Humanly Speaking...Tine

In my nomadic wonderings, little intrigues me more than the human dimension. Yes, I enjoy the architectural oddities, the distinctive landscapes and texture, and sure, sampling the exotic cuisine always has its appeal. Ultimately though, it is always the people that hold my attention. The more I travel, the more I am persuaded of the transcendental quality of the human experience. The full smorgasbord of human sentiment (pain, joy, anguish, fear, hope…and everything else) is universal regardless of one’s precise or approximate locality.

The human aspect of Bentota, Sri Lanka held even more charm because of the feast’s potent humanitarian dimension. For the Jordan 5, it was especially gratifying for us to be able to serve and fellowship with people with whom we had an instant camaraderie. Whether it was over cocktails by the pool, or while bringing the roof down to Rodney Vanheers exceptional saxophone genius, we relished in the opportunity to probe the unique experience of each feast attendee, learning and growing even as we communed. The Sri Lankan brethren have a corner on the market as far as hospitality and generosity go. I was so very moved by their unrelenting efforts to make sure we were settled and happy, and was almost moved to tears when they lavished us with the feast gifts they had so carefully prepared. When we sang “God be with you till we meet again”, I felt that recognizable lump in my throat. Saying goodbye was emotionally draining, and yet we know that the future holds out to all of us in exceptional promise.

Personal Feast Highlights: The Hook’s baptism; Extracting a promise from the Hook’s to visit us in Jordan; The bus ride to Galle; Rodney Vanheer’s saxophone extravaganza; Teaching the “stepping stones” in God’s plan to the little ones; Encouragement from Mark Wine; The story of Carol’s calling; The day I was “sorted” (inside joke, dear reader); The ruminations of the inconsolable 3 (Andrea Mather, Becky Horchak, Tine Banda); Hearing the sea roar from my hotel room (delightful); The tuk tuk ride into Bentota with Andrea and Mrs. Mather; Laughing till my stomach hurt (Thanks Becky); Lena & I freezing in the so-called “hot” tub; Zach’s “Got any grapes” joke at the dinner table; Seeing the Jordan 5 so content, so exhilarated, so hopeful.

Sleeping in Abu Dhabi --Zach

We had such a great time in Sri Lanka for the Feast this year. Like Lena said, we enjoyed the beautiful, hot, humid, rainy country of Sri Lanka, and we especially loved getting to spend some time other brethren. We knew we were missing our church family back home, but we didn't realize how much we missed having real church services and singing with other people. We got to see some sights and spend some time with some of the cutest kids in the world. It was a great Feast and we didn't want to come home, but traveling can be tiring...especially when you fly over night, change time zones, and have your flight delayed. But no worries, we are adaptable. Our flight from Colombo to Abu Dhabi was on schedule and we were ready to waste our 3 hour layover in the airport. But our flight from Abu Dhabi to Amman was delayed a few hours and we got to take a little nap in the airport. We did our best to make our cold, tile, airport floor into a cozy little napping habitat, but it didn't work out so well. After we spent a few hours waiting by our gate trying to cuddle up and sleep in many different positions we were told it was time to move. We got on a bus and drove to another part of the airport where our new gate would be. We only had a little bit of time left before take off when we arived at our new waiting area--a warm, carpeted area that would have been perfect for napping. Go figure! Oh well, what are you going to do? We had a lot of laughs from the situation, and when you look at the pictures below you will understand why. Things seem a lot funnier when you haven't slept, but if you are Emily things just always seem funny. She stayed up and giggled all night while she watched us try to sleep on flip-flops, jackets, or on a row of seats with arm rests in the middle. Check out the creativity in this group...

Sri Lanka Part 1 -- Lena

I believe there will be approximately 7 blogs or more about Sri Lanka, mostly because we had such an amazing time there and I know we all are going to have something to say, our own perspective to add. Without a doubt we all wish we could go back and be with our brethren again. There were (to start) 32 brethren celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, 6 of which were children (the most adorable children you could hope to meet). About half way through the Feast we lost 2, and we were 30 (Mr. Horchak and Mrs. Horchak went to spend the second half of the feast with brethren in India {I'm not gonna lie, I'm slightly jealous, I've always wanted to go to India}). I recommend that everyone go to Sri Lanka at least once, if not to see the beautiful country (which it is), but to meet the wonderful church family we have there. Although we were comparatively small in number we had a huge number of countries represented there: 1 from Great Britain, 1 from Singapore, 2 from the Bahamas, 6 from the US, 1 from Australia, 7 from Kuwait, 5 from Jordan {us :)}, and of course 9 from Sri Lanka.
Being small in number gave everyone a chance to serve in some way. The Jordan 5 did special music one day and Zach and Emily did special music together one day, and another day Lewis sang with Jude Pereira (one of our new Sri Lankan friends), we had special music most days and it was always wonderful, whether it be an a capella hymn by Mr. Clement Lim, or amazing vocals by Mrs. Jean VanHeer accompanied by a recording of her husband Rodney playing the sax (I think that the Sri Lankan brethren may be the most musically talented bunch I've ever met). Zach and Lewis both had the opportunity to lead songs and give sermonettes while us girls were able to have FYI classes for the little ones. We ate all of our meals together spread out amongst 2 long tables. The food was always delicious with plenty of fresh fruit at each meal. Besides the 3 buffet meals, we also had tea 2 times each day, and each one was accompanied by savory treats in the afternoon, and sweet treats in the evening. Of course all of this had the breathtaking backdrop of the Indian Ocean and beach.
We took a couple of tours of the nearby town (Bentota), and one day we took a trip to Galle, a dutch fort from the 1800's. There were charming shops, and little museums, and even an old dutch church that we got to see. On our way to Galle we stopped at the Sea Turtles Research Center in Kosgoda, Sri Lanka. Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy to some, and therefore there is big money in selling them (although it is illegal). The research center pays money for eggs as well, but they bury them in the sand until they hatch, and then they move them to tanks of sea water where they give the little guys 3 days for their underbelly to harden, and then they release them into the sea. They have been in business since 1978, and in that time they have released around 30 million turtles into the sea. They also run a clinic for injured sea turtles that people bring them. Sometimes they get caught in the nets of fishermen because they are injured, and sometimes they are found on the shore. There was one BIG turtle who was blind and had spent his whole life there in the tanks. There were several that had been found after the tsunami in 2004 that were missing flippers and couldn't survive in the wild. The best part was getting to hold the little guys, they are so cute.
Before we left for Sri Lanka I had told Cory Erickson (our project manager here in Jordan) that one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing rain again (right now the wet stuff is pretty scarce in Jordan). And rain I got to see. It rained every single day, and it was wonderful. We had sun every day as well, but storms would roll in, and then roll out, and we really enjoyed swimming in the rain a couple of times. The last 2 days we were there we had some pretty intense storms that caused some flooding in parts of Colombo. I'm told it's not unusual during the rainy season (which October is). Our hotel was nice, and the staff was very accommodating. Each day and night the power would go out several times, with all of that our services were interrupted only once, it was during the last sermon on the LGD, and it was when Mr. Mather was giving us the last verse in his sermon. We sang our final song a cappella and it was wonderful.
I could probably write forever about the wonderful time that we had. I always find it interesting that the stories of all the things we do in an 8 day period could fill up double that time. I guess the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is the same for experiencing, only it's even better, it's worth a million and one words. Just a couple of shots from our time there. A sunset from our hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Horchak and Mr. and Mrs. Mather. Lewis holding a baby turtle. Train debris from the tsunami in 2004. A shot dedicated to Laurel Krenz (her favorite flower if I remember correctly {she's always drawing them}). Another beach shot from our hotel. A picture of Mr. Lim and Lewis and I. The Wines (from Texas) and the Hooks (living in Kuwait, but from the States and Sri Lanka).

VIDEO - Wadi Musa - the Valley of Moses

Petra -- Lena

As a group we had our first big trip this last weekend, directly after Trumpets. We caught a cab to Abdali bus station, and (so it seemed) the mini-bus was waiting for us, we all climbed on, and the bus immediately headed out. 5JD and 3 hours later we were deposited right in front of our "hotel" Musa Springs Hotel. We got quite the deal 10JD a night for a single, 12.50JD for a double, with a shared bathroom. It wasn't worth it, we just avoided the bathrooms as much as possible for the 2.5 days we were there. The first day we were there we took a little stroll down the hill bought a hat, and then back to the hotel for a few minutes. We decided to go up into the hills around Wadi Musa (which means the Valley of Moses--legend has it that the rock Moses struck to get water is there... and that the same spring still runs through the town). Going up into the hills we decided to climb a little mountain. It was a beautiful view with the valley, and then Petra in the distance. We took lots of pictures and spent some time reading. We then decided it would be an excellent idea to go even higher up the mountain, and it was, until we had to come back down the mountain. Tine and I had a bit of an emotional moment, not sure that we could make it down (loose rocks and steep incline aren't a good mix). It all turned out okay in the end, we made it down safely, and a little braver for it too, of course Zach and Lewis were totally in control the whole time, without a hint of worry, Zach guided Emily and Tine straight down, and Lewis and I took a more circuitous route, but we made it safely. Pretty hot, and a little tired we headed back to the hotel, and then back down the hill towards town for food. As we were making the trek a truck pulled up alongside us and asked if we would like a lift to town, we said, sure. We had heard of people hitching a ride pretty regularly in Jordan, and particularly in the Wadis so we thought alright, no big deal. After we got in he asked where in town we wanted to go, and we just said we were going to eat dinner, so just in town, but then he kept driving, and told us he would take us to little Petra first (it would only take a couple of hours) and then he would bring us into town for dinner. He took us pretty far out of town before we convinced him that we really wanted to go back to town to eat, but we finally made it and he took us to a nice (but a little too expensive) restaurant. After dinner we walked back to the hotel to rest up before our full day in Petra.
We got an early start for breakfast and into Petra for the day (around 6am). Since us girls had our residency cards already and the boys hadn't gotten theirs yet we tried to buy the tickets into Petra (for foreigners its 21JD, for Jordanians 1JD). The man didn't want to give all 5 tickets for that price, but Lewis and Zach were very convincing and we all got in for 5JD. When we first got in the gates it was pretty mundane, just a big gravel lane with rocks on either side. There were a couple of carvings here and there, but nothing overly impressive, until, of course, we made it to the Siq (pronounced sick). Words can't really describe how beautiful and awesome this place is. Most of the time we walked around with mouths hanging opening taking pictures of everything. As you get towards the end of the Siq you see just a hint of the treasury through the rocks, its a very pretty sight. And then the siq opens up into a clearing where the treasury is and there are camels and donkeys and people everywhere. Emily got to pet a camel, and later in the day I got to ride a donkey. We got to have to tea with a Bedouin woman and her children, and then we started the ridiculous trek up to the monastery. Basically you climb this mountain dodging donkeys and their "remnants" as you go. At the top of this mountain is another huge carving called the monastery. It was totally worth the effort, and heading back down was much easier. All in all it was a wonderful, and exhausting day, and we can't wait to head back again very soon. The first picture is of Wadi Musa from the mountain we climbed, the second is of Emily and Tine sitting on the rock that Moses reportedly struck to get water for the Israelites. The next picture is of Wadi Musa, and Lew and Zach in the Siq in Petra. The next picture is the Treasury peaking through in the Siq, the Treasury in full view, and Emily petting a camel (look how happy she is!!!). The next picture is of me climbing a wall to see the "lions den", and finally a picture of the Monastery, the two tiny little people in the doorway are Emily and Tine.