The Garden Tomb

We went to the Garden Tomb today as a group. It was my first time visiting, but it certainly won’t be my last. A British Non-denominational group owns the site, which is why the area has been preserved rather than churches dotting the grounds. They have turned it into an oasis of peace and beauty in the midst of a hustling, noisy, contentious city. The gardens here are absolutely beautiful! A rare find in a city made of stones and dirt in the middle of the desert. Even still, it was not quite what I was expecting. As with everything over here, there were tourists EVERYWHERE. And in all honesty, I didn’t feel much during our tour by the nice British man, waiting in line for and going inside the tomb, or even as I walked around the gardens. But then our group all came back together and in the middle of the Garden, we started singing hymns, 100 strong. That was powerful… singing “He Has Risen” and “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” and a few others while looking at a tomb where Christ may have risen from, but at least represents at the very least that He HAS in fact risen. I was overwhelmed with emotions of the best kind, but especially with gratitude for the knowledge I have of my Savior and of my relationship with Him. His Resurrection was absolutely necessary for my family to be able to live together forever with Him and our Heavenly Father. And the fact that I KNOW that He does live gives me so much peace and comfort everyday when I think of my dad and how much I miss him. It was especially neat as we were singing because many of the other visitors and tourists came over and stood around to listen to us. Several of them were recording us... my first and definitely not my last exposure to that. haha During our free time I was walking around the garden and I went and listened to this group of Fijians singing praises to God. They sounded fantastic! And I also took a video for Tanner's benefit, because he has a small obsession with Fiji and the people there. :) I thought I would post the video just for fun.