Jordan!

We have our computer charged and we have internet! We have been in Jordan for three days. On Day 1 we visited Medaba and viewed the mosaic map of the Holy Land on the floor of St. George's Orthodox church. From there we traveled to Mount Nebo and were able to see the Promised Land from where Moses first saw it. Then we went for a swim in the Dead Sea, although, one could hardly call it a swim as you cannot do anything but float in the Dead Sea. The students tried beauty treatments with the dark muc of the Dead Sea. Better than a spa! We then travelled south to the Edom area of Jordan and Petra! After a wonderful buffet dinner and a much needed night's sleep we went to Petra! The students rode horses into Petra. They walked the last mile in through a deep wadi cut between high walls of stone. We went early in the morning so the site was very quiet. They explored the site for a couple of hours. In one of the tombs they sang Silent Night and our Christian Jordanian guide sang a verse in Arabic. It had great acoustics and was a very moving experience. Some of us rode camels or donkeys on the way out & we learned about Jordanian bartering with the boys selling soveniers near the Treasury entrance to Petra. Then on to Amman. We have been in Amman for two days. The first day we visited the Citadel of Amman which is the site of the murder of Uriah the Hitite ordered by King David. We ate lunch in a falafel shop and visited a Roman theater along with 2 museums. Last night we participated in the local church service. Today we will do home visits to Iraqi refugee homes bringing them food. Many of these families were ordered from their homes by terrorists. They left a middle class or upper middle class existence to flee to Jordan where they are not allowed to work and their children are not allowed to go to school unless the Jordanian government has declared them legal. They are waiting for the UN to call them to place them in other countries. They are in a desperate situation. We hope to bring some hope to them today.