"Just as the Israelites have passed through Moab"

JORDAN:

Our time in Jordan was short but was absolutely wonderful. However, our time in Jordan started out on a rather sour note. We travelled on a ferry from Egypt to Jordan that was PACKED with people. Long story short, after a traumatic luggage retrieval, one of the guy's in our group bag was stolen while he was helping someone else. This was a disappointing way to start off the trip,especially in addition to some other unfortunate occurrences, but it really challenged us as a group to put Bishop Thomas' words into practice and truly strive to love everyone. However this is not what I remember from Jordan. We started off our stay in Aqaba, which is right by the Red Sea. We took a relaxing day and just walked around the city. I, of course, ended up at the beach. I can't express how amazing it is to be in the place where these incredible biblical stories took place. Now onto the camel ride! After Aqaba, we went to Wadi Rum (where Mollie Lehman if you are reading this, is where Star Wars was filmed). We camped out with the Bedouins for 2 nights.This included camels, jeep rides, hookah, mountain climbs, Arabic coffee and relaxing together as a group. The picture below is my view of the entire four hour ride. My camel (who shall remain nameless so that i could sing "i'm riding through the desert on a camel with no name") loved Travis! He nuzzeled up to him at any given opportunity. 

A crazy thing happened (well a lot of crazy things happened) but while we were in the camp I met a US Army man from Greencastle, Pennsylvania! Go figure I'd be in the middle of no where and meet someone from my home town. After we left Wadi Rum, we headed to Petra. Which was amazing! We toured in the morning and then in the afternoon we held a "church service" in an old monestary where Christians use to worship. It was beautiful... everyone was amazed by the four part harmony...we thanked out mennonite ancestors. 

After our church service, we climbed to a peak to look over the Negev. It was breathtakingly beautiful. 

We ended our time in Jordan on Mount Nebo. Which ended up being rainy and freezing but honestly was such a special moment for me. To stand on the mountain peak and read straight from the bible literally where we were standing is amazing. 

        Deuteronomy 34:1

"Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land--from Gilead to Dan,"

Overall, our time in Jordan was great. Tomorrow, I'll start updating you on my time here in Palestine... which has been life changing in itself.