All aboard!

Pax vobis gratiaque Domini nostri!

All aboard...

This is an informal blog for the 2009 Wheaton in the Holy Lands program. I am one of the three leaders of the program (my info here) and I'll be updating this blog as often as possible throughout the course of our many travels and adventures. I say this is an informal blog because I want to make clear that this will represent my own personal voice and is not meant to be an official voice of Wheaton College per se.

The reason I'm setting up this channel of communication is to provide updates of our travels for friends and family of those who are participating. I know how much those left behind often want to know the progress of those who get to go on such adventures, so this is meant to be a place to find out!

For program info, click here.

* * * * * *

In this first post, I'll lay out the purpose of this first week of the program. Wheaton in the Holy Lands (hereafter WIHL, since typing all that out each time will get tiring!) officially started last Sunday night (5/17) as the students checked into their temporary housing and reconvened for a time of getting to know one another better and in general discuss how the week would proceed. This first week is a time of preparation here on campus, and the students take 6 hours of coursework per day. This can be mentally taxing, but I've noticed a good amount of frisbee-playing and other relaxing diversions that help break up the day. Saturday morning they will take an exam covering the various subjects they have studied. Then, Saturday afternoon we will say our last goodbyes to Wheaton and board the bus for O'Hare and our flight to the Holy Lands! (actually, first Zurich...but that's another blog post)

In the next post, I'll say a little bit more about the on-campus classes the students are taking and some of the subjects we are engaging with. I've sat in on about half of them so far, and it has been a good time of building a stronger foundation for our appreciation of what we will see and experience culturally, historically, and theologically. But that's all I'll say for now. Off to supper with the WIHLers and then a time of praise and worship afterwards!

For those who will read this blog and follow along from time to time, please do keep us in your prayers! (and feel free to leave comments and/or questions!)