Wadi Mujib/ I just wanna stay here forever Wadi you expect?

Oh my wow, seriously, our Wadi Mujib extravaganza today was AWESOME and just what I needed. Guys, the water was peeerfect and it was seriously sooo pretty and just wow today was the bestestest. Here's some more pictures, in case there weren't enough all over social media lol.

Drink water, kids

Pre hike

 We had to pose there after all the other couples did 

Oh look, it's a Greg!

 And a Jaren

 Kristen, Sydney, mwah, Greg

 Awh, look at lil Zach

 Photo Credit: Greg. Who else

 Under the waterfall

Sunday night, Asia, Ustadh Kirk, and I got to go have dinner with a sweet Syrian family I met in the park a couple weeks ago. They're refugees from just across the Jordan/Syria border in Daraa and were active participants in the peaceful demonstrations/resistance against Bashar Al-Assad after his brutal response to the young boys who, hearing that Tunisian/Egyptian dictators were falling had written on a wall, "You're next doctor," or something along those lines. I opened up a can of worms I hadn't quite intended to by asking what they thought about the Arab Spring, but boy am I grateful that I did and you can bet I'll never forget that conversation. 

The father is a very humble and hard working man and though his eyes always seem to be smiling, speak volumes of his passion for freedom and the battle that's still waging for his people. He's been through a lot. I couldn't help but get emotional as he recounted his experiences and the awful things he'd witnessed in his country. No freedom of speech or right to privacy, the way those 10 year-old boys were tortured and their bodies mutilated, the way the communities rose in disgust and utter horror, the military wiping out innocent civilians, women and children dead in the streets, schools being bombed, missiles leaving cities desolate followed by more to stop those rushing to the aid of those who had been wounded in the first round, a brother missing, this uncle left dead, aunts and nieces being forced to watch their father interrogated at gunpoint, no one knows if the nephew has been imprisoned for 6 years or if he's been killed too, leaving everything and everyone familiar, fleeing the country and seeking refuge, trying to rebuild, trying to make a life for your family in a new and safer place, but the war isn't over. 

"There is always blood on the doorway to freedom. I would happily give my life if it meant freedom for Syria and if they try to force me back, I won't go without a gun. I was never armed before, Arabs make terrible soldiers, but I'm not going back unarmed." The way he spoke of freedom, what he was and is still willing to sacrifice for it, how proud he is of his fellow Syrians who have likewise stood up to Assad and to all of those actively involved in the Arab Spring- we've become pretty detached as Americans from those who made our freedoms possible and sacrificed everything for it, but I think I got a glimpse of how it may have felt to listen to Thomas Paine, or Nathan Hale, or John Paul Jones, hearing  the flame of desire and hope, the fight for liberty inside every human being given shape and voice. I am so grateful to be an American, for the freedoms I most definitely take for granted. These people want nothing more than to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, same as us, and their sacrifices and struggles I pray won't be in vain. It's not looking good for our Syrian friends. Russia, China, and Iran have made it pretty impossible for rebel forces to keep fighting at all, and many are packing up and going home not happy that they'll still be oppressed under a crazy power-hungry tyrant, but tired of fighting and of instability for their families. My heart aches for them. And while I left that sweet family's one room apartment just in tears and in pieces for them and the fact that I CAN'T FIX THE PROBLEM, I know that listening and caring and sympathizing with them and offering some encouragement and upliftment does good for them and for me. It's just baffling to me that for so long I've just seen these foreign conflicts/world events as news articles and pictures, sad stories that you can just turn off or tune out whenever you want to and now they're real people and real places and real problems. My problems now. You think I can just go home after this and get on with my merry life happy to have seen some sights and had some experiences while my people are still out here struggling for freedom and survival? Not a chance. There are things that are important and things that just plain aren't and there's a heck of a lot of work to get done while there are still feeble knees to strengthen and hands to hold and eyes to lift upwards and hearts to turn to the Savior. Really really grateful for these experiences.

We finished our bag/leather/purse class this week! None of us (Sydney, Greg, and I) were super interested in learning how to make purses pursay (lols) but we made some great friends in the class who we'll get to spend more time with here shortly aaaand I'm really looking forward to a few cool leather projects when I get back home. Just some ideas floating around in my head, you know. And I'm excited to give my bags away to some of my friends out here.

 Bag #2!

On Thursday, Sydney and I ended up having a really neat conversation with our 15 year-old neighbor, Minan, and it's just always super fascinating to peak into younger cultural perspectives! (This is especially true with younger females, as they're definitely caught in this interesting pull between tradition and embracing change and open minded like ideas from the Western world right now.) I'll be super interested to see what does and doesn't change, culturally speaking, here in these next 10 years or so.

I'm honestly not sure how, because I've been trying to be so careful, but I must have eaten something this week that really didn't agree with me (I have some food sensitivities) and I had to spend a few days in bed and close to the حمام "hamam" (bathroom-there's your Arabic word for the week and if you drink anywhere near as much water as I do, it may be the #1 most important word for your Arabic vocabulary.) Gold star for you if you got that. Anywho, it's been tricky for me to find things I can eat round these parts that I don't have to spend a lot of time prepping cuz #aintnobodygottimeforthat and so it seriously made my whole life when Kristen, Greg, and Sydney  told me they'd found the gluten free store we'd heard about and were picking up some "halal/kosher/edible" things! Just wow. I legit got teary eyed biting into a piece of bread haha  pathetic, I know, but I just have some of  THE BESTEST NICEST FRIENDS IN THE WHOLE WORLD and I don't deserve 'em!

I'm definitely happy to be feeling better and probably wouldn't have missed church yesterday or that hike today even if it killed me...

Life is mighty fine out here, and these field trips outside of the city are the perfect change of pace and break from all the school work. They sure keep us busy busy out here, but it's so good. :)

Just Amman :)

Also, shout out to Sydney for somehow taking the worst pictures of me at the most random times...How does she do it? I'm really not sure. Don't worry, I'll get her back real good. https://sydslivro.wordpress.com/

New Skills in the Bag Yo

So basically Sydney, Greg, and I are purse experts now. We're taking a night class at a fashion school in town cuz we need us some more #skills and what not, and learning how to work with leather will definitely come in handy in the future, lemme tell ya. We started and finished our first bag this week and have a couple more to go. We've made some great friends and learned some really specific vocabulary that we honestly probably won't be using too much in the next bit here but you never know!

Greg's been bringin his fancy camera

And now for a few great Greg moments this week. He sure keeps everyone laughing, I tell ya:

Trying to talk him into professional purse modeling

(Talking with some of our friends on the phone, trying to make plans)

Eating famous Syrian ice cream at Bakdash

Also, long days and lots of homework means sleep isn't really part of the equation anymore, but I've developed the ability to nap in strange positions (pretty sure that's written up as a spiritual gift somewhere) and lucky me, Sydney's walked in on a few of them spontaneous power naps.

Also, serious mustache goals. Just wow.

Oh, and ZACH GOT HIS MISSION CALL! Netherlands, Belgium mission, Dutch speaking, January. Lots of Syrian and Iraqis there now so he'll definitely be putting his Arabic to use! Love that kid and so proud of him! He's going to be a great lil missionary. :)

So far so good as they say, the people here have won my heart no doubt about it. LIFE IS GOOD!

Arabic word of the week: شاكوش sakoosh (rhymes with skadoosh if you know which pinky move I'm referring to) it means hammer.

Some thoughts on 9/11 also, FIELD TRIPS ARE MY FAVORITE

It's a pretty interesting experience waking up in the Middle East on 9/11. Just wanted to share some thoughts.

First and foremost, today is of course a day to unite and bow our heads as Americans as we remember those who lost their lives and loved ones in 2001. The sacrifice of so many police and firemen, paramedics and civilians, who selflessly risked their safety to rush to the aid of those in need is more than commendable and worthy of respect. The way that the nation came together as friends, communities, and strangers that day and many days following is something to be proud of. I would never wish another 9/11 attack or anything like it on American soil or any other land, however I wish there was a way to similarly come together the way we did on 9/12 and celebrate the heritage and freedoms that we share. Seemed like almost every house was flying an American flag. Pretty cool. News and social media and everything else seem to constantly focus on our differences (race, political parties and opinions, religion or lack thereof, gender, sexual orientation, etc, etc, etc) and I hope today we can shove that all aside and see that though we may not see eye to eye on a few or a vast majority of hot topics and controversial issues, we are equally blessed to be Americans, and to live in a country that though plenty imperfect, has been the global symbol of freedom and hope and opportunity since its formation. Living out of the country has been an incredible experience and I'm just getting started, but it has definitely highlighted some very real blessings I took for granted back home.

Second, I'll try to keep this part short and not get preachy, but NOT ALL ARABS ARE CRAZY RADICAL MUSLIMS OR TERRORISTS. There are good people and bad people everywhere you go, so I'm not in the least bit saying that all Arabs are perfectly wonderful peace-loving people, but I'm saying that a vast majority of them are. I so wish that you could all be introduced to some of my new friends out here and get to experience first hand their kindness and giving spirit, the family values they cherish and prioritize, and their devotion to God. TO OUR GOD. Allah, is just the Arabic word for God, same as Dios is Spanish. (It drives me crazy when people talk about Muslims like they're praying to some "other god named Allah" who tells them to do crazy violent things. They worship the same God, and He was addressed as Allah before anyone ever called Him "God," all I'm saying.) There were Arabs who cheered during the events of 9/11, yes. I'm not saying in any way that I agree with them nor with the actions of those who hijacked the airplanes and drove them into the twin towers, of course. What I'm saying is that MOST Arabs were devastated, and filled with compassion as they want peace for the rest of the world as much as they do for themselves.

Third, remembering the events of 9/11 can be a great way, if you choose to let it, to help you sympathize with what many of these people have or are going through right now. Maybe you lost a sibling that day or maybe you knew someone who was flying to or from NYC and you weren't sure if they were on one of those flights and whether they were safe or maybe you parted with a friend for what you couldn't have known would be the last time. That is what many of these people are in the middle of right now. Total instability and chaos. Someone in their family is missing, or they were leaving prayer meeting and their mosque was blown up and they lost several family members, or their friend went to the mall on the day it was hit and they never came back. So many people in Jordan are here because it isn't safe for them to go back home, or they don't have a home to go back to, and they are away from their family and friends and everything familiar to them. My heart is so heavy 1) that these people are suffering and 2) because so many people in the Western world seem pretty apathetic to world events and heartbreaking global conflicts because it isn't affecting them personally. I'm not trying to make some big "guys you gotta get over here and help," speech and I'm by no means saying that all Americans choose to be ignorant and or unsympathetic at all, I'm just saying that we could also take some time to pray for and think about others who are suffering across the globe, including those here in the Middle East.

Those are my thoughts. I LOVE America, I'm proud to be an American and very humbled, and my heart's greatest desire is for my brothers and sisters here in the Middle East to have the same stability, safety, opportunities, and happiness that I have been blessed with.

I don’t have a lot of time to write up a whole shpeel about our recent outside of Amman excursions, but I’ve sure got lots of pictures!

Saturday we spent all afternoon in Madaba, which is one of the most Christian cities in Jordan, and also got to visit Mt. Nebo which was a super neat experience. And today we hit up Iraq El-Amir! Fun break from classes and there’s just so much biblical history out here folks! Pictures include: visiting some old churches, CAVES, and Byzantine ruins. Fun stuff! Definitely tried to find a crawl space in the caves, sorta failed but it was super fun to be back in my element for a bit. :)

All of us on Mt. Nebo!

Super windy...Also this is Asia. I've been very not good at captioning these here pictures

old Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land on a church floor, pretty cool

On the tipy top of the church!

Hola Jordan

Today's escapade:

Also, this is Kristen. She's a rock climber. I think we're about to be great friends.

CAN I JUST SAY HOW HAPPY I WAS TO BE BACK IN A CAVE?!

Happy Kaylan trying to find a crawlspace 

me still trying to find a crawlspace

me ALMOST finding a crawlspace

old Hebrew inscription. not as cool as a crawlspace. but still cool

less than old Arabic inscription. not as cool as the old Hebrew one or a crawlspace

Oh look, there's a Sydney!

Yeah, it was a good day. You probably won't get that many pictures in one post ever again, so you're welcome Mother dearest.

I have no idea how long I've been here but I swear it's been over a week

You know how people say that on the mission days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days? Apparently study abroad schtuff feel like that too, except here days feel like weeks and weeks feel like months. Yup yup. Also, shout out to these here fruit stands, they are the greatest thing ever. So fresh and so cheap!

Anywho, we got to see a bit of Amman on Saturday, visited the University of Jordan and some fancy lil Byzantine ruins (I was waiting for someone to step on something so I could gasp and tell them they ruined it, but the opportunity never appropriately arose). Aaaand then we had lunch all together downtown. 49 peeps in one lil street مطعم (restaurant) is quite the experience, lemme tell ya.

Also, Zach was super tired on the bus, poor lil guy. (He's the youngest person in the program, just turned 18 this summer, and will be getting his mission papers soon. Super smart and super sassy and definitely my little brother figure out here.) I'm just really impressed he can sleep like that. #skills

Sunday, we started classes and oh my wow I absolutely LOVE my Jordanian teachers! They are so cute and obviously speak so well and I'm getting corrected a lot which means I'ma get a lot better. Yay for progress. Sunday night, Sydney, Greg, Zach, and I went to sample Mansaf, the official dish of Jordan, with Hasan, Zach's friend from Hello Talk. (It's an app people can use to practice speaking with natives and helping people learn English.) I'm honestly not a huge fan of lamb, but everyone else loved it and boy is it heavy! We slept real good that night.

Also, this sign looks like they're serving baby dinosaur heads. (The lil red dot mid right is the eyeball and it's eating the greens in the middle if that helps.)

Sydney and I had bought a box of brownie mix at a Western store and Monday we baked 'em up and took some upstairs to meet our neighbors. Oh my goodness it seriously felt like I was right back on the mission and THEY'RE FROM IRAQ aka my favorite group of humans ever كتثر و . We got to know them and asked lots of questions and they've got 2 daughters my age so basically we've got ourselves some new Arab friends to take around! Boom. We left after about an hour on cloud 9 I swear. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE AND OH MY WOW. Cue song from Annie; "I THINK I'M GOOONNA LIKE IT HEEEERE!" Life is good.

We made another brownie run on Tuesday to some more neighbors, ALSO from Iraq, and like talk about a crazy cute family and the highlight of our day! I just love sitting and talking to these amazing people and don't feel more at home anywhere else than on an Arab's couch. They are so so kind and hospitable and just the purest souls. #iraqin'emin

So like I know I'm not a full time missionary anymore and I don't get to send out lots of scriptures and insights and such but like there's no rules that say you can't share stuff from your personal study on your blog so I'ma take the liberty to do so.

In April Conference, President M. Russell Ballard quoted John 20:21 which states (followed by his own words): "'Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.' Notice a twofold action-God sends His Son. The Son sends His servants-mortal men and women-to accomplish Their work." We can and should be their hands wherever we are in the world, and even though I'm only a toddler in the language, I am praying to be a force for good in the lives of at least a few people here.

NOOOOOOO!!! I was just gonna do a "Sydney and Greg highlights" segment, but like Sydney definitely just beat me to it and now I don't look original at all. sydslivro.wordpress.com Gosh dang it Sydney.

Oh well. Basically, they were stuck with me all day ery day during spring and summer classes and as a reward for putting up with me so well back in Provo, Kirk decided to make Sydney my roommate out here. MWAHAHAHA! She is probably the coolest female I've ever met, and like I've met myself quite a few times, so that's saying something. ;) She's super down to earth, positive, smart, funny, easy going, talkative, outdoorsy, crafty, way good at picking up languages, and just a fun person to be around. She made me breakfast yesterday cuz we got back from running a lil late and I had an early appointment and oh my wow she's just so good to me! Also very entertaining.

I've started a pretty solid collection of pictures and videos documenting the life of Sydney Francis: Jordan Part 1, but she'd literally kill me if I posted those...

We decided to share a hunting shirt we found this week...that's all you get haha

And then there's Greg. He says he's not really a people person and what not, but like literally every human he meets wants to be his best friend cuz he's hilarious and super real, very personable and self aware, a big tease, and way better than everyone at basically everything. He and Sydney became pretty great friends over the summer and like they're way too cool for me, but also I think I rightfully earned my spot as at least a tag-along after Greg made me jump out of an airplane, so it's fine. Long story short, they're stuck with me in a foreign country and talk about hitting the jackpot cuz I get to go on this adventure with the two coolest humans in the whole wide world. Sometimes we're really good at being focused and getting homework done, and sometimes I just really need one of these signs on my back:

True story. They're great though and I love them a whole lot!

Proof that everyone follows Greg cuz he's the coolest.

Post morning run in sports city

We're just always laughing. And it's the best. Love you guys!

Our cute little church building up north is about an hour away from where we're at in Amman. There will be 6 of us attending that branch while we're here, and we'll be helping with ministering and teaching etc. The members are so sweet and one of the lessons was just what I needed today.

Everyone passed out on the way home from church

ALSO, see those mountains right there?! THAT'S SYRIA! We were way close to the border today on the way to Irbid. #syriasly

Arabic word of the week: كرم generosity. If there's one word that encapsulates Arabic culture, it's كرم. Sydney pointed out earlier this week how different these families of strangers are taking us in and treating us versus the way most Americans might treat two random Arabic girls on a similar study abroad back home. I definitely want to do what I can to incorporate the hospitality they exemplify in my own life. I just love them.

Mosiah 7:19

Basically, it feels like we've been here way longer than a week, classes are great, the people are wonderful, Arabic is flippin hard, but God is good and if He can free the Israelites, part the Red Sea, and rain manna, He can help me learn this language!!