Day Four on Our Israel Trip

Hi! I am back online after making a trip into Jordan. While in Jordan we were unable to use the Internet so I had to wait until today.

Day four began with a trip to Beth-She'an. This city is best known for the place in the Old Testament where the body of Saul and Jonathan were hung on the city Gates. It was also a very cultural city during the time of Jesus and was highly influenced by Maximus Auerelius the Emperor of Rome. In recent modern times it was known as the sight for the filming of Jesus Christ Superstar back in the 70's. From this very historic city we moved to the boarder of Jordan to begin the process of passing over the border of Israel to Jordan for our journey to Petra.

We made it to the Israel side of the boarder and it was a unique experience going through customs and passport control. We had no problems clearing the Israeli side of the boarder and boarded another bus to be driven to the Jordan side of the boarder. We said goodbye to our current driver Colby and our guide Zvi until Thursday afternoon and made our way to the Jordanian border. There we were greeted by our new guide for the next 24 hours, Khalide and a new driver that we could not pronounce.

Let me tell you that the Jordanian side of the boarder was a little more interesting. Once again, being a savvy international traveler, I was detained while all the rest of the group passed through the passport and customs area. They were taken to the bus while I was detained for questioning. It was fun for a while. My new guide and Jim Brown stuck around for help and moral support. Finally after about an hour of questions and answers I was approved to go into Jordan. I love it and thank God for his help getting me there. We quickly exited the building and got on the bus before someone could change their minds.

We traveled to our first stop which was Mt Nebo where Moses was buried by God. As you recall Moses could not go to the promised land due to disobedience of striking the rock twice. He was however able to climb Mt Nebo and see the promised land. You will find this in Deuteronomy chapter 34. At a restaurant on Mt Nebo we ate lunch after a three hour bus ride. We then visited a Holy Catholic church which had a very nice mosaic floor. The view from outside the church to the Jordan Valley was breath taking. You could almost see the Israelites traveling through the valley on their way to the promised land. From here we traveled to the city of Mabada to see the worlds oldest map in the form of a mosaic. It was really neat to see. Over two million pieces were used to put this together. From Mabada we moved on to Petra were we retired for the night to get ready for day five.