Walking the streets of Jordan

I went to Jordan this past week and experienced yet another gem of the middle east. It is really amazing to me how Egypt, Israel and Jordan all have a very different feel to them. The Jordanian people are great people. I really enjoyed talking to them and seeing the type of lifestyles these people lead. Jordan was surprisingly very westernized...we went to Mecca Mall. It was pretty cool, HUGE but sort of felt like any other mall.

On our way to Petra we stopped at Mount Nebo where Moses is said to have stood and pointed out the promised land to the Children of Israel. Also, it is where they said Moses was buried or possibly 'translated.' After Mount Nebo we went to Maddaba and visited the St. Georges Mosaic Map Church. Only parts of the mosaic were left, nevertheless it was beautiful.

The first highlight was Petra...Indiana Jones Baby! It was so amazing...walking the trail with rocks in orange and red shades towering above your head with a small glimmer of light shinning in through the top is such a cool feeling. The fact that it is all natural is so mind boggling to me. Also, the fact that these people just looked at the rocks and said, lets build a monastery in that thing..seriously so cool! Anyways, it was also really interesting to see how the bedouins live, and try to sell you their dirtied up jewelry! There is a beautiful monastery with a great lookout point to you have to either hike up to or you can ride the donkeys. These donkeys are pretty crazy, but Tamarra and I decided to go for it. It was so much fun haha! We made it to the top except Jack(my donkey) had a little bit of trouble with his footing, I was worried a few times but we made it.

After Petra we made our way to Ammon, this was a more westernized area. We went to Jarash, the Jabbok River and the River Jordan. Jabbok is the river where in Genesis it talks about Jacob wrestling with God...where he sees him face to face, and his name is changed to Israel. It was the most beautiful and peaceful overlook. Jarash was awesome as well...the Roman ruins are unbelievable. We sat in the one of the theaters that seat hundreds of people and enjoyed a band of retired Army Generals on drums and bag pipes. In Ammon we were able to visit the Branch building in Jordan. The Branch president spoke to us for a bit and it was really interesting. He works in the intelligence sector of the army and has some sweet stories. The one thing that stuck with me about the whole thing is how much he stressed is how the middle east needs the Gospel. They don't know it yet, but they do and someday they will accept it. People here are curious. He had some really interesting stories. Even though there is such a small representation of the church there today and they aren't even recognized as a church I do believe that someday the church in Jordan will have quite a presence.

Our last day in Ammon we visited the Mosque of the Martyr King Abdullah Bin Al-Hussein where all the girls had to wear black cloaks. It was pretty creepy I must say, I felt a little like we were in Harry Potter haha. In the mosque our guide talked a lot about the Muslim faith and gave us a demonstration on how they pray. Some things really stuck out to me regarding the Islamc faith I was unaware of before. First of all there were a lot of similarities to the LDS faith that were highlighted. Most of all the focus Muslims have on family. Also, the fact they do not drink alchohol and keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Another fact that I found interesting was a question that was raised about what a Jihad is. It is a Holy War, however I have been taught or under the impression of in the US that a Holy War is militant. However, the true definition of a Jihad is the inner struggle between oneself and Satan.

After visiting hte mosque we went to the Citadel which had a museum that contained original portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls(copper). I wasn't aware of this but one of our professors Dr. Skinner was on the international team for translating protions of the Dead Sea Scrolls.(Leviticus) Something he said that stuck with me is the Joseph Smith Tranlsation of the Bible is actually closer to the actual translation of portionos of the Dead Sea Scrolls than our actual King James version of the Bible.

I would say a highlight of the trip was our visit to the River Jordan. We walked a long beautiful path to the spot believed to be where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Today it is only a small pond of water because the river has changed its course over the years. We continued walking and ended up at the banks fo the River Jordan. Peaceful, simple, beautiful is what the River Jordan is to me. One of our professors talked to us about John the Baptist and his important role in Christ's life as we were sitting on the banks of the Jordan River. Something I never realized before was that John the Baptist was so highly thought of among the people he knew that He must decrease and Jesus must Increase. It must have taken great humility on his part to present Jesus to the people and baptize him in the River Jordan. How willing are we to lay the groundwork and then step back. I think John the Baptist can serve as an excellent example to us. I had never realized this before but I feel my understanding of John the Baptist's important role in Christ's life is so much more real to me.