Ann Madsen – Insight into Jerusalem

Kelsey Wilding:  You’ve been to Jerusalem, right?

Ann Madsen: I’ve lived in Jerusalem for five years.

Kelsey Wilding: Five years?

Ann Madsen: Yes, I taught there.

Kelsey Wilding: Are you serious?

Ann Madsen: Yes.

Kelsey Wilding: So, you were there for a full five years and you just taught?

Ann Madsen:  While I was there, I was there…I was in Haifa for six months and then four and a half years I was in Jerusalem and I came home a little bit in the middle, but I was there most of the five years. I lived in Jerusalem, and I taught at the Jerusalem center and I took classes at Hebrew University. That was so fun.

Kelsey Wilding: What was your experience like there?

Ann Madsen: Oh, it glorious. I used to think that it didn’t matter if you were in a spot that it was the feeling you had and that God would tell you that things were true, but there’s something to be said for standing at Caesarea Philippi, for Jesus said to his disciples whom de men say that I am, and you’re standing there at this place and, over in a shady part, and there’s water flowing out of a big red rock, and then he says, Peter, you’re a rock, and there’s the rock, you know? I mean it’s…so they’re in Gethsemane and Jerusalem itself, you know, the garden tomb, the places that…There are several places that they believe Jesus was buried and resurrected from. And I think there’s a lot to be said for walking where Jesus walked. I met a girl last night at the concert and she said, Sister Madsen, Sister Madsen, I was in Jerusalem with you, but I bet you don’t remember me. And I said, don’t we all remember each other that were in Jerusalem, because we had a unique experience there, walking where Jesus walked and up around the Galilee. That’s a glorious place. I love it up there and I love to swim in the Galilee.

Kelsey Wilding: I think that would be neat.

Ann Madsen:  Oh, it’s just wonderful. I’m a swimmer and I like swimming, so…