BYU Students Arrive

The Center is now alive with students, who arrived Wednesday evening tired from their flights to Tel Aviv. We all went to the airport to pick them up and bring them to the Jerusalem Center. Since then we have been to orientation meetings with them, taken them by foot around the city, and last night we went to the Western Wall to observe the Jewish welcoming of the Sabbath. Actually, we did more than observe the praying, singing, and dancing—we joined with them and felt a bond with our Jewish brothers and sisters. At the wall there is a barrier separating those that wish to merely observe and those that wish to participate. Craig, Derek, and Daniel (and the male students) donned a kippah cap and mingled among the men, and Sandy went with the sisters among the women on their side of the wall. We would include some photos, but none are allowed on Sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday evening.
The pace is exhausting from here on out. Craig’s first class on Friday morning began at 7:30 am and was two hours of insight into the Old Testament followed by another hour of introduction from Brother Seely in the Ancient Near Eastern Studies class. We had a little breather to get ready to go to the Western Wall and came back tired and ready for a good night’s rest. As Craig found, it was a loritab night for him to recover from the constant pace, but enjoyable beyond what words can describe. Sandy has been called as the Jerusalem Branch Young Women’s President. She will learn more about who the potential Young Women are, but for today there was only one that attended. Derek taught Sunday school for all of those that attend church here. He thought that it would just be students and the next thing that he knew he was staying in the large panoramic viewed upper auditorium teaching everyone. He did a very good job. He and Daniel are now off with some friends seeing the sites on the Mount of Olives and then walking over to the area north of the Old City to visit the peaceful Garden Tomb private grounds.