Bethphage, Dominus Flevit, Gethsemane, St. Peter's in Gallicantu, the Dead Sea, and Gathering Together

Today, the North Carolina pilgrims got up and left very early to pray the Stations of the Cross in the Old City while the Louisiana pilgrims gathered a little later to walk the "Palm Sunday Walk" from Bethphage (Beth = house / Phage = figs) on the Mount of Olives to Gethsemane.

We began as close as we could to where Jesus is said to have mounted the donkey to ride into Jerusalem. It was a walk of mixed emotion from jubilation intermingled with the anxiety and coming doom of the cross. The present Bethphage church was built in 1883 on the remains of older churches – a Byzantine church and above it ruins of a church from Crusader times. Inside the church is the Memorial Stone of Bethphage. 

Starting at the Bethphage Church, Steven Roberts blessed our olive branches and we read scripture, prayed, and sang "All Glory, Laud, and Honor" as we walked.

There is a beautiful painting inside the church depicting Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.

Next, we walked downward toward the Old City past the Mount of Olives cemetery, an extremely large Jewish burial area. 

It was a steep descent towards Gethsemane in the Kidron Valley, but everyone was able to manage. We stopped at the Dominus Flevit (Our Lord wept) Church or the "Tear Drop" church.

There are tear bottles at each of the four corners to represent the tradition of gathering tears for the departed.

There was a super wonderful panoramic view of Jerusalem from this church and one can see the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount from here.

Continuing our walk, we headed down to the church built over the Garden of Gethsemane. While the word Gethsemane means "place of the olive press" and the actual garden is the entire huge area, there was a smaller garden full of olive trees, giant roses, bougainvillea, hollyhocks, and more. 

Some of the olive trees in the garden are the oldest known to science and have regenerated after 800-900 years. So, the trees we see there may be the grandtrees of the ones in Jesus' time. They are noble and reverent in their silent peace. 

Next to this garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Sanctuary of the Agony of Jesus Christ and The Basilica of Gethsemane. 

Inside, there is a lage slab of bedrock that is said to be where Jesus prayed before he was to be arrested. Many pilgrims were on the same path as our group today and many knelt at this rock and prayed earnestly.

Our final pilgrim site of the day was to the Church of St. Peter's in Gallicantu. Gallicantu means "cock's crow" and the weather vane is a rooster. It is a lovely church set on top of ruins of caves and dungeon areas and beside lengthy steps leading down into Jerusalem. Jesus walked these steps. 

The church location is also associated with the High Priest Caiaphas' palace. The church belongs to the Assumptionist Fathers, a French order established in 1887 and named for Mary's Assumption into heaven.

Now it was time for lunch and our pilgrims had a quick meal at the Notre Dame Center before dispersing to either walk in the old city or have a two hour break before heading out to the Dead Sea. 

In reading ahead about the Dead Sea, I found the following post interesting:
"Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Dead Sea"

It was 43 degrees out at the sea and this equals 109.5  It's safe to say it was HOT.
Half of our pilgrims waded in the water and several more floated (they tried to swim) in the sea. The other half enjoyed cool beverages and some social time. As Earth's lowest place of elevation on land, the shore is 1388 feet below sea level. Did I mention it was hot?!

After this exciting adventure, we gathered at Iyad Qumri's house in Jericho for a fabulous dinner and some down time! What amazing and generous hospitality! At the beginning of our pilgrimage, during our first meeting together, we selected a prayer partner from folded papers and prayed for them the entire trip. Since the NC group leave early, we revealed out partners tonight. 

Gifts were exchanged between prayer partners and gifts were also given from the whole group to Iyad Qumri, Omar "the Magnificent" (our driver), John Peterson, and Canon Mark Stanger.

HERE is today's video collage! :-)

Jvari Monastery and the City of Uplistsikhe, Georgia

In the summer of 2015, I had the good fortune to travel to formerly Soviet Georgia for a few days. Having long-desired to visit this beautiful Orthodox country, I was only able to stay for three and a half days, but it was a highlight of my year and I hope to return!

                 Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015                    

When I return, I'd especially like to see the Caucasus mountain region and some of the high country! I flew into the capital city of Tbilisi, found my hotel, and immediately ventured out to walk down the street to one of the town squares. Tbilisi proved to be very friendly, clean, beautiful, and full of sites and activities. As I also wanted to see some of the surrounding areas and get into the real countryside of Georgia, I talked to several people while at dinner and strolling around with gelato later that evening. After several recommendations, I entered a tourist shop featuring t-shirts, knick-knacks, and tours. 

Collage of photos by Caroline Carson

I hired a driver, through a travel agent/clerk, to travel to Uplistsikhe, a city I knew nothing about, but which seemed intriguing and was itself a UNESCO World Heritage site. Of the several dusty brochures in the store, this city had the prettiest pictures and was not very expensive. It ended up being about $25 for about 9 hours of tour! What an AMAZING journey! After an early morning stroll downtown, I met up with my driver and a van full of Latvians who would soon be my new friends. Before long, my fellow adventurers and our Russian driver, Georgi, were singing (me humming), Russian Orthodox melodies to the radio in a beat-up, smoke-infused van on the way to see one of the earliest important crossroads cities between the Orient and Oxident in the world. 

                 Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015                    

On the way to Uplistsikhe, we stopped at the Jvari Monastery which is on the top of a hill and absolutely amazing. I had no idea that we would be stopping here at all! This could be due to the fact that I do not speak Georgian, Russian, or Latvian. Jvari is a UNESCO site.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

The Jvari Monastery is the "Monastery of the Cross" and was built in the 6th century. It is near the beautiful city of Mtskheta, one of the oldest cities in the country and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth. Mtskheta is about thirteen miles outside of Tbilisi so a very easy trip to make. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) and has become known as the "Holy City" because it is the birthplace of Christianity in Georgia. In the fourth century, Saint Nino, a female saint, placed a large cross on the hillside at the site of Jvari monastery. After time, there began to be rumors of miracles and strange, yet wonderful happenings at the mountain. A church was built on the site and later, a monastery founded. Around the back of the monastery, we were treated to stunning views of Mtskheta and the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers below. 

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

Inside, the smell of incense wafted through thickened sunbeams, bringing a hush to everyone who entered. Donning a scarf to cover my head, I stood in silence for several moments, just taking it all in. I did wish we had more time, even if I hadn't previously known we were stopping here. There is something quite special and holy about the sacred spaces of Orthodox churches with the thin candles leaning in quiet effort to the Divine and the fragrances of incense and flowers in the air. The light in these places always has a different quality to me...one threaded with purpose and meaning. 

Photo by Caroline Carson, 2015

After being still and saying a few prayers, I went out of the monastery chapel and walked the grounds a bit. I found these three hanging bells, calling to the hills and claiming together a congregation of anyone who could hear them.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

Next, we were back in the van, already drenched with sweat and gulping water. I think it was about 100 that day (I know it was 103 the following day when I visited Azerbaijan.) After an hour or more, Georgi took us off the main highway and toward an embankment of low, rolling mountains. Here, somewhere, was Uplistsikhe, the famous cave city, known as "The Ruler's Fortress" and often called "The Lord's Fortress" of long ago. An ancient city hewn out of the mountainside, Uplistsikhe was one of the oldest urban centers in Georgia and became an important religious, trade, and political center. It is in the midst of what is known as the Kartli region.The road began to be rocky and VERY bumpy, enough to where I was wondering how many spare tires might be in the back. A few cows were sighted, what looked like several abandoned townlets, and a river. 

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

When we finally got there, our driver parked and we got out. There were a few old men sitting at small, rusting tables, selling wares and a ticket desk leading to a snack cafe and a very small museum. Our driver gave us a few hours and so I took off to climb the old city and see what I could. After a few large rock outcroppings that I climbed, there were sets of stairs, about 50 steps each and boy were they RICKETY. Each step consisted of metal bars lined on the top with a rotting wooden plank. I will add here that I am ok with two or three flights of stairs and then I'm not ok. I have to stop a lot and hold on to things and take it slowly. It was also extremely windy and I couldn't use my umbrella to escape the relentless sun so I just gave up and prepared myself for massive sunburn. I was a bit surprised that handrails were not in certain places and that getting from one set of steps to a higher area involved large...no....gigantic leaps from one rock to the other. If no one had been around, I would have been on "all fours" at times (and I'm ok with that if I want to climb on steep rocks), but I did ask a hand from a stranger to get up onto one rock where this picture was taken.

Finally, I made it to the top and could explore some of the cave rooms. There were cave ceilings with decorations on the top and it seemed that the inhabitants had thought of everything from cooking pits to individual cells, to a theatre and to wine presses in the ground! A couple of the ceilings were so ornate that it reminded me of a Western European Baroque style. Here is one example of the decorated ceilings.

There were several "temples" carved and I was told they were to a Sun goddess who was worshipped by the pagans in this area before Christianity arrived in Georgia. The sloping sandstone cave city was founded in the late Bronze Age (before 1000 BC) and inhabited steadily until the 13th century with, at times, both Christians and pagans. The Christianization of surrounding areas such as Tbilisi and Mtskheta pushed the city to lose favor in deference to the larger cities. Over time, Uplistsike and parts of Georgia were conquered by the Mongols, Annatolians, Arabs, Persians, and more. At its highest population, Uplistsikhe was about 20,000. It didn't look that large to me, but then again, I only had a couple of hours to explore it and it was about a million degrees so I wasn't in top form. The short film in the small museum mentioned that Uplistsikhe's rock-cutting styles were influenced mostly by Northern Iran and Cappadocia's (Turkey) rock city formations.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

Another hike took me up to the top of the city where there was a monastery and beautiful small chapel. This has been rebuilt a few times, but is still very old. 

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

I always feel good when I look down at where I have come from on one of these hikes. I can accomplish a great distance, even in my slow, labored style. I'm always so glad I ended up doing it.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

Making my way down the mountain, I nearly collapsed from the heat once I was low enough to where the wind wasn't so strong. 
IT WAS SO HOT. If you decide to go, PICK A NON-SUMMER TIME.
I wandered into the snack cafe and bought a chilled (not exactly "cold") Georgian lemonade. It was slightly carbonated and sweet, but was the best thing 

                                                              IN. THE. WORLD. 

                        
Pretty soon, my Latvian buddies came in and we sat, drinking lemonade and beer and cokes, trying to will the temperature down with sheer contempt for the tragic sun's crusade to melt.....EVERYTHING.
Next, we went to the museum and watched a small film about Uplistsikhe and its history and then saw some amazing archaeological finds. 

The way out of the city took the whole van's determination. I'm not quite sure what kind of lemonade Georgi was having while we were exploring, but we missed the main road and ended up stopping at a giant hay pile. Next, we crossed a small riverlet, but not the one we had first come across. We ran into three men on scooters and asked them which way to go. This led us to a road made of small boulders and big sticks, nearly toppling the van twice. FINALLY, we saw a highway and took it. Next, we were headed to the Batumi fortress and the town of Gori (where Joself Stalin was born), and the wondrous Svetitskhoveli Church. 
I'll also share a bit of travel to David Gareja (also Davit Kareji) monastery and crossing into Azerbaijan.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2915

Here is a link to my Facebook album of my photos from Georgia. 
I HIGHLY recommend seeing the city of Uplistsikhe if you have time while in visiting Georgia. Bring sunscreen, wear good shoes, and know ahead of time that parts of the city slope steeply and there is always the possibility in brushland of both snakes and larger-than-I-want-to-describe spiders. Also, wear your sunglasses as it is very windy and bright.
I love, love, LOVE ancient archaeological sites like this one. It is well worth it to step in the same paths of our ancestors and to touch our own planet's ancient history as our cities were being formed.

Photo by Caroline Carson, July 2015

Teaching at the Rambo Memorial School and Working with the Nursing Students

Mungeli, India update: July 13- July 15

Yesterday was the New Horizons Pluto flyby - SO EXCITING! I told as many folks as I could about it and hope to check into the internet later on to see the news. It's very hard not knowing the play-by-play on this long-awaited and much-anticipated space event, but it'll never lose its cool factor and I'm positive images will be forthcoming from the massive amounts of data for at least one year following the flyby. I wonder if they will choose a Kuiper belt object for after the Pluto adventure!

Monday, I had my first classes at the Rambo Memorial School and things went well! I worked on singing with the 7th graders and we had lots of fun! As it turned out, I ended up teaching third graders through tenth graders in sometimes three and sometimes four classes each day. The littlest ones are SO CUTE and so polite! Each class stands when a teacher enters and except for the "usual suspects", most everyone pays attention and asks questions etc. My classes were offered as an "extra" and mainly for those students interested in learning about music and singing. Each class was absolutely packed. Most of the students liked the singing, but not all of them. This year, I had two classes without a teacher in there with me. I feel like I needed someone in there for the occasional question a child asked, for discipline a few times, and for translation of what I was saying and the instructions bring given to the class!

Everyone wanted to shake my hand and say "Good Morning Ma'am!" :-) A few of them dare each other to come up as I'm walking in the schoolyard and say "Good morning" or "How are you?"...I answer and they smile, giggle, and run.

Each evening, I work with the nursing students on singing technique and the songs they use for daily morning chapel services. I also prayer with them and help them in planning some of the chapels. I was also asked to speak several times which was a huge and wonderful experience for me! Neither the students at the school or the nurses at the hospital are used to singing in their head voices, so that's one of the things I'm re-introducing and trying to get them all to integrate. All of the Hindi folk music that I've heard has been in chest voice with some nasality, but it works well for the language and the songs which may have clapping and instruments going on.

Tuesday I taught three classes at the school. One class of grades 3-5, one of grades 6-7, and one of grades 8-9. The school has almost 200 new students this year, making for a rough total of 950! This is a fantastic trend, but they have almost no room as it is. Some construction is being done, but it appears to be rather slow. It is also very loud and going on all day during classes. They are using both the "new" and the old school buildings. I must add here that the new classrooms are overcrowded, filthy, and without proper ventilation (not to mention air conditioning). The old buildings do not have electricity. The bathrooms are unspeakable and a teacher even recommended that I not go inside. In spite of all these things, they are doing the best they can and providing a much-needed education for hundreds of children! The teachers are good and quite dedicated. It is very clear that they love their kids and get frustrated by the lack of proper facilities as well as the lack of resources in general.
After the school day, I rushed back to take a shower as it was BOILING HOT outside with at least 1,000% humidity and I was a big bowl of sweat. Dr. Anil Henry, the head of the hospital took thus year's group of missionaries to see two temples at the edge of a low mountain range. He had to go to the town of Kawardha first for a court case (a child hurt in a terrible auto accident died after two months in the hospital and he was there with the family to testify against the driver) so we went along for the ride and waited in the ambulance while he was in court. As if an ambulance pulling up to a courthouse wasn't enough, there were nine of us inside and all very different-looking so we periodically drew crowds of folks wanting to have a look at us. I found again this year that we were something of a culture shock to just about everyone. In most cases, people from the surrounding villages of any town or those in small towns seemed to never have seen anyone different from themselves, at least live and in person. After the court case was done, Dr. Henry took us to a very large dam and lake. We got out to stretch our legs a bit and then continued on to the temples (See next blog post).

Mungeli, India 2015

A Visit to Mungeli, India - Mission trip - Summer 2015
I've returned to the Christian Hospital Mungeli  and the Rambo Memorial School
This year, the internet was less consistent than last year so I emailed myself these blog posts and am just now getting around to posting them! 

It's Sunday in Mungeli and I'm back in my room after a trip to the local church down the road followed by a walk into the town. It is SO HOT! I needed a cool down break under some fans and with some water. I arrived in India last Thursday (MSY--AMS--DEL) and spent the night in the boiling hot & stuffy Delhi airport on a reasonably comfy bench until my early AM flight to Raipur. I was so sleepy that I got off the plane in Nagpur and thank goodness they checked my boarding pass and told me I needed to get back on board! Arriving in Raipur, I waited for my friend Kahala and the driver to come and pick me up for the ride to Mungeli. When they came, it was decided to stop at a grocery for some necessities some of the other visitors to the Christian Hospital needed and so picked up some lunch to go while we were there. The drive to Mungeli was full of a million annoying stops and so bumpy I'm surprised all my internal organs made it intact! The driving is actually pretty scary here. One must drive at top speed, dodging cows, dogs, people, motorbikes, cars, and huge trucks. Often, when passing another vehicle, it's an outright game of chicken, seeing who will give in to getting back in his lane. The other consideration in all this is the road quality. New Orleans, I hate to tell you this, but the state of Chhattisgarh has you beat, by a factor of about a million. The craters in the road are sometimes as big as your car and dangerously deep. You can usually dodge them, but if you accidentally go through the wrong one, you may destroy your car or truck. If people slowed down slightly, it would help, but I learned last year that everyone here is used to it all. I gave up worrying about it and just tried to trust that we'd make it. I figured the driver didn't want to die today so would be at least a baseline level of careful. Seatbelts might help. Maybe.

My first day here, I had to rest immediately and I later went to dinner to meet two girls from Denmark and four Americans (from Butler and Eureka colleges). They are a terrific group and we shared dinner in the guest house.
The next day, Friday, I had NO jetlag because I had beena wake for so long and slept like the aforementioned boulder! I attended the chapel at 7:30 AM and I was so surprised to receive such a fantastic welcome! The nursing students were all there and many remembered me from last year's visit!!! They are SO SWEET!!!!! At the end of chapel, I was introduced and one of the girls gave me a beautiful garland of marigolds!!!

Christian Hospital Mungeli

We left chapel all together to go downstairs and see the new medical equipment that had arrived. It's high definition and to be used for their Urology work.

                                           

I was asked to bless the new medical tools so I said a prayer asking for blessing and longevity of use as well as for God to guide the hands of those who use these new tools. 

Dr. Anil Henry, the wonderful head of Christian Hospital Mungeli and a great surgeon, said a few words about the equipment and showed them to everyone. 
This was followed by DELICIOUS jelabies and spicy samosas. Jelabies are soft, honey-filled pretzely swirls of goodness. 

Samosas are little fried pockets of potato and onions and heavy spices. They give me heartburn, as most of the food here does. I also had taken my first Doxycycline pill (for Malaria prevention) and those tend to give me heartburn as well so I stayed with sampling the jelabies :-)

It was time for morning rounds in the hospital. Last year, I did this a few times and would stop back by sometimes in the afternoon to see some of the patients. The morning group consisted of Dr. Henry, one or two other doctors and nurses, and some of the visitors. I noticed there were several malaria patients this year, including one with cerebral malaria who was not doing well. Malaria is endemic to this area and is especially rampant during monsoon season. About halfway through the rounds, I actually began to feel quite ill. I thought I was going to have to throw up so I quickly left ICU and headed outside. The EXACT same thing happened to me last year on my first day. The Doxycycline gave me severe heartburn and some nausea and I did throw up. This time, I didn't throw up, but I realized I needed to eat something quickly or I would. You're supposed to take Doxy with either food or a milky substance and I had simply had a couple of crackers. I think that's why I didn't throw up though - at least it was something. So, I went to the guest house, where I stayed last year and where the Danes and American students are staying. It's also where Tripdte, the cook, makes Masala chai and meals. I ate an egg and felt immensely and immediately better!
After breakfast, I sort of made my own "rounds" and saw lots of familiar faces, visited the nursing students' classrooms, and came back after lunch for a nap, still exhausted from reflux and ok, maybe a tad bit of jetlag. I went in the early evening to work on singing with the nursing students and had great plans. The American students came too and we waited almost an hour, but no one came. We think the message didn't get through and that's my fault because while I made a small announcement, I didn't find the person in charge of their schedule. No matter, we went back to the guest house for dinner and had some fun conversations.

me in the middle w/ Issac and Grace, fellow missionaries

Saturday, I attended morning chapel and had breakfast. I visited various departments until lunchtime and then went back to my room to rest instead of eating. That Doxy is a MEAN and TERRIBLE medicine. In the afternoon, I contacted the school and then did some work for projects at home. Early evening brought a super fun time with the first-year (and four of the second-year) nursing students! We warmed up, something they've never done before! It made them think I am totally crazy, but I could tell from their giggles that some were enjoying being silly with their voices :-) Next, I talked to them about the differences between head voice and chest voice and when to use them. After I demonstrated it a few times, they did it with me. It will be a constant reminder during the next couple of weeks. I introduced two songs that the second-year students learned last year and they did them with pretty good success. Then, I talked to them a little about the functions of music in worship. We sang one of the songs I taught them and since we had reached the end of the hour, called it a night. 

My lovely nursing students!

Today, Sunday, my roommate Kahala and I went to the Mungeli church which is a Disciples of Christ congregation and attended their morning service.

Mungeli Christian Church

It was quite lively and about two and a half hours. I really enjoyed hearing so much of the Hindi language and getting to meet some of the townspeople, but I didn't understand a single word of the sermon and it was difficult to maintain concentration. There was a praise band and while it's not necessarily my preferred style of music, it was very moving to hear everyone singing together and wonderful to see people smiling. Afterwards, we walked the rest of the way into town and did some errands and looked around.

We ended up at a new store to buy laundry detergent and several people wanted to take a picture of me and with me and wanted to hand their babies to me for pictures. I did do some group photos, but handling babies was so not going to happen. I remember this happened at the Taj Mahal last year. I suppose I do look extremely different, being so pale and with a mess of red hair! it was a bit much today though so we left and came back to the hospital. This evening, we attended the hospital chapel and then went for dinner in the guest house. Tonight after dinner, all of the missionaries got together and went through our visit prayerfully and sang a few hymns. That was super nice. This particular group of missionaries is bonding very well.
Monday holds my first visit back at the Rambo Memorial School to see some social studies presentations, meet with some teachers, and to get started teaching some music classes. I think that I may be heading to Bilaspur on Tuesday afternoon  after school to see some temples and then eat at a roadside restaurant on the way back!