What's going on in Amman.

Here's a brief update about the past week or so here in Amman. Right now Jamie and Kelley are on winter break from their school. Kelley is back in the States until this upcoming Friday visiting with her family and friends there. Jamie stayed here for the first week of the break and then her mom flew over to join her for an adventure through the south part of Jordan and on into Egypt (on the coast and then over to Cairo). I'll let Kelley and Jamie update you on more details as those would be the best versions anyway.

Jamie's mom arrived here in Amman last Friday. Jamie and I had a fun adventure getting to the airport to welcome her and bring her back to our apartment. We decided to try to find the airport shuttle again. We've already done this a couple times in our experience as a group (departing for the Feast and Kelley's departure to go home to MN), but we haven't had much luck but figured we just needed to get our facts completely straight (even though that is not always a sure recipe for success when it comes to traveling here in Jordan). Jamie researched a lot before Friday and everything we read said that the airport shuttle left from the Abdali bus station every half hour. So we caught a taxi after walking to the main road around our apartment here and told the taxi driver "Abdali bus station." He seemed to understand immediately which is always a very encouraging way to begin any journey here (let alone anywhere). So we made the 10-15 min. journey there only to find a fairly empty parking lot with a few buses looking like nobody was going to be going anywhere anytime soon. At that point our taxi driver asked "where are you going?" We replied "we need the airport shuttle." His immediate and full of vigor response was "you need the airport shuttle? that's at the North station not Abdali. These buses are going to Saudi Arabia. I thought you wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and you said Abdali bus station." All we could respond with was "no we're not going to Saudi Arabia and everything we read said the shuttle left from Abdali. This is where we thought we needed to go." Then Jamie says in a quieter voice "well, can you take us to the North station?" So after all this and our apparent attempt to go to Saudi Arabia, we finally arrived at North station (which indeed we've been to before after telling a taxi drive "Abdali bus station" ...I don't know if we'll ever figure all of that out). At the far end of the station was a very clearly marked "airport shuttle" bus which was also a very welcome sign as most of the time things don't seem to be marked that well. As we pulled up, to our bewilderment, the shuttle was just pulling off. We rushed to pay the taxi driver and then talked to a couple men who were with a smaller bus from the same company. They were very helpful (displaying the Jordanian hospitality that is not the least bit uncommon); they called ahead to the big bus that had just left and had it pull over and gave us a ride in the smaller bus to where the big one had pulled over on the side of a busy road. This is when we felt like true Jordanians. If you've ever ridden a bus here, it always seems as if they pull over at random places (on the side of highways too) and pick up people. We finally received our turn to be the random riders. :) We arrived to the airport about 15 minutes before Jamie's mom walked through the arrival gate. We took a regular taxi back to the apartment and only got pulled over once by an official of some sort for some reason that we still don't know.

Last Sabbath was really wonderful having Mrs. Franks here to visit. It's amazing what encouragement and excitement it can be to have even just one visitor. We ended the Sabbath with some wine and light appetizers as we watched the beautiful sunset from our rooftop. We are very spoiled with many beautiful sunsets here and a perfect location to view them.

This Sabbath was a little different as well. It was just Stephanie, Eduardo and I here as Jamie and her mom left on their adventure this past Monday. We've established a sort of routine in how we spend the Sabbath here as a group already but had a little fork thrown in today. It began normally last evening with dinner at our (girls') apartment and wonderful conversation. This morning we had a casual brunch as usual as well. We typically have services in the afternoon starting somewhere between 1-2pm. We decided to begin today at 1:30 and had the pre-downloaded webcast service recorded from the home office chosen to use for services today. Then about 20 minutes before services were going to begin the electricity went out. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if all laptops had been charged, but as it was the sermon was downloaded on a laptop that only had about 20 minutes worth of battery power and the other one as well only had a little battery power and the third didn't have the program to support however the sermon needed to be played. So we found on the third laptop (the only one that had enough battery power to go for a while) only one message saved on it without using the internet which depends on electricity. We enjoyed singing hymns a capella and listening to the ABC class on Acts 17. It was amazing because the message was very much related and tied in to a conversation we had only last night about meeting people where they are in teaching and sharing the truth with them. Stephanie made the comment about singing the hymns a capella that it helped her to think about the words we were singing that much more which I completely agreed with. Not that we will from now on always sing hymns that way, but I think it was an interesting lesson about how much those words really mean and with how much involvement we should be singing them. Towards the end of the first message, the electricity came back on and so we ended up listening to the sermon we had intended to as well which was also tied into other parts of our conversation last night. It's simply amazing what a little obstacle could not prevent from happening. We were still able to assemble together, sing praise to God and learn about His way.

So it's been a little bit different the past couple Sabbaths, but in a very good way. This upcoming week Stephanie will be traveling to Alexandria, Egypt to attend a conference hosted by the Human Security Center she is working for here in Amman. Jamie will return on Wednesday and Kelley on Friday. It will be wonderful when we're all back together again; I have to say that our (girls') apartment is much too quiet without Jamie and Kelley here. Until the next post I hope everyone out there is doing very well!

~Audry~

Journey through Northern Israel

We returned just over a week ago from a wonderful trip to northern Israel. The five of us had previously visited Jerusalem on a three-day trip, so this time, Audry, Stephanie and I (all on break) headed towards the Mediterranean coast to journey through northern Israel.

Crossing the border didn’t take long at all – just under 2 ½ hrs. – one never knows how long this process will take. It actually took us almost as long to pick up our rental car in Jerusalem! While waiting for all the paperwork to get filled out, I happened to meet four guys from Mexico. It was nice to hear a little bit about their adventures as they traveled the world together. They had just come from Egypt, and two of them were in India before that.

From there it was on to Tel Aviv. We arrived in time to check out the Carmel Market as the vendors began to wrap up the afternoon in preparation for Shabbat. We had read that this was

the best time to get good deals and indeed it was. It then got a little crazy and we grabbed some falafel sandwiches and head to the beach to watch the sunset over the the Mediterranean Sea.

As the Sabbath began, we walked through Tel Aviv a bit and then

headed to see the Hoyer family. They live just north of Tel Aviv in Herzylia. We had dinner with them that night and they were very kind to welcome us in their home for the Sabbath.

On Saturday morning we enjoyed a great brunch which included homemade cinnamon rolls, then listened to a sermon. In the afternoon went to Caesarea, along the coast of the Mediterranean

where we enjoyed seeing the ruins of the amazing port that Herod

the Great built there. Then we returned to the Hoyer’s home and enjoyed an evening of great conversations and a fantastic pomegranate dessert wine.

On Sunday we drove up to Haifa, stopping at Mount Carmel where the view of the mountains next to the coast was amazing. We then found Eshkol Tower, located at the top of Mount Carmel, and went up to the 30th floor where we enjoyed an incredible view of the city of Haifa. We continued into

Haifa to the Baha'i Gardens,

and even though we could not get in a tour as they were fully booked, we saw the gardens from the top of the hill and from the bottom (from the German Colony). We enjoyed a walk along the beach in Haifa and then drove up to Nazareth.

In Nazareth, we visited the Church of the Assumption, which is on the presumed grounds where Mary’s house was, and presumably near Joseph’s house. That night we drove to Tiberias where we spent the next two nights. On Monday morning we headed towards

Capernaum and saw the ruins of the city.

Then we went in search of the pomegranate winery (introduced to us by the Hoyers), which did not seem to be too far according to our maps. Well, after an hour and a half and three text messages welcoming us to Lebanon (we did not cross any borders!), we found Rimon Winery! It turns out it was only about 15 minutes away! We did not mind the journey as it took us through the beautiful mountainous area of northern Galilee and even gave us a glimpse of

the snow-capped peak of Mount Hermon. We stopped at the Mount of Beatitudes before heading back to Tiberias.

After Stephanie and Audry enjoyed the natural hot springs, we had a

great dinner enjoying the famous “St. Peter’s fish”. It was great to be in the places where we know Jesus walked, and taught, and performed so many miracles. It is a beautiful, peaceful place along the Sea of Galilee. It is no wonder Jesus spent spent so much time there.

On Tuesday morning we drove down towards Jerusalem through the Jordan valley where we could see all kinds of fruit trees and greenery. It was amazing to drive along the valley because we were able to see with our own eyes what God described in the

Bible as the Promised Land! It was so green and beautiful that it brings those words in the Bible to life with a land that truly flows with milk and honey!

It was an amazing experience to go up on Mount Gilboa and see the Jordan valley, and since it was the beginning of the rainy

season, it was all unbelievably green. That was truly the highlight

of our trip.

That same day we returned to Jerusalem; we returned the rental

car and spent a few hours in the Old City before heading back across the border. It was indeed a great trip and the memories we have of the Promised Land will be with us the rest of our lives.

-Eduardo

Making Friends

Today was the first day back to school since winter break began at ABS. Every one of us on this project here in Jordan have had and still have those moments when we are going through the daily grind, where we wonder why we've come here and for what purpose. Having the time to stand back and reflect during the break helped me to value this opportunity to serve and more specifically in my case to value working with the people I am. There are definitely still frustrations at times with things such as cultural differences or simply the friction that sometimes comes from having different ideas about how to get a job done, but I've learned that coming into those situations with a yielding attitude and pursuit to be helpful and not with an attitude of -we should really do it this way that I am thinking of- has enabled a forming of relationships with my fellow teachers in the KG (even if it at times it does make more sense to do something another way and of course not to the point of neglecting to input ideas to get the job done when requested and given the opportunity). At the end of the day, it is all about serving and living the way of give to build the relationships with our future and potential brothers and sisters wherever we happen to be.

When I arrived in the KG this morning around 8 am, there were many greetings of "good morning" and a lot of sincere inquiries into how everyone was doing. I am fortunate to be working with a small team of teachers and a few support staff with the total reaching 20, it was fairly easy to get to know every one quickly because of that. We have to band together to make the KG building run smoothly and to give instruction to the 150 students in our care. Through these common goals we have formed relationships that are wonderful.

Today I understood just how much those other 19 ladies mean to me and that I am so thankful to have this opportunity to get to know them and live in their part of the world for a while. The common gesture here in Jordan that is shown between friends (not simple acquaintances) when they see each other after a bit of an absence, is to kiss once on one cheek and two or three times on the other (I still don't quite have the format down exactly). Although this gesture is not something I'm particularly used to (and can sometimes seem very humorously awkward), I was honored to be considered enough of a friend to be welcomed back to school that way today. I know every day won't begin like today did, but it was a great encouragement and reminder as to why we're living and serving in Jordan this year. We are here to build bonds and to live as an example in serving the people by which we are surrounded.

~Audry~

Apartment Tour

Hi. All is well in Jordan. Audry, Stephanie and Eduardo just got home from a trip to Northern Israel. ABS had their winter break the last 2 weeks and they return to school Sunday while Jamie and I at YMWA have one more week of school left before our 3 week break! Wanted to share a video we made of our apartment.