Day 7: The Grand Finale

The last day of our kids' visit was EXTRA special.....Here's what we did....

Got up early, selected seats for the trip home....

Packed a lunch and headed south.  Dad wanted to stop at the Jabok river again to show everyone what it looks like in the daylight.  Five minute stop, then back on the road again, heading south to Amman, Madaba and Mt. Nebo.

Arrived at Mt. Nebo 3 hours later and took the tour.  Our GPS told us to go right, then go right again and then right again (around in a circle).  We were tempted to throw it out the window.  Good thing we could remember how to get there.

Here it is!  Mount Nebo!!

These two guys met us at the gate and offered to be our tour guides.  The guy on Dad's right told us he was 90 years old.  We chose him.

A great view!

It was a beautiful day and we could see Jericho in the distance.  

Moses was allowed to see the promised land but not go there.  They say he is buried nearby. 

Leaving Mt. Nebo, we drove south on a winding road that went down, down, down to the dead sea.  

 The further down we went, the warmer the temperature became until we reached Salt where is was 72 degrees!  We loved it.  This is part of the Jordan River Valley where most of the produce for this area grows.  I've never seen so many flies.

Notice the elevation:  -1080 feet below sea level.  

The river Jordan is quite small at this point because so much of the water is used upstream for watering crops.

We could see and wave to people across the river in Israel.

These people baptized themselves by bobbin up and down in the water.  They were all having a good time.  

We had a good time, too.

 The Dead Sea is very near the baptismal site and it was late afternoon when we got there.  The public beach wasn't the greatest, but it was free so that's where we went.  We didn't think the kids would actually go in.the water.  A group of Muslim women (all covered up) and their children were watching these crazy Americans in bathing suits.

The water is so salty and great for floating.  Watch out if you have a cut and don't get the water in your eyes--it really stings!  

Everybody piled back into the van for a 1-hour ride back to the Amman Center where there were warm showers.  Then a quick Chinese dinner and off to the Airport.

Goodbye!!  We had a great time.

Day 6: Um Qais and Ajloun

We have a very handy-dandy piece of equipment in our car called a GPS.  Sometimes it gets us where we want to go and other times it doesn't.  Today we decided not to trust the GPS, but to follow the signs (as far as we could read them) to Um Qais.  Um Qais is an ancient Roman city overlooking Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee).  Our trip took us through some beautiful country and the weather was absolutely perfect.

A member of the Church who works for the department of antiquities arranged for us to have a VIP tour of the site.  We felt very important.

It was nice to have Abraham for our guide.  His name is easy to remember.

This area is where Jesus cast out the evil spirits from two men who were possessed.  The spirits were sent to a herd of swine who then went running down into the sea and were drowned.  

Matthew 8:28-34

The city's hilltop location gave it great military as well as commercial importance.  From this point you can see the Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights (Israel) and Syria.  

We walked down the main road that leads into the city.  The marks of wagon wheels can still be seen in the stone.

Ruins of old shops line the road

The pillars lining the road are massive.  We wondered how they were constructed.

You'll never guess what's down here!

Burial tombs!   Since we were there with a guide who had a key we were able to go inside.  

We were so glad we had a flashlight feature on our cell phone.  The tomb was a maze of burial rooms. 

Abraham pointed out other interesting places, such as elaborate public bath houses and then to the coliseum in the center of town.  The coliseum is very well preserved and has comfortable carved seats for dignitaries.  Mom was ready to sit down and rest her feet for a minute. 

 The last experience was the best of all the game--a private tour of a tunnel beneath the city. 

Everyone was ready for lunch at the hilltop restaurant overlooking Um Qais and the surrounding country.

Next, our plan was to drive down through the Jordan River Valley to an old castle at Ajloun, but the GPS went crazy and took us back to Irbid, down heavily crowded streets and back alleys.  We didn't know what else to do but follow the directions and wait in traffic.  We knew it would be dark (4:30) before we could get to Ajloun, so we phoned ahead and made arrangements for the guards to let us in.

In the end, it was fun to have the whole castle to ourselves (except for a few drunk Russian boys--but they left).  We walked across the bridge over the moat and up the steps.  It was awesome.

A pile of rocks used to throw down at anyone who dares to attack.

Back home again in Husn we had one more stop--to visit the home of Emad Abwe and his family.  They were absolutely thrilled that we would come to visit.

Day 5: Church and Jerash

We don't think we'll ever get used to having the Sabbath on Friday.  What is the name of the class after Sacrament meeting--Sunday School or Friday School?  If the Sabbath is on Friday, then is Thursday really Saturday?  It's so confusing to me, but the rest of the family just went along with it.

The attendance at church always falls off if we have an activity the night before.  So we waited to see who would attend church the morning after the branch party.  We were pleasantly surprised.  There were about 10 in attendance.  That's good.  

Jill, Kristen and Kevin were given the opportunity to say a few words and bear their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting.  It was very sweet, and we had tears in our eyes.  Words cannot express how proud we are of all of our children (all of them!!)

I think Dad was hoping the Sunday School teacher wouldn't show up so he could ask Kevin to substitute. Sure enough, the teacher wasn't there--so we had a special treat.  Kevin taught a great lesson from the Book of Mormon and Morad translated.  There was a lot of class participation.  It was awesome.

After church we decided to take a quick trip to Jerash about 40 miles south of Al Husn to see the ancient ruins.  Jerash has one of the most well preserved sites of Roman architecture outside Italy.  Going into the park costs money, and since it was the Sabbath, we knew we wouldn't be doing that.  However....we were able to see some interesting ruins right in the city of Jerash.  We all enjoyed exploring in this area.  Our GPS took us on a crazy route, down some back roads and around a very tight alleyway.  We all had a good laugh.  There's a much better way, but not nearly as exciting as the one we took.

Hadrian's Arch was built in 129 AD for the visit of the emperor Hadrian.   This is as close as we could get without having to pay.  

 The Jabbok River isn't very far from Jerash and even though it was getting dark we made a quick stop for a look.  

Anciently, Jacob crossed this river on his way back to Canaan.  It was here that he had a "wrestle" with the Lord, received a blessing and a new name--Israel.  

Day 4: Visiting Mom and Dad's Projects

Day 4 was spent visiting some of the LDSC projects we have in the area around northern Jordan.

We met the principal and the vice principal of the Al Kadaja Primary School.  All three of our children were so friendly and kind.  We we were really proud of them.

This is one of the classroom heaters we donated to the school.  It really puts out the heat!

After visiting the school we drove down a main street in Al Husn and passed a butcher shop where a live goat was on the sidewalk, waiting his fate.  The girls were fascinated that people actually kill the animals and prepare the meat right out in the open, so we stopped for a closer look.  We were hesitant at first, but the owner was so flattered he insisted on taking pictures with everyone, especially Jill.  Are those the biggest hands you've ever seen?  We called him Shreck.

Everyone laughed and laughed.  We never did get to watch them kill the goat......

If  you don't like goat, the shop owner across the street has fat tasty chickens...

The guy constructing the classroom chairs for us invited us to his home for dinner.  We said "nshala" which means maybe / maybe not or God willing.  We would like to but there just wasn't enough time.

The people in Jordan are so hospitable you can't go anywhere to visit anyone without being offered something to drink.  The only problem with drinking so much is that there aren't any restrooms handy.  The introduction to Jordanian restrooms was a shocker for Jill and Kristen. . . but if you have to go bad enough, you'll use them.  It takes practice.

No sitting...no flushing...no paper...

We were given a very thorough tour of the Altkaful Health Center in Ramtha.  The director is very pleased with the donation of medications by LDS Charities.

Ramtha is right next to the Syrian border so we drove to the border checkpoint but it was closed.  No one is going in or out from here.  That's okay.  We didn't want to go to Syria anyway.

Next on the agenda was the branch Christmas party.  The kids assembled bags of candy for the branch members.  We think they are expecting bigger gifts, but oh well.....

Kevin brought the movie "Ice Age" but we couldn't get it to work.

Everyone had a good time anyway.  Fayez played the flute.  . . .

 We played games and took pictures . . . .

and had a nice dinner . . oozie and mansif, salad and yogurt.  It was very delicious.