First: thanks for all the concerned e-mails and thoughts and prayers while I was in Egypt. I could literally feel them. Though communication was cut off, I was praying that you would know that I was safe. Not only was I safe but I absolutely loved our Egypt experience! That’s not to say that it isn’t crazy over there. Being in Cairo as things developed (we were there on Tuesday when things started and back again on Friday/Saturday when things got big) provided an incredible opportunity to step out of the role of tourists. We learned far more about the politics and history and people than we ever would have otherwise. So I missed the Cairo museum and a few other things but gained experiences and insight that will stick with me far longer than ancient artifacts.
It is good to be home: The morning after we got back to the JC one of our Program Directors Brother Jackson read us e-mail exerts. I don’t have exact quotes but here’s the gist: Egypt Ambassador who is LDS- “you will forever be able to tell your children that you were in Egypt in January 2011.” Elder Holland- us getting back safely is “an answer to prayers for those of us who bite our nails here at home.”
Transportation: fun fact—within 50 hours while in Egypt I rode on a bus, escalator, airplane, Falukah (sailboat on the Nile), camel named Ali Baba, taxi, motorboat, carriage (which I got to drive on a street in Luxor along the Nile) and overnight train. I also walked :) and got pulled in the Falukah by a tugboat upstream (and the rope broke).
Ok I know I am running way behind on detailed posts but let me tell you what happened today and maybe you can get a sense of how hard this is. I was planning to catch up on my journal and blog posts today after church. Instead I went with a group and spent a couple of hours at Gethsemane.
I love you and I love this incredible place!
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