JORDAN

I've been in Jordan for the last four days and it was incredible. Luckily the border crossing went well both times. Sadly I didn't get a Jordanian stamp either :( but life goes on right. It was really cool. One of our first stops was at Mt. Nebo. This is where Moses had the opportunity to look out over the promised land even though he knew he would never be allowed to enter it. It was an amazing view and it was cool because you could see the Jordan (Me on Mt. Nebo) River and the Dead Sea as seen in the picture to the right.

Our first night we stayed in Petra and we went exploring for ice cream. (climbing up by the We happened to run into the teachers and followed them because they had Monastery) been there before and they love ice cream more than I do. We found the ice cream shop but it had closed at 7 PM. We didn't give up and we went into a fancy hotel restaurant. They had ice cream there and it was like $4 for a scoop. We debated and then Carlee spoke up saying she would treat the birthday boy to ice cream. Of course a number of us jumped on that one too. So we stayed and it was great. We had fun chatting and sitting in a nice hotel. We decided that we would just have to make it the best ice cream ever. It did turn out to be really really good. The great thing about field trips is that I tend to get lots of sleep because so many (Me in Petra) things close down early.

This trip was really neat because it was a very spiritual growing time for me. The sights weren't exceptionally spiritual by any means but the Lord blessed me to have many spiritual experience. I have to attribute many to the fact that I love to serve (Me, Carlee, and Kerri and I feel the spirit so much more when I am focused on others. Carlee playing by the caves) and Sarah both happened to get really sick on this trip so I spent a lot of my time, thoughts, and prayers focused on them. It was incredible.

My favorite stop was Petra. We hiked down the canyon and it was a lot like hiking in Southern Utah. We saw the treasury from the Indiana Jones movie. It was really cool. One of the goddesses carved on the temple is Nike. We had tons of fun taking pictures and goofying around with pictures, hats, and whips. Then I hiked up to the monastery, part of the class took donkeys (caves in Petra) up. It was really cool once up there because it was about a 6-7 foot climb. The boys would each grab a hand and they would pull you up and it felt like you were flying. It was so much fun. Then we sang songs in a large cave like room. It was way cool.

When ever we are on a field trip we always eat the same thing. Plain pasta, a potato dish (usually a little weird), rice (plain), beef or funny colored chicken (bright yellow or purple), pitas, and hummus. In Petra it was fun because they had falafel. We ate faster than they had predicted so we had an extra hour to hike out of (Kerri and I in canyon) of the canyon. It was my favorite part because we went and climbed around in the caves and holes in the rocks. The rock there has incredible colors. Their are caves everywhere because the Bedouins used to live there until recently when Petra was named one of the modern 7 wonders of the world. Then they kicked the Bedouins out. We just goofed around and I loved it.

The bathroom there was definitely built in a Bedouin cave. It was pretty sweet. On the last part of the way out from Petra we rode horses. It was so fun. I want to go real horse back riding some time because I never had. This was my first time I can remember when I was on a horse by myself. It was so fun because I honestly laughed the entire time. We trotted and the little Bedouin man ran (I got shot in front of the temple treasury) the whole time to try and keep up. My horse was white with long and curly hair. Her name was Suzanna. It was so fun though.

For the first two days of the field trip I wasn't able to sit with my seat buddy, Carlee, because she gets really car sick and the tourist (Brother and Sister Draper) police took my seat one day and Bro. Huntington took it the next day. I was really excited when finally on the third day I could sit with her. It was such a blessing though. We had a long drive to Amman after Petra. I was selected as the designated note taker for anyone who was sick or gets car sick. Bro. Draper gave like an hour and half lecture and almost all of the bus fell asleep. It was really funny. I was definitely awake and had dreams about not taking good enough notes the night after. It was pretty funny. The first night in the hotel in Amman, I had fun just hanging out and talking with some friends. I was able to get to bed early and that is always nice.

The spiritual experiences came full (Me on my horse Susannah)force in Amman. Carlee got really sick and I was able to sit by her. I have always had friends with health problems since middle school and I feel like it is something the Lord has blessed me with, that is to be able to recognize it and I try to help and comfort them. We went to Jerash and Carlee (Trevor the Hercules) was miserable. I took pictures for her because she is really into photography but couldn't hold her camera steady. Toward the end of the tour after we had seen plenty I got permission for us to head back. It was fun to be there to help her and the Lord blessed me with some unique insights.

I also had my first bargaining (Trev man and I in Jerash) experience. Luckily it was a soft merchant. I finally found a bag I like. I was able to get it for $8 which is the cheapest anyone has purchased a bag for yet. It was fun though. I just find it incredible how powerful it can be when all of your prayers and thoughts are focused on turning to the Lord for one person. Poor Carlee was sick for the rest of the trip though. We had fun doing things together though, and we still saw all of the sights. It was amazing to see how happy she was once we made it back to the JC.

I felt like Jordan was the perfect length for a field trip. Egypt was a little long. Jordan was really nice because it is very modern and clean still. We still couldn't drink the water and had to be careful about what we ate but the environment was clean. Oh yeah, in Amman on Halloween we went with (Me against a pillar at the professors and got ice cream from Hercules temple) Mc Donald's. It was amazing because it tasted like real ice cream and I had two cones for less than a dollar (they were small cones). Then we went to the super market and I had so much fun just walking around because it was set up like a normal store. It was so comforting and they had more American foods. Overall it was a

(Carlee and I at the Jabbok River) trip and I loved it.