Rather than "next year in Jerusalem", it is "this year in Jerusalem" and on inauguration day. Since the day is so important for us, I thought everyone in the world knew who Obama is. Today I realized that was not the case. There were correspondents wandering through the bazaars in the Old City of Jerusalem today asking individuals what they thought about Obama. They asked one seller and he responded: "Who's Obama?" It was a reminder that local matters - whether you manage to get people to buy your goods - is often more important than who is being elected in some far away country.
Today we left Bethlehem and came to Jerusalem. I felt like I was being fed with a fire hose. There was so much to absorb. We started on the Mount of Olives and walked down through the Garden of Gethsemene. One of the wonderful things that happened today on our walk is that we met a Russian Orthodox nun outside the church of Mary Magdalene who was from the California. She offered to show us the church. Trisha, in all her years visiting Jerusalem, had never seen the church so we were all excited to visit this unexpected treasure.
We saw a lot of expected and unexpected treasures today. I'm having trouble absorbing everything.
Our evening ended watching the inauguration. We lined up chairs in the lobby of the hotel we're staying in, turned up the volume, and watched the inauguration while a group of Romanian Orthodox pilgrims watched us watching the inauguration - and at the end - told us congratulations. In this country of turmoil, it was a blessing to see a peaceful transition of power, albeit from a distance, one that didn't involve violence or a military coup.
Let us pray that the hopes and dreams that President Obama announced in his speech get spread throughout our nation and the world.
Diana Moore
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