update! 4-10-10 JORDAN!!!!

Hello all!

I wanted to make sure that I included our field trip to Shepherd’s Field that we went on last week. It was so amazing to be looking right at the place where our Savior was born and then meanwhile we had our class Nativity program. Some of the students put together musical numbers and then re-enacted the Nativity. It was wonderful. I also loved having contemplative time to write in my journal and think about what happened there so long ago. It was such a powerful experience.

Eric Bushman and Alex Thomas participating in the Nativity Program. They were Mary and Joseph.

Class Nativity Program in Shepherd's Field

Shepherd's Field.

Looking out across Bethlehem

Before that, we got to go to the Herodian Fortress. This place was used by Herod to fight off enemies, and at the foot of it stood the remains of his palace. It was pretty awesome to see so many remains of such a unique place. We also explored a tunnel that was used during the Jewish revolt against the Romans. Again, we had seen a LOT of ruins by this point, but it was still pretty awesome.

View of Herodion Fortress.

We traveled through the remains of a tunnel from the first Jewish revolt against the Romans. EPIC.

Mustard seed. Where the parable in the scriptures originates from.

Being silly on the bus ride.

Jon Arnell (tall blonde) with a Taeler Herr's creepy baby.

Now onto our four days in Jordan! This trip went much faster than I ever could have expected. What an awesome and truly unforgettable experience! However, I was so sad to know that this was our last big excursion for our time here in the Holy Land.

We got up early Monday morning around five and packed up the buses and left by 6:45. By this time, we kind of had the bus-loading routine down and everything went pretty smoothly when we left the Jerusalem Center. It’s weird to know that I hold the center so close, enough to call it home. I love it.

Anyway, we left the center and crossed over the King Hussein Bridge and then started the big hassle of crossing the border. It actually didn’t take very long and they didn’t really ask me any questions, and this time (as opposed to Egypt) they didn’t take anything out of my bag or ask me if I was carrying anything across the border for anyone. I’m not sure how long it took, but it didn’t seem very long at all.

Our first stop was Mount Nebo, where Moses was translated. There were SO many people there, and it was really hard to push your way through and see the beautiful overlook. It was really awesome to be in such a special place though. We had a little class lecture there and learned more about this significant event.

Mt. Nebo. Memorial of Moses.

Jill Wood, Natalie Stevenson, Bonnie Burk, Jill Baker and Marie Cope at Mt. Nebo.

Mount Nebo: Memorial of Moses.

Interesting statue I found.

Our next stop was Madaba. Here, we walked around the city and visited a church that had a really impressive mosaic of the Holy Land. There were a ton of people there, too. It was hard to even inch your way over to get a glimpse of the mosaic. It was awesome to see so many remains of something so old and sacred though. We then had our lunch right there in Madaba.

Walking through the streets.

A man fell asleep at his sewing machine. It was sweet.

Madaba: Greek Orthodox Church.

Madaba. Where the first map of Jerusalem is located.

Our next stop was a place called Shobak Castle. We got some time to explore this huge castle that was used in crusader times. It was full of secret passageways and tunnels! It was so fun to explore!

Shobak Castle that we got to explore.

We then made our drive over to Petra Palace Hotel (don’t be fooled by the name, there were some people who found cockroaches in their showers!) Even though this hotel was not one of the nicest we’ve stayed in, it was definitely one of the most interesting, which always makes things more fun. Our curfew in Jordan was 10:30 every night. It was kind of understandable though, considering the atmosphere there. There was a group of us that walked down the street from the hotel and got ice cream that night. The one I shared with someone had a ton of fruit in it (and I took somewhat of a chance, since they told us not to eat salads or fresh fruit there in Jordan, but I ended up not getting sick at all). The ice cream we shared was actually pretty terrible and definitely over-priced, but it was fun to just go out for ice cream and talk with other people. I then went to bed really early that night and it felt so good to get some much needed rest. I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

Our ghetto hotel room. It was awesome!!

View from our hotel room.

The next morning, we all woke up early and checked out of our hotel. We then started our walking tour of PETRA!! Even just walking through the canyon-like features was awesome! It was amazing that these structures were created by a Semitic people called the Nabateans so long ago.

Entering Nabatean ruins of PETRA.

Water canal carved right into the rock.

Elephant shaped rocks.

More awesome remaining structures.

Some language carvings.

The king. On the back of the carriage. Ha.

The first time I saw the treasury was unforgettable! My jaw literally dropped. All of the structures (especially the ‘Treasury’) that were carved right into the rock were amazing!!! Words cannot even describe adequately how awesome it was to see all of that. There were thousands of facades cut right into the surface of the rock, and we walked into the tombs and the monastery and it was just enormous!! Bigger and more impressive than I ever could have imagined.

First sight of the Treasury!!

The Treasury!!

LOOK at that detail!!

Our FHE group in front of the Treasury

Jumping pic in front of the Treasury.

Our WHOLE fhe group in front of the treasury!

Victoria Lund, John Wiest, Leslie Smith, Diana Lewis, Jill Wood, Gage Robison, Allison Brown, Steve Shelle, Jonathan Arnell (tall blonde), and Jessica Parker.

Shading of the rock.

Tombs carved into the moutains

Shading of different colors in the rock. This is all natural!!

Cute little Jordanian girl trying to sell us some postcards. She was VERY persistent.

Remains of streets.

Ancient symbols

Hiking up to the monastery

Kramer even came on the hike to the monastery!

The monastery was HUGE!!! There were also aqueducts surrounding us on our way in to see the treasury. It was so cool to see such a change in scenery. We’ve seen SO many ruins just in one spot, but this place was absolutely breathtaking!! It was also really amazing to hear so many different languages being spoken from people all over the world. I think I counted at LEAST eight or nine. It was awesome.

Bonnie Burk, Brittney Palmer, Taeler Herr, Jill Wood, Denise Griffith, Jonathan Arnell (tall blonde) in front of the monastery.

The monastery.

Look how small we are compared to the monastery!!

Inside the monastery.

Doing some exercises in front of the monastery.

For lunch earlier that day, we had an amazing meal right there in Petra among all the enormous structures. They told us we would be having a Bedouin meal, so to be honest I didn’t really expect much. However, much to my surprise, we had steak and rice and chicken and it seemed like everything was gourmet. It was one of the best meals I had while in Jordan. It was definitely one of my favorite meals, especially because we were also eating in PETRA amongst all these amazing structures!!

We then hiked up to something that was used as a sacrificial high place back in those times, around the 2nd century, if I remember correctly. The view up there was amazing. We could see the monastery and all the tombs that we had seen earlier that morning. I’m so glad I hiked up there to get a panoramic view of the entire area of Petra.

Hiking up to the "high place" where they made sacrifices.

Hiking buddies! (Jill Wood, Kate Thompson, Corina Cox, and Stella Nickerson)

Corina Cox and me at the top of the "high place"

Doing some more exercises...

We then made our way back to the entrance of Petra and I got some ice cream. So delicious in that desert heat. I really can’t imagine what it would be like to be there in the summer time. It got very hot, but it was all VERY worth it. I loved Petra!! I know that Rachel is probably super jealous now, and there’s definitely reason to be.

We then went and had dinner at the Ambassador Hotel. The food was not the best and the rooms there were pretty questionable, but it was definitely a fun experience and I would not take it back.

The next morning (Wednesday), we all got up for an early breakfast and departed for a place called Jerash. It was by far one of my favorite places we visited while in Jordan. We explored the ancient ruins of a city and sang in a huge theater that they would have used in those times.

Ruins in Jerash.

We also had a couple of guys from our group who sang in the BYU Mens’ Chorus sing a couple of songs for us. I love listening to them sing! One of my favorite parts of our stay in Jerash was when there were hundreds of little school girls passing by on their field trips, and I was just walking along in our little BYU group of students walking past them, and all of a sudden a HUGE group of little girls ran over to me and stopped me and started asking me all these questions about where I was from and how old I was, and if I knew Hannah Montana. They also told me I was one of the most beautiful girls they’ve ever seen and they were all trying to take pictures with me. They were the sweetest (most excited) little girls I’d ever met. I loved talking with them. They literally swarmed around me and I couldn’t keep walking. It was a lot of fun.

Men playing drums and bagpipes.

Jeff Shirts from the BYU Mens Chorus performing a solo for us.

"Your tips accepted with grate thansfull." Ha.

A fork that we put underneath the column, and it actually MOVED!!!

Columns that are below the ground. That must mean that Jerash must have been much deeper. Awesome!

Sister Whipple makin a move on Jonathan Arnell (tall blonde).

Jordanian girls flocking to Eric Bushman and Eric Cook. They just can't keep away from them... Ha.

Natalie Stevenson, Lindsay Irion, Aaron Seiter, Corina Cox, Jill Wood, Mary White. Pointing to the Park City sticker in Jerash.

While we were in Jerash, I got to go see a real live chariot race and the types of marching formations and battles that they would have had back in those times. It was one of my favorite experiences. We also got to take pictures afterwards with the actors so I’ve got some cool pictures of me driving a chariot and with some weird barbarian men. It was awesome!

LEGIT battle formations.

They battled for us. It was pretty sweet.

Chariot racing. EPIC.

Just driving a chariot. No big deal.

Posing with a gladiator man.

Our next stop was lunch at the Green Valley Restaurant. That was another one of my favorite meals. The pita was freshly baked and they were about the size of five of my heads. I loved it. The other food we ate at this restaurant (lamb and vegetables) was equally spectacular!

Some of the BEST pita I've ever had.

Watching them make the pita.

The finished product.

We then made a stop at Jabbok River, which was the spot where Jacob wrestled with an angel. It was really beautiful to look out on the river, and then think about what had happened there.

It was a bit windy...

We then made the drive over to Amman, where we met at the Branch House with President Hoffman. This man was amazing! He worked as an interrogator for the U.S. Army for 23 years. He was a linguist in the Gulf War. He graduated with a degree in German, and he also speaks Arabic. He said that there were originally four people that met there in the Amman Jordan Branch, and now they have 65 people that attend. He said that they are not recognized as a church there in Amman, and instead they are called an “educational and cultural center.” I loved what he said about how: “If you are a good member of the church, you proselyte by the way you live your life.” It was so interesting to listen to him and I gained a lot of good insight. I really enjoyed that experience.

"Center for Cultural and Educational Affairs: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"

"Welcome to the Amman Jordan Branch"

The room where we had the fireside.

Conference talk in Arabic by Elder Eyring.

Arabic Book of Mormon.

This is the building where we had our fireside in Jordan.

Our next stop was another questionable dinner at the Ambassador Hotel. I will just say that eating that food (and again, we were advised NOT to eat the salads or any fresh fruit) made me really appreciate going back to the center and eating such amazing food back at “home.” It was actually not as bad as I’m making it sound to be though. It was decent. Curfew was again at 10:30 and I ended up going to bed pretty early.

The next morning (Thursday), we all woke up and had another early breakfast at the hotel. We then checked out and made our way over to a mosque. It was HUGE! We had to take our shoes off and cover ourselves with these long black robes that looked like they were straight out of a Harry Potter movie. It was a nice change from all of those churches we had been inside that smelled so strongly of incense.

Getting suited up to enter the mosque in Jordan... Harry Potter?

Again... Harry Potter?

Acting hardcore in our robes.

We then drove over to the Citadel overlook and Museum and saw a lot of ancient ruins. (Sorry if you’re getting sick of hearing about ancient ruins and tells, you really have no idea how many cisterns and ruins and tells we’ve seen here. We even had an award on our bus for ‘most excited to see a cistern,’ just because they’ve gotten so old.) Anyway, it was pretty interesting to go inside the museum and see all the things they found there. We also saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was pretty amazing.

Driving through Jordan.

 

Citadel Overlook.

"Child Burial: The burial of infants in jars was a common custom in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Palestine. The jar was generally placed under the living room floor possibly to keep the child within the family circle."

"Dead Sea Scrolls, 3rd Cent. B.C. - A.D. 1st century.

Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Pieces of the leather Dead Sea scrolls, Found at Qumran, first century AD"

We then left that place and passed by a HUGE Roman theater and we also saw the US Embassy. We were all so excited to see an American flag! They also told us that we were not allowed to take any pictures of the American Embassy, and if they did see anyone taking pictures, they would stop our bus. So, as you can imagine, we were all pretty careful about that. It was a little scary.

Roman Theater.

Driving through the city.

We then stopped at Bethany, beyond the Jordan Baptismal Site. It was pretty amazing to see the place where Christ may have been baptized.

Here's the OTHER site at which they believe He may have been baptized:

We then went inside the Church of St. John the Baptist. It was really intricate inside (just like most of the other churches we’ve been in), and it (like all of the other ones) smelled strongly of incense and was decorated with LOTS of religious artwork.

We then got back on the buses and made our way back across the border. We literally sat in the bus for an hour and a half waiting until they told us it was okay for us to cross the border. We all just started singing and sharing food and playing games while we waited. It was actually pretty fun. We then took all of our stuff off the buses (they make you transfer buses and bus drivers when you cross the border), and went through security. Everything went smoothly once again. We arrived back at the center around five.

Jordan was such a wonderful place, and I really wouldn’t mind going back there again. I learned a lot about the culture and I really enjoyed Petra. It was definitely one of the highlights of that trip. You all would love it I’m sure.

Today, we got the privilege of finishing up watching Sunday session of Conference. It was really awesome to listen to those talks and have such a new connection with all the places they were talking about, like Gethsemane and Bethany. Coming here has really made all of those places completely come to life. I’m so thankful for that. I loved listening to Conference, and it was such an amazing blessing to be able to watch it from the other side of the world!!

Hope you’re all doing well and you’re preparing for more finals just like I am. I’ll be praying for you.

Love,
Jill

Some quotes I thought you might enjoy (most of them are from Sunday session of conference):
-You are like a 20 dollar bill… you may be torn and battered and tattered, but you are STILL a 20 dollar bill.

-Do not confuse the SIN with the sinner; do not condemn before having compassion.

-In the most difficult circumstances of life, there is often only ONE source of peace… the Prince of Peace.

-No matter the size of the issue, how we respond can reset the course of our life.

-Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually.

-It is appropriate to disagree, but NOT appropriate to be disagreeable.

- When you make a mistake, learn everything you can from it, and throw the rest away. --> Sister Whipple, service couple at BYU JC