Jordan

I recently got back from a few days in Jordan. The border crossing took a long time but not as long as Egypt, and Jordan didn't give us stamps so we all have random "leaving Israel" and "entering Israel" stamps. I wonder if anyone will wonder someday what I did in this illicit period of time?

We went to Petra (by way of other stops, including Mt. Nebo) and then spent the entire next day in Petra. If you don't know what Petra is, I reccomend you look it up, because it's pretty much amazing. My pictures are updated, so you can see there. So you understand my Indiana Jones pictures, the third movie (Last Crusade) was filmed in part at Petra. It was amazing! We took donkeys up a mountain to a monastary, something like 950 steep steep steps (try saying that 10 times fast) and that was my favorite part of my entire visit to Petra. You have to try not to fall off but the saddle and donkey are willing for that to happen. They've been up the path so many times the require no direction, nor do they respond to any startled shrieks or attempts at steering from the rider. Donkeys, it turns out, appear to be more comfortable on the edges. Unlike humans. Donkeys don't have good manners and poop on the donkey behind them and run into donkeys in front of them (preferrably not at the same time). Traffic jams in tight steep ravines with donkeys coming down are especially fun! Oh, did I mention that I was wearing a skirt? That day I walked 12.5 miles, drank 4.5 liters of water plus 2 juices and 2 ice creams - this is more than a gallon, folks, and it was a warm day. But I'm alive!!

The other great part of the trip was visiting the branch (just to say hi) in Amman. There was a fellow there named Ramon (raw-mawn, like lawn) who is Armenian but is married to a Jordanian and his family have been members of the church since '96. He has such great love for the Gospel and his country - he said, "I wish I could see all of Jordan in this room." You could feel his spirit while he spoke. After the Q&A with the district president, a bunch of kids went back to where Ramon was sitting. We just wanted to be near him. He told us about how he can't proselyte here (you can't anywhere in the Middle East) and how sad it made him. Then he told us, "You are the military of Jesus Christ! Call the people and teach the people. Call the people, and teach the people." Because we CAN. I never thought about missionary work as a privlege. When our teachers came to tell us to leave, Ramon said, "I am very happy; I am in a garden. All these," he points to us, "are my flowers." A boy asked, "What type of flower am I?" Ramon responded, "One from a fig tree." And it was amazing to feed off of his spirit and know he was basking in ours. It was a very amazing experience.