I'm going to JERUSALEM!!!

So, I just got my schedule for the Jerusalem Center today in the mail. I cannot even describe how excited I am starting to become. I was reading through the schedule and almost started crying from joy! I can't believe I'm really going! How did I get to be so lucky, so blessed? It is a miracle, I assure you. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity that I have dreamed of for so long that it is weird it is finally coming true. But then again, I should be used to this, right? I dreamed of serving a mission in Russia, and I did! How many people are able to say that? Now that I think of this a little more, opening that envelope today and reading my schedule brought many of the same feelings that were present when I opened my mission call letter and read the words "You have been called to serve in Samara, Russia." The joy almost burst out of my chest! There are no words to describe it!
So, to give you a little idea of what I am going to be doing for the first 4 months of 2008, I've found some maps and circled the areas that I will be visiting/touring.
Basically, we have one full week in Egypt, 4 days in Jordan, and a little over a week in Galilee, besides smaller day trips inside of Israel. I will see the Giza Sphinx, the Pyramids, Funerary Temple of Ramses III, Memphis, Luxor Temple, Old Cairo, Mount Sinai (and even spend the night on Mount Sinai), the Red Sea, Jericho, Nazareth, Caesarea, Mount Herzl, City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Jordan River Baptismal Site, Bethlehem, Shepherds Field, Nimrod's Castle, boat across the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Mount Tabor, Tiberias, Qumran, Tel-Aviv, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Bethany, Bethphage, Bethesda, Gethsemane, Garden Tomb, the Mediterranean Sea, and much more. I will be studying Arabic, Ancient Near East Studies, Modern Near East Culture and History, Old Testament, and New Testament.
In addition, I just found out that I have received a scholarship to help pay for the Jerusalem Center. So, with that money, I have 34% paid, (leaving 66% left to pay). Then, when I subtract the money I got from my loan, I only have to figure out how to pay an additional 35% of the total . . . by November 26. The other half of my loan will cover most of that amount, but I won't get it until January. So we will see what happens. But, I am not worried about it. I am very excited and can hardly wait for this semester to be over because that means I will be going to Jerusalem!!!!!
Well, I was planning on writing about something else I did today, but when I got home and received that envelope, my other thoughts were blown out of my mind. Today I went to see Anton Chekov's The Seagull, a play that is very Russian. It kind of felt like a soap opera. He loves her, she loves someone else and he loves another, she loves yet another who loves no one but himself. I'm still not quite sure what the point of the story was, but that is how I often feel after reading or seeing something Russian. It takes a while of contemplation to feel like I understand, though I probably don't really understand completely. It was rather sad and kind of depressing. But all that went quickly away. Now all I want to do is read my schedule and get a little more familiar with what I am going to experience starting January. Why am I so lucky? But then again, there are a lot of things that aren't so lucky in my life, and maybe partly because of them, I am given other experiences. Not to make up for them, but to comfort and witness that I am not forgotten. I guess it doesn't really matter, because I am grateful for the opportunity, but I would give it up to not have to go through certain other things.
Anyway, I hope that these maps can help you to understand a little of my excitement. If any of you out there ever have the opportunity to do this, I am sure it will be worth your while!!! (By the way, unfortunately, they don't have married housing, so you can't go if you're married, but you could always take your own trip! If you end up going later and would like a guide, I would definitely volunteer my services, though I don't know if I would be able to pay to go. That's for later, though).
(The last two pictures are from the play. They didn't allow any kind of photography, so I had to get these pictures to show you. They were downloaded from the BYU website. I didn't get specific permission, but they did have a link to download the picture, so I figure that they don't really care and I wanted to give you a taste of the play).