Harrah for Israel!

So we landed from our 12 hour flight from JFK at 2:45pm in Tel Aviv on August 29th. We had been traveling for 24 hours. We met our teachers and bussed out of Tel Aviv up into the Hills and up to Jerusalem. I was super tired running on 4 hours of sleep from the past 48 hours. It was such a cool experience driving up and into Jerusalem, I was in a foreign land that I have read about my whole life and now I am seeing it in front of me. Though I was fighting to stay awake, I was enjoying the drive. I looked out the window one time and concentrated on the spirit of the land and felt a great feeling of sacredness and holiness. We got to the center and we were greeted by all the staff and administration, and their children. It was a warm welcoming. We met in the upper Auditorium for an orientation and it was so awesome because there is huge glass windows behind the pulpit and a wonderful view of the City. We got a tour of the Center, had dinner on the patio which was beautiful, with a wonderful sunset over the old city buildings, a cool breeze, and the call to prayer (a muslim prayer chant over the loudspeakers across the valley). There was constant small talk of "what's your name? where you from? do you know_____? where did you serve your mission?" a buzz of new introductions and everyone meeting and figuring each other out. We met in two of our classes, first we met breifly with Professor Judd our Old Testament professor, then we met with Professor Stratford, our Near Eastern Studies 336 professor. After which I went down to my room and passed out! It was a long 3 days of travel with my 10 drive to Utah, 6 hour flight to New York, 5 hour layover, 12 hour flight to Israel, hour drive to Jeruslam, then all the orientation and unpacking, I was completely at the end of my strength. But I looked out my apartment/doorm room window and saw the Dome of the Rock and the lights of the Holy City and it made it all worth it.