rae of hope: February 2012

I know it's hard to believe, but I'm trying to get back on track with my blogging, so I can finish my YWAM updates. I have been procrastinating for FAR too long. Luckily, this will be a short one!

Our next stop after Thailand was Jordan. We were only in Jordan for two short days, because it was much cheaper for us to fly to Jordan and then take a bus to enter into Israel than to fly straight into Israel. And it also allowed us two "rest" days where we could play tourist.

When we arrived in Jordan, everyone was talking about how different it looked from all the places we had been up to that point. It was a lot more desert-looking. Lots of dirt, little greenery; yet still extremely beautiful. The landscape was very different, and so was the culture. It was something to adjust to, for sure. It was really interesting to observe everyone and everything as we walked along the streets.

Jonah and Merel planned our off day for us, and arranged for us to go to the Dead Sea. We took two vans (taxis) from our hotel to the Dead Sea, and the driver of the van I was in was THE most precious old man. He was so talkative; he shared all about his life story, he spoke about all the conflict going on in Jordan along with all the history behind it. A few of the girls and I were talking about some of the things he was saying about America's involvement in conflicts past and present and how some of the decisions our country made had been really detrimental to this man personally and to his family. It was a real challenge for me to start taking an interest in the world, and not just my own little world. I have only ever been concerned with the things that directly affect me--as I'm sure most people are. But that doesn't mean it's right. I'm pretty sure that's now how Jesus lived, nor how he would have us live. It's something I still am struggling to get my head around and begin to make changes in my life and grow my knowledge of current events around the world.

On the lighter side of things, the Dead Sea was absolutely gorgeous, and lots of fun to play in! The salt content is so high that you can't even really swim, you basically just sit, floating in the water. It felt like oil on your skin, but it sure didn't taste good (I got it in my mouth a few times). We all got mud baths with this black mud from the bottom of the Dead Sea, which was pretty hilarious. After we floated around for a while, a bunch of people went swimming in the pool that they had at the site we were at. The whole day was pretty fun!