Month 5 was a month of learning for me. Learning what it means to be a leader, learning about the ongoing war in Syria, learning the Jordanian culture, and learning how truly lucky we are to have religious freedom. Among the 3 teams traveling with us, 2 were in Jordan and 1 in Lebanon. Each team witnessed first-hand what persecution of the church looks like in other parts of the world. I cannot share details of this online, but will gladly share more with anyone who is interested when we return to the States in June.
As a leadership team, we were able to spend time with both of the teams stationed in Jordan. Both teams were working closely with churches that went into smaller villages near the Syrian border, one in the north and one towards the eastern edge of Jordan. The teams were involved with supply distribution (heaters, mattresses, blankets, etc.), home visits with refugee families, English classes, and working with school aged children.
We were also able to visit several historical sites in Jordan. I cannot explain with words how incredible Petra was! It is one of the 7 wonders of the world, and for good reason. It is a 5 mile canyon with ornate tombs carved directly into the rock, but these are not just tombs, they are enormous and decorative carvings that must have taken years to construct. It is also the location where Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade was filmed.
We also visited Jerash, a 2000+ year old Roman city, with the most well preserved ruins in the Middle East, second in the world only to Rome itself. Jerash (Gerasa in the Bible) is thought to be the city Jesus was passing through when he cast demons out of a man and into pigs, and was promptly asked to leave. (see Luke 8:26-39, Mark 5:1-17, Matthew 8:28-34)
Later in the month we visited Mount Nebo, where God showed Moses the Promised Land, and where Moses died. Mount Nebo overlooks the Dead see to the South, Jericho to the Northwest, and on a clear day Jerusalem to the West. (Deuteronomy 32:48-52, Deuteronomy 34:1-8)
Our last adventure in Jordan was a search for the pillar of salt that is thought to be the wife of Lot (nephew of Abraham). (see Genesis 18:16-19:38) Lot’s wife is not named in the Bible, however, ‘Lut’ is an important prophet in both Jewish and Muslim traditions, and his wife is given the name Edith in their scriptures. Our search was interesting. We knew the names of the location of Lot’s cave and the suspected location of the pillar of salt. We called a taxi driver we had met a few days before and he happily drove us an hour and a half along the shore of the Dead Sea. Emily, one of my co-leaders, is prone to car sickness, and had a difficult time keeping her stomach in check on the winding roads. By the time we arrived at the relatively new archeological site where Lot’s cave is still being excavated, Emily had to jump out of the car and rush to a trash can…more on that later. There is a museum there where artifacts are being carefully cleaned and displayed.
After exploring the site, we loaded up to try and find Lot’s wife. However we had only given the driver the name of the location we were searching for, Wadi Abyad, which he was unfamiliar with. He asked the desk worker at the museum who told him the site was just 50 meters away, close to the town. So we drove to the town, nothing. He asked people in the town about the location, nothing. We finally ended up in the middle of a farmer’s field, where the driver pointed to google maps and said, “Look, we are here. This is it.” A little disappointed, but ready to get back, we loaded up and headed north, back towards Amman. A few kilometers into the trip I got a tap on the shoulder from Emily. She asked if we could pull over to “take a picture by the dead sea.” This meant that her stomach was not handling the ride very well. I turned to the driver and asked if we could pull over to take a picture of the Dead Sea. His response:
“Yes, if you’d like I will pull over up here, by the wife of Lut.”
