Get Me to the Church

    Upon reflection, I realized that I have attended 6 different churches in the last week! Do you think I'm saved yet? Two of them, admittedly, were actually of my own denomination, but the other 4 covered the Islamic, Coptic Christian, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant faiths. The last shall be first here, though, because I have had some requests to describe the district conference which occurred in the Irbid/Al-Hussan branch yesterday.

   Everyone from Amman (the Amman Arabic speakers, the branch president of Irbid, and the BYU crowd) took a bus (kindly chartered by the Church) to Irbid, which is where I go every week, although it is about an hour and a half away.
    I was especially excited for this conference because, after a month of stress and two very intense rehearsals, the choir I had been asked to put together would be performing. Dress code had been a bit of an issue--"Sunday best" is a foreign (pun intended) concept in the Middle East, so I was really hoping to use the performance as a teaching opportunity for good church attire.
   When I arrived, however, two of the BYU girls in the choir told me I was wearing the wrong clothes, so my roommate and I had to rush into the church, find a restroom, and switch her long black dress for my blue one---all the girls in the choir were in a black dress or skirt, and all the men were in white shirts and slacks.
   The choir sounded lovely. I was so happy with what we able to accomplish. All of the unmarried people in the branch were part of the choir. Most of them were late/barely on time so I spent 45 minutes in fear of no one coming, but almost everyone who had rehearsed with us came. It was the first LDS musical number in Arabic by the branch in Jordan! Conducting choir rehearsals in Arabic was a huge challenge that left me fairly exhausted, and none of the Arab members read music at all, but we sang, "How Great Thou Art" in Arabic, and it was beautiful. Here is the choir (or at least as many of them as I was able to tear away from the food for a photo), standing in front of the church building:

 

   The conference itself was really neat, as  it was the first district conference in Arabic. The only English was from the members of the 70 who came to speak to us. We even sang the hymns in Arabic, led by yours truly. 

   Of course, there were a few interesting moments: The piano decided to turn off right as we tried to begin the closing hymn. I was very glad that they fixed it, as I am not ready to sing "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" in Arabic, a capella, in front of a roomful of people which included several general authorities and my entire Arabic class! We also laughed when one of the 70 (most of the talks were about appropriately mixing local culture with the Gospel) emphasized the need for gender equality in marriage. The district president from Lebanon, who was translating, stopped, laughed, and told him that he didn't even know of an Arabic word for gender equality!

   My other religious experiences included: a musical prayer meeting in Arabic (hallelujah!), a visit to the beautiful Al-Abdullah mosque, singing hymns with some classmates to try out the gorgeous acoustics in the Coptic church, a branch social in Amman, and a party at the Greek Orthodox Church, where they handed out pomegranates (they symbolize church unity--the individual members are the seeds inside the whole) and played the bagpipes!

    

Heading for the Hills

  Last Saturday, we decided to leave the hustle and bustle of Amman behind and take to the hills. Our destination: Wadi Seer, a suburb of Amman where the donkeys still roam freely (actually, donkeys are reasonably common in Amman, too, although they have to dodge the taxis and autobeeses). We took a public bus out of town--I enjoyed every minute of the ride out--relative to Amman, the hills outside the city were incredibly green and beautiful. Jordan is not really known for its natural beauty, but the fig, olive, and pomegranate trees  and rolling hills where people still practice the terraced farming that has been their livelihood for centuries is a real treat.
       We stopped to explore an ancient palace with Hellenistic leanings. Biblically speaking, we were in the land given to the tribe of Reuben. The palace itself was built by the same family who opposed the return of the Jews to Jerusalem in the book of Ezra. The palace has been partially reconstructed, and it was quite impressive. The pictures do not do it justice--there is a whole family of lions/panthers carved into the sides, and in its glory days there were fountains with water pouring out of the cats' mouths.
  We took a short hike up to some ancient caves (there were even some Hebrew inscriptions on the walls), but along the way, we met some lovely small-town Arab women. I am really coming to respect Arab hospitality--these kind women wasted no time before greeting us warmly then handing us figs from their tree and even the candy bars they had been eating!
   Next, we visited Iraq Al-Amir, which is a center where rural women were taught how to handmake paper, rugs, pottery etc and it has now become a self-sustaining business so that these women can support themselves. It was all quite interesting, and I bought a beautiful purple rug that they assured me had been handwoven from local sheep (although I did not see any purple sheep during the hike, so I have a few doubts about the authenticity of all their materials).
    That night, we had a "barbeque" at the church building. All of the senior missionaries and students attended, and we had a half American/half Jordanian potluck dinner. I even made fool medames. My roommate and I braved our frightening gas stove to try and cook the dish.
    Like everything in Jordan, it was an adventure. But I am so glad I did it. 

Facebook فاسبوك

    Those readers who know me well may be surprised by this question, so let me explain. Five days a week, I attend a class with 7 fellow BYU students called "Issues class." It is taught by an Arabic professor, and it's a discussion in Modern Standard Arabic. And it is quite challenging, but that is a topic for another day.
   Topics for discussion have included marriage, stereotypes about the Arab world and America, Jordanian food (and we had a potluck party with native food), the role of the press, tribal justice, Arab family structure, and the architecture of the University of Jordan, shown here:

 

   This week's topic is the media, and we will be discussing Facebook's role in the Arab Spring, among other things. And we are supposed to collect feedback to bring to our discussion, so all of your comments are appreciated. Here is the question:

Does Facebook have a role in political change?

The High Point

1. We are safe and well! In light of the events which occurred in neighboring countries in the last week, BYU has asked us to reassure anyone who might be concerned that Jordan, unlike virtually  all its neighbors, remains apparently peaceful (unless, of course you count the traffic). Alhamdullillah.
2. My roommates and I just returned from the roof (the source of today's title, "the high point"), where we could see the city of Amman in its nightly glory. We can hear the call to prayer from two sources, and the (dare I say it? musical) voices blend together as the sounds bounce off the hills of Amman. They have a lot of "Christmas lights" here as well, especially lighted stars and crescents in green, which is the color of Islam. The only thing that might have made it better is if I could have understood the words, but perhaps in the future in she Allah. Actually, I had a  Biblical insight up there as well: I have always wondered why Bathsheba was bathing on her roof, and what King David was doing walking around on his, but now I completely understand.
3.  Another "high point:" Last Saturday we visited The Citadel, which has ruins from Ammonite, Roman, Umayyad, and Byzantine civilizations, to name a few. One of the best things about it is that you can climb all over 2000 year-old ruins, whereas in the US you would probably just read the sign and gaze from behind a fence. However, these ruins do all have signs with "From the American People" stamped on them--as a general rule, the Jordanians do not care much for these sights. Several people have actually asked me why Americans are always coming to Jordan to take pictures of old buildings!

This is actually the place where Uriah was killed after King David sent him to the front lines of the battle against the Ammonites, whose palace/fortress was on top of this hill.

This is the "modern" museum on top of the Citadel. It just seems like the sort of place that might store the Ark of the Covenant.

   One of my favorite things was the Roman theater near the Citadel. The acoustics were fantastic! Our professor (shown here) sang several songs for our enjoyment, and I entertained my classmates by reciting a couple of choice lines from Shakespeare.

The Low Point

  

    Last Saturday, my travels in the Middle East hit a low point--we swam in the Dead Sea! At approximately 400 m under sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. We sang, "Under the Sea," and it was fun.
     I had heard that you could float with great ease and the Dead Sea, but I was still surprised when my feet left the bottom and flew up to the surface--and stayed there! It was actually quite relaxing because you could literally lay out on the water and, without any effort whatsoever, float in perfect, salty, comfort. I collected a few salt rocks from the crystallizations that lined the shore, as well.
      We also applied some of the famous Dead Sea mud liberally. This annoyed the local mud vendor, because we cheap college students collected our own "dirty" mud rather than buying his "clean" mud!

   However, before we could do that, we had to get our cultural/historical/Biblical education, of course! We began our journey by taking the King's Highway out to Madaba. This highway is the oldest known in the world (although it has seen a few improvements in recent years--asphalt, for instance). I could just picture Moses leading the Children of Israel across the hills I saw on either side, probably staying in similar abodes to the Bedouin tents I saw (see Numbers 21-22).
   In Madaba, we saw a very famous mosaic which features a map of the entire Holy Land made by Byzantine Christians. It was a little rushed though, so I want to return.
       Mt. Nebo, where Moses looked down one the Promised Land for the last time and was then translated, was our next trip. The day was hazy because of pollution, but we could still see Amman, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Jericho, and even the hills on which Jerusalem sits.
      We were able to see the Jordan River in much greater detail a little later though, when we descended down  to the possible Baptism Site of Christ. Obviously, they don't know precisely where on the Jordan River this took place, partly because nobody really recorded the exact site, and partly because the Jordan River has changed its course three times in the last century alone. However, archaeologists have recently discovered the ruins of the church which the Byzantines built to commemorate the site, and we visited that.
    My professor sang us a charming rendition of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and we also sang, "Jesus Came to John the Baptist." Goodness, but it was hot! We joked that anyone who visited this site would understand  the need for baptism by immersion.
    Politically, the site is interesting because the Jordan site and the Israel site are only separated by about five feet of very dirty, green river water. There were also interesting spiritual reflections, because, especially since everybody has been damming the river lately, and this is a dry season in a dry year, the site was not overly impressive. I admit I understand Naaman's objection to Elijah's order to dip 7 times in the Jordan River and be healed!
      Still, my cold finally cleared up after this trip, so perhaps my dip in holy water did me good in more ways than one. I was also impressed with the idea that the Savior, who could have chosen Iguacu or Niagra Falls, sought John the Baptist at the lowly Jordan, because priesthood authority means more than scenery.
   And now, if any of you have noticed my attire on this trip with amusement, must assure you that you are not alone! When we stopped for lunch at a Middle Eastern buffet, one of the Arab servers asked me how I liked the food, Jordan, etc. I could not understand why he kept looking at me so strangely, though, until he asked, in halting English, "So, you have tigers on?"
Yes friends, I did.