damascus Gate. The reason was that we heard you could get some of the best falafel in the city there. The rumors we had heard proved to be right. The falafel was delicious and to top it off they had RC Cola! A falafel or shawarma and an RC Cola was a mere 12 shekels (about $3.50). We took our food and went through the Damascus Gate to just outside the Old City and sat on a low wall under a tree and had our lunch. The setting was beautiful and the food was falafeley good!

Me with my RC Cola and falafel. Notice the excitement on my face...

After lunch, we mosied back into the Old City and made our way to the Jaffa Gate. Along the way, we did a little bit of shopping. We stopped at a shop in the Christian Quarter owned by a man named Shaban. We were introduced to him and his shops on our first tour of the Old City because he has very fair prices and gives us an excellent exchange rate at his money changing shop. When he saw our group walk up, he excused himself from the couple he was bargaining with. The reason he did this was that he wanted to give us something cool to drink. He got us a bottle of orange juice and some cups and then apologized that he couldn't pour it for us since he needed to get back to the couple he had been bargaining with. We were all stunned at the hospitality shown to us. Besides being hospitable, he was also being smart. We all commented that if he had anything we were interested in buying, we would purchase it from him instead of someone else. And I plan to continue only changing my money there.

The rest of the day was significantly less exciting because I had to study for my test on Monday morning. All in all, it was one of the most restful and exciting Sundays I've ever had. I can't believe that I've only been here for a week and still have two weeks to go!

As a quick side note, my professors, Dr. Richter and Dr. Stone, have been posting pictures and commentary of the trip on Facebook. You don't have to join Facebook to see them, so I encourage everyone to check them out here.