THE ROAD TO AMMAN, JORDAN
The next morning Mohammed came to pick us up and we started for Amman, but we would have a few stops on the way. On our way out of Wadi Musa we stopped at one of several places in the area where Moses allegedly struck a rock and water flowed out, so the people of Isreal could have water to drink as they passed through that area. I haven't read the scriptures on this for quite awhile, but what I can remember is, I thought that God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come out. He struck it instead, and for that reason God had prevented him from entering the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. Anyway, all this happened in the area, and like I said there are several places around here that claim to be the place where this event happened. Nobody knows where it really happened, and it's just a touristy thing to see when you are in Jordan.
Jordan is a small country and you can drive through it in almost one day. Like Egypt it is a land of deserts. The mountains are old. Mohammed pointed out the black deserts made from the lava of old volcanoes ground to sand over the centuries.

After a couple hours driving we came to our first stop. It was a gift shop and a resturant. I took the opportunity and bought a Koran. I wanted to see what was written in it about Moses. I was going to be in Jordan for three days and I wanted something to read other then what I had already brought.
St. George's Church After a few more hours of driving on the King's Highway we arrived at a little city called, Madaba. It's a nice little place. There were many people out and about on this sunny day. Traffic was brisk and it was hard at first to find a parking place, but Mohammed eventually found one. We were on our way to go to St. George's Greek Orthodox Church to see an ancient mosaic map on the floor of the church created in the 6th century A.D. by Byzantine artists. The map is of Palestine and is mostlikely the oldest map of the Holy Lands in existence. St George's is a Christian Church in the midst of an ocean of Muslims. We spent a little while inside looking at the mosaic and admiring the icons.
Mt. Nebo After this we got back in the car and proceeded west to Mt. Nebo the place where Moses was able to see the Promised Land, and where he died. His body was never found. Moses had led the Children of Isreal to this site, and then later Joshua led them into the land.
We got out of the car and into the park. At one time there was a church here, but it was torn down and there was nothing but what looked like rubble which was all fensed off. There was an interesting museum with all kinds of artifacts. Pope John came to this place a couple years before he died and planted a tree. There is a monument there that commemorates that event.
Walking out to the western edge at the summit of the mountain there is a panoramic view of Isreal below. It was kind of hazy that day but you could see the Jordan River, Jericho, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem way over in the distance quite easily without binoculars.
After spending a little time there we went to get some lunch at a local resturant. It was Ramedon, but Mohammed said that he doesn't fast during this time while he is working. He needed to be alert while driving and not eating would not be a good idea in his line of work. We all agreed.
As we were leaving Madaba there was an imom calling people to prayer over a loud speaker in some distant minaret. It is a common sound you hear in Muslim countries like this.