JORDAN!!! Woot Woot

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to spend four days in Jordan. There are many things that I learned and many new things I experienced. Here is a short list of what Jordan taught me:

• I had NO idea what hot really was! OH MAN! One day it was around 110 degrees IN THE SHADE! Yep... talk about hot! And even a little bit humid! BARF!
• Jordan roads are horrible! For a period of three hours straight, I felt like I was on a roller coaster! 
• Jordan is an extremely safe country... I never felt endangered. Thank goodness.
• The King of Jordan and the Royal Family have portraits ALL OVER! Kind of cool. 
• Jordan is a country that I didn't know was soooooo coooool! So glad I got to visit and learn the things I did!

So here are some pictures from the week to share some of the amazing experiences. 

Mount Nebo: On Monday we visited Mount Nebo which is where many believe Moses "died." 

This is Booke, myself, Robin, and Anna Marie with the view from Mount Nebo in the background... yep, practically nothing. 

After Mount Nebo, we headed to Madaba where we visited a beautiful church with an amazing mosaic map on the floor. This is Annie and myself outside the Church! 

This is the mosaic map. The historical significance of this map actually is quite amazing. It is the oldest map that has been found of the holy land. This mosaic has aided many archaeologist in finding specific things; especially in the Old City. 

To end Monday, we went to the burial place of John the Baptist. It is at the top of this mountain surrounded by barren mountains and off in the distance you can see part of the Dead Sea. 

Beautiful Lane and I with the rolling mountains in the background. 

Monday night, we were driving along on our "roller coaster" bus when all of a sudden we stopped. We all got off the bus to take a picture of this: the most stunning sun set ever!! Such a tender mercy. 

PETRA!!!! I WENT TO PETRA!!!

In case you don't know what Petra is (cause I didn't... confession), I have included some pictures to inform you of the amazingness of this place. This is where they filmed Indiana Jones. Basically, Petra is a city that was cut out of the mountain side. There are stunning buildings carved out of rock! So here we go! This possibly could make the top 10 best days of my life!!!

This is Shelly, Lauren, myself, and Pam as we make our way through the Siq. The Siq is a lot like the Narrows in Zion's National Park. There are tall walls of colorful rock that wind back and forth. Truly stunning!

Immediately upon exiting the Siq, you come upon the Treasury. AMAZING! Yes, this is the exact location that Indiana Jones was looking for the Arc of the Covenant. 

And yes, I RODE A CAMEL!! Woot Woot! I now can mark this one off of my bucket list! How cool huh? I rode a camel in front of the treasury in Petra! 

This is Analise and I on our camels! SO FUN! Come to find out, Camels are SUPER tall! 

Ok... I just had to! KISS A CAMEL!

So, I have this really cool friend here... her name is Jerica! She went all out and definitely dressed up like she could have been in Indiana Jones. Thus, we decided to take an action picture of us holding up this rock! LOVE HER! Please appreciate the vest with fringe at the bottom, green cargo pants, and the official LEATHER HAT! 

We then hiked to the Monastery! It was quite the long hike but so worth it. Yes, these amazing buildings are actually carved straight out of the mountain side. 

This is Lane and I.

Hailey, me, and Analise hiked up to another lookout point. Monastery is in the background. 

We then went to a bunch of tombs. So yes, I had to make a zombie pose! Typical! 

Actually, these tombs were really cool and they had amazing acoustics so a group of us sang songs in them! 

 Wednesday morning we went to the Hercules Temple site. This is Analise and I. We were complete twins this day.

Next, we went to Jerash! JERASH IS STUNNING! It honestly was probably one of the coolest sites we have been to. Jerash is an ancient Roman city located in the middle of Jordan! There are hundreds of hundreds of columns still standing. You can almost imagine what the actual city could have been like. 

This is Brooke and I  with Jerash in the background. 

We love straight jumping pictures. Note: All of our feet are in fact off of the ground. 

Just having a little fun in Jerash!

ROYAL AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM! 

Talk about cool! Everything from a 1968 Rolls-Royce to a 1984 Ashton Martin, the cars here were SWEET! 

This one was one of my favorites: a 2008 16.4 Coupe Bugatti Veyron! This thing can fly... it goes so fast! Other cars that I loved were the Mercedes, and two bright red Ferraris. SWEET!

 We spent the last day of our trip at the Jordan river. We went to Bethany Beyond Jordan to see the traditional Baptismal site of Jesus. We had a wonderful devotional here and enjoyed the spirit of the occasion. Interesting fact, we were on the Jordan side, but what you see behind us is Israel. Yes, all that separates these two countries is this small river. 

This is Joe Ludlow and I. He is such a great kid... one of my favorites! We talked for a long time on the bus ride home and he truly does have some wonderful goals and ambitions in this life. One of my favorite 14 year old friends. 

Me by the Jordan river. 

One last quick thing... in Aman we stayed in a very nice hotel. A group of us girls were assigned to stay in the "Royal Apartments" which were practically really nice apartments on the top floor of this hotel. How lucky am I? 

Well Jordan was amazing and I really enjoyed everything we saw! The coolest part was saying "I can't wait to go home" and having "home" be Jerusalem! I am so blessed to be here learning the things I am learning and experiencing the things I am experiencing.