Rep. John Curtis describes difficult visit to the Middle East

Utah Rep. John Curtis visited the Middle East this week as part of a congressional delegation, where he met with the leaders of Israel, Jordan and Egypt. He said his focus during the trip was on how to get the remaining hostages freed and on how to stop the fighting.

Curtis described his visit in his weekly email and video — a forum he uses to regularly discuss his “highs and lows” from the week. This week, he said, was particularly hard.

The high for the week was returning to a region he had first visited in 1979 as an 18-year-old BYU student on a study abroad program, he said.