Egypt and Stress

This picture is taken at the Israel Musuem. that structure is in the shape of a lid that would have been on the urns in which they discovered the seven dead sea scrolls!

okay, so the load of school work, activities, traveling, service, etc. is starting to get to me, and of course I start to stress out. But hey, that is okay, I love it here and I am enjoying it so much! On Sunday we leave for Egypt, and today we had an orientation about the trip. I am so excited! I will get to experience staying the night at a Kibbutz, staying the night on train, and then stay at a five-star Sheraton all in one week! To top it off we get to go to Giza, Cairo, Luxor, go on a Camel Safari, etc. We hike Mt. Sinai also during the trip, leave at two a.m. and watch the sunrise at the top. I am so excited for that!

Anyway, ofcorse with this trip they gave us all the information on how to stay safe while we are there. The huge thing to emphasize was how to avoid assualt and groping. Modesty is the most important issue, which I will abide by. They gave us a paper written for ALL tourists traveling in the middle east and for the first time in my life, I was a little sad to have such blonde hair when I read the paragraph: "if your hair is BLONDE, you must unfortunatelyresign yourself to more inquisitive, and sexualized attention--at least while walking around in conservative town-centers--simply because of the novelty."

Its okay though, I am over it because I love my hair. I cannot wait for the trip, it will be so exciting, I just have to remember not to drink any water from the tap and always brush my teeth with bottled water just like in the Congo.

This week has been great so far! I got to go see the Isaiah scroll from the Seven dead sea scrolls on display at the Israel Musuem. I also got to see the Western wall and explore the Jewish and Armenian quarters of the Old City.

I am playing the violin in Sacrament meeting on Shabbat. It is a miracle that a man showed up randomly for a concert here at the center, and Sis. Squires asked him if he would loan a violin to the center, and he graciously did. I had such a dilemma about bringing my violin or not on this trip, and the Lord is blessing me with the opportunity to play even though I did not bring my own violin. The Lord truly looks after us, and he does want us to be happy. I love it here. I miss home but this experience is something I needed!