Jordan and Ramallah

This has been a fun and busy week for the Judds!  Frank led the students in a tour of the historical and Biblical sites of Jordan.  In the historical category, they visited Petra, Ajloun Castle, Madaba, a famous mosque, and the Jordan Museum.  

In the Biblical category they saw Mt. Nebo (where Moses caught a glimpse of the promised land he would never enter), Machaerus (Herod's pleasure palace where John the Baptist left this mortal existence), the Jabbok river (where Jacob wrestled with an angel before reconciling with Esau), Jerash (one of the ten Roman cities at the time of Jesus), Amman Citadel (where Uriah the Hittite, husband of Bathsheba, left this mortal existence), and Bethany beyond Jordan, a possible location for the baptism of Jesus Christ.

Side Note:  I heard a very nice pastor say that the reason Jerusalem has two or more possible sites for almost every story about Jesus (ex: baptismal site, Capernaum, the upper room, Gethsemane, Calvary, the tomb, the ascension, etc.) is so we as fallible humans don't idolize the site and get distracted from the real message of Jesus Christ.  This made a lot of sense to me.  We visit the sites to envision and explore the landscape where these stories took place, but the real message of the Savior is to repent, come unto him through his servants and ordinances, and lift those around us so they can come unto him, too.

The Jordan trip went smoothly, and many people commented on Frank's excellent teaching and organizational ability.  Just a little brag on the hubby!  

I don't have any photos from his trip, so I borrowed some from 2011 above.  If you want to see more posts about Jordan written by Carrie five years ago, click here.


The other BYU moms and I worked out a plan to help everyone enjoy the out of country field trips if they wanted to.  So this past week Sister Esplin went to Jordan, and Sister Ludlow babysat the two middle children, while I got to pal around with the oldest and youngest, ages 9 and 3.  While all the big kids were at school, Tommy and I had a blast!  Like a blast from the past, back to the time when days were measured by playgrounds, hot dogs, and homemade playdough.  We sang nursery rhymes while we washed our hands, threw dodge balls at each other, and counted stairs to help tired little feet keep going, and going, and going.  Tommy walked up three big flights of stairs every morning to wave to the kids on the school bus, then three flights back down to have our daily fun.

It was a team effort, with Brother and Sister Heiner pitching in for Monday dinner and FHE.  We ate tacos and then flung Nerf sling darts at each other.



Brother and Sister Heiner both said their favorite scripture is "My father Lehi dwelt in a tent," both because Sister Heiner's grandpa was a tentmaker, and because of the way tents gather and give shelter and comfort to people when they are away from their permanent homes.  People who gather together in a faith community are supposed to be like a tent, strengthening the stakes and always lengthening out the cords to welcome more people in, especially those who may feel like they are on the outside.




My girls and the Ludlows were amazing helpers and everyone was safe and happy, except when I told Tommy his mom was coming home tomorrow, but I forgot to say tomorrow night, so he woke up the next morning and cried  because she wasn't home yet.  Oops.  Better drown those tears in playdough.

One night we ate on the balcony:  French fries, pita pizzas,  and chicken nuggets (careful not to buy the nuggets filled with corn!  Although, I guess that would count as a veggie...)  

Everyone was happy when the Jordan contingent returned!  In the middle of all the Biblical and historical enlightenment, Frank came across a store that sold Cheetos, a welcome souvenir!  One last note on Jordan:  they experienced extreme heat on the trip but came back to cooler temperatures as fall is starting to creep toward us.

Lisa says hello from the other side of a hair straightener.

 To celebrate my happy helpers, we had a rare treat: aerosol whipped cream for our waffles.



Emily made this miniature version of the Christus statue out of sticky tack.  It's about an inch high.

Another artistic outlet is drawing on the whiteboards in all the classrooms.  The kids go up to practice their piano songs but usually end up with some whiteboard masterpieces as well.

En route to a clothing store (it seems a whiteboard marker attacked a white shirt) we saw this interesting graffiti.  The Hebrew says, "Shalom."  So it was a very artistic, peace-loving graffiti tagger at work here.

Just today I had the rare and wonderful opportunity to visit Ramallah.  Since it is in the West Bank and on the other side of the separation wall, it is usually off limits except on special assignment.
Sister Anderton, on the left, needed helpers to come along as her husband (a pediatric anesthesiologist) trained medical students on neonatal resuscitation.  So Sister Christensen, on the right, and a few others came along.  Sister Christensen is from Madison, Wisconsin, and she and her husband manage the tourist that come to the BYU Jerusalem center three days a week.  I get to help with some big tours on Wednesday.

The training, sponsored by the LDS Humanitarian services, was held at the Red Crescent building in the middle of Ramallah.



We were right between a nice soccer field and an UNRWA refugee camp (established after 1948, not related to the most recent refugee situation.)


 Today's advanced Neonatal Resuscitation training drew about two dozen people from Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, and Jerusalem, with the expectation that they will bring the training materials (including a few neonatal mannequins) back to their hospitals and communities and teach others.  Future training sessions will cover the basics for dozens more students.  Not that I helped with any of that stuff.  I helped correct the pre-tests and print certificates (though, unfortunately, I've never really mastered mail merge.  That would have come in handy today).  Next week the Andertons head off to Burma to do this all over again!

Lunch was amazing!  Chicken, fish, beef stuffed in football-shaped crispy breading, rice, potatoes, with all the trimmings: hummus, tahina, creamy white stuff, spicy red stuff, carrots with raisins, purple cabbage, yum!  Later when I got home I fed my family one casserole with one veggie and one fruit.  I clearly lack imagination compared to the amazing local chefs.

It was nice to chat with all our companions.  The Heiners leave us next month to return to Highland.   They left a house they had lived in only six months to come on this assignment.  And they came with only four weeks' notice!  We are thankful for their loving watchcare over the center and the students.

 On the other side of Christine sat some female doctors, conservatively dressed in traditional Palestinian styles, who were recertifying to keep up on their skills, like a CPR refresher course, except with ventilation, intubation, hypovolumation, and lots of other fun technical stuff.  We headed home about 4:30.  Others will help for the rest of the week, so this was my one big chance to see Ramallah from the inside.