On Our Own

Plotting our stops for the day on Amman city map

Our first week on our own in Jordan has flown by! Though we were overwhelmed, we were excited for the opportunity to take on new tasks and start to develop our own style of working with the people here in Jordan. To make our blog entries more readable, we’ve decided to boil our experiences down into bulleted lists and photos with captions. Please leave us a comment if you’d like to know more about any specific thing. We are happy to see that there are actually people out there reading this thing! We miss you all!

• Technology—Resolving issues with our PCs, MACs, Printers, Ethernet cables that go to nothing, etc.
• Talked with friends, the Strongs, former service missionaries in Jordan
• Jordanian directions and names are starting to sound less foreign
• Parking is tough—paid lots and valets are helpful
• Restaurants are surprisingly good. We hope to have lots of places picked out and tested for when people come to visit us
• Logistics—banks, passports, photos, Ministry registrations, still need to register with police department. Everybody is always registering for something around here
• We’d like to tour some of the sites in the area as time permits—Madaba, Mt. Nebo, John the Baptist baptismal site, Dead Sea, Jurish, castle at Ashlum and Petra. Visiting these sites will add breadth and depth to our calling.
• This past week we visited City Mall, Mecca Mall and Galleria Mall. We got winter coats, spicy Jordanian fast food, and yummy pastries.
• Sandi is practicing hymns to play in the Arabic branch. We were asked to give talks on the Sabbath (which is Friday here).
• Attended a Humanitarian Action Conference (where most of the photos are from). Speakers were mostly PhD women who talked about what goes on “behind the veil”. Even in Jordan, 10-13% of marriages are arranged for girls under 18 by their parents. Much higher amongst refugees.
• Had our Branch Christmas party. We are happy to know that the church still thrives, even in locations where its not expected to. Several families have invited us over to celebrate with them on Christmas morning.
• 
•  

  McDonalds for lunch! Pretty tasty! Especially the fries.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

We hope that by attending conferences like the one we did this past week will help us to better understand the Jordanian culture, make connections with humanitarian partners that will enable us to provide better aid and make a difference in peoples lives through sustainable measures. No small task!

Getting closet organized

100 cookies for Branch party

Madelia from Phillippines

All set up in the office. Just like home!