Jordan Day 3

Day 3 started with a trip to Philidelphia, specifically the city Jerosh.  This was a old Roman City, and it has been amazingly preserved.  Much of it has been rebuild and re stacked up the columns.  Then we went to King Hussein's automobile museum.  Which was really cool , but also I am not a huge car person, so I didn't get all of the cool stuff out of it some others did.  But one thing I did notice was that cars used to be way more classy in the olden days.  Now they are just functional.  Then we went to a Jordanian museum of ancient things.  Ok, so that isn't the real name, but it is pretty dang close.  Then we went and hung out on rainbow street.  Rainbow Street is a street in Amman where all the locals come together and play guitar and stuff together.  It is really the town center of Amman.  And I was standing there, taking the scene in, and my friend Brian leaned over to me and whispered "There is such potential for the gospel here once it is allowed."  And suddenly my perspective changed.  I viewed these people as sons and daughters of God, and I could see in their faces that there was something missing.  And I knew that I had what they were missing.  I wanted to share this message with these people.  It was a great experience and made me so exited to go to a country where I can preach the gospel legally.  

Columns at Jerosh!

 Little nook in Jerash.

 More pillars . . . . 

There was this one pillar where it moved ever so slightly so the spoon you stuck in would move ever so slightly.  It was super cool looking. 

 More pillars . . . 

 A four cornered (Israelite/ancient Holy Land) altar.

 King Hussein's classy cars.

 It is like a tuxedo shoes, but care form.

 Me and Jess Smith hanging out in the car.

 Tron bike!!

 Cool artwork car outside the automobile museum.

 Me high fiving the fist of a giant Hercules statue they found.

 In our hotel room in Amman, it had stickers on the ceiling, telling us where Mecca is (where to pray to).

Jordan Day 2

Today we went to one of the seven wonders of the modern world.  In case you were wondering, these are the 7.

1. Chicken Itza in Mexico
2. Christus in Brazil
3. Taj Mahal in India
4. Great Wall of China
5. Petra in Jordan (Where I went today)
6. Machu Pichu in Peru (I’ve been to this one!)
7. Colosseum in Italy (I am going there in 2 1/2 months!)

Anyway, I have a goal to go to all seven during my life, and after this trip I will have been to three.

Back to Petra.  When we first got there we walked in and it was beautiful.
When you walk into Petra, you go through the siq (a mile long slot canyon) and then it opens up to the stunning view of the treasury of Petra.  It is such a cool experience to walk through the canyon and then it opens up and you see one of the 7 wonders of the world.  The treasury is just so huge, and so magnificent, and so . . . . nothing I had ever seen before.

AND THEN I GOT TO RIDE A CAMEL!!!!  It was the coolest thing. Like I don’t know what it is about camels but you ride on them and you are just dying laughing.  It is sooooo fun. I want to be a camel jockey when I grow up.  That is my new career plan.  Just kidding.  Anyway, back to Petra.  Petra was super hot.  Like we are talking middle of the desert, no shade, 95-98 degrees F all day.  I drank 5 liters of water this day.  So like 2 1/2 bottles of pop worth of water.  And I sweated out like 90% of it.  Ya, it was a sweaty day.  So when we got there we hiked to the high place, and played around on the rocks.  To get there you had to go up 700 rock steps.  In the 95 degree F heat.  Yup, talk about mission prep.

Then we went and hiked up to the monastery.  800 rock steps this time.  But really it was a blast!  Then we went and had the most tasty lunch of our lives (haha, it was a decent lunch but I was super super hungry so it tasted abnormally good).  Then we walked around some of the other rock formation building things until time was up.  We walked to the base of the canyon and then rode horses out!!  And then all sweaty 40 of us loaded up on a bus and drove for 3 hours back to Amman.  Gross, I know.  But we made it fine.  The one thing you learn about traveling is that you just deal and everything turns out great.  That is actually a really good life lesson.

 The treasury of Petra.  

ME AND A BACTRIAN CAMEL!!  (bactrian = 1 hump, dromedary = 2 humps)
In the background is the treasury.  This is what you see when you walk out of the siq into the main part of Petra.

 I am telling you.  Camel riding = pure joy.  I have no idea why.  It just is hilarious. 

 Yup, still on the camel.

 Lovin my camel.

 When the camels sit down they sit down front legs first, and it tilts forward and you almost fall off.  It is hilarious to watch.

 The high place (where the Pagan God worshipers of Petra did sacrifices)

Me and my friends at the high place.  L to R . . . .  me, Taylor Smith, Valerie Gundersen, Paige Nelson, Jody Hirshi, Ben Lehnart, Jessica Hart, Jacob Embley

 The middle of the wilderness/at the top of the high place.

 Petra looks like this everywhere you turn.  It is a city carved completely into rock.

 More rock buildings.

 A little Bedouin boy selling things.  There are tons of little kids selling things in the hot hot heat.  It made us feel so bad.

 The monastery at Petra.

 Me and Carson Bennet at the monastery.

 Me and the monastery.

Jordan Day 1

This day we got up super early and crossed the border.  Getting in and out of Israel is always an adventure because Jordan and Israel do not like each other very much . . . aka . . . they are really careful that nothing dangerous gets passed through the border.  But we made it through ok, and were off to the Maduba church, where there is a famous mosaic of the ancient world.  Then we headed to the place where John the Baptist was beheaded.  Then we drove for a really really long time on windy roads and for the first time, I felt motion sick.  So I took this anti motion sickness pill and it knocked me out cold.  I think there were some priceless sleeping pictures taken, and I am sure that I was one of them because these pills are like benedyl times 10.  My last thought was “This is not comfortable or attractive position at ALL.  But I don’t think I can move.”  Then I slept for the rest of the 3 hour bus ride.  Then we went to Mt. Nebo (where Moses saw the promised land for the first time).  And honestly, I can understand a little bit when the Israelites looked out with Moses and said “Egypt wasn’t that bad was it . . . ??”.  The promised land kind of looks like a barren wasteland.  A little bit.  But that probably also had to with the fact that Jordan had a heat wave when we were there, and so it was like mid-90’s.  So it was so hot that you are in the sun for 10 seconds and you are already desperately looking for nonexistent shade.  I mean, we were literally in the middle of a barren wasteland. We finished the day by going to Petra by night.  Basically, when you go to Petra, you go in a slot canyon like fifteen feet wide for a mile, and everything is lit by little candles in brown bags.  The stars are amazing, and at one point we looked up and the walls of the slot canyon framed the big dipper perfectly.  We walked along and then the slot canyon opened up and there was this huge open area full of candles and then right in front of you is this HUGE building carved into the sandstone wall.  You are looking at the treasury of Petra.  It was so amazing and it was so fun to walk along, talking with all our friends, singing stars from Les Mis, and listening to Indiana Jones music on our iPhones.

MT. NEBO!!! OVERLOOKING THE PROMISED LAND!!  YAY!!!

 Me and Chelsea in front of the promised land.

 The girls bathroom at Mt. Nebo . . .we think it used to be a men's bathroom?!

 Jordanian road.

 Bedouin barbies for one dinar.  Awesome, right!!

 Maduba church . . . this church has an amazing mosaic of the ancient world.

The amazing mosaic!

 Apparently the creepy blue hand just showed up miraculously on this painting one day . . . it means that there should be more artwork in churches . . . . ya, it seemed all a little weird to me, but it is a miracle to them.

 They had some really awesome mosaics at this church.

 Jordaian flag.  (And another random red and white one.)

 Where John the Baptist was beheaded (used to be one of Herod's palaces.)

 Petra at night!!!!

HEAT WAVE!

Today I woke up and headed to David’s Citadel Museum.  It is a museum in a citadel by the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.  It was great, and for part of it, you are on the ramparts of the old city!  So I got some great pics of the city as well as of the citadel.  The museum was cool (literally because Israel is in the middle of a heat wave so the museum was amazing relief from the super super hot sun).  Then we ate lunch at Teddy Kolik park, and when we were there we found an silver earth.  Of course I took a picture pointing to my new favorite country!!  Then later that day I got to go into the basement of a woman who had excavated her basement.  (like down to the macabee/ right after the second temple period . . . . which is crazy!)  It was so interesting to see how she connected to her ancestors and gained strength knowing that her ancestors lived right below where she lives now.  It was an interesting parallel between modern Judaism and ancient Judaism.  Then I had the amazing chance to go hang out with a Hollocaust survivor!!!  He is 96 and is the cutest man alive!  He is super energetic and literally the most cheerful person I have ever met.  He genuinely doesn’t blame anyone for the atrocities done to him.  He knows that it was a bad situation for everyone.  He is a great example of the power of forgiveness.  

Jordan worshipping the AC in the museum.

 View of the citadel.

 View of me and the citadel.

 Weird plants used for medicinal stuff anciently.  (It reminded me of a hogwarts potions class!)

 MY NEW FAV COUNTRY . . . . PARAGUAY!

 Hanging out in the Jewish quarter.  The little school boys showed us how to go down their "slide."

 My tired tired feet after a long day of walking.  Also by apartment/dorm room.

 We have a bee problem in the Oasis sometimes.  This night we caught 8 bees in cups.

 The president of BYU's improv comedy club is in our program so every week we have an improv class.  It is super funny.  Like we know each other sooo well so it is hilarious every week.