October 26, 2007

Jessica Bringhurst
26 October 2007

This day started off as one that I couldn’t wait to end, as we had an Old Testament quiz and an Ancient Near Eastern Studies midterm, but it came out surprisingly well.
At breakfast most students looked something like zombies from staying up to study the night before. In between bites of French toast, tables quizzed each other about the four topographical zones of Mesopotamia or the six cities of refuge, all of which are indefinitely drilled into my brain. In the hallways between classrooms, it was the same story… students sprawled out studying during our precious few moments before class. I personally was just ready to get them over with. And in the end, I think it turned out alright. If nothing else, I revert to the ‘eternal perspective’ of things in which I justify a few mediocre quiz scores. And now I just have to worry about the quizzes in Palestinian Narrative and Hebrew this Sunday… but not today. Today is a celebration for successfully completing two tests! And I think that’s how the majority of students feel.
In the afternoon we had our Jordan orientation meeting which helped get us pumped up. After that we did whatever… movies, reading, naps, etc. Just fillers until we could head to the Western Wall to welcome in the Sabbath with the Jews. Getting to go back to the Western Wall was really cool. I made sure to go down and touch the wall; some of us got to join in on the dancing and singing too. I love being able to observe how various people show their devotion to God. It’s overwhelming to me to think how many prayers have been offered for so many years from that very spot.
After dinner, some people went to watch Lawrence of Arabia, but not I. I was not quite willing to devote the next 3.5 hours of my life to a movie. Instead I… well I’m not sure what I did. I think I just wondered and socialized, until the climax of my day—country dancing! Lizzy and I are more-or-less country dancing fiends and we decided to start a grassroots country club here at the JC. We’ve started off small just us, Tiff, James, Craig, and Danny, but we will soon become an empire. Anyways, country dancing was phenomenal. We have some talented boys here, let me tell you. And I definitely got to do some lifts, which I have been craving for quite some time. And that was October 26.
Studying the Old Testament this semester has really been eye opening for me. Before these experiences, Old Testament hadn’t been top priority in my scripture study, if you know what I mean. I thought that the majority of it was either confusing or boring. Now, after reading through and studying collectively it I feel completely different. Granted, to some degree I am still confused, but the difference lies in my desire to understand it now. There is a lot of good information in there; I have a new found appreciation for the people and stories of the Old Testament.