Ringing the Bells

Every Sunday, we have free time all day (since our Sabbath is on Saturdays here) and so usually everyone finds a group and goes to the Old City and explores the rest of Jerusalem. This morning I went to Dome of the Rock. Unfortunately we couldn’t go in but it was amazing to be on the grounds of the synagogue that was built in 538 B.C. Up close, it looks brand new. The intricate designs are still bright and vibrant. Up close, I saw more detail then I ever thought there was. It really is a spectacular building.

The most fun part of my day though was playing the bells in the YMCA bell tower. So each semester, BYU students get a chance to sign up to play the bells and many people don’t know how much fun it is. So to play the bells, there’s this keyboard that has many notes you can press down hard and it will ring the bells up the stairs. First of all, there are 206 stairs you climb up to get to the top of the tower and then there’s a great overlook of Jerusalem. It is beautiful. On one of the levels though is a room that has a keyboard where you press the keys to play the bells. We got to pick hymns and primary songs and we had one person on treble clef and one person on bass clef. It was so much fun and such a good experience. We were able to play 2 songs each for like an hour and a half. Yep. 6,000 people heard me play the bells. I think it’s pretty awesome. I’ve always been moderately confident in my piano skills but I doubted myself at first since you would play the song on a practice bell keyboard only once before you would then play that song on the real bell keyboard, and it would be bad if you messed up. So it was a little intimidating, but it turned out really well. It was incredible to climb up the stairs to the overlook of Jerusalem while the bells were ringing in the tower hymns of praise. And it finally hit me today. I’m living in Jerusalem! I have always dreamed of going on this study abroad my whole life and it’s finally happening. Anyways, listening to LDS hymns and primary songs while viewing all of Jerusalem was an unbelievable experience. This was definitely an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Dome of the Rock

YMCA Bell Tower

Playing the bell keyboard