The Diary of Evelyn Forrest’s Trip to Palestine
Monday April 21, 1930
Beer-Sheba
6:00 a.m. Up and almost ready for breakfast, started home twenty minutes past seven. Aside from the cold it was a wonderful drive home through the fields of waving, golden wheat and barley. The hired hands are busy reaping in the ancient way with the sickles and transporting the golden sheaves to the threshing floor on the backs of camels.
Could not take a picture for we had used our last film. At Hebron we visited Abraham’s grave in the Cave of Macphela. A Mohammed Mosque is build over the cave and our guide told us a weird story of the fate of the last two men who entered the cave itself. We also visited a pottery before leaving Hebron, it was wonderful to see them fashion the vessel out of clay.
Reached Jerusalem a little late for lunch. Our shopping tour in Jerusalem was very interesting, also the visit to the Moravian Leper Hospital. When we had made our purchase of curios Richard returned to the Mission and I went with Miss Butterfield and Miss Shimp in the Jaffa Gate of the Holy City and through the city to the Wailing Wall where we saw both men and women weeping and praying with their faces against the great stones which were once a part of the ancient temple.
Through a gate on the opposite side we passed and up several flights of steps we soon reached an open place where we had a good view of the temple area, from there we climbed to the top of the city wall to view the sunset and the valley below, we saw Job’s fountain, the “field of blood†purchased with Judah’s thirty pieces of silver, and some of the ruins of the “old†city of David.
When we descended from the wall we went out through the Dung Gate and walked around two thirds of the old wall, went in and out Zion’s Gate and down Zion’s hill to the Jaffa Gate where we took a carriage for the Mission and were late for dinner. Dad preached to the Arabic Church on Phil. 4:6-7; had a good service, and all seemed to receive a blessing.