I titled this blog in honor of one our favorite David Letterman skits.
Wed., Nov. 7, 2007: We started our day early at 5:30 a.m. so that we could be ready to leave the hotel and head back to Israel. We had another border crossing, similar to the one on Monday, only this time, they kept my passport and I had to submit to a little extra searching. It was a little unnerving for me, even though it was a basic pat down search. A quick note about Jordan and the people we met in that country. It is a poor country right now. A few years back the king of Jordan made some deal that really hurt the economy and strength of their dollar. One of their national treasures is Petra because of the tourists it brings to their country, and tourism is a huge part of their economy. This could be why the people we met were so friendly, but I choose to believe that they are friendly by nature. The more I meet and talk with people, I discover that we are all the same in that we just want to be happy and free to love our families and live a peaceful life. While in Jordan I met and visited with an Israeli Jew, a Jordanian Muslim, a bedouin and Christians from the U.S. and all of these wonderful new friends express the same thoughts and feelings. They love their families, they love meeting and getting to know new people. We had a lot of fun conversations, just talking about our families and cultures. I found the bedouins we did business with in Petra to be very nice, great sense on humor, very gregarious. They depend on the tourists for their living, and so they are very friendly and respectful. But I tell you what, they sure teach their children at a very young age how to sell to "the pretty ladies." They know the lines to feed you and knew english really well. One little boy sat down right next to me, glued to my side and while riffling through my bag (think Brian Regan, "hey, that's my gum...!) asked me what everything was. I ended up giving him my hand sanitizer, tissues (he needed these!) and tour ball cap for "very special price, just for you" free. He did not even trade me anything for it. Oh well, he was a darling boy. Last night, Steve bought an arab out fit complete with kofea (head dress) and wore it to dinner on a dare from me. The hotel staff loved it. They were showing him all the different ways to where the kofea, and they thought it was awesome.
On to Israel...after surviving my search, we settled in for a nice long 3 hour bus ride to Masada. I won't take the time to tell the history of what happened here (you can rent the movie) but it is a very impressive fortress that King Herod built as a place a refuge or to hide out in if the native Jews or Egyptians ever decided to come after him. One thing I must say about King Herod: he was one mentally ill man, but he sure knew how to build things. Most of the impressive ruins (Casearea and the acqauducts, temple in Jerusalem, Masada to name a few) were built by him. From Masada, we drove along the Dead Sea and stopped at a resort for lunch and a "float" in the Dead Sea, hence the title of this blog. Yes, you really do float and with very little effort. (to give an idea of the salinity, it is 33% compared to the Great Salt Lake which is 11%) We had to be very careful not to get any water in our eyes or mouth and we could only stay in for about 20 minutes, but it was SO DANG COOL! The water felt a little slick, like baby oil, and when we got out it evaporated right off our our skin. We quickly showered off, got back on the bus and headed over to Qumran to see the site of where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Again, another amazing discovery. They have found fragments of every New Testament book, except Nehimiah and Esther, AND the whole book of Isaiah in its entirity. Another testament of the Bible and, therefore, of the Book of Mormon and, more importantly, Christ.
Wed., Nov. 7, 2007: We started our day early at 5:30 a.m. so that we could be ready to leave the hotel and head back to Israel. We had another border crossing, similar to the one on Monday, only this time, they kept my passport and I had to submit to a little extra searching. It was a little unnerving for me, even though it was a basic pat down search. A quick note about Jordan and the people we met in that country. It is a poor country right now. A few years back the king of Jordan made some deal that really hurt the economy and strength of their dollar. One of their national treasures is Petra because of the tourists it brings to their country, and tourism is a huge part of their economy. This could be why the people we met were so friendly, but I choose to believe that they are friendly by nature. The more I meet and talk with people, I discover that we are all the same in that we just want to be happy and free to love our families and live a peaceful life. While in Jordan I met and visited with an Israeli Jew, a Jordanian Muslim, a bedouin and Christians from the U.S. and all of these wonderful new friends express the same thoughts and feelings. They love their families, they love meeting and getting to know new people. We had a lot of fun conversations, just talking about our families and cultures. I found the bedouins we did business with in Petra to be very nice, great sense on humor, very gregarious. They depend on the tourists for their living, and so they are very friendly and respectful. But I tell you what, they sure teach their children at a very young age how to sell to "the pretty ladies." They know the lines to feed you and knew english really well. One little boy sat down right next to me, glued to my side and while riffling through my bag (think Brian Regan, "hey, that's my gum...!) asked me what everything was. I ended up giving him my hand sanitizer, tissues (he needed these!) and tour ball cap for "very special price, just for you" free. He did not even trade me anything for it. Oh well, he was a darling boy. Last night, Steve bought an arab out fit complete with kofea (head dress) and wore it to dinner on a dare from me. The hotel staff loved it. They were showing him all the different ways to where the kofea, and they thought it was awesome.
On to Israel...after surviving my search, we settled in for a nice long 3 hour bus ride to Masada. I won't take the time to tell the history of what happened here (you can rent the movie) but it is a very impressive fortress that King Herod built as a place a refuge or to hide out in if the native Jews or Egyptians ever decided to come after him. One thing I must say about King Herod: he was one mentally ill man, but he sure knew how to build things. Most of the impressive ruins (Casearea and the acqauducts, temple in Jerusalem, Masada to name a few) were built by him. From Masada, we drove along the Dead Sea and stopped at a resort for lunch and a "float" in the Dead Sea, hence the title of this blog. Yes, you really do float and with very little effort. (to give an idea of the salinity, it is 33% compared to the Great Salt Lake which is 11%) We had to be very careful not to get any water in our eyes or mouth and we could only stay in for about 20 minutes, but it was SO DANG COOL! The water felt a little slick, like baby oil, and when we got out it evaporated right off our our skin. We quickly showered off, got back on the bus and headed over to Qumran to see the site of where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Again, another amazing discovery. They have found fragments of every New Testament book, except Nehimiah and Esther, AND the whole book of Isaiah in its entirity. Another testament of the Bible and, therefore, of the Book of Mormon and, more importantly, Christ.
What a fun and exciting day. We topped it off by driving into the holy city of Jerusalem. We came into the city at night time, with the city lights shining--beautiful! At every meal, when Jews offer a prayer, they say "next time, Jerusalem." How blessed and lucky we are to get to be here.
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