Many kinds of Baptisms

So this photo is actually on the River Jordan; the boundary between Israel and Jordan.  Behind the kids you can see the many visitors to the Israel side.  They have a very big and fancy, must be, visitors center.

While we were there, we saw four different kinds of baptisms take place.  People getting water from the river poured over their heads, shaking water off of tree branches onto people, touching the water and then themselves, and a man immersing himself in the water over and over again.

Non of these were the way Jesus Christ was baptized.

It's strange to me that many people believed Christ was baptized my immersion, by someone with the proper authority - but hardly anyone does as He did.  It was a great lesson for my kids to see how the truth has been changed so many times by so many religions.

It was such a testimony to me of the Book of Mormon, and why we need that one pure translation.  The Bible is just as important, but over the many years of translations, things have become unclear, and the Book of Mormon clarifies inconsistencies. I love it.

I love that my husband was there, with the same proper authority that John the Baptist had himself.  What a marvelous gift from Heavenly Father; to have restored the true gospel to the earth today.  I am so thankful for my knowledge of this and my membership in the true church of Jesus Christ.

I can't wait to someday actually cross this border and visit the many Holy Sites Israel has to offer.

From mold to a spotty kid

I guess I better update on the mold.  Well.  My vents have been cleaned, checked by a camera (so they say), new ducts in installed in some areas and a brand new AC unit inside and out.  So.  I'm pretty satisfied we're better off today than we were before.  There's been a lot of workmen around the house the past couple of months and all in all, it seems better.  The smell seems to be gone, and our house is staying nice and cool as we have met our 100 degree mark before Easter.  Nice.

In other news....Solomon has hand-foot-and mouth.  Or is it chicken pox.  Or is it pityriosis.  Because he has been diagnosed with all three.  BUT, I am pretty sure it is the last one.  Which happens to just be a really ugly rash.  So ugly, that I make him wear a shirt at all times, even in the pool, because it is SO gross for others to look at.  Poor kid - he LOVES to not wear shirts.  Apparently this is some kind of virus/fungus/allergy depending on who you ask and what you read.  No on else has it, that's good.  And it doesn't itch hardly at all.  That's good.  By wow.  It looks woof-a-rific.

I had a nice mothers day (we celebrated on Friday, as that is our Sabbath).  I prefer that because I like to have the entire day off and Peter to be home so I really don't have to do anything.  If we had it today, Sunday, then I wouldn't get a break at all.

We head home for the states in three weeks from today.  Um.  Did you hear me screech a very loud HOORAY?!  Because, I cannot wait to get to America!  This year we didn't even make it to Europe.  All three trips I went on this year were in Asia.  While they were all totally fantastic, they were all pretty third world.  Well, Hong Kong wasn't third world, but it's China - what can I say.

I have three weeks of preschool left for the year as well.  Another year or not?  That is up in the air, but should be determined my numbers of children wanting to be enrolled.  We'll have a better idea of this later today, as registration is due today.  It's been a very fun and busy year.  I have waffled on wanting to do it again this year.  And have decided that if people want three days a week (I've been at four) then I would do it.  I just need that extra day to get my life and house under control.  While it has been really busy, the days have just slipped by.  I usually have a bit of depression during the year here, but looking back, I don't think I had time for that this year.  Kind of nice.

Anyway.  There's a quick little update.  I'm trying to just write something a few times a week.  My kids LOVE looking back through this blog, and I am so glad I have done it.  But this last year has been a wash.  And if I don't record our family history, it will be forgotten.  So here I go again.

I happened on the way to the font...

I guess I should say, for history sake, that our family was able to go on an amazing trip to Jordan over spring break.  I could have never guessed what a fantastic place this is!  I had very little expectations - and it truly turned out to be one of my favorite places on earth.  (I know, I know...you've heard that before.)  Several people had told me how great it was, so I then had to convince Peter.  We kind of went thinking that it is so near to The Holy Land, included in much of the Bible, that if for nothing else - we should probably go.  Our main reservation was this:  We LIVE in the Middle East, why would we want to 'vacation' here?!

Boy were we wrong.

Because I had to twist Peter's arm to go, one of my bribery tactics was this, "I promise.  I will drive the entire way.  You won't have to drive once!"  Remember that we like to travel, not vacation.  I am the one who ends up booking all these crazy places where we rent a car and go all over the place - and Peter does the driving.  Once again, I had booked and made plans to drive from Amman to Aqaba.  (top to bottom of the Jordanian map)  So I had to swear I would do the driving.  More on that later.

Anyway.  We arrived at 9 p.m. and got our rental.  (It happened to be our exact same car we have here - a Ford Expedition.  Easy enough!)  We took a beautiful evening drive winding down from Amman to the Dead Sea, overlooking the lights of Israel (Palestine) the entire way.  We settled into a lovely resort on the Dead Sea (see the stingy dead sea post) for the night not knowing all adventure was awaiting.

First order of business - The Baptism site.  Where John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.  But this part of the story is what happened on the way to the 'font'.

Here I was, just happily doing my promised driving job.  Jordan's road aren't marked all that well.  In English, anyway.  We knew the round about location of the site, very near the resort.  But when we got to a fork in the road, we decided to break right.  What a beautiful sight.  Green fields of produce!  Where we live, things don't grow.  I've never seen any kind of green field here, so it's always a pleasant sight to see things like this. 

A couple of minutes down the road; an adorable family of camels.  (pictured above)  Aren't camels pretty?  Did you ever think they came in such a variety of colors?  I love them. They are a happy thing about living in the ME.  They were just walking down the street.  Their shepherd was right near by and moved them out of the way though.  Next thing we see, is a big tourist bus behind us, well - we must be on the right track.  We WERE heading to a tourist site, right?  Never mind that they all had little white hats on their heads.  (Muslim and Jewish wear these kinds of things)  We pulled over and let them pass, so we could follow.  But then, it seemed too far.  Maybe we were wrong.

Turn around.

Pass the camels again.

No.  It must be the other way...

Turn around again.

Pass the camels again.

This time we were in it for the long haul.  (not very long - like 20 minutes maybe)  We came to a T in the road; again most traffic was heading to the left.  We knew the River Jordan acted as a border between Jordan and Israel, so we turned left.

A minute or so later, there were a lot of buses and taxis around.  So we looked for the parking area.  Ah!  An entrance gate up ahead.  I pull up to a few men with guns in uniform (a very normal sight here), and I roll down my window:

They grunt.  "Hi.  Where do we park?"  I ask.

 "Palestine?!" 

"What"

"You want to go to Palestine?"

"No. We want to go to the baptism site.  Where do we park?"  I say.

"You want to go to Palestine?!"  they say.

Peter:  "I think we're at the Palestinian border crossing!"

Uh.  What!?

"Uh.  We're looking the baptism sight.  You know.  John the Baptist?  Jesus?" 

"Jerusalem?  You want to got to Jerusalem?"

"Well, yes.  Um.  I mean not now though.  We want to go.  Well, could we go?"  I look a Peter?  Should we?  No.  Better not try it.  Plus - we don't know what we're getting ourselves into here.

"Palestine?!"

"No.  Jesus.  Baptism."

Now they're calling all the other guards over.  No one speaks any English. 

Now they are giving me the TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW, LADY! gesture.

We're all a little confused, but do what they say, of course.  Someone else stops us, no idea what we're talking about.  (please keep in mind, we find out that we are like 10 minutes from this amazing historical site - NONE of these people knew what we were talking about.)  Just to be safe.  We decided to  head back they way we came and take the other fork in the road.

Pass the camels - again.

We laughed the entire way back.  You have to know  a couple of things:  You can't just cross the border into Israel, and because of where we live over here, we CANNOT go to Israel.  (there are ways to do it, and we plan on it someday, but not THIS day)  Just to cross normal, you cannot drive.  You have to take a bus.  (remember the bus?)  Then you have to get a taxi on either side when you cross.  (remember the taxis I mentioned)

Anyway.  It was SO funny.  A white, non muslim, American, wearing a t-shirt, WOMAN trying to drive her husband and five kids across the Palestinian broder.  TOO funny!

The Baptism site was pretty cool though.

This picture here is where they believe it actually happened.  As you can guess, no one knows for sure. But this 'font' was built originally, like 200 years after the baptism, on the record of verbal history.  It is at the end of a small tributary of the river. (or what is left)  Which makes sense that they would use a more calm part of the river.  Of course, the river has changed a lot over the these couple thousand years.

You can see behind the kids here the actual river.  It used to be 60 yards across, they say.  It's now 6 yards.  I'll save our actual experience for another post. It was interesting.

The stingy dead sea

 I floated in the Dead Sea.

Who doesn't float in the Dead Sea?

Well, actually everyone who decides to enter the water - will float.  It truly is an amazing phenomenon.  So that was cool.  Want to know what wasn't cool?  The water itself.

Poison, I tell you.

It is as thick as oil, literally.  I'm serious.  It's viscous.  You can see the salt, minerals and what looks like oil move through the water.  And it stings like the dickens!  Any sore, scratch, wound, nook or cranny you have will HURT!  Poor Roo nearly ripped her skin off after dunking in here.  The dumb thing is - you HAVE to!  You can't not.  Well, unless you're Chach who hates standard ocean salt water because that alone makes his skin kill.  So he wasn't even about to attempt this.

He's no dummy.

Gid stuck his toe in as the shortest venture, and Si stayed in it forever.  Not sure why, but I think he loved the weird floating experience.  You cannot hardly even put your legs beneath you.

People come from all over the world for the 'health benefits'.  (ouch benefits?)  Here we are giving our selves the mud rub down afterward.  This is a huge spa type thing.  You can buy the mud in stores.  How was it?  Stinky.  Thats how.  And you were supposed to leave it on for 15 minutes.  I lasted about 2.  But we had a great time gettin muddy!

The Dead Sea was really cool.  I don't think I would ever do it again, because it only takes once to say you've done something - right?  But after reading about the Dead Sea in the Bible my whole life - I was happy to see it and really know - it's dead.  Nothing could ever possibly live in there.