Jordan River and Dead Sea

The adventures never end for a man and his scarf.  This week was quite eventful.  Yesterday found us traveling west towards the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.  Did I have this song stuck in my head all day? You better believe I did.
As we descended from Amman we stopped at a nifty little marker showing the place where we were right at sea level.

It's all downhill from here.

Not to be delayed for too long, we continued down to the Jordan River.  As we approached, Dil (our program director) started singing a bunch of Jordan River-inspired songs (Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Down to the River to Pray, Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, etc.) into the bus microphone.  It was prettttty awesome.  Eventually, we got off the bus and walked out to the river.  This man, faithful scarf by his side, laid his eyes on the river which he has read, heard and sung about all his life; the river of legend and myth and mystery; the fabled locale of such historic moments as the crossing of the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, Elijah's ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire and the baptism of Jesus.  Behold the sight which met his eyes:

As Dil put it, "In Utah parlance, the Jordan River is a crik."

To compensate for the underwhelming sight I was gonna get a picture and/or video of Jordan rolling on the ground so that I'd have evidence of the Mighty Rolling Jordan, but I think she didn't really want to get her dress covered in dirt there and another opportunity never really presented itself.  I'm pretty sad about this. 

We hiked a short ways off to the spot that many people believe to be the exact place where Jesus was baptized.  The river isn't there anymore (rivers can be so fickle you know) but archaeologists have excavated the remains of a church that was once built there.  You can see steps leading down from the church into where the water used to be, and there are four pillars left of what used to be a pavilion erected over the exact spot Jesus was supposed to have been baptized and where Byzantine (I think) pilgrims often went and baptized themselves three times.

Check out the 'stache on this guy.  What a baller.  He should do a blog titled "A Man and His Stache"

We continued on, through a Greek Orthodox Church and down to the river to soak our feet for a little bit.  Mmmmmm-hmmmmm.

When I was on my mission my companion and I once had a lengthy conversation with this one guy in downtown Oakland who had some....interesting ideas about religion.  I think his name was Joseph but when it was just us we referred to him as "Broseph" and it was fitting.  It was obvious it wasn't worth our time to regularly teach him but that one conversation was rather enjoyable and we left on amicable terms.  Near the end of the conversation though, he said, "I've always wanted to get baptized in the actual Jordan River.  I'll join your church if you baptize me in the Jordan River.  If you ever head over that way give me a call, I'll meet you over there and you can baptize me."  We all laughed, cuz what were the chances either of us would ever actually be at the Jordan River?  My companion went to the BYU Jerusalem Center a few years ago and visited the Jordan River and now here I am too.  We should have held on to Broseph's number.

 After hiking back to the bus it was off to the Dead Sea!  This man and his scarf couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

The Dead Sea.  It was a great time.  Except for the part where some of the water splashed up into my eyes.  That water is so stinkin' salty.  It burned. So. Bad.  I somehow managed to stumble my way out over the rocks and up the stairs to a shower where I was able to wash out my eyes, but for a while there I was having flashbacks to the gas chamber at Basic.  That sounds like an exaggeration, but it's really not.  After that though, it was nothing but fun, floating and Dead Sea mud.  Scarves and water don't really mix so I left the scarf up with my bag.  After rinsing off and while heading to the pool, Dil asked me if I'd gotten a scarf picture while covered with Dead Sea mud.  Aw shoot.  I did not.  He shook his head and said, "That is a terrible shame."  And no joke, I felt so ashamed of myself.  Man, that guy is good at his job.  

After swimming for a while, showering and eating a ginormously delicious buffet lunch it was time to head back to Amman.  Great day, everyone.  Great day.

This man is feeling fat and happy

P.S.  I would be remiss if I did not give proper credit where it is due.  I was planning to just use the camera on my iPhone this whole trip, cuz hey, I'm no professional and the iPhone camera quality is generally good enough for my purposes.  Unfortunately something happened and now there's a little doo-hickey blocking part of the lens inside my phone and I can't fix it.  So mega thanks to Chris and Jordan on the photo credits.  Y'all are..ep...ju...s....ha.........good.