Footsteps of Moses | Day 5-6

It has been a whirlwind couple of days… we’ve learned a ton from our expert guides Mido and Aladdin and we’ve seen some amazing places specifically talked about in the bible! From Cairo, we took a quick flight to St. Catherine and prepared for a sunrise hike up Mt. Sinai. After a delightful 3:30am wake up call, we rode our camels up through the mountains as the sun peacefully rose into a warm sunny day. It was unreal being up on the mountain where Moses had spent so many days and nights… and the 2 hour camel ride up the mountain gave us a new appreciation for the effort he went to to meet with our Lord. We shared a special time of song and devotion on that mountain as we took in the glorious sights below. God’s creation truly is magnificent! From there, we visited St. Catherine’s Monastery, claimed to be built around the area of Moses’ Burning Bush, and then we continued on our journey to the Red Sea. We stopped for lunch on our way to Jordan for a quick view of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel to the north. Our border crossing experience was… thorough… and we finally made it to our destination in Jordan, Tibet Saman (The Bedrock-esque hotel with rooms built into the stones! Definitely one of my favorite places thus far!)

This morning, we woke bright and early for a hike to the amazing mountain fortress of Petra, known to be inhabited by theEdomites – the descendents of Esau. The tour began by walking through the “Siq,” an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone, to the city of Petra carved out of the rose red rock…. again, it was UNREAL! The immensity of the rocks screamed God’s name, as there’s no other way to explain them… they’re just that amazing. On the other end of the “Sig”, the rocks open up to the glorious “Treasury.” The Treasury, El Khazneh, is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity. Beyond El Khazneh we were surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures. We spent the early afternoon enjoying the sights,  worshipping his name with the natural acoustics of the rocks projecting our voices for everyone to hear. Our small gathering and music attracted some tourists who joined us…. and some Colombia University Journalism students studying Religion and the Holy Land interviewed us for their project. A divine appointment, if you ask me!

We left Petra and headed out through the King’s Highway, which took us all the way through the land of the Moab. We stopped to visit Mt. Nebo, believed to be the site of the tomb of Moses, and now we’re in Amman for the night prepping for baptisms in the Jordan River tomorrow.

I apologize for not being as thorough as I usually am… it’s been a wonderfully exhausting trip and I’m trying to get at least 5 hours of sleep a night if I can help it…

Here’s just a few favorite shots from the past few days…

blog-mt-sinai-5

blog-mt-sinai-8

blog-mt-sinai-11

blog-mt-sinai-13

blog-petra-37-2

blog-petra-49

There are a ton more pictures, so if you’d like to see more, click here to view the gallery.

It has been a whirlwind couple of days… we’ve learned a ton from our expert guides Mido and Aladdin and we’ve seen some amazing places specifically talked about in the bible! From Cairo, we took a quick flight to St. Catherine and prepared for a sunrise hike up Mt. Sinai. After a delightful 3:30am wake up call, we rode our camels up through the mountains as the sun peacefully rose into a warm sunny day. It was unreal being up on the mountain where Moses had spent so many days and nights… and the 2 hour camel ride up the mountain gave us a new appreciation for the effort he went to to meet with our Lord. We shared a special time of song and devotion on that mountain as we took in the glorious sights below. God’s creation truly is magnificent! From there, we visited St. Catherine’s Monastery, claimed to be built around the area of Moses’ Burning Bush, and then we continued on our journey to the Red Sea. We stopped for lunch on our way to Jordan for a quick view of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel to the north. Our border crossing experience was… thorough… and we finally made it to our destination in Jordan, Tibet Saman (The Bedrock-esque hotel with rooms built into the stones! Definitely one of my favorite places thus far!)

This morning, we woke bright and early for a hike to the amazing mountain fortress of Petra, known to be inhabited by theEdomites – the descendents of Esau. The tour began by walking through the “Siq,” an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone, to the city of Petra carved out of the rose red rock…. again, it was UNREAL! The immensity of the rocks screamed God’s name, as there’s no other way to explain them… they’re just that amazing. On the other end of the “Sig”, the rocks open up to the glorious “Treasury.” The Treasury, El Khazneh, is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity. Beyond El Khazneh we were surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures. We spent the early afternoon enjoying the sights,  worshipping his name with the natural acoustics of the rocks projecting our voices for everyone to hear. Our small gathering and music attracted some tourists who joined us…. and some Colombia University Journalism students studying Religion and the Holy Land interviewed us for their project. A divine appointment, if you ask me!

We left Petra and headed out through the King’s Highway, which took us all the way through the land of the Moab. We stopped to visit Mt. Nebo, believed to be the site of the tomb of Moses, and now we’re in Amman for the night prepping for baptisms in the Jordan River tomorrow.

I apologize for not being as thorough as I usually am… it’s been a wonderfully exhausting trip and I’m trying to get at least 5 hours of sleep a night if I can help it…

Here’s just a few favorite shots from the past few days…

blog-mt-sinai-5

blog-mt-sinai-8

blog-mt-sinai-11

blog-mt-sinai-13

blog-petra-37-2

blog-petra-49

There are a ton more pictures, so if you’d like to see more, click here to view the gallery.

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