Jordan Feild Trip: Day 1-- Through a Wilderness

Days in advance we prepared for a major trip, four days in Jordan. “No Hebrew writing” They warned. “Make sure you are wearing modest clothes because that is the best means of preventing harassment”. No matter how many pictures they showed us or how long they oriented us, there was no way to prepare us for the wonderful things we would see and experience in Jordan. I didn't exactly know what to expect either.

Bus rides are fun, but I've discovered i can't do any homework on the bus or it makes me sick. Sometimes i feel antisocial because turning around and talking to people gives me a headache. And then I get drowsy and tend to just nap on the bus even though I'd rather look out the windows at the country. It didn't take us long to get to the Jordan river which is the physical and political border between Israel and Jordan. We went through border control, which they told us would take a long time and the people would be grumpy if we didn't get there early to avoid the masses. Like usual, they (meaning the teachers and administration) over dramatized the situations and we passed through security and passport control quickly and without problems.

The landscape near the dead sea was empty and barren; somewhat flat and very brown. The atmosphere was much warmer and more humid. It changed slightly as we began to climb through the desert mountains up to the top of mount Nebo where Moses led the children of Israel. We could see Jericho in the distance. A sliver of the dead sea, a faint black line which was the river Jordan, and only because it was a rather clear day, a blur so distant it could almost be imagined, which was the hills of Jerusalem, the backside of the mount of olives.

This is the oldest map in of the middle east. You can see Jerusalem right in the center

This is the sign outside the church which had the mosaic map. It made me want to go home and get a bunch of pieces of rock and make my own mosaic art. 

This is my roommate Sarah Jane. She is standing on top of Macherus. The dead sea in in  far is just beyond those hills behind her. I (attempted to) sketch this exact scene. (Minus SJ of course)

This is SJ and my other roommie Kylie standing by the (reconstructed) pillars on the ruins of Macherus

Our tour guide's name was Mohamed. He was very knowledgeable and very meticulous. He discussed the Muslim understandings about Moses and how the church on the top of the mountain was to commemorate Moses. He said that it was originally built and then excavated because people were looking for the tomb of Moses. After his lecture, we pulled out our scriptures and discussed with brother Harper how the restored scriptures help us understand that Moses in fact did not die but was carried up to heaven. Its not like he was trying to contradict what Mohamed was saying, but we were just exploring what we know and how we know it. Nebo was really cool to me because that morning I had written a paper on how Moses gathered the children of Israel to the base of the mountain and then Moses ascended up to the mountain (which is symbolic of the temple) to learn about the covenants of God and the higher priesthood. The children of Israel didn't understand and didn't want to understand the principles and ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood which is a huge part of the reason why God had them wander around in the desert rather than go straight to the promised land. Even though it was in their sight if they just looked hard enough, because they weren't humble and obedient, they couldn't receive those blessings until they were ready. This makes me want to do everything I can to be ready to receive the blessings God has promised me and not waste time in a worldly dessert.

We then traveled to a special Greek orthodox church were the oldest map of the middle east has been found. It was a huge mosaic on the floor of this church originally displaying the whole area from turkey to Egypt. Now, because of damage over the centuries, all that remains is a small portion of Jordan and some of Israel. Jerusalem was the center of the map at it's full size. Also still in the mosaic is t part of the river Jordan and all of the dead sea. two bridges across the river could be seen. These are still the main crossing points today. One interesting thing about the mosaics was that there were originally images of animals and men. At one point in history (and this is where my facts are not all solid because I can't remember who or when, but the general idea is here) the leaders decided that worship in the church should have been more centered on god and less focus on distracting artwork, so they erased/destroyed any representation of beast or man. In this ancient map, we could tell that one image was a lion because the back legs are still intact and also because it it chasing a lamb The lamb wasn't destroyed and I think I remember being told that was because it was a symbol of Christ and could be preserved.

We drove for quite awhile and ate lunch and headed through more dessert. We stopped at Macherus. This was the place where john the baptist was most likely beheaded and where he was imprisoned. It was the ruins of a fortress on top of a rather high hill. The climb was steep and exhausting. After we got to the top we discussed how this was significant to our gospel understanding. We discussed the record in the scriptures about how Herod was so easily swayed by his wife and the dancer Salome. He was a rather pitiful man. I loved the view from this mountain top. We could see the dead sea again really well just beyond some hills. I sketched the cliffs and the also on of the capitals from the ruins of the Herod's fortress. One thing that amazed me about this view was the layers of rock in the hills. Being a bit of a geology guru and having taken some classes on this, it was fun to see the evidence of geological shifts in the earths crust. The folds in the sedimentary layers of earth were so fascinating. I know there is a word for when the earth bends like that rather than fracturing and breaking. It made me want to go out there and analyze the deposition and erosion. Also, there were many little cave homes dug into the hills and the soft limestone. They were from earlier civilizations I wanted to explore those hills some more. We left there just as the sun was setting behind the remaining fortress pillars atop the lone peak in that valley of folded earth. Breathtaking view

We drove about five hours all the way to Petra and ended up at a rather nice hotel. The buffet style food was very decorative with flowers and fruit cut into shapes, but it was a rather typical meal of the middle east. Rice, Chicken, Pita, and stuff to put with the pita. Our meal was accompanied by two musicians who played drums and a flute type instrument. Dinner turned into a dance party, which I left prematurely due to exhaustion, but I could still hear stomping feet above my hotel room as I got ready for bed. I had dreams about living in a tent and trekking across a desert. It might be nice to be a Bedouin? But maybe not. My sheets and mattress were much to familiar and comfortable. I knew i'd need a good sleep because we were going to spend most of the next day in Petra!