This is going to be a long week. I am SO bored! But I didn’t get to tell you about the little weekend trip we took after we got back from our long trip. There’s a man in the ward, Salah Houran, who took us and some of the other BYU students from the Arabic speaking program on a fun trip. First we went to a castle that had a tunnel under ground. We had to use flash lights and it was like hundreds of steps below. It was cool. Then we went to spend the night in a really old village. Like 400 years at least... and they just got electricity last year. It was like some of the ruins Ive seen except people were living in them... and they made some hotels out of them so we got to stay there too!! It was fun except I woke up the next morning covered in spider bites. Theyre itching me right now... So then we went and hiked another wadi. The Dana Wadi which is a nature reserve and it had lots of cool caves that we climbed around in. Tour books describe it as "lush" but I dont know if I would go that far... there’s some trees...On our way home we stopped at a place to eat Manceff. Manceff is the traditional Jordanian meal which is rice with goat meat (usually the goats head is served with the meal...) and some weird fermented goats milk concoction. I like the rice...and a little meat. I actually do like the goat meat. just not too much of it. So it was a fun trip.
walking down under the castle
Climbing out of the tunnel
Dana Hotel
Walking in the Dana Nature Reserve
But I have to tell you more about Salah. He is one of the only real Jordanian converts. I think there’s like 4 in the branch and the rest are workers from the embassy. We had breakfast with him and he told us his conversion story. He grew up in a really poor family. Like they ate out of trash cans ("theres no shame in that" he added). He said he never dreamed of having a life like the one the church has given him. So he was working doing tourist stuff and he met people who were members and they gave him a book of Mormon (he was Christian) but he didnt really think anything of it. During this time he was really thinking of committing suicide. He said that he felt like such a huge burden for his family and he had planned out how much money he would be saving them if he was gone and he had a real plan to take his life. Then he came across the book of Mormon he had. He prayed so hard that he would find those people again and be able to learn more about the church. Of course he did find them and his prayers were answered. When he joined the church the government took away his ability to work. I guess in Jordan if you work in places like tourism you have to have permission from the government saying your in good standing. Because he joined the church they took away his ability to work. I guess they dont like the church? I dont really know that much...other then its a huge deal we're able to meet in a building every week...we're very lucky I am told. So members of the church taught him english and he was able to use his English abilities to make money. He then met an American girl who was visiting Jordan and they got married in the temple in Germany. They just had a baby, one of the first babies to be born under the covenant in Jordan (maybe THE first...in Jordan). It was so amazing to hear his story. He’s coming to BYU to get his Masters but then he plans to go back to Jordan. He said he thinks its important that his family be an example for the church in Jordan. it was so cool talking to him. He had a strong testimony of the gospel.
So thats my cool story for now. I dont know when I'll be on again...I'll try to think of something interesting to write! Oh, I have to tell you about "in sha Allah" Its a VERY common phrase here. It means "god willing". But you say it all the time. Like if you ask when will the war end? When will you see your family again? Are you coming to dinner tomorrow? All of those could get the response "in sha Allah". its very noncommittal but you cant really quesiton it. You just smile and say "yes... in sha Allah". I wish I could say it in America because I think it could get me out of a lot of inconveniant things... Like "when will you start working? can you make dinner? Will you speak in church?"...love you and miss you!
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