Home Sweet Home (Jerusalem Style)

Well, it's now been a whole week and a half since getting back from the beloved land of Turkey.  But, as much as I loved it, it's great to be back in Jerusalem!  It feels so good to be able to go out again and know that all the locals know (or at least most of them) that you're not just another Western woman.  They know that I live by a higher standard, just as they do, and so they treat me thus.  (Well besides the occasional hormonal teenage boy, but I'm not concerned with them.)  Prior to coming here, I used to see pictures of women in the Near East only letting their eyes be shown, and I would feel so bad for them because I thought that they must be in a prison having to cover up so much.  But now I see that they do it because it gives them so much more freedom!  It lets everyone know what they stand for and that they expect to be treated with respect.  And it works!  They get the respect they deserve because they are portraying to the world that they have respect for themselves.  I think this is a great lesson that a lot of teenage girls could benefit from.  There is so much value in being modest!  It was getting a little exhausting being referred to as the spice girls whenever I was with some of my female, redheaded classmates.  As humorous as it was the first couple of times, I have now come to realize what a great blessing it is when people know what standards you live by.  It gives you much less peer pressure and the gift of being treated with much more respect.  I am so grateful for the wonderful BYU students who have come to the Jerusalem center before me, and have set such a respectable reputation for we "Mormons" here in Jerusalem.