AHH!!!!!!!!! :)

IT'S FOR REAL!!!!
I'M GOING TO EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you didn't get this email and want to get it please post your email address at the comment part below or shoot me an email with it in it!! (kburkey@olivet.edu)

Dearest family and friends!
I hope that this little email finds you well! I am writing you because I just found out the most amazing news ever!!! I have been accepted to study abroad next semester in the Middle East!! :) WHOO WHOO!!!
So... while my response currently is to jump up and down, yours may not be quite the same. I realize that the Middle East is a center of political, religious and economic unrest and instability, and so to put your mind a little at ease and to get you excited with me I want to tell you a little bit about the program I will be studying through. I will be studying through MESP, Middle East Studies Progam. The following is some of the information that they have provided for me thus far. I will be living in a "furnished apartment with other students in Cairo, Egypt: a crowded, user-friendly city with good, safe transportation and little violent crime. Depending on regional conditions, (and all travel plans are subject for change if deemed necessary due to safety reasons.) countries like Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Jordan may be visited throughout the course of the semester. MESP usually focuses on three countries including two weeks in Israel toward the end of the semester. This provides a “holy land tour” of countries with rich histories of all three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—as well as the various streams of faith and culture within each tradition." I will be studying Christianity, Islam and Judaism and also taking a course in Arabic (which I have already begun to try and learn). I will also be doing some Social Work directed study courses to further my major and learn more about people and social groups overseas.
As a social work student, I am very excited about the possiblity to learn about another culture and three different religions and be able to interact with Egyptians on a daily basis. There will be weekly opportunity to do missional outreach in the city, and opportunity to stay in Egyptian's homes and to travel around the area and city learning about the people of the Middle East. And as Kara Joy Burkey, I am very excited to be near pyramids and be able to ride a camel and walk the streets that Jesus walked and talk with Jews and sample Middle Eastern food and try and speak Arabic and just be in a foreign country (or two or three) meeting people and learning about my faith and the faith that others profess and believe.
So, if you haven't noticed... I am SO EXCITED!!! :-) At the same time, I am nervous and scared. I will leave the first week of January and come home the last week of April. That's a loong time... and I will miss all of you so very much!! I would love it if you would surround me with your prayers during this time of preparation to study abroad, and especially in the months of January, February, March and April. And... I just wanted to tell you so that you would know that I will be gone and let you know so that you can be excited with me as I journey across the ocean to an amazing land full of wonder, desert, camels, Middle Easterners, and Jesus.
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
I love you all so much!! Thanks for getting excited with me and for already starting to pray with me and for me over this whole MESP!!
Have an amazing week!!
In His Mighty Firm Grip,
Your Kara Joy

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you WHEREVER you go!" -Joshua 1:8