The Caliber of BYU Jerusalem

I have been in Jerusalem for over a month now, and have come to realize just how great of people I associate with everyday. Still, I don’t think I even fully comprehend the caliber of the men and women that serve us here at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I just want to take some time now and let you know how incredible these men and women are by telling some of the things about them. First off, there is Jim Kearl, who although he does not stay here, is the director for the center. I think the family already knows how smart this man and how qualified he is, so I won’t spend time on him. Eran is the Director here at the center. He is a secular Jew and has been a leader of the Peace Now Movement—an Israeli movement that is pushing for peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a big and important movement here.
Bro. Huntington is the assistant to Eran. Not only is he a great administrator, I have discovered that he use to be a teacher here, and is just as qualified as any of the teachers here to teach our classes.
Bro. Skinner is amazing—you can just ask my sister Brooke about how amazing he is. One of his Master’s is from Harvard in Biblical Hebrew. He is one of the very few scholars in the world to have actually done work on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He is one of the smartest men, and not only is he smart, he loves what he teaches. He is so excited in class that he gets me excited about the subjects of the Ancient Near East!
Bro. Huff is my Old Testament teacher, and he team-taught with Elder Bednar at BYU-Idaho.
Bro. Squires is one of the service couples here, and his is sooo talented on the Organ.
Sis. Thomas is also a service couple, and she use to be a counselor in the General Young Women Presidency.
Sis. Susan W. Tanner and her husband are coming here in a couple weeks—I think her husband has something to do with Kearl at BYU.
My two teachers of Modern Near Eastern Studies, Ophir Yarden and Adnan Musallam are not any less qualified as scholars than Bro. Skinner. If you “googled” them you would find that their name and work is everywhere. I am so impressed with the people that are here. I also feel very inadequate to be here, but all the more grateful. I love it here, and I love all my teachers and leaders!