Jordan Day 4

We woke up and went to the Jordan LDS church.  It was so cool!  They had their own floor of an high rise just for the church.  The auditorium of the JC is beautiful, with its huge windows showing the Jerusalem skyline, but it was so amazing to be in a normal LDS chapel.  I have felt the spirit in many churches around the city, but there was really something different in the LDS chapel.  It felt like home, and looking at the pictures of Jesus there, it felt like my Jesus.  The resurrected, loving, not nailed to a cross, looks like an actual person, with the little kids Jesus.  We talked in Old Testament about the different temples or houses of God the Israelites built and how these represented their relationship with God.  The tabernacle with its simple, movable parts that kept God close.  Then there was the first temple with its show-bread tables that could be used by the priests and represented how they viewed God as the same size as them. Then there is the second temple with its huge grandiose wash basins and menorahs, representing how they viewed God as omnipotent but not relatable.  Then I think of where we worship our God, and the little chapel in Amman, Jordan.   The simple chapel, with very little adornment, as not to detract from the simple light of Christ.  The paintings of Christ with children, showing how he is relatable and loves all.  When we finished singing in the chapel, the missionary couple there said that she had never had that many people sing in the chapel ever.  I love being part of the first wave of the church in new countries.  It makes you realize how much of a minority we really are.

Next we went to the King Abdullah mosque.  Gorgeous.  I especially love going into the women's section of the mosque.  It was smaller, less ornate, and more lived in feeling.  There were two little kids crawling/walking around and a mom and her mother.  We talked to them and one of the ladies that spoke English told us why she loved Islam and how it brought her peace.  

Then went to the River Jordan, where Christ was baptized.  Here we had a wonderful lesson by my professor Dr. Seely.  He talked about how when you come to a holy site there are three questions to be asked.  What happened there, why it was holy and significant to us, and how this can change us for the future.  He talked about how the significance of Christ's baptism comes from the fact that this is where he started his earthly ministry.  This was where Christ reappears as an adult in the Bible, and he really starts his ministry.  It makes me realize that right now is the time in my life right before the baptism.  These are the last years of preparation, and soon I will have to stand up and live the life my Father needs me to live, just as Christ stood up and lived the life His Father wanted Him to live.   Another cool lesson to be learned is learned from the example of the John the Baptist.  Here he is with all his followers, preparing the way for Christ, but in the process becoming very revered and popular among the people, until the baptism of Jesus when Christ starts gaining popularity.  And in John 3:30 John the Baptist explains to his followers that "he must increase, so that Jesus could increase."   John was so humble.  That is what impresses me.

THE MOSQUE

The Jordan River

Me and Jenna (my Israel roommate) and Alyssa Baker (my Jordan roommate)