Jordan

Finally my post for Jordan is ready! The past few days have been crazy because we have all been studying for finals, but I finally got it done.

Jordan was great! We visited Petra, Jarash, the Jordan River, a crusader castle, Amman and saw some amazing things! The people were great and I loved the cities that we stayed in. I didn't quite know what to expect on this trip because I didn't know very much about Jordan previous to going there, but now I am a huge fan and would love to go back.

Me and Rachel at Mt. Nebo. This is where Moses saw a view of the Holy Land although he would never make it there. This is also where many people believe Moses was buried. Of course we know that's not true...
Greek Orthodox Church of Madaba with a mosaic floor map
Shobak Crusader Castle


Treasury at Petra! So Amazing!

Petra Monastery
The View of the End of the world!
This is the Ancient Roman city of Jarash. This street is called the cardot.




It was pretty hot at Jarash so we took turns soaking each other.
WE LOVE JORDAN!
Royal Automobile Museum

Waiting outside the museum. Whenever we have free time and a camera, there are inevitably a lot of random pictures.

Cool mosque we found while wandering around Amman

We visited the King Hussein mosque in Amman and all the girls had to put these robes on to cover our heads and arms.



Jordan River
Kristi and Me in the Jordan

Dormition Abbey, Mt. Zion and the Old City

This past Sunday, Emily, Amy and I walked all over the city, but our main destinations included Dormition Abbey and Mt. Zion. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the Old City. I know that I post a lot of pictures of the old city, but we spend so much time there and I love it so much!

Shaban's shop! Shaban treats us Mormons very well. We stopped by his store to get directions for the rest of the day.
Shaban, Me, and Emily
Just outside the Old City walls
Inside Dormition Abbey
Dormition Abbey was built just outside the Old City walls near Mt. Zion on a site that tradition claims as the place where Mary fell into an eternal sleep.


Dormition Abbey
This is my attempt to be artistic... The reflection is Dormition Abbey.
King David's Statue

While we were on Mt. Zion, we visited a small Holocaust memorial museum. The picture above shows bloodstained Torah scrolls that were recovered from the Holocaust.
"The Tomb of Our Brothers"
Jewish Quarter of the Old City


Jerusalem Center

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

We made this music video on our field trip this past week. Ever since we released this video, music videos have been on the rise in the JC so there will probably be more in the future :)

"I Hear Jerusalem Bells A Ringin'..."

Our free day this week consisted of many different activities, but the highlight of the day was definitely playing the bells at the YMCA. Brother Whipple has the responsibility of going to the YMCA every Sunday and playing the bells from 11:30-12:00 and he usually takes several students with him to help play. It was amazing to play a song and realize that it was echoing over the whole city for thousands of people to hear!! What made it even better was that I played one of my favorite hymns, "Nearer My God to Thee." What a cool experience! It made me think of the song "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay when it says "I hear Jerusalem bells a ringin'..." I got to play those bells!

Before and after playing the bells, we spent a lot of time wandering around the city so I put up a few pics I took along the way as well...

Spices Store

Little kids swimming in a fountain

This is the tower that I played the bells from!!

These are the bells I played! So cool!

This is the hill we have to hike up every time we go to the city. It's not very fun when it is burning hot and you are exhausted, but we still love it.