We have received many emails from you concerned about the situation in Israel. We found the following article on www.ldslivingonline.com and thought it might answer your questions.
DESPITE VIOLENCE, JERUSALEM CENTER REMAINS OPEN
Lacie Hales
01/06/2009 12;39 PM MST
Despite continuing violence between Palestinians and Israelis, the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies will start winter semester on schedule.
Israel started air strikes against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Dec. 27 in retaliation to rockets being fired into southern Israel. Israel lanched a ground invasion of Gaza on Jan. 3, and violence has continued since then. Jerusalem is 48 miles away from Gaza.
Carri Jenkins, BYU Communications Assistant to the President, said plans were not going to change for the center because of the violence.
"The University is very careful and prudent with the safety and security of our students," Jenkins said.
She said everything for the Center is going on as planned. Students left for Jerusalem on Tuesday.".................
The students did arrive safely and are very excited about this semester. They were informed before they left Provo that because of the conflict going on here there may be some restrictions because of safety issues. Meanwhile, classes have started, they are about over their jet-lag, they are settling into their apartments - only about a dozen apartments have blown fuses-, they have had a get-acquainted dance, and have had their first Shabbat in Jerusalem last Saturday, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Their program is moving forward and so far no field trips have been cancelled or delayed. The past several days they have been able to start exploring the Old City.
We have 17 men and 61 women this semester. Great odds for the fellows! This is a wonderful group of young people and we already feel a closeness with them. One girl is from Richfield, Utah....she was born after we moved to Mesa.......but we know the same people. Yesterday a girl was wearing a ASU t-shirt and we found out she is from Phoenix. It's fun learning about them and we find we have connections with quite a few of them.
Bob's goal as Branch President is to give each person an opportunity to serve in the Branch while they are here. This adds greatly to their over all spiritual experiences. He has spent the last few days extending calls to the students to fill the vacancies in the various organizations - yes we even have a primary here - so right now he has about 30 called...hopefully he will be able to finished by this weekend so the Branch Presidency can have them all sustained on Shabbat and then they can start setting them all apart. Our R.S. President is moving in a few weeks so he called Sister Janet Skinner to be the new one. She is a lovely lady with the best sense of humor. She asked for Sahar (our wonderful Palestinian sister from Bethlehem) to be her 1st counselor and another cute sister April Fitzgerald (from Morgan, Utah) to be her 2nd counselor. They made cookies and visited every new sister/student last Shabbat.
Well, now to settled down to blogging again. Even though we were homesick for our dear family and friends, we had a great holiday season with company from the states. From Arizona -Morgan & Suzanne Davis and Jerry Owensby and her mother Coila. Chris and Robin Conkling visited us from California. We all had a great time together as we toured with Daniel Rona for 6 days. After the tour we spent time here in Jerusalem and fortunately we visited Bethlehem before the conflict started because after that we were not permitted to go there.
Thank you for all your cards, emails and especially your PRAYERS. We feel your love and concern for us. We feel so blessed to be in the Holy Land and want you all to know we feel safe. War is a harsh reality of life.....and after visiting the Holocaust Memorial....it was a very sober reminder of the wickedness of this world. The only peace we can find is through our Savior Jesus Christ and keeping His commandments. We like to chant with our grandchildren -CTR, CTR...which means CHOOSE THE RIGHT....when we do CTR we can have the peace our Savior has offered us.
We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy (and in these difficult economic times) PROSPEROUS New Year.
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