My crush on Jordan deepens

Us dancing with the girls

The stadium that they literally had speakers playing Gladiator music playing. It was inspiring

How about a kiss of death?

Can I just tell you how much I love Jordan! The night that we arrived in Aman from Petra, a few of my friends and I walked around the streets near the hotel for a little while to get some fresh air. We felt completely safe and everything was so much more modern than Egypt and even Israel. On our third day in Jordan, our first visit was the mosque right next many of the government buildings in Aman. In order to go into the mosque, all of us girls had to put these cloak things on. We looked like dementors from Harry Potter. We listened to a short little rambling by our tour guide (I didn't like him much. Somebody taught him the phrase "kind of" and "something like this". I counted and he said "kind of " 26 times within 5 minutes. Anyone who has traveled knows how forgien tour guides are) and then we were able to take some photos. There was a womens part of the mosque som a bunch of us girls went in there to take some photos of us being Grim Reapers. Probably not the best thing to do in a mosque, but we couldn't resist. Then we went to a place called Jerash. Jerash are Roman ruins in Jordan. Jerash was a flourishing Roman city in the first century BC (thank you Nathan for that fact). We were given several hours to tour around with our guide and then take off on our own to take pictures. one of the best parts of being in Jerash was being there at the same time as a group of Muslim school girls. We went into one of the ampitheatres and they had a couple of men playing bagpipes and drums. The girls started dancing and a bunch of us girls were able to join in and dace with them. If we could only get the Palestinians and Arabs to have a dance party together, I am sure we could get a lot more done over here. It was so much fun to be in an anciet Roman city again. As my family can verify, I absolutely fell in love with Italy and Roman architecture/art after visiting Rome my senior year of high school. Seeing similar ruins in Jordan brought back a lot of feeling from my visit to Italy. After playing around Jerash, we were able to have a once in a lifetime experience. The church has a cultural center in Jordan, as well as a branch. We were able to go and meet with two of the first native members in Jordan. Both of these men had been Christian before becoming LDS. If they had been Muslim, then it would not have been possible for them to join the church. They were both able to get up and bear their testimonies to us. Even though they were some of the most simple tesimonies I have ever heard, they were also two of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. It felt like the walls were about ready to burst the spirit and power was so strong. I couldn't help but get excited about thinking what it will be like once we are able to share the gospel with Muslims. They will be some of the most devote members the church will ever know. It was an exciting experience. Something else that was really exciting was the rain that fell after leaving Jerash. Once we got back to the hotel, I ate some desert for dinner (I am being so healthy over here!) and then some of us ran over to the pirated movie store to pick up some movies. Don't worry, it is totally legal in Jordan...reason 597 to love Jordan! I picked up a few and then we caught a taxi over to the mall.

Let's talk about the mall for a minute. Can we say Heaven On Earth! It was by far the biggest mall I have ever been in! It was five stories high and stretched I don't even know how far! There was a bowling alley, laser tag, the world's cutest clothes stores! I am so sad they told us that we would hardly spend any money in Jordan, because had I known how amazing it was, I could have blown two fortunes in this mall! The people of Jordan are so friendly, and loved us, even if we did look pretty trashy compared to them. I absolutely had a blast and loved everything about Jordan. I would definitely go back in a heart beat and if I got the chance to move there, I would jump at it.