BYU Jerusalem: Jordan Field Trip Day 1

We drove down to the Jordan Valley for the border crossing early in the morning as to beat the border lines and traffic. This was a process, we had to have our luggage scanned, go through customs, and change to Jordanian busses. After our crossing we drove up to mount Nebo, the traditional site where Moses saw the promised land of Canaan and then “died”. We had a nice devotional and sang a hymn. There were hundreds of flies attacking us during the process. We then drove to the city of Madaba and walked to St George Greek orthodox church to see a famous ancient mosaic map of the holy land. The Church was sweet, there were tons of other mosaic pictures that were more modern, but unbelievable. We then walked through the city to a restaurant for a way tasty lunch. We then bussed for an hour and a half to Machaerus, one of 6 Herodian palaces and the site where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. We hiked up this huge hill to get there, had a good devotional then took some pictures. We then drove through the Jordanian desert during sunset with a full moon rising and I was listening to the grateful dead. The desert was sweet with random cinderblock homes with kids herding livestock and lights starting to glow from the houses in the dusk’s haze. It was a memorable drive in a foreign land. We arrived at our hotel in Petra with the hotel people greeting us with orange juice drinks on the sidewalk and two horses to take pictures with. During dinner there was a local guy playing a Jordanian stringed instrument (guitar-like) being accompanied with a beat coming from his keyboard. Of course during the course of my meal I hear some commotion and look to see a dozen of our group starting a dance party in the dining area and all the workers, even the chefs, coming out and taking photos with their cameras and phones. The manager came and shut it down. I found out you can go up on the roof of our hotel and it was magical. The moon was full and bright and there was a strong cool breeze. Our hotel was located in the middle of a valley surrounded by these huge hills that were dotted with lights from houses and other hotels. The roof was a tiled and looked like they used to serve food up there or something. I said a personal prayer and sat and pondered for a little bit. I then went down to the lobby and invited Emily to come to the roof with me, she was keen. So we went up and talked and enjoyed the view, a few other students came and went, then I taught her how to do some Latin dances. She was doing well…bless her heart, she did improve though. Madison and Kaylen came out and danced as well. After Emily and I continued to try and improve her dance skills then sat and talked. It was an awesome night.