Baptism by Fire

Well I made it here! I feel like I've been "orienting" for three days because I have. The day before we left we picked up some of our materials and had a long meeting covering all the rules and curriculum. I saw my friend Lauran Miller who was with me in Nauvoo; she is now with me in Jerusalem. Then I happened to sit next to a girl that turned out to be one of my roommates.

It took a full 24+ hours to get from Provo, UT, to my new home here in Jerusalem, but all flights went smoothly with no complications or big delays. We traveled in two big groups. One connected through New Jersey and my group went through Chicago and Vienna. We flew to Tel Aviv and then bused to Jerusalem which is about 45 min away. We were all zombies by then, but they kept us awake till bedtime by doing another orientation meeting followed by tours of the center.

Today we did a foot tour of the city. It's all just right there. We are maybe a mile or less from the wall of the Old City. To get to the gate is about a 15 min walk. On our way there I ran into a couple I know from BYU, Buzz and Cherea Carlson. They are friends from the swing dancing club that now live on Cyprus and they were just visiting Jerusalem. Small world! Classes begin tomorrow. Wish me luck!