Snow in the Holy City!

So, it's not so common for there to be snow here in Jerusalem, but a week ago we got two days in a row. It was wet slushy snow, as the ground was nowhere near frozen, but it was beautiful in it's way, and much needed water in a dry land. We had a couple tours canceled as a result, so we also had those days almost off! Snow day in the Holy Land... who would have guessed. After an early morning walk around the city in the slush, I resigned myself to wet feet, and tromped around with abandon! It was nice to see the holy sites with a white crust. Check out the new album on Picasa (link to the left) to see some pictures. There are also a lot more pictures from Petra in Jordan in another album.

While Chris (a brother seminarian from New Hampshire) and I were making a snowman outside the Old City near Damascus Gate, a Polish woman named Danuta walked by. I'd met her the day before at adoration at the Fourth Station in the Armenian Catholic Church. I imagine there's quite a bit of a story behind the three Polish women there who run Adoration here in the Holy Land... how did they come here, what is their precise mission? She was very welcoming at the Adoration, and encouraging to me as a seminarian. Then I ran into her again while making the snow man... you realize this is a small community, particularly the Catholic community. If you were to live here for any significant time, I suspect you'd be networked in pretty quickly!

I hear there's lots of snow in the UP! I hope I get to cross-country ski a little bit when I get home! That's the end of this little ramble!

God Bless,

Ben