Friday, February 27, 2009

Why I'm blogging....

I applied to the BYU Jerusalem Center at the beginning of December and found out about a month and a half ago that I have been accepted! I will leave for Jerusalem on April 28th (in just 2 months!!!), and live there for about 4 months. (I'll get back August 13th.) This blog will help me keep y'all updated on what's going on while I'm walking through the Holy Land, checking out the pyramids and hiking Mt. Sinai. Plus it'll be a good place for me to post photos for anyone that is interested.
I probably won't be blogging a whole lot until I'm out there but I'll keep you updated on my prep plans and all that good stuff. Today at work I actually printed the schedule for the Jerusalem Center and so I'm going to use this post to kind of give you an idea of what I'm going to be doing while I'm there and convince everyone that they should go too :)
We get to the center April 29th and tour the city and the center and go to classes until the 17th. From May 17-23rd I'll be in Egypt and then on the 24th we do our hike of Mt. Sinai, then it's more regular class time. From June 22nd to the 25th we're in Jordan and then on the 26th we have a day trip in Tel Aviv. On July 7th we go to Bethlehem and from the 13th to the 23rd we will be in Galilee. There are several day trips spread out throughout our stay. We take two religion courses, first the Old Testament and as we're studying we will visit all of the sights in the area that have to do with what we are learning (how awesome is that!!!). Then for the second half we are studying the New Testament and walk in the places Jesus walked and learn in the places that he taught the people. The last week we're there focuses on the last week of the life of Christ. I cannot believe I will have the opportunity to be in these places that have come to mean so much to me as I've studied the scriptures.
I'll also be taking an Arabic class as well as Jewish and Islamic civiliation courses and an Ancient Near Eastern Studies class. (you can go here for more info about the center: http://ce.byu.edu/jc/)
Anyways, right now I'm just working on getting the little things done and paying off the price of the trip. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them. Thanks for your support, I love you all and I can't wait to be in Jerusalem!
(P.S. don't worry, it's safe)

Paisley