Week4 #Jordan

Lawrence. Camels. Rome.

Another Week another adventure. This week was jammed pack. We went hard #cantstopwontstop. Going to bed at midnight, waking up at 6, sleeping on busses and climbing mountains. This week we went to Jordan, just east of Israel. Here are my adventures.


So here is the list:

• Later Moses
• Indiana Jones
• Wrestling
• 12 Stones
• The Bigger They Are...

Later Moses

So our first stop on our trip to Jordan
Was to Mt. Nebo.
That is where God showed Moses the Promised Land
and told him he wouldn't enter it.
I have gotten to know Moses really well these past three weeks.
Reading about him
Thinking about him
Learning of him
He had such a sad life.
Started at the top
in the Pharaohs quarters
but soon found himself leading a revolt
alone
God had his back of course
but still he started a revolution
a dispensation
and lead a people away from persecution
into the desert.
He then spent the rest of his life in the
dry
hot
desert.
Eating the same food.
Everyone complaining.
No one believing.
Babysitting hundreds of thousands of people.
IT was so hard at one point he said,

Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

Then he says,

I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

He asked for God to take him away.It was just so hard.He lived his whole life in this wildernesstrying the best he couldI wander if it was hard for him not to enter the promised land?All that time and he didn't get to see it.I just love Moses.One day I'll meet him and I am going to givehim the biggest hug.

Indiana Jones

So we went to Petra.Unreal.
So gorgeous.

We got the opportunity to go this thing

called Petra by Night.

We went at nighttime

and they had candles in paper bags leading the way

The Light will lead the Way

Whoa! Getting Artsy

all the way until the Treasury

Petra By Night

They then had us sit down

gave us tea

and played some traditional Bedouin music

It was amazing

The next day we went again

and hiked everywhere

and saw some amazing things

One guy put makeup on my eyes

so I would look like a true Bedouin

but I think My hair is too light

All the dudes yelled 

"Orange Orange"

From the movie

Lawrence of Arabia

ha it was rad.

It was such a fun time

These people just live out there in these caves

And sell you stuff

like scarves

or camel rides

or rocks....really

It looks like they just picked them up

I can't explain it all

so Ill let the pictures do they talking

Ill attach a lot

On the way up the Mt. there are bedouins selling you things

Brett is a Boss

Meet Dan #Fannyjourneys

Wrestling
So we had the opportunity to go to Jabbok River
This is the place where Jacob wrestled with an angel
It was cool.

We sat down by the water and read the scriptures
What was surprising was that it was so dirty
trash everywhere
Here?
Where such a spiritual event took place?
Then as I was thinking
I thought about how this place is not sacred
not for me at least
It is sacred for Jacob
Not for me.
His example is sacred to me
His story is sacred to me
but not the actual dirt and water.
I think we all have our own "jabboks"
and they are sacred to us
We need to find these places
where heaven and earth meet
and always remember them.
I like Jacobs example
After this amazing experience
he renames the river.
I have had spiritual experience
but have I ever renamed the place?
Not once.
I think its important to remember the sacred things in our life.
Maybe thats why I am doing this blog....


12 Stones
We went to Jordan River.
Where Christ was baptized.
It was cool.
Kinda tourist oriented,
but still spiritual.
So humbling thinking about our Savior
doing that for us
to set an example
The water was really murky and ugly
but the Spirit was strong
One story I really like
that had to do with the Jordan River
and with Jacob and Jabokk
is when Joshua parts the Jordan River.
After they part it,
Which is a straight up miracle,
Joshua has them place twelve big stones
into or around the river.
He says,

"That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever."

It just goes back to Jacob at Jabokk.

I think it is important to have physical emblems

of Spiritual experiences 

Isn't that what garments are?

and Wedding Rings?

A outward expression 

of an inward commitment?

I love how they remember these things in there lives.

I want to start doing the same

So I never forget.

The Bigger They Are...

We made two stops where Romans had been
 this city called Jerash
And the Arad Citadel
Both were really intact Roman cities
It was cool
pretty
interesting
the works
everything you would expect to hear.
but the thing I liked about it
was that it was in ruins
destroyed
gone.
One had a hand of a 40ft Hercules statue
just the hand was left
half of it
thats it.

this powerful image
this "god"
was nothing but a few fingers now
I thought of Nephi,

O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

Who is our "god?"
Is our trust in something that will wither away?

The other city was destroyed as well
It was ruined
It had grass popping out of the road

Pillars were fallen

I just thought about Rome.
At one point they were on top of the World
They were the World
Now where are they?
What happened?
Worldly kingdoms come and go
they will rise and conquer
but they will always fall.
We all will die.
It just put in perspective for me
what is most important.
What to invest my time and life in.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

Well thats a wrap
Few more things real quick!

Dad!

I bought juice in Jordan

and 

the

 juices

were

seperate!!!!

SEPERATE!!!

Some Graffiti for Gate

Last but not Least

"Jordanian Toilet Paper"

#hadto

Love love love

Stephen