~The worth of souls is great in the sight of God~

Sunday September 22nd, 2013

Today I was so lucky to be able to work/observe as a student nurse at Makassed! This is one of the largest hospitals in this area and is actually run through a charity. Many transfers are made from Gaza and surrounding areas and many of the nurses travel up to 8+ hours to work here for 15+ years. It has been such an eye opening experience to be able to interact and see the culture as we serve those who need us most. Today I was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which was awesome! Although I couldn't really do anything because the babies were so tiny, and because I am a foreign student nurse, it was great! The babies were so tiny and precious! Just so you can picture this children there were some who ranged from 700 grams to maybe 1500 grams and most had been in there for at least a week. I have noticed at this hospital there are many birth defects that are caused from marrying family, which happens alot in the Gaza due to border control. It is so sad to see these families so far from home with such sick children. It was also difficult to see the tiny babies with every tube posible and still struggling.

 

One experience that I had today, will forever change the way I view nursing and life in general. As I said earlier I was with some pretty critical babies and everything isn't all hunky dory all the time in these units. At one point I was watching my nurse give "my baby patient" suction when all of a sudden another nurse came to grab me and told me there was an emergency in a neighboring bassenette. I go over there to see a limb baby who was pale and showed no zest for life. Nurses began to do compressions and bag this poor little baby, clinging on every hope for survival they could. I honestly thought I would break down at this point, but it was so amazing to see the healthcare team working together with the same goal just praying for this little man's life. The respirations, oxygen, and heart rate just wouldn't go up. They called X-ray to see what was going on but that would take too long. FInally they intubated this poor little man, hooking him up to a ventilator in hopes they weren't too late. It was amazing to see the color return to his body, his chest start to raise with the machine, and everyone begin to breathe again. The baby was fine throughout the rest of the shift. He was still on the ventilator which meant more tubes and machines near by, but he was alive. This experience was really an amazing chance to realize the vulnerability of life. It can really be gone at a moments notice, but it can also be given with just the simplest acts. Cherish the life you were given and make the most out of every breath you take!

Negev Field Trip

Monday September 16th, 2013

I am so sorry this is way over due but better late than never! I thought I better describe what the Negev is and what our field trip consisted of. The Negev is a desert area south of Israel. The term comes from Hebrews word for "dry" but is used in the Old Testament to denote the direction south. Cool Fact: the Ark of the Covenant was made of wood from the acacia tree ("shittim" in Exodus 25:10) which is grown in this arid region. If you see any trees in the background most likely they are these same kind of trees. Here are some pictures with a short description to follow!

The Negev Desert-Bedwin community

 





Our first stop was at a Bedwin town where we stopped at the Lakiya Negev Weaving store and organization. This is an all women organization who raise money for the Bedwin community by making there own wool/yarn and creating rugs, pillow, key chains, belts, and everything you can imagine! They do it all out of a little building with a canopy in the back (pictured below). They were so welcoming to invite us into their shop and canopy, give us a drink, and share information about their organization. Their mission is to raise money for the Bedwin town as well as educate and provide job opportunities to those who are able. I had never thought how hard it would be to sheer the sheep, clean the "fur", comb it out, dye it, and then try to make something! These women are amazing! It reminded me of my mom's mad skills :)

 

 

This is my attempt to gather the wool into something useful. (which is very hard!!)

 

 

TEL ARAD!!

THis ancient cit ylies in the eastern Negev and consists of ruins of a Canaanite city from the Early Bronze Age and also an Israelite fortress. Arad is mentioned in the BIble as one of the cities whose inhabitants prevented the Israelites from entering into the Promised Land. Some of the scriptures we read and that Arad is mentioned in include: Numbers 21:1, Joshua 12:14, Numbers 12: 25-32, and Numbers 14:20-25. We also talked about sometimes its hard to see things that are right in front of you because you don't believe. In Alma 5 it talks about how we must see with the eye of belief in order to think and do. Just to kinda describe the City and what we saw (since I don't have very many pictures at this time, my camera died and I've haven't received the pictures from my friend).

The early Canaanite city was divided into quaters which housed a palace, temples, markets, and residential living quarters. There are no natural springs in the area, therefore the they were forced to capture surface rainwater, which flowed down the streets and drained into a pool located in the middle of the city.

*The most important find inside the upper fortress was a small temple complex from the Israelite period that patterned after the temple in Jerusalem. The temple consisted of an outer courtyard with a sacrificial alter, a second courtyard, and the HOly of HOlies. There were rooms located near the courtyard of the temple which may have housed ritual vessels used by the priests. The alter was built of unhewn stone and featured a runoff channel for the blood of the animal sacrifices. The temple was probably in use until either the time of Hezekiah or Josiah.

 

Notice in this picture you have to take an immediate right to get into the city/temple wall. This is a strategy for protection because those who are attempting to attach can't charge directly but have to turn and slow down. Also it is harder for RIght handed men to attack because of this feature. (Fun Fact: Benjamin warriors were left handed and were probably trained this way for fighting/attacking)

 

Beersheba (Beersheva)

Tel Beersheva is located between the wadis Hebron and Beersheba. (A wadi is a dry riverbed, a tel is a hill). It is a few miles east of the modern city of Beersheba. Beersheba in Hebrew means well of seven, or because sheva also means oath, it could mean well of the oath (Gen 21:27-32). This is where Abraham may have lived and made covenants with the Lord. The excavated town at Tel Beersheva is dated by most archaeologists to 900-700 BC. It includes a casemate wall, a four-chambered gate, and a large underground water system.During the Divided Monarchy, Judeans built a four-horned altar at Beershva. Unlike alters most laters this was made of hewned stones (smooth). Archaeologist were able to partially reconstruct it from stones found on site. You will notice some of the walls of the city are half one color and half another, or you may be able to notice a thicker line of mortar between a row of stones, this shows the line where the site has been rebuilt.

 

 

 

Me in the underground water system (don't worry it is empty now but it does have bridges just incase!)

 

Lauren Law and I in front of the four-horned alter.

 

 

Jerusalem Overlook

Mondays are field trip days, and although it is Wednesday already, I have pictures for you to enjoy. This probably isn't the most exciting field trip we will go on but it was neat to see our surroundings. This tour once again was to get us more familiar with our surroundings and the major landmarks used in the scriptures and location wise in the Holy Land. Our first stop was at the Seven Arches Hotel which gives a beautiful overlook of the land right below the Mount of Olives. As you can hopefully see with my pictures there is a Jewish cemetery right below, than the wall around the Old City which I hope you can see the Golden Gate. This gate is sealed and is Jewish tradition that Christ will come through this gate at the second coming. North of the cemetery you can barely see the Garden of Gethsemane which is beautiful with the many olive trees I have grown to love around here! The Valley right before the wall of the Old City that is immediately west of the Mt. of Olives is called the Kidron Valley. You may also notice the golden dome which is the Muslim Dome of the Rock that was pictured in earlier posts.

We then went to the Augusta Victoria Complex which includes the Lutheran Church of the Ascension with an overlooking tower, a hospital, and originally a pilgrim's hospice. This complex was built in 1910 under Germany's Emperor Wilhelm II and was named after his wife Augusta Victoria. This church has many symbols, murals, and intricate design that all have certain meaning. for example I learned that Lutheran Chapels have 4 mail focal points: an alter as a symbol of Christ, a pulpit to teach the word, water which symbolizes baptism, and Nave which means ship and is said to symbolize "sailing life together". Although this chapel may not be of my faith it was great to sing the appropriate hymns and feel of the Spirit a song can bring. We sang Hymn numbers 100 (Nearer, my God to Thee) and 124 (Be Still my Soul). I loved the sound our group made as we sung and could feel the Spirit so strong. I have attached a video to hopefully show the front part of the chapel and to hear of one of the verses of a song we sang. Hope it works!

Also here are some pictures of the chapel, in case the video doesn't work!

Another place we went was Jabal Mar Elyas of Herodian which was a hill in which we could look over the town of Bethlehem, where we will be going to closer to Christmas. The nambe Jabal Mar Elyas is arabic meaning "Mount of Saint Elijah". I was really surprised to see the city of Bethlehem because it isn't like the song "oh little town of Bethlehem" it is actually quite large and located in the West Bank. Also another interesting fact is to the left of where this picture was taken is the birthplace of Ruth! In this picture from left to right is Me, Lindsey Hawkins, and Lauren Law! 

There was also a very cool Greek Orthodox Monessary at the bottom of the hill where we started our hike. Right behind where I took this picture there was a man who was herding sheep, it really made me feel like I was back in biblical times!

Our last stop took place at Nabi Samwil which translated from arabic means prophet Samuel. This is essentially a cenotaph (almost burial, but the body is actually in Rama) for Samuel the Prophet. It was interesting to know that before the war of '67 this site was predominately a place of worship for the Muslim community and some Jews. Since the war, the Jewish cenotaph was placed in the synagogue for Jews to worship in the actually building (which we got to go into as long as we covered our heads) and Muslims have a masque to perform their ceremonies around the side of the building (we didn't go over there). It was also interesting to know that because of its location, this hill was a major military advantage for planning an attack. This hill provided a water source and also a strategic height over the enemy.  It was interesting to see all the remains of buildings along the sides of this great synagogue. In our reading we learned that archaeologists have actually identified 4 main occupation layers with this one site. First was the Judean water system which stretched from 900-600 B.C., then the Hasmonean structure from 200-100 B.C., the Byzantine monastery and winepress from 400-700 AD, and lastly the Crusader church and cisterns dating back to 1200 AD. These were so interesting and really made me wonder what this hill would have looked like years and years ago! Plus I knew my dad would like these pictures ;)

Not feeling like a Sunday

Sunday September 8th, 2013

  Today wasn't a very eventful day but it was long, jam packed, and it felt nothing like a Sunday usually does, although yesterday's Sabbath isn't usual for a Saturday either. Anyways as nursing students, there are only 8 of us out of the whole program (it is kind of a separate special thing for BYU-Idaho) we were required to do Nursing orientation today for clinical. So while the rest of the student body were out exploring Jerusalem we were learning our role in the hospitals here. It is hard to realize sometimes that being able to go to the hospitals is such a great opportunity and we are so lucky to have this chance to expand our learning and see a new perspective, when both options are appealing. Anyways after reading through our usual paperwork we were able to walk to the hospitals we will be attending throughout the semester. I already mentioned Red Crescent which was featured in earlier posts, but we also have 3 other facilities. Augusta Victoria is a huge Oncology and Pediatric Dialysis Center (among other things I believe) that is located right after our drive way bends. It is also in many of my landscape pictures as one of the three towers which help us guide our way back to the center when in the City. (I hope to one day label a landscape picture to point out how each place fits into the city but I haven't figured out how yet!) We also go to Princess Basma's Center for Disabled Children which is a local facility that helps the disabled, hosts classes, and also teaches parents how to care for their loved ones who have disabilities. Our teacher also explained that some mothers from Gaza come with their children to stay in the center for a few weeks and learn how to best take care of their children. I felt like this was such a neat experience and will be so great to have multiple opportunities in the healthcare field! The last hospital we go to is the most America sounding of them all, Makassed Hospital. This is a huge hospital that has many different units similar to the Medical/Surgical, Labor/Delivery, Cardiac, and others like the United States. I am so excited to interact with the residents of Jerusalem and to better understand how the medical field applies to all people of any culture or age.
    I also had an opportunity to go into the City with a group of Nursing students and some others who were kind enough to wait for us to get through with class to see the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. These sights are remain in Muslim control and are very hard to get into as a tourists, so instead we just enjoyed the sights! The Dome of the Rock was build in AD 691 and was called this because it is believed to be where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his Son. Historians believe it is located on the Holy of Holies which is one reason why the Jews will not walk into the but instead only visit the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) in fear that they will step on such holy places. It is also believed by some Muslims to be the place where Mahammad ascended into heaven.
Enjoy some pictures yourself and look forward to descriptions of tomorrows field trip!

Dome of the Rock

al-Aqsa Mosque

Fast Sabbath

Saturday September 7th, 2013

   Today is the Sabbath day in Jerusalem and we are lucky to be attending our first fast Sabbath! We are also fortunate to have our church meetings hosted at our home away from home (BYU Jerusalem Center). I had no idea what to expect as far as attendance since it is the only sacrament meeting in this area. We also have an agreement with the Holy Land's government stating we will not proselyte, no LDS members not just us students, or we will lose the Jerusalem Center, so we can't do missionary work or bear our testimony with locals. We are however known throughout the city as the "Mormons" and the BYU Jerusalem Center is actually referred to as "Mormon University" on street signs as well as with locals. Anyways as we walked into Sacrament meeting the view was breath taking! Our chapel isn't like any other place around, as its open windows display all of the Old City of Jerusalem right behind the pulpit throughout the whole meeting. It was also great to think that if Christ were to come today and attend a Sacrament meeting it would have to be in our Branch, in our building, in our home. What a great feeling and honor it felt to sit and look over the place where Christ had roamed teaching, healing, and blessing those in the City. The congregation was made up of many students (there are 80 of us), faculty, tourists, and a few local members. One thing I thought really stood out to me was this gentlemen who bore his testimony of finding the truth of the gospel, even though he was Jewish. I don't know this young man's story but it was exciting to see the gospel reaching those who are being sheltered. I was also neat to see a couple that were visiting Jerusalem who were once students just like me, they both had gone together and a couple kids later were here to relive this great experience. How fun would it be to bring my family here!
   After dinner a group of us decided to travel into the City, hoping to make it to the Garden Tomb. Unfortunately it closed at 5 so instead we tried to find our way to the Pools of Bethesda. On our way there after entering Harod's Gate, which was once closed to students because of the residential area of the Old City it opens up into, we met others who weren't very welcoming. All of a sudden a couple teenage boys started to yell at us and throw rocks at us as we were walking down the stone path. It was crazy to see them targeting us for no reason, yelling in a language we didn't even know and couldn't understand. Luckily there were 2 older men walking a ways behind us that ordered the boys to stop and then met up with us to make sure the young man that was hit was okay. As you can guess we didn't make it to the Pools of Bethesda but we did make it back safely. With reflection on this scary event I became thankful for the experience it gave me and the insight on how Christ must have felt. He was stoned, yelled at, hated by many yet he suffered, bled, and died for us because of His love. Although it may have gotten my heart pumping, my feelings confused, and made me a little panicky in the city it also made me understand the atonement so much better.

* I have attached some pictures of the beautiful center we live in, sorry I couldn't get the view from the chapel but we were asked not to on the Sabbath.

Sorry for the delay...But busy times at BYU Jerusalem call for a hold on blog posts so I'll try to fill you in! ;)

Friday September 6th, 2013
    Today was the first day we started actual classes at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Although we are in a foreign country as tourists we are often reminded how we are still in college and not just here on vacation. With that being said we are taking 18 credits total which include Pediatric/Labor and Delivery Nursing, Old Testament, New Testament, a Field Trip Course, Intro to Arabic, Jewish Civilization, and Islamic/Arabic Civilization. Luckily we are starting slow and are only being introduced to the Old Testament with Brother Belnap and Nursing with Sister Garbett. In our Old Testament class we strive to read about and learn more on the history involving the places we will come to visit while in Jerusalem. In Nursing we are doing course work for Pediatrics (our Labor/Delivery was done in a crash course in America) and then completing clinical hours. We will be working in 4 local hospitals for clinicals and will be observing and assisting in anyway allowed. The first hospital that we saw was called the Red Crescent Hospital with a focus in maternity. This hospital has 40 beds yet delivers 300 babies each month. This picture is of the Red Crescent Hospital and as you can see it is kind of sketchy, made me thankful I won't be having babies in Jerusalem.

   After class was done I had a unique opportunity to sneak out of the Center early (don't worry I didn't really sneak, we have really good security). Lauren Law (a fellow Nursing Student) invited me to a night in the Old City with her Uncle who was in town for business and also with Lindsey Hawkins. Because of conflicts in the Muslim areas of the Old City our site seeing was restricted but we were able to go to a very special place. We ended up going to St. Helen's Cistern which was right in the center of the city, down an alley by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After winding down some really narrow and scary steps into a dark cavern we reached the end where there was water, a random raft that someone had thrown in thinking they were funny, and another family who were humming a beautiful tune. At first we didn't know where the sound was coming from but we could here a ringing off the cistern walls that added to the beauty of the dark cave. Lauren's uncle then told us that in St. Helen's time there wasn't clean water in Jerusalem so instead they carved this cistern out of the rock (crazy!!!) and put a whole in the top so they could catch the fresh rain and use it throughout the winter. After the family left we then (Lindsey, Lauren, and I) sang I Am a Child of God. Although we may not be famous singers, the sound ringing from the cistern walls was so beautiful and the Spirit was so strong it sent chills up and down my arms. It was truly a testimony builder for me that it doesn't matter how beautiful your surroundings are as long as you are worthy to have the Spirit with you. It also was great to be able to sing of our divine identity in a land so full of different religions. 

  We then were able to try a traditional Holy Land dish called Lamb Shawarma, which was a pita filled with lamb meat, a coleslaw lettuce stuff, and hummus and cost 25 shekels. It was really good but I could have gone with just the meat. We also found out not to say we would just drink water because instead of it being free, like America, we instead bought a bottle of water for about 10 shekels. By the way 3.4-3.7 shekels is equal to 1 U.S. dollar, depending on the day and the Money Ex-changers. We than wound our way through Jaffa gate toward West Jerusalem that I told you about during our initial tour, except this time I was able to take a few photos of our group, some fun globes outside the city which were for a Global Warming Awareness campaign that I thought were creative (picturing Lindsey), and those fun pillow seats in the park all pictured below!

Initial tour of Jerusalem (AKA 4 mile run through)

Today we took a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and wandered into the newer side which is West Jerusalem, and ended up walking over 4 miles in the hot sun. I wore my hat which was fun, it is a wide brimmed floppy hat which I love! (It will be previewed in the pictures to come!) But it was crazy to see all the white stone buildings and the cobblestone streets. During this quick tour we were broken up into groups of 8 with an adult couple from the Center leading the way. It was neat to see security men from the center walking ahead of us and between each group, talking on there walkie-talkies to keep us safe. It is so neat to see all the religions coming together here at the center, many are jews, muslim, and palestinians, but all work together in this special place. In the more eastern side of Jerusalem the streets were narrow and had garbage around each corner, with stray cats roaming around. There were vendors along the side walks handing out business cards to the students, the local shops know exactly when we are coming so they can prepare for the shopping. Unfortunately, and I know it was inspired or I'd be out of money, we were asked to not bring money today and to refrain from taking pictures or we would end up broke and in the city for days with so much to do.
We then walked to the Old City of Jerusalem and went through Damascus gate. I was somewhat nervous of going through because we were warned of the cunning ways of stealing that happens when we wear backpacks and also of the possibility of groping from others. It was so crowded through the Old City and it seemed like you were in a never ending tunnel because the vendors had stuff to sell on the ceilings and all around. At the center of the City we ran into a Greek Orthodox Celebration with many men and women in the traditional Muslim wear carring pictures of Mary back from the Garden Tomb (or so I understand). It was explained to us that the Orthodox Muslims will take all their pictures from Mary's home (or what they believe) to the Garden tomb on the 24th of August and bring them back on the 5th of September. There was alot of people singing and burning inscense. They also went to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre to kiss the stone where they believe Christ was laid after being crusified. It was amazing to see the devotion these people have to their religion and beliefs. Another quick side note, did you know they say prayers 5 times a day here? One prayer is said at like 4 in the morning! And it sounds like a song played over an intercom to the whole city. Sometimes the prayer is a recording and other times there is actualy someone saying it, how awesome is that!
After a quick runthrough of the Old City we came out of the Jaffa gate that led out of the Old City into West Jerusalem (opposite of where we stay) which is the higher end of Jerusalem. It was fun to see the wide streets and the clean space. There were parks for children and places to sit and enjoy the area. A fun thing to picture, until I actually have pictures, but in the park areas there are some regular park benches but there is also these places to sit that look like really comfy pillows and seat cushions stacked throughout the park. These cushions look so colorful and fluffy and after 4 miles you really just want to plop down and enjoy the shade, but don't go so fast! These cushions are actualy concrete and just resemble pillows, oh the jokes and videos we could make! Don't worry you've been warned for when you travel to the Holy Land ;) There was also an outlet shopping section that was referred to as the "Hollywood of Jerusalem" which is the really expensive clothing shops. Although all the shops in West Jerusalem were closed due to the Hebrew New Year holiday in which many Jews are celebrating today and over the past few days. Once again the workers at the Jerusalem center are so dedicated that they spend time here keeping us safe and running instead of with family which is really generous.
We were so lucky at this point for the buses to come pick us up for lunch so we didn't have to walk the 4 miles back to the Center, but that bus ride wasn't the easiest. Although it was a comfy bus with travel seats and a tv, which they played Jerusalem music videos which were pretty entertaining, it was a hold on to the handles kind of ride. The streets are so narrow and parking is everywhere possible, with no lines to guide drivers. Also the normal thing in Jerusalem is to honk whenever you are passing someone or want to go around, or even when you just want to stop in the middle of the road for random reasons. So this bus driver was honking away, driving way faster than I would have dared, and it really was an exciting ride! Also another thing I thought was interesting is that the traffic lights are still green, yellow, and red but the yellow doesn't mean speed up to get through. In fact one of the old professors (or so I was told) ran a yellow light in Jerusalem and since there are cameras at most lights he was ticketed. Guess how much his ticket costs? The story says it was about $1,000 in US currency, which is crazy! For your info, he is currently trying to appeal but another travel tip for the future to keep in mind. Also drivers in Jerusalem aren't afraid to get very close to other drivers, for example touching mirors close. So I am so thankful I don't have to drive!
Well it is getting late, about 1130 here in Jerusalem and classes start tomorrow.....Guess I should sleep some!

I have arrived to Jerusalem and it has never felt so nice to lay down and have running water! After our 4 hour flight to New York and than an 11 hour flight to Tel Aviv I am officially tired of flying, of eating airplane food, and sitting for long periods of time. It is crazy to see all of us students working together and fighting through the airport crowds as a group. There are 80 students on the trip and they come from BYU, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii and vary in majors. It is also funny to walk up to the 5th floor (the first floor with internet) and see all the chairs full with people posting on blogs and emailing friends and family. Which by the way, I won't be able to post pictures until I find a group of 3 students to travel into the city and find a cafe with internet access but I will try to post at least my feelings and experiences more often.

After arriving at Tel Aviv we boarded two buses headed to the BYU Jerusalem Center. It has never been so hard to keep my eyes open than on this 45 minute ride.  Although I was able to sleep a good 4-5 hours on the plane, it wasn't comfortable (since I found out with an hour left you can recline the fancy international plane seats) and it was hard to stay asleep with the excitement. We also had a very funny experience on our way to the Jerusalem Center as we passed another University only a few blocks away.  There were neat white art fictures in the grass and as we looked there was a man standing in the middle of one of the pieces with his back toward the road. He stood there for a good couple of minutes (while we were stopped at a traffic light)  until we also started wondering if he was peeing in a public place (very public right on the side of the road). Our Instructor Brother Belnap very seriously made a comment about this young man saying he might be praying. All of us students became very serious trying to show respect for this new culture and religious practice. Than Brother Belnap started laughing saying he was only joking and that the man was in deed taking a pit stop. Rather than this funny site we gained a general idea of how Jerusalem would look. It was neat to see that the interstate we were driving on was built around the city instead of through the city like in the states. Having this said it was cool to see huge white buildings made of white stones all along the hill side while on the other side there were deserts, random hills, and many many olive trees.

Once we arrived here and were welcomed with clapping, juice, and a piece of bread we met all the instructors and administrators. It is so neat to see all the different cultures working together! The university's employees are made of local residents as well as church members called to serve couple missions in this area, and also instructors from BYU here for a short time. We also took a tour of the Jerusalem Center, which is commonly referred to throughout the town as "Mormon University" and is huge.  I hope to post so many pictures of this beautiful place! It is full of big glass windows which show of the amazing scenes of Jerusalem. We also received our schedule for the Old Testament class we will be taking for the first block of the semester and the 8 nursing students met to talk about clinicals.  Clinicals are when we work in 4 of the local hospitals. As I sat through these meetings I was hit with the realization that I will need the Lord's help to get me through this
Semester!  Although this is an amazing experience, it also is school and needs to be taken seriously! It was also sad to see that most days that are left blank in our schedule so that we can travel around the city in our own groups, will be filled with hospital experience to make up our clinical hours.

Well family and friends, It is late here and we have an early morning starting at 730 so I better call it quits! Tomorrow has a tour of the city planned so stay tuned ;)

Well I am officially going to Jerusalem!!! I am so excited for the journey I have in front of me
and am thankful for all my family and friends support! I am excited to learn of the Savior, to see all the amazing sites from the scriptures I have read throughout the years, and also to better my nursing skills. I hope to keep my blog somewhat up to date but I also want to experience the city and to fully embrace all that is available. It is hard to believe but the place that we stay at, The BYU Jerusalem Center, doesn't have high quality internet with limitations. For example I won't be able to send any pictures through email but can email from the center. As far as blogging go I have to travel further into the city to a cafe with better internet, and to do so I must gather at least 2 others. This may be easier at first but as the weeks go on there may be more time inbetween, you'll have to forgive me! To start this journey our parents were invited to a meeting in Utah to review different safety precautions and to settle any confusion/worries. As I sat in the parent meeting yesterday at the BYU Provo campus, I was amazed at the places and experiences I will have, and could feel of the spirit so strongly! It is so exciting to hear of all the trips we will be taking each week and the weeks we will travel to Turkey and Jordan. There are 79 students which is alot smaller than the traditional group of 150. In my nursing group there are 8 of us who will work in 3 hospitals in Jerusalem.  I haven't met all of them yet but I know the 3 associate students who will be graduating in December with me and than I know 1 of the other 5 students who are currently in their Bachelors program. Looking at the schedule makes me nervous to when we will actually be in the hospital but thats the fun  of living day to day in another country! Along with nursing, clinical hours, and field trips I will be taking 12 other credits which cover studies of the Middle East,  New Testament, Old Testament, and Hebrew! Well I better get ready for my flight!  We fly out of Salt Lake City here in a half hour and will arrive in JFK around 5. After surviving a 4 hour delay our all night flight to Tel Aviv will begin! Although I'm nervous to find the bathroom on an airplane, can ya tell I'm from a small town that doesn't travel, I'm sure I'll need to as we venture 10 hours throughout the night. Shalom for now!