Monday April 4 Jerash/Jordan River/Dead Sea/ Israeli Border/Jerusalem

Gateway to Jerash, huge Roman ruins just north of Amman. Have to comment on weather, it has turned off cool and rainy, that explains how we were dressed, just did not plan on 50's and rain the the Middle East desert. Upside is that it is not stifling hot, and things are uncharacteristically green.

View into the Hippodrome

Well dressed tourists for the Jordan desert, we all got cold and wet, but ruins were amazing

As were the flowers, we were told that poppies were referred to in the Bible as Lilys of the Field

We then drove back south through Amman, up over an eastern pass, and began a steep decent into the Jordan River Valley. About halfway down we passed a sign that said Sea Level, then continued our descent toward the Dead Sea

Nancy tried out some of the famous Dead Sea mud

But I digress, we stopped on the way down at the reported site of Jesus Baptism on the Jordan River.

This is the Greek Orthodox Church, one of several different types of churchs built around the Jordan River.

Dr Lund gave us all a great talk and explaination, not just about baptism, but about the Holy Ghost. He pointed out that Jesus really did not know for sure he was the Messiah until the Holy Ghost descended upon him after He was baptised by John the Baptist. Up to that point his ministry had moved forward based on his great faith, a message for us all.

The River itself is but a trickle of what it used to be, most of the water is diverted up stream to irrigate the Jordan River Valley. The river has also changed course several times over the centuries, and this is a guess about where the Baptism acutally took place. Of interest, the Israeli guard towers across the way, a reminder that the Jordan River is the boundary between Jordan and Israel.