Mount Nebo and Mar Elias

The last two days have been full of great moments with friends, traveling, and spending some time in quiet. Finally feeling much better yesterday, I managed to wake up on time to walk down to the first circle and take care of some things at the bank. Then, Lisa/Grace/Amy and I jumped in the cab with Ahmad and made our way to Mount Nebo. The drive there is sort of the same as the drive to the Dead Sea, then we started to make our way up the desert hills and man! the view was beautiful. As soon as my internet picks up speed, I will be sure to post some of the pictures I got. The pictures really do not do it justice, you can see to Israel, the Dead Sea, Jericho, very cool. The desert heat was quite hot as well, luckily we brought snacks and water but I was worn out by the time we got home. Finished the evening off with some symphony rehearsal, then a wonderful Italian meal out with the crew from symphony. After overstuffing myself with cheese tortellini covered in a mushroom cream sauce, I then proceeded to eat a scoop of coffee crisp ice cream, FANTASTIC! Both the pasta and the ice cream were around Abdoun circle. Abdoun is like the Beverly Hills of Amman, the very westernized, up to date, nice nice part of down. When you stand at the circle, you can just watch all of the very pricey cars drive by, haha.

I had the complete opposite experience of that today. A group that I got hooked up with from Julie went to Mar Elias, the place where Elijah was fed by ravens, to have a spiritual retreat. In 1999, they started excavating beautiful old church ruins with mosaic floors. The place is also said to be close to where Elijah was born as well. Let me tell you, being there this morning, looking out over the hills was ridiculous, really awe-inspiring. I know that the pictures will not be the same but it was like I was in the clouds, looking out over the vast land. The retreat was based on the passage in Kings where God speaks to Elijah with a gentle whisper, the idea was to take time to be by yourself, in the midst of nature, focusing solely on God and his voice. The morning session was about an hour and a half, then lunch all together talking and mingling, then the afternoon session about an hour and 15 minutes, closing with prayer and sharing. The group was very multi-cultural and all different occupations, quite fun to get to know new people :o) Both sessions were spent completely alone, I picked a beautiful spot on the rocks where I could sit under a tree and look out over the land. The breeze would come up and cool me off, then the sun would warm me when I needed it. It was really comforting to have that space to listen to God's voice. A strong pull that I keep feeling from him is that we will always have our 2 natures inside of us, good and evil, and we cannot follow good intentions alone, we NEED God, the Holy Spirit, living in us to guide us on the right path and the ultimate goal is to love each other with self-less love, show Christ to others. And enough preaching for today, haha.

Lisa, Grace, and I were able to find the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy online tonight so we watched most of it, it cut out when we had watched 72 minutes of video so we'll have to catch the rest tomorrow. Should be fun finding it each week online :o) I need to get some sleep, long day tomorrow. I have symphony rehearsal from 10 am -1 pm, then work in the afternoon until 5, then another rehearsal from 6:30-10:00. Miss everyone so much, torn between two continents right now. talk to you soon, xoxoxo.