Yesterday, I took a shuttle bus to JFK to board a Royal Jordanian flight to Amman, Jordan. At the airport, I met the first two of my intrepid fellow travelers, Frank Weathers and Deacon Greg Kandra. (First selfie of the trip, courtesy of Greg Kandra)
We had a lovely meal before we met some more of our fellow travellers:
And I got to see a dear friend (Denise Bossert):
We boarded our flight. I got an unexpected blessing:
Bypassed dinner and woke up quite refreshed!
We were met by Bilal and another guide whose name I’ve forgotten, but who kept practicing his Spanish on me as I kept trying to practice my Arabic! Ah, languages!
Then we me out guide for the trip, Raed, who has a wealth of knowledge of Holy Jordan and who has the patience of a saint for tolerating me always asking him, “How do you say that in Arabic?” (yes, I am annoying)
We drove past some beautiful sacred sites (this is a mosque I thought was very pretty)
Checked in to the Sheraton, Amman
And went to dinner at Whispers, down the street, where the waiters were all very nice.
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- Breadsticks with labneh and olive tapenade
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- salad
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- mixed yummies
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- lemon and mint drink
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- Arabic coffee!
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- brownie with iced cream
Tomorrow, we’re off to Umm Qais, Jerash, and I get to see Father Nabil Haddad again, when we celebrate Orthodox Easter with him and his congregation!
HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!
For now, I’m exhausted and going to sleep.
Keep up with my minute-to-minute social media posts here, where you can see my Tweets, Instagrams, and Facebook posts, even if you don’t have any of the above.
And pleas keep us all in your prayers! We have an amazing group of people. I am blessed to be among them.
Thank you to the Jordanian Tourism Board for organizing such an exciting and informative trip! I can’t wait to share it with you all!