Here is a post Audry wrote about our past few weeks here....
also, wanted to point out that I'm a lazy blogger.
Spring Break Jordan Style
We as the Jordan 5 this year are somewhat hopeless when it comes to writing prompt updates on this blog. It's not that we don't want to keep you infomed, but we are definitely not naturals at this whole blogging thing and for that we apologize.
We have experienced so much in the past few weeks of which I’d like to give you an overview. Most of us began our spring breaks on Thursday evening March 25th and within hours of the beginning we welcomed our first guests, the Hoyer family, who are currently living in Tel-Aviv. We enjoyed the first of many dinners around enlarged dining room tables which was a welcome change to the normal 5 seater tables. The next day we welcomed more family to our group with the arrival of Jamie's dad and brother-in-law and my sister. It is a unique experience to go to the airport here in Amman. The arrival gate, for those coming through customs at least, is a very narrow opening in a wall with a bar to block those waiting on the outside from crowding too close. It was so crowded there at 4:30 in the afternoon with whole families waiting to welcome loved ones or friends. I remember when we first arrived here in Amman back in August, the man (Khalid) from ABS that was there to greet us pointed out that even at 3am (our first arrival time) whole families will still come to welcome their travelers. So after our excitement filled pick up at the airport we came back to begin and enjoy the first Sabbath we'd experienced with that large of a family since the Feast of Tabernacles in October.
There were 13 of us here together for the Sabbath through the First Day of Unleavened Bread. One highlight through these Holy Days was simply having live speakers that we could speak with and learn from even after the services were ended. Simply having more iron to sharpen iron is an amazing part of having so many of God's people together. We had a true feast when it comes to the messages God blessed us with. Passover was inspiring and memorable. Since we were observing it here in our apartments, we as the Jordan 5 were a little more involved in the preparations than we might otherwise have typically been. It brought a certain vividness and attention to things and consideration of all the meaning in the Passover service.
Some of us were able to see a few of the sites in Jordan on the day before and of Passover. That first Sunday we began the first of many travels with Eduardo as our driver. We (the Hoyer family, Jamie, Mr. Franks, Kris - Jamie's brother-in-law, Eduardo, Bobbi - my sister and I) made the hour or so journey north to the city of Jerash. (Stephanie still had some work to do for the security center and Kelley decided to stay home for the day.) We walked the ancient Roman streets and tried to put ourselves into the time period when the Romans occupied and built this city which was part of the decapolis (ten cities in this region of the world that were centers of Greco/Roman culture during the time of the Roman Empire).
We departed Jerash to travel directly south through Amman and on to Mt. Nebo where we took in the view that was the spot from which Moses first viewed the promised land. It is truly a far reaching view, but nowhere near as clear and encompassing as I think it must have been when Moses first saw it. Of course God's hand was also involved that time. (Deuteronomy 34).
We made it back to the apartments in the afternoon with a few hours left to clean up and prepare ourselves for the Passover service.
The next day we left pretty early so as to make the drive and enjoy part of the day in Petra. We spent part of the morning and early afternoon walking through the siq to the Treasury, taking in the amazing architectual designs of what were tombs when they were first constructed and up the 900+ steps to the Monastery.
It is amazing how something could be made of what would otherwise seem a land of desolation. Mr. Hoyer was a wonderful guide to us being knowledgeable about the history of Petra. One thing he pointed out was how some of the carvings were done in a particular way to allow for collection and retaining of water which would have been undetectable from an outsider's view but of course was the vital necessity for survival in such a harsh environment.
After our brief but enjoyable Petra adventure, we made it back to Amman in the late afternoon to finish up preparations for the Night to Be Much Observed. We enjoyed a mixed grill of chicken and beef with sides such as hummus, turkish salad, and other favorites with our homemade (by our inhouse baker Kelley) unleavened pita bread. Conversation was enjoyable and part of it was spent on reviewing the story of ancient Israel coming out of Egypt. The rest of the first Holy Day was spent with a good night's rest, a sit down brunch, services and then a sit-down dinner with lots of enjoyable conversation in between. The Hoyers left us that evening to begin a trip to India. The rest of us set off the next morning to spend a few days across the Jordan river in Jerusalem.
The trip across the border was made in good time and without too many delays at all. Upon our arrival to the hostel we (Eduardo, Stephanie, Kelley, Jamie, Mr. Franks, Kris, Bobbi and I), we were informed that our reservations could not be found and we would have to make do with another arrangement as far as numbers of rooms and beds in those rooms we would have to our disposal. It all worked out and we had plenty of space considering what we soon realized came to be of the entire hostel. Since we were there in Jerusalem during Days of Unleavened Bread and in the time leading up to Easter it was a very busy place. Our hostel was providing mattresses on the floor even in the community areas and hallways for people to sleep on. We had much to be thankful for in what we were given. During our few days in Jerusalem we saw many of the famous sites: the old city, Western Wall, Temple Mount (arriving 20 or so minutes before it was opened for only one hour), Mt of Olives, Garden Tomb, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, new Jewish district of the city and Hezekiah's Tunnel.
All of these sites as I'm sure you could imagine were cause for lots of thoughts and reviewing the history and future to come in Jerusalem. We also took a journey away from the old city a bit to Yad Vashem (way of remembrance) and the Holocaust Museum where we spent quite a few hours. It is easy to spend much more than a few hours with the amount of detail that has been spent to show the extremeties of what happened in that time in history.
We had the opportunity to sample unleavened hamburgers from McDonalds in the Jewish part of the new city.
This experience along with seeing some headlines in a newspaper left in our hostel lobby area brought to my mind thinking about what it will be like when the whole world observes the Days of Unleavened Bread. Will there be restaurants serving unleavened hamburgers, will there be unleavened bread factories, what will the headlines look like if there are any? I know these are not necessarily important questions, but interesting to think about nonetheless.
Visiting Jerusalem is always a memorable and striking experience for me. Being there in the place where so much has happened as well as where there is still much to come is indeed stirring. At the same time, I am always thankful for the understanding that God does not simply live there in Jerusalem, but that He is with His people wherever they are. It can be rather saddenning to see so many put so much of what they believe and hope in a particular place and and things instead of in God Himself.
We (including our additional family member, Stephanie's sister Erica who had joined us in Jerusalem the day before) arrived back in Amman on Friday afternoon and spent the Sabbath savoring the much needed rest. Although we were mostly site seeing and not necessarily working for the past week, I noticed how much the Sabbath was still something to be thankful for and a great blessing for the physical and mental rest. Towards the end of the Sabbath we welcomed more family Nate and Casey (friends of Stephanie and Eduardo) and enjoyed a dinner in our constantly changing numbered family (11 for that brief segment of time). We then said goodbye to Mr. Franks and Kris that night and welcomed Justin (Kelley's fiancee) the next afternoon. Sunday was a catch up and do errands day for some of us while others (Stephanie, Eduardo, Nate, Casey and Erica) went on a journey to Mt. Nebo, the Dead Sea and one of the many claimed baptism sites (of Jesus Christ). (Photo Below thanks to Nate and Casey)
On the Last Holy Day we listened to the sermon given by Mr. Kilough on the First Day in Spokane, WA on "Perception, Truth and the Days of Unleavened Bread." It was a very good reminder that we can only be putting unleavened bread into our lives if it is God's truth through His word that is our reality. We can not simply live by our perceptions to build Godly character unless what we're perceiving is God's truth which is only that defined by His word. It was a very good message to remember that we can not define truth of and by ourselves nor can we grow in Godly character without having truth (God's word) in our lives.
After sundown we made the trek down our hill and a bit further to eat at our favorite traditional food restaurant. After dinner a few of us stopped at our favorite sweets shop and then on to a bakery and produce stand to pick up some things for our next journey beginning in the morning. We left bright and early at 6am on Tuesday morning for Petra again with the whole group this time. We arrived somewhere around 9am and Bobbi, Jamie and I departed on a separate hike from the rest of the group for the day. The rest of the group did the traditional hike to the Monastery and back, but since Bobbi, Jamie and I had been there only a week before we decided we'd like to explore a little more. We set out to climb to the peak of what is called Mt. Hor and claimed to be Aaron's tomb today. Seeing it from a distance made it seem that goal was unattainable in a one day hike, but we began the adventure trusting words and maps Jamie had researched before that day.
Although part of our day was spent looking for "other trails" and we didn't quite make it onto the correct peak, we did see some spectacular views and now have some very memorable experiences. We stopped for tea with an older Bedouin couple, saw flocks of sheep and goats climbing the sides of the mountains with ease, walked through a dry riverbed, scrambled up sides of rocks to climb the mountain before us, walked a ways with 2 little Bedouin girls; these are some of many events that made this day as memorable as it is. We could see the claimed tomb with clarity on the next peak over, but needed to turn around at that point because of the time and still didn't make it back until an hour after our original meeting time with the rest of the group. Nate and Casey left us from Petra on a JETT tour bus to make it back to Amman for their midnight flight back home.
Tuesday night and Wednesday were the homestretch of all of our traveling during the couple weeks we were blessed with visitors. That night we spent in the tents of the guest house at Wadi Rum. We were all a bit worn from the day's hiking in Petra and so after devouring our grilled beef and vegetables we settled in for a good night's rest in our equally worn with access to a "starry sky view" tents. Good thing there's not much rain in a desert. ;) Wednesday was spent in the back of a 4WD truck sailing through the sand of the desert to various rock forms, dunes and other known sites to see.
One of the highlights was stopping for a picnic lunch and tea with our driver after climbing a rather large sand dune. Not long after we were cruising into the little village where the rest house is located and were on our way back to Amman. Thanks to Eduardo we made it back safely although we were in a hurry to return the rental van on time.
About 5 minutes before we got back, all of as passengers started grabbing all of our supplies and luggage so we could just hop out and Eduardo could keep on driving back to the rental place. No sooner had the van door opened in front of our apartment building when we heard a hissing noise and realized one of the front tires of the van had been punctured and was loosing air very quickly. It was somewhat unbelievable. We had made it to our front door and no further. Justin and Eduardo with the help of one of our neighbors changed the tire and although Eduardo was late with the rental, we were not charged extra for anything. We have so much to be thankful for it's overwhelming. :)
In the midst of all these activities and events we still had to keep in mind the thing we as the Jordan 5 had been training for for the past few months. We rested up on Thursday only taking a short trip to pick up our numbers for the marathon we had all registered to be a part of the next day. Our carb loading dinner consisted of spaghetti, garlic bread and salad and nervous anxiety. The day was actually coming. As we left Stephanie's and Eduardo's apartment to get a good night's rest, there was the sound of loud bagpipe music. We all looked at each other and just started laughing. Again a bit unbelievable that there would be this loud music in our apartment the one night we all were really trying to get a good night's rest. It turned out to be a really neat thing to witness though. We walked down the stairs to the apartment the music was coming from and got the unique experience of watching a bride and groom and the entire wedding party exit the apartment and fill the street in front. They all got in their cars and began the wedding parade that we have grown accustomed to here in Jordan. The bride and groom are always near the front in their car while the rest of the guests follow behind beeping in sync to celebrate. After the party left, we proceeded with our intentions to sleep.
Friday morning, April 9th, the day had arrived. We left the apartment just after 5 am to gather at King Hussein Park where we were to catch the designated bus for the starting lines. There were thousands of people surrounding the busses and no signs marking when and which bus would go where. (This sort of chaos is also a bit of something we've grown accustomed to in Jordan. Where there are not always logical and clearly explained ways of doing things.) After asking a number of volunteers who all seemed to have different answers we (Eduardo, Jamie, Kelley and I) somehow made it onto a bus and departed for the 42km line. Stephanie and Erica went on a bus to the 21km line and I'm sure they had a fun time figuring out which bus to take as well. We met some interesting people on our brief bus ride to the start line. I have a feeling that veteran runners of marathons always have interesting stories. I sat next to a man who has been a part of the iron man competitions numerous times and another man sitting behind me had climbed Mt. Everest and had run more than 200 marathons. He said he was running this Dead Sea Marathon to make it to the lowest point on earth since he'd already been to the highest. Kelley and I were both talking to this man and when he asked us how we'd come to run this particular race and how many we'd each ran, we looked at him wide-eyed replying this was our first. With all these events in quick succession we arrived at the starting line no more than 5 minutes before the gun went off. Fortunately we had done a lot of our preparation back at the gathering point.
The gun went off at 7:01 am and we ran and we ran and we kept running and battled many aches and pains and prayed much along the way. The first half of the race was all down hill which was definitely easy as far as effort put forth, but not so easy on the impact it gives to the body (knees and feet in particular). The marathon began in the city of Amman and ended at the Amman Public Beach at the Dead Sea. We all made it! I have to say that those were some of the longest hours I've experienced in life, but worth it to cross that finish line. We all made it through before 11:30 (results are posted at deadseamarathon.com if you want more details) and were completely exhausted sitting in the shade we could find for quite a while before embarking upon moving again. We parted ways for the afternoon. Justin and Kelley spent some time eating lunch with some of the teachers and students from the YMWA who had run in the "Fun Run" (4.2km) part of the race. Bobbi and I went to float in the Dead Sea for a while and the rest of the crew hopped on the busses heading back to Amman. When we all made it back to Amman, we had an early dinner of pizza and were asleep no later than 8. One particular lesson I've taken from running in training for the marathon is that to keep going at times it is a battle; in our spiritual lives even more so. We must keep going and rely on God for the strength to keep going to finally make it to that finish line which will be so much more exhilirating than crossing this physical finish line was.
The Sabbath was wonderful as usual and needed of course. We were joined by the Hoyer family that morning upon their return flight from India and Erica left us that evening.
Sunday morning the Hoyers left to go back to Tel-Aviv and we all went back to work for the first time since our marathon of a spring break had begun. Bobbi went to school with me and I think that topped it off that she experienced in just 2 weeks every part of life as I have throughout the past several months here in Jordan. Bobbi and Justin left that night leaving our apartments pretty quiet again. We miss our extra family, but were also happy for crossing the finish line of our journeying for the couple weeks.
We are now back to work and "normal" life here in Jordan and I believe you are caught up with a brief overview of some of what our life has been recently. :) Happy upcoming Sabbath!
~Audry~
Amman Time