The Sabbath

Here in Jordan, the Sabbath is on Friday. So we caught 2 Uber's over to Princess Basma Street and attended church (in a tall office building). There were about 50 people attending the branch and it was in English. There were two sets of couple service missionaries. It was interesting to hear what took people here- one American family with two children in front of us were in Amman because the husband was with the embassy (they were in Austria previously). The returned missionary that spoke had served in Korea (& Utah while she was waiting for her visa). And now her family was here (she didn't mention why).

I thought we prepared so well for today. We packed a lunch. We packed our flip flops and towels. Granola bars too of course. It was supposed to get up to 70 degrees, so we wore our swimsuits under our dresses and went tightless. I did all the girl hair in buns on top of our heads so we were set for the Dead Sea. I bet we were quite a site in our tennis shoes, dresses, and jackets, none of them matching!

We arranged to have a driver take us to these sites today:
Madaba, Mt. Nebo, The Baptism Site, & The Dead Sea

Madaba:
We got out of the car and there was quite a cold breeze! Our legs told us it was not 70 degrees. We shivered up the street and over to St. George's Greek Orthodox Church and marveled at the Mosaic

Map. It includes over 150 sites that are mentioned in the Bible and it is to scale! Wow!! We were amazed with how tiny the tiles were! We stepped outside and tried to stay in the sun while we ate our sandwiches. Brr! Very much regretting not bringing pants.

Mt. Nebo:
Today was pretty clear, but there was some fog off in the distance. But we could see the Dead Sea, and over to Jericho, Israel. We stood where Moses might have stood when he saw the Promised Land (Israel). There is a church at the top of the hill and they have some preserved mosaics inside. We went through the church and the Father of the church (Father Bernard) took an interest in the girls.

He asked their names and ages and showed them some magic tricks with his fingers and coins. Then he showed them how to do the tricks so they could show their friends. So sweet! Then we hurried back down the path. The wind was really whipping up there, so we took quick pictures and back towards the car we headed! Then we saw a museum, so we stopped in for a few minutes, glad at least to have the wind off of us. When we popped back out, there was Father Bernard again. He took Emma by the hand and asked her if she was hungry. She said yes, to which he replied "I thought so", and he led her to the shop and gave us a package of wafer cookies, on him. He led us to some tables (luckily there was one in the sun!), and sat us down to enjoy the treat. He visited with us and then went his way. So

kind!!!

The Baptism Site:
Our driver wanted to take us to the Dead Sea next, but we were able to talk him into taking us to the Baptism Site first. Thank heavens! We didn't want to be colder and wet here.

While we waited for the tour shuttle bus to arrive, a woman (Laura) came up to us and asked if she had seen us in church that morning. I asked "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"? She said yes! What are the odds?? Her husband is on his BYU professor sabbatical and is working on setting up the area for his law students. She was there going on the tour with her mother (who was visiting). They get to go to Dubai next to set up things there. Amazing!

The tour was just over an hour and went onto military land. Our guide was very nice and Emma formed a special attachment to him. She wanted to hold his hand to cross the street and sit by him on the bus and kept saying "I love him!". So funny and cute. To her dismay she didn't get to sit by him on the bus, but she got to sit by Laura and she liked that.

Peter gave the girls each a coin to play with while we were walking so they had something to do.

We stopped in at a museum/shop and there was a cat with two kittens running around. Of course that's the first thing the girls went for. The shop owner thought it was cute how much the girls liked the cats and on our way out he gave me four bracelets with crosses and told me to dip them in the holy water and bless each of the girls. Kind people were just popping out of the walls today! So generous.

The (potential) baptism site was very different than I pictured. The Jordan River doesn't run to it anymore, and there are structures (ruins of churches) around it. You can't go down to the little water that's left either. But we did walk over to the Jordan River and could go touch the water there. I heard from Laura that their branch performs baptisms there- how amazing! The river is surprisingly narrow and on the other side of the river is Israel! A stone's throw away! Hence the military zone. The girls were excited about their new bracelets and had fun dipping them in the Jordan River.

On our walk back to the shuttle, Clara discovered that the sleeve of her dress was empty, which had been holding her coin. She broke right down. Tears. Sobbing. Exclamations. The tour guide tried to cheer her up, but to no avail. After going in one more shop, he saw she was still looking sad and asked her if she was sad because of the coin. She burst into tears. So he got out one of his own coins that looked like the one she lost and gave it to her. That helped a lot and she was much happier. Such a kind gesture!

Dead Sea:

We finally made it to the Dead Sea after 5 pm. Peter twisted the drivers arm to go on the dirt road much closer to the water. I'm so grateful he did! We trekked down to the water (still a ways) and went for a swim! It was just about the same temperature as the air. Previous to coming, I read online how rocky it is on the bottom, so make sure to bring flip flops. So dutifully we brought them. My first step into the Sea was so slippery (with mud) that I went right down! And then my sandals had sunk so far into the mud that I broke them trying to get them out. It was such a mixture of seeping mud and sharp rocks that it was impossible to wear anything on our feet if we wanted to move them again!

We finally got far enough out to not worry about the rocks and mud. It was fun to float so effortlessly!! The sun was setting and it made for a very picturesque dip. The youngers found a hot spring flowing into the Dead Sea (more like a warm spring) and enjoyed playing in that for a bit. We rubbed the mud up on us and rinsed it off. We were the only ones in the water, though there were plenty of people about (some taking videos of the crazy Americans). :) We got out, dried off (with much shivering and exclamations), and headed back to the car, getting there just before it went totally dark outside. I had the heat going full blast in the back of the van the whole day (though we didn't feel the warmth), and the driver kept his window open most the day. Peter asked him a couple times to close it, which he did momentarily, and then open again it went. We were cold all day in our dresses, but especially the hour ride home from the Sea when we were wet. That stinker driver.

Fun and very exhausting day!

We learned:
Emma: I learned to be quiet in the church.
Clara: That the Dead Sea is colder than I thought.
Leesie: I learned what the coins look like- the Jordanian coins.
Addy: I learned that the Dead Sea is 200% salt- that's crazy!
Kathy: I learn again and again that my expectations don't always align with reality. The way I pictured Jesus' baptism site was from drawings and even though it may have looked like that 1500 years ago, it doesn't anymore. Disappointing. Also, I thought the Dead Sea water would feel somehow heavier, but it didn't- it just felt normal!
Peter: I learned that I bob like a cork in the Dead Sea. I also learned to appreciate the pain Kathy has on a daily basis as I tweaked my back from carrying luggage.

Miracles:
-All the kind souls who took an interest in the girls and with their small kindnesses made their day!
-The driver was in the wrong spot to pick us up and we got off 45 minutes later than anticipated. But we were still able to see all the sights!