he educational aspect of the dig experience, directed by Douglas Clark, is something the ‘Umayri directors, all of whom teach in Adventist colleges and universities, take very seriously. Weekend excursions to refreshing and archaeologically important sites as well as two evening lectures a week supplement the opportunity to learn by working alongside specialists such as Joan Chase, a bioarchaeologist teaching in Washington, D.C. Chase and others consider helping students get turned on to archaeology a compensation for their time and the less-than-luxurious accommodations.

Students Gina Rogers (business administration, CaUC), Rob Holm (outward pursuits, CaUC) and Jonathan Ponder (history and religion, WWC; now in LSU's English M.A. program) all had taken a course in biblical archaeology at their respective schools and had become interested in traveling the Holy Land before arriving at ‘Umayri. Once there, all rose at 4:15 a.m. to catch the coolest part of the day for digging. Rogers experienced roles as excavator (moving 50-250 guffas, or pails, of dirt a day, using pick, trowel, and dustpan) and as square supervisor (keeping the record book of finds, writing weekly reports, and conferring on dig strategy). Ponder was a square supervisor, and Holm kept to excavation.

"I knew it would be hot and dirty," says Rogers, "but I also wanted to feel the same sun and the same dirt that the figures of the Bible felt and worked in hundreds and thousands of years ago."

What did she take away from the summer? "I could write a book!" responds Rogers. "I couldn't pay enough for the value the whole trip . . . added to my life." For her as well as for Ponder, travel during and after the dig and interacting with Arabs and Israelis were the main mind-expanding experiences, altering their perspectives on news as reported about the Middle East, other cultures, and their own lives. Holm, who plans to become an architect, was fascinated by the spectacular ancient city of Petra, its Greco-Roman facades carved into mountainsides, and by the old city of Jerusalem. Swims in the Dead Sea and the Red Sea were also highlights for the excavator, besieged daily by dust. And then there were the friends.

"One of the best parts was meeting and getting to know people within my age group who had a lot of the same interests and passions as I have," says Rogers, who visited a dig mate in Costa Rica over Christmas and reminisced about their after-dig travel adventures.

"It would be a tragedy for students going through their years of study to never study abroad, even if only for a short time," concludes Rogers. "It will change a life."

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Lynn Neumann McDowell is the director of planned and major gifts at the St. Helena Hospital in Deer Park, California. She wrote this piece while serving as director of college relations at Canadian University College.