Western Wall

Tonight we went to the Western Wall at sundown, when the Jews were there praying and welcoming in the Sabbath. It was amazing. There were so many people there! The men and women were separated into different parts of the wall, and they were all wearing nice clothes. The men and the married women cover their heads, but we didn't have to. 

We actually got to go touch the wall! It is the same wall that was there 2000 years ago, I think--part of the temple built by Herod. I had to wait in the crowd for about 15-20 minutes before I got to the front. Then I touched the wall and kissed my fingers (that's what I saw everyone else doing). I also had a prayer written on a small piece of paper, and I folded it up small and put it in one of the cracks in the wall. They believe that when you do that, the prayer has extra weight. The Muslims actually say that one prayer in Jerusalem counts for 500 prayers somewhere else in the world.  (And a prayer in Medina counts for 1000, and a prayer in Mecca counts for 2000.)

Afterward, I went to the back of the crowd, and there were a group of girls there, about our age, singing and dancing. They pulled about 4 BYU girls into the circle and danced with us. It was so cool! Usually the women don't dance, but I guess this was okay because it was all younger women. We got to talk to a couple of the girls, and it was very interesting.