My visit to Jordan

This past week we were in Jordan for four days, and every tourist group that enters Jordan is required by law to have a Jordanian guide. Muhammad was our guide for the whole week and on the last day his son Odai joined us. The country of Jordan is less than thirty miles from Jerusalem, but it took us about 2 hours to get through the border into Jordan. Jordan has a population of about 6.7 million people and 10% of that population are Bedouin population. Bedouins are descendants of the nomads of the area and now live a bit more like the Amish population in America. There are also large refugee populations from the Iran Iraq war and the 1967 war where Israel took much of Jerusalem. Jordan is about 94% Muslim and about 4% Christian. They also have a king, King Abdullah, whom they love and respect very much.

Once we were in Jordan we visited Mt. Nebo, which is the site where Moses saw the promised land across the Jordan River. From this viewpoint we could also see the city of Jericho and the Dead Sea. We then went to Machaerus which is one of the palaces of King Herod. King Herod's son Herod Antipas was here according to the historian Josephus when he told Salome that he would grant her any wish. She consulted with her mom and then asked for John the Baptist's head. It is supposed that John the Baptist was also at this site when he was beheaded.

The next day we visited Petra, an ancient city that was a major crossroads for trade routes in the middle east. This city is in a mountainous area and the people who lived here anciently developed a massive water collection system for collecting  rainwater and running it through clay piping into the city. The next day we visited the Jabbok River. In Genesis chapter 32 Jacob wrestles with the Lord to obtain a blessing near the Jabbok River. This was a very spiritual experience for me and we sang my favorite hymn, "Nearer My God To Thee" while we were there.

I also have to say that I went to the King Abdullah Auto Museum and I saw a Ferrari F40, Ferrari F50, Mclaren SLR Stirling Moss, and a Bugatti Veyron. Just Wikipedia or Youtube those cars to give you a taste of what I saw!

On the last day Odai was with us! Odai is the son of our guide Muhammad and is twenty-three years old and will be graduating in a few months. I was able to get to know him throughout the day, and I learned that he is a huge Coldplay fan. What I saw in Odai was a great deal of purity and integrity. He loved his father very much, and I learned that he lives by strict standards of virtue. It was very easy for us to relate with him because he has experiences of being ridiculed for being a virgin and for standing up to the beliefs of his religion. I learned how pure many of the followers of Islam are, and that they honor chastity. My teacher Professor Harper said that meeting Odai gave him greater hope in the future for the youth in the world.