עֶרֶב טוֹב (Shining, Bright Day/Good Afternoon)

Hello from the Jerusalem Center! Currently looking out the window at the best view of East Jerusalem. It is such a beautiful city and it has been snowing all day making the view exceptionally gorgeous. I'm doing a time lapse of the snow storm during the sunset right now, so I will post on this blog later. :)

As for sequrity updates, I honestly feel very safe. The center has the best security team that talked to us for about 5 hours total (over 2 days of orientation) on differnent protocols of every scenerio. We have cell phones that have trackers and speed dial straight to the security department at the center. We aren't allowed to be in East Jerusalem when it is dark and have to always travel in groups of more than 3. If we are in West Jerusalem past dark, we have to have at least one guy with us. (West Jerualem is the Jewish part and pretty safe becuase third holiest site is there). We have id's that we scan when we leave the center and the whole center has three different security gates surrounded by cameras.

I've learned SO much the past 48 hours that I don't even know where to start. I haven't slept more than about 5 hours total. I'm still getting used to the Islam calls to prayer that are broadcast over the whole city five times a day (two that happen during the night). I think i'm almost adjusted to the new time change here, so I should be able to sleep really well tonight. Everyday around 3 pm here (middle of the night in Provo) I get so tired, but by 8 pm here, I am wide awake. Hoping I will be able to be adjusted by tonight. :) We've already started our classes and I can tell by the work load that the courses are pretty intense.

I have Professor Strathern for Old Testament and we are talking about Abraham and his family ancestry. She shares enlightening messages about the bible and I've really enjoyed stuyding my assignments so far. On the first day of class we were assigned to read Genesis chapter 1-20 and Abraham 1-3 so work load is definately a lot. She's the first religion teacher I've ever had that will test us on work from the JST and bible dictionary having to do with our assignments. The grading scale for the NES program is 96-100 A, 94-95 B+, 90-93 B so definatley harder schedule!

I have Doctor Chadwick for Ancient Near Eastern Studies and he has already assigned us a huge research paper to complete by our midterm (February). For the midterm, we have around 60 sights we are expected to visit on our own around East and West Jerusalem. He is such an interesting teacher and the only person who can teach class by analyzing maps and make it interesting. I really enjoy the class.

We played volleyball last night and it made me so thankful that I played a year in high school. We're all really close and I love talking to everyone about their missions. Everyone of the students here is so talented and studious. I love that we are very social for about two hours a day and then everyone studies because they understand how strenuous the work load is. Today we played sardines on all 8 floors of the center. It was so fun :)

Our first field trip is tomorrow (Sabath) after church. We have reservations at the garden tomb and I am so excited for it. Dr. Strathern told us we should prepare ourselves for such a remarkable experience, so I am going to read the account in John 20.

A couple things that are different here:

-All light switches are the same design here-much wider and kind of harder to turn on

-I didn't know authentic olives could taste SO different from black canned olives. I love the real ones and they are served with every meal here (even breakfast!)

-The toilets are really different..

-Everyone we have encountered treats us like royalty. Every meal we are brought out specialy food by the head chef and everyone thinks highly of us. They call us the "Mormon University"

I am so grateful for this oppurtuinity to be here in the Holy Land. Dr. Strathern asked us on the first day of class to 1) ponder the reasons we chose to come and 2) to think about ways we can give back in church callings when we return home. I'm still trying to figure out a couple of my goals; However, the main reason is I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that it has blessed my life so much. As President Holland said, " You don't have to walk in the holy land to have a spiritual experience, but it must count for something". I came here with a testimony of my Savior and I'm excited to learn more of His life and ministry in this beautiful country. To me, my goal is to learn more about the doctrine of this church and to be able to testify that the bible has changed my life.

אוהב אותך, (love)

Alyson