Trip to the Holy Land - Day Five

Even though we had only had five hours of sleep, we felt refreshed for the new day.  It was now Friday and that is the holy day for the Muslims.  Since Jordan is about 95 percent Muslim, this is the "Sabbath" day for most of the country.

We were excited to attend the Jordanian Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), English speaking.  

 

After re-packing our suitcases, (every day we stayed in a different hotel until the last four days of the tour) we boarded our bus with our Palestinian guide, plus a tourist policeman since that is required in the country for groups of ten or more, and we were off.


Some of the scenery on the way to the Mormon Church in Amman.

 

LDS Charities was given official registration in Jordan in 2011 and that allowed the Church to build out a floor of an office building with a chapel, kitchen, classrooms, RS room, Primary room, restrooms and offices.  It is new and very nice.

In addition to an English hymn book, we were fascinated by the hymnbooks in Arabic.   The Arabic book opens on the left side and is read from back to front.  Arabic writing connects all the letters and forms a line at the bottom of each word. 

The meeting was so pleasant with such wonderful people.  Many of the members work for the American Embassy there.  In addition, one senior couple serves as Humanitarian Vision Care missionaries.  Another couple is composed of a  former Brigham Young University history professor who teaches part time at the American University in Madaba.  A third missionary couple is stationed in northern Jordan and they work exclusively with emergency aid for the 1-2 million Syrian refugees in the many refugee camps.  Fascinating people who all seem to really love living in Jordan.   


After church, we boarded the bus and traveled southward.  We noticed big signs on the buildings with the picture of King Abdullah II, the current king of Jordan, who is King Hussein's oldest son.  (He is the one in the middle.)  His mother was British by birth and until their divorce, she was the second wife of King Hussein who died in 1999.  Our Palestinian guide said he is a very well-liked king in Jordan. 

The trip south from Amman takes you along the 5000-year-old  King's Highway which is one of the most memorable journeys in the Holy Land, passing through a string of ancient sites.  The first city you come upon is Madaba, "The City of Mosaics."

Madaba is unique in that underneath almost every house lies a fine Byzantine mosaic.  Many of these mosaics have been excavated and are on display in the town's museum, but it is estimated that many more lie hidden waiting to be discovered.  As such, many merchants sell beautiful mosaic pieces.

Walking along the streets on our way to the focal point in the town:  St. George Church.

Joyce next to mannequins showing many of the different types of dress the traditional Palestinians wear.

 Lots of magnets, Alison!

 

With desert sand so plentiful, this is an art that is beautifully done.  I asked the gentleman how he actually did the pictures and writing inside the bottles and he showed me a syringe needle.  Very painstaking procedure!

 

 Arriving at St. George's Church.

Here we were able to see the "Madaba Map," a 6th century mosaic depiction of Jerusalem and parts of the Holy Land.  When the church was reconstructed in 1886, they weren't very careful with this 1500 year old map, but it is such an incredible find to think someone would put together this entire region in such a masterful way and have it be such an accurate map.

Artist rendition of the map as it is today.

We looked around at other Christian paintings and mosaics on the wall.

 Mosaic of the birth of Jesus.  Remember that these are done entirely with little rocks put together to make the pictures.  Amazing!

 Christ bringing Lazarus back from the dead.

 

 I believe this would be Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

 And, of course, the death of Jesus.

Upon getting back in the bus, we passed one of many mosques we would be seeing while in Jordan.  Notice the prayer tower from which there are huge speakers.  The call to prayer comes over these speakers five times a day.  (I will talk more about this later.)

We continued on toward our next destination which would be Mount Nebo.  Along the way we saw donkeys just tied to a rock out in the middle of what looked like rock and sand.  I guess they do find something to eat out there.

Yes, and even more unusual were the camels here and there.

We passed gleaners in the fields of wheat--just like the days of Ruth who was a gleaner in Boaz' field.

Arriving at Mount Nebo.

Road leading to Mount Nebo.

 Along the sides of the road are many olive trees. 

Olive trees happen to be one of the most important cultivated fruit trees in Jordan.

View from Mount Nebo.  Vineyards of olive trees and fig trees.

Mount Nebo –  the place from which Moses viewed the Promised Land (but was not allowed to enter). 
Monument just off the walkway is a Memorial of Moses – Christian Holy Place

From Deuteronomy:  "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. . . "  There the Lord showed him the whole land.... Then the Lord said unto him, "This is the land which I sware into Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed:  I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither."

This is the perfect place to see exactly what Moses saw as he stood looking over to the Promised Land.  To the left, you can see the north end of the Dead Sea, as well as the mountains of Jerusalem.  We were told that on a clear day, you can actually see the Jordan River.

 

 Picture of when Pope John Paul II stood in this exact spot and looked over the land from Mount Nebo.

A map showing where many of the famous Biblical locations are from this point on Mount Nebo.

 

By the lookout point is the Brazen Serpent cross sculpture.  

The Children of Israel seemed to always be complaining about one thing or another during the 40 years they were in the wilderness.  They failed to remember how God had rescued them from bondage in Egypt, helped them cross on dry land through the Red Sea, as well as provided food, water, and excellent leaders while they were traveling through the desert.

In Numbers 21:5-9, the people had complained again, causing the Lord to send "fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died."  The people came to Moses and admitted that they had "sinned for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.  And Moses prayed for the people."

The Lord told Moses, "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live," which Moses did and "if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

This can be likened to our own lives.  If we will look to the Savior, we also shall live!  Such a great concept to remind us of this important fact in our lives!

What a special place to be together this day:  My brother, Blair; his wife, Denise; George and me; my sister, Joyce; her husband, Doug; my sister-in-law, Shelly, and my brother, Jerry.

Again from Deuteronomy, 34:5-6, "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.  And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor:  but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."  

We thought it was interesting that our Palestinian guide emphasized that no one knows where he is buried.  In Alma 45:19 of the Book of Mormon, we learn that the great prophet Alma "was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses."  We understand that to be that Moses and Alma were translated.  

For Moses to return to the Mount of Transfiguration and the resurrection not having taken place yet, he needed a body of flesh and bones.  Had he been a spirit only, he could not have performed the work on the mount of giving the keys to the mortal Peter, James and John.  A translated body does not have to endure the pains of death; but when Christ comes, the body is changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality. (3 Nephi 28:7-9, Book of Mormon) 

At the time we were here, work was being done by the Franciscans who have excavated and restored the area starting in 1993.   The site itself dates back to the 4th century and was probably built to honor Moses, possibly on the site of an even older structure.  This is an active Franciscan monastery, and we were sorry we weren't able to go inside.  But with all the construction going on, they had literally lifted the floors out inside a tent area where we were able to see the original 4th century mosaic flooring. 

The fish, cross, and peacock all denote Christian ideas.

We weren't able to see one of the most interesting ancient mosaics in Jordan which is inside the church on the walls by the excavated Old Baptistry. 

From the internet:  The baptistry and the mosaic can be precisely dated to August 531 thanks to a Greek inscription, which also names the three workers who created it and the bishop at the time (Elias).

The Old Baptistery mosaic is in remarkably pristine condition because another one was laid over it just a few decades later in 597. The underlying mosaic remained hidden for nearly 1,400 years until it was discovered in 1976 when the one on top was removed for restoration (it now hangs on a wall).


The mosaic of 531 is a large square divided into four strips of scenes of men and animals, surrounded by a chain-style border. The top two sections depict fierce hunting scenes: a shepherd fighting a lion, a soldier fighting a lioness, and two horseback hunters defeating a bear and wild boar.

 

 The lower scenes are pastoral but with a touch of the exotic: a shepherd watching his goat and sheep graze in the shade of trees; an ostrich on a leash held by a dark-skinned man; and a boy holding the leashes of a zebra and a spotted animal that looks very much like a camel but might be intended to represent a giraffe.

  Inside the tent, we were also able to see the lamps used in the Parable of the Ten Virgins.  Actually seeing these ancient lamps helped me understand the literal reason the five wise virgins couldn't share their oil with the other five. 

 
 The shape of Jewish lamps, outside lips rounded inward, made it almost impossible for someone to pour oil from one lamp to another.  In the parable, spiritually the oil in the wise virgins’ lamps represents their righteous living and obedience. We each fill our own lamp, which represents our own life, with our obedience and righteousness.  Heavenly Father’s blessings to us for our righteous actions cannot be given to the disobedient.  (lds.org)

On our way back down the path, we saw this Modern Catholic “face” Statue in the walkway which was placed there in honor of the Pope’s visit in 2000. 

This was just an added bonus to the trip for my brother.  Some people from Taiwan were speaking Chinese and my brother smiled at them.  In Chinese, they said, "He seems like a very nice American," to which my brother replied in Chinese, "Thanks very much."  They were very startled that he understood them.  Then he explained that he had lived two years in Taiwan when he was on his Mormon mission there. 

They all had great time talking together and were BFFs by the time we left!

 

George made a friend of a very nice Jordanian man he met along the pathway.  Our Jordanian guide told us the following about the head scarves: 

The color of the men’s headscarf means different things.  Black and White: Palestinian.  Red and White: typical Jordanian.  White – Arabs of the Persian Gulf.   Women must wear a head scarf.  The veiling of women’s faces is a traditional and not a religious practice.

We next visited a Mosaic Factory store, one of the business established by Queen Noor of Jordan.  Many women and handicapped are given employment there. 

We were able to watch the workers making the mosaics.  Each little piece is painstakingly cut to the right shape from the colored rock that is needed.  None of the colors are painted on, thus allowing the color to last forever.

The Tree of Life is a common motif for the mosaics.  

On the other hand, these are entirely painted by hand.  What are they?  Ostrich eggs.  Absolutely beautiful, but all of these items were very pricey! 

Journey to Petra – We now boarded the bus for our 3 ½ hour ride on the rough desert highway.  This was very deserty terrain.  We became very used to seeing tent people who are either refugees or Bedouins who move from place to place in order to survive.

Goats were often seen along the roadside.

Many of houses are unfinished with re-bar sticking out the top as is seen in the picture above.  It may be left that way for years, as it has to do with taxes.  When a son marries he builds another story on his parents’ house for his family.

As we climbed higher and higher through the countryside after our 3 1/2 hour trip, we finally arrived in the city of Petra which is the home to 50,000 people.  Our guide, Loai, told us there is no unemployment in Petra!  Amazing!  In the background is Mount Hor, where Aaron, the brother of Moses, died.  There is a mosque on top that can barely be seen, as well as a mosque right next to where we were staying.

 Loai told us that since it was Friday, weddings often occur on that day.  The groom’s clan meets and drives to the bride’s home (she lives with her parents).  Then they celebrate.  I am glad he told us that we may hear guns being shot tonight in celebration because indeed we did here the gun shots, and that bit of information calmed our nerves a bit!

Near the mosque in Petra is the  T Zaman Hotel, a unique, renovated authentic 1800s Jordanian village made of rock with authentic stone paths between the rooms.  

 Such unique rock dwellings.  I loved the doors!  Notice George carrying the I-pad.  We were so excited!  We understood we would finally get internet outside the dining room!

 The rooms were very spacious.

 Notice the step down from the bedroom to the lounge area.  What you can't see is the table in the middle in front of the "couch."  I didn't see it either, as I first fell off the upper level and when I tried to catch myself, I hit into that low table right on my shin.  It hurt so badly that I thought I was going to faint right on the spot!  It is still sore after three weeks!  The crazy thing is that my brother Jerry tripped over it, too.  That little table caused a lot of trouble!

 

 The reception area is where we ate our first Jordanian food.  It was great food!

I think the guys were trying as many different types of desserts as they could.

 We had an enjoyable evening sitting on the tables outside the dining area and reading e-mails and the latest news.  We had forgotten for quite a number of days now that we lived in the real world.  Hah!

Tomorrow, another of my bucket list items:  Petra