The Beautiful Amman Center

We spent our first two nights in Jordan at the brand new Amman center in downtown Amman.  The Amman center is the entire second floor of an office building and is the first church owned property in Jordan.  Elder Holland will come to dedicate the center in November. 

We took the elevator up from the underground parking lot and as soon as the doors opened and we stepped off, we saw a huge painting of Christ hanging on the wall.  Instantly, a warm sweet reverent feeling surrounded us and we felt like we were entering and walking on holy ground. (which is amazing since we were on the second floor).  

The center will have several uses--a large modern conference room for visitors to come and have humanitarian meetings, etc., meetinghouse facilities for two large branches, and a large apartment for the senior couple with 2 guest rooms for visitors, like us and the other couple.  All the furnishings were shipped from Salt Lake.  It couldn't be nicer.  

Welcome to Jordan!

Ron and Sandi Hammond, the senior missionary couple in Jordan, were at the airport to meet us, but they had to wait over an hour because our luggage was the last off the plane.  The three-month supply of medications Lynn had in his bag set off a security alarm, but the issue was soon resolved and we were on our way.  Lynn is an expert in dealing with big burly security guards.

The evening weather was very pleasant and the airport was clean, well lit and safe.   We had a nice ride into town, about 35 minutes .  As we were going along I looked out the window and noticed several young men holding AK-47s riding in the back of two pickup trucks a short distance away.  Suddenly they fired off a few shots into the air.  I looked over at Sandi in surprise and she quickly explained that it's fairly common for people to shoot their guns when they're celebrating something.  No worries.  Whew!!  Glad to hear that!!

The trip to Amman

We left for Jordan on Wednesday morning and arrived in Jordan the next afternoon--20 hours later. Actually it wasn't a bad trip--taking an Ambien really helped.

Endless details

Preparing to go on a mission is a lot of work!

Paint the house . . . . .

Tear up the garden . .  (so sad!)

Do a ton of paperwork  . . .

Sell the car . . .

The Call

The family all knew where we would be going, but when the call came we decided to make a big production out of opening it and to let the grandchildren share the excitement.  We went to Brian's house in Springville, spread out the map of the world on the table and everyone pretended to guess where we were going by putting a penny on a spot on the map. Kristen was there and Kevin skyped in.

 

Surprise!!  It's Jordan!!

Preparing to Go

It took us almost all summer to fill out the paperwork and get everything ready to submit our application.  We were surprised that it took so long, but doctors and dentists appointments, forms, and everything else takes time.  First thing we did was have our picture taken.

OUR MISSION TO JORDAN

April Interview in Salt Lake City at the Church Administration Building

For the past three years we've been Church Service missionaries, serving as specialists for the measles immunization initiative.   It's been a wonderful experience that we've enjoyed very much but the Church hasn't had an assignment for us for nearly a year.  We went to Salt Lake and asked some of our friends in the humanitarian department if there was anything else we could do.   it wasn't long after our visit before we received a phone call asking us if we would be interested in interviewing for a humanitarian mission in Jordan. Of course, we said yes.  We wrote up our "resume" and made an appointment for the interview with Elder Bruce Porter and Elder Bruce Carlson of the Quorum of the Seventy in the Church Administration Building.

The interview went well and we went back down to the underground parking lot where we saw Elder Holland  and then President Monson pass by.  How cool is that?

Then we waited.....and waited.  We knew there were several other couples being interviewed for the same calling, and after nearly three months we figured that we hadn't got the job.  But to our surprise the phone call came and we were called to come back to Salt Lake for another meeting with Elders Porter and Carlson.  They offered us the calling and we accepted.