jordan the 2nd

Let me fill you in on the other things we did in Jordan. We had to the opportunity to stop by the Jordanian branch building and have a fireside. It's not actually recognized as a church there so that's why it says the "center for cultural and educational affairs" on the sign. It was a really interesting fireside. If you didn't know, in Israel the only reason we are able have a center here is on the condition that we don't do any missionary work or talk about the church at all. In Jordan though, you can talk about the church and share doctrine, but only with people that are already Christian. I thought that was interesting though. Funny thing, when we first walked in it totally smelled like every other church building I've been in :)
During our free time in Amman we first went to Rainbow Street, which we heard was a fun place, but it's probably more fun when it's actually warm weather because no one was really outside. After a little while of exploring and getting so sahalab (the really good rice pudding type drink) we decided to head to Mecca Mall, which we were told we had to experience. It's a huge mall! While we were there we saw this frozen yogurt place that wasn't actually open yet, but people were in setting up, so we had to go in! We went in and the guy was really nice and gave us a little sample. I had the honeydew flavor and it was just like Spoon Me back in Provo! Delicious! Emma, Priscilla, and I were so excited! After walking around for a little and letting Jeff and Priscilla ride the mechanical bull we decided we had to go back and get an actual cup of it. We went back and got a cup. I had honeydew with granola and dark chocolate chips on top! We kind of got ripped off paying $5, but it was worth it and the guy was really nice. We found out that he'd just gotten here 3 weeks ago from the states and was actually from Rancho Cucamonga, CA! That's where my brother and his family used to live! Here is one of the most awkward pictures ever when we used self timer :)
In the mall there were all the normal stores along with some different ones. But I had to get a pic in front of F21! Yeah! We didn't go into any shops though. Did you know that the Jordanian Dinar is actually worth more than the US dollar? Amman is actually a clean, organized, more modern city and seems prosperous. 

Priscilla actually realized she left her shirt and camera at the yogurt place once we'd gotten back to the hotel and so we ran back to the mall to find it. We found it and everything, but our taxi ride back was eventful. The taxi was nasty! We get in and the seats are wet! NASTY! The windows were fully wet and dripping on the inside. I couldn't stop laughing because we were trying to adjust so that we had as little of us touching the seat as possible. The cab driver kept looking back and he was taking us some way that none of us recognized back to the hotel and we were ready to just have him drop us out. Then we heard this noise and our cab had a flat tire! We hopped out of there fast and got in another, just to find out that our hotel was like 50 feet up the street behind this building and the other taxi driver still charged us! haha. We made it back though emma, priscilla, and I were soaked through from that seat to our underwear and felt really gross! One taxi ride I'll never forget!

We also went to Jerash, which was actually one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was inhabited in the Bronze Age, but then the Romans came in and took over. These are some of the most amazing ruins! There was a whole theater, plenty of columns everywhere, and a central court area, etc. 
This is the central area. How amazing is that?
The site of Jerash is huge and this is one of the old roads we walked down. I love the unevenness of the road! My favorite part of the whole thing was the details carved into the tops of the columns. They were so beautiful. 
The old mosaics are also amazing. It's amazing that they're still in such good shape. This was one of the floors of church ruins. 
I can't remember what lookout this was, but I'll get back to it....
This is the view over part of Jordan!
One of the last things we did was go to the King Abdullah Mosque, which was completed in 1990. It was beautiful! We had to wear these black robes to ensure our modesty as girls before we entered. We all felt like we were in Harry Potter, which was awesome. Someone pulled out a stick as we were all putting them on and pretended it was a wand. This was us inside the mosque in our robes. Our tour guide talked to us a lot about the religion of Islam and it's amazing the parallels there are between religions! I love learning about other religions!
Here is the minaret of the mosque where the call of prayer rings out from 5 times a day over loud speakers. 
Jayne and I found out we were twins, so we had to take a picture! We didn't plan it, but coordinated in the picture so we would look more the same with our camera bags across the same way. 
This is the Jordan River! This was and interesting dock kind of thing that we sat by. The water was pretty dirty I think because it had just rained or something and they said that usually it is not really even high at all, which I thought was surprising!
This is a picture of us around the spot where some church built a baptismal font type area where they believe that Christ was actually baptized by John the Baptist. The river doesn't actually flow through this area anymore because like every other river in the world it has changed its course slowly but surely over time!

YAY for Jordan!