It’s been a while since I lost posted so forgive me for any lapses of information. Life has been either busy, hard, or both. I did end up successfully finish packing on time, believe it or not. Our departure was quite early in the morning, but it was interesting. I’ve only ever crossed an international border by road once before and that was between the United States and Mexico. We had to first go through the Israeli crossing and then the Jordan. Once we were done, our tour guide hopped on our bus and we were away.
Our first stop in Jordan was Mount Nebo, believed to be where Moses gave his last sermon to the children of Israel prior to passing away. It was hot and fairly high up. It was eye-opening to see what the Israelites would have seen when they were finally able to enter their promised land and begin their conquest of it. It is not what I personally imagine when I picture a promised land, and especially in the hot sun, it did not seem very appealing. From Mount Nebo we went to Madaba, somewhere you have most likely never heard of. Madaba is special though, especially to those of us studying the Ancient Near East. In Madaba is a mosaic map of the middle east famously recreated throughout these lands. It is not without its flaws but it was very cool to be able to see something we had read about in textbooks and seen replicas of in the Old City. A church had been built around the map with beautiful artwork and iconography.
That, plus a four-ish hour drive, completed our first day in Jordan. The hotel we stayed at in Petra was such a treat—it was an old village converted into a resort. The outdoor pool was gorgeous and there were literally ruins we passed between the individual buildings. It wasn’t fun having such a long walk between the reception and dining area and our rooms, but it was overall a wonderful treat. We started the next day bright and early and thank goodness for that. It quickly got very hot and in an already dry climate water was a precious resource. The line in the song “Through Heaven’s Eye” from The Prince of Egypt rang true to me; “a lake of gold in the desert sand is less than a cool fresh spring”. Alas Petra had no such spring.
We walk all the way down through the canyon and every step revealed more beautiful angles. We learned from our guide, who actually grew up in some of the caves encompassed by the now-national park of Petra, we learned all about how water was anciently transported and how caravans would have walked through the same paths. There was a cool section where there carvings of giant camels led by men going in and out, though they have faded immensely over time.
The final few steps were so amazing as we walked out into a large, sandy, open area full of people and camels in front of the iconic and famous Treasury. Prior to this trip I had not known that Petra was so much more than just the name and the image that comes to everyone’s mind. Petra actually refers to a small town/city built and inhabited by the ancient Nabateans. The iconic treasury everyone pictures? Actually one of their royal tombs. After taking pictures of it, the first thing I did was ride a camel with the young daughter of one of our teachers. And one of my friends did a headstand on a camel…picture below.
(there is an arrow to see the other pictures)
That was all we did that day (plus a very long bus ride) up to Amon, the capital of Jordan. Jordan is a very fascinating country especially as, country to how some people might think, it is a very stable country. Incredibly safe also but the culture is completely different to anything even remotely Western. In our hotel in Amon, there were hot tubs but they were segregated and thus in the individual locker rooms. The men’s you could see through their door and it was nice, large and beautiful. The women’s? tiny, in a nasty corner; it felt like we were in a custodial closet. Oh well, it still felt nice. The next day, after Petra, we went to Jerash. It’s the leftovers of a Roman city, with perhaps one of the best cardos in the world (cardo means heart/main in Latin, and thus the cardo is the main road). It was actually really cool, and I spent the majority of the time walking with each of the different professors.
We got back, and the very next week we had 3 finals and a second midterm. Needless to say, busy busy busy. There was a ton of studying to do but thank goodness no more fieldtrips. It’s been a whirlwind since then, especially as we switched religion professors for New Testament. It has been a very different pace but phenomenal. We had two fieldtrips this past week. One was to Bethlehem and one was to the Jewish quarter of the Old City. Bethlehem was interesting, as the day was spent seeing churches built where supposedly Christ was born and other parts of His early life occurred. There wasn’t an overly spiritual aspect to the experience, not until after dinner. Dinner was so cool! We ate a traditional-ish Bedouin meal in a restaurant that was in a large tent. It was family style and the people I sat with made it a hilarious meal (as well as delicious). We went to a shepherd’s field and had a testimony meeting of sorts as classes. It was beautiful and powerful and exactly what I needed.
I got to attend synagogue last night. Here in Jerusalem we worship the Sabbath on Saturdays just like the Jews. They welcome in the Sabbath with Friday night worship and so it was extra special. I’ve been trying to, despite any hardships, really be in the moment and take away all that I can from my time here in Jerusalem. It’s coming to an end so quickly. As of right now? There’s just over 4 weeks left. Just like my mission I’ve felt myself grow so much and am so insanely blessed by the people here with me.
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