August 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

after an open house from
September 23 through
October 7, 2006, and a cultural
celebration on October
21. The temple will be dedicated
in four sessions on
October 22. The temple will
serve approximately 26,000
members living in Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Belarus, and Russia.
Other Temples
The Twin Falls Idaho
Temple is under construction
after a groundbreaking ceremony
on April 15, 2006. The
Los Angeles California Temple
closed for renovations in
November 2005 and
reopened on July 11. Other
temples that have been
announced by First
Presidency letter or are under
construction as of June
include the Curitiba Brazil,
Harrison New York, Kiev
Ukraine, Panama City
Panama, Rexburg Idaho, and
Cebu Philippines Temples.
In the October 1985 general
conference, President
Gordon B. Hinckley, then
Second Counselor in the
First Presidency, told members
of the Church: “We are
living in one of the most significant
and important
epochs in the history of the
Church and in the history of
God’s work among His people.
We are living in the
greatest era of temple building
ever witnessed.”
Since that 1985 general
conference, 86 new temples
have been dedicated.
For more information
about temples across the
globe, visit the Church’s
temples Web site
(www.lds.org/temples). ■
BYU will again open its Center for Near Eastern Studies in
Jerusalem this fall.
Jerusalem Center Reopens
Programs to Students
After a five-year closure to
its student studyabroad
program,
BYU’s Center for Near
Eastern Studies in Jerusalem
will again open to students
this fall.
“Over here [in Jerusalem],
people are ecstatic,” said Jim
Kearl, BYU’s assistant to the
president for the Jerusalem
Center. “Not just the people
who work in the building but
vendors in the city and good
friends that have known the
students for years are really
excited to have the students
returning.”
Students, who will live at
the Jerusalem Center, will
travel on field trips across the
Holy Land about twice a week
to biblical and historical sites
that are correlated directly
with their curriculum.
The course curriculum
covers ancient and modern
Near Eastern history, modern
Near Eastern languages, and
the Old and New Testaments.
In addition to field trips in
Israel, students are scheduled
to travel to Egypt and
Jordan.
One aspect of BYU’s mission
at the Jerusalem Center
is to help students develop a
deepened understanding and
testimony of the scriptural
record of Jehovah’s dealings
with the prophets in ancient
times and with Christ’s
appearance in His time,
Brother Kearl says.
“You come to see the
scriptures in a whole different
way when you see the land,”
he explains.
The other part to the
Jerusalem Center’s mission is
to help students understand
the area’s culture.
“We want students to have
an appreciation for Islamic
culture and Palestinians,”
Brother Kearl says. “And we
want them to have an equally
well-developed appreciation
for Jewish culture and Israelis
and to come to understand
more of the cultures that are
here and something of the
tragic conflict that has these
people tied to one another.”
Although the U.S. State
Department has issued a
travel advisory for the Holy
Land, BYU officials consulted
with government and Church
leaders before resuming the
program.
The student program was
closed in 2001, after violence
broke out in Jerusalem during
the fall 2000 semester.
However, the Jerusalem
Center had remained open to
host concerts, workshops,
tours, and visitors.
The Jerusalem Center,
located on Mount Scopus
overlooking the oldest part of
Jerusalem, has classrooms, a
library, a learning center,
auditoriums, student and faculty
apartments, a gymnasium,
and a cafeteria for
students. Instructors at the
center include BYU faculty
members and local part-time
faculty.
“Part of the building’s purpose
was this education program,
and so it sort of comes
to life again as we bring students
back,” Brother Kearl
says.
The fall student program
is opened to a limited number
of 44 BYU juniors and
seniors selected from several
applications submitted June
26–July 7. The fall program
runs September to December
with subsequent winter,
spring, and summer programs
planned.
For more information
about the Jerusalem Center,
visit http://ce.byu.edu/jc. ■
ENSIGN AUGUST 2006 73