KENZ AND JORD: OCTOBER

I can't believe I didn't blog the ENTIRE month of October! GAH! I'm going to try and do a quick catch up post but it may be mostly pictures...

I promise this blog wont only consist of entries that say "Sorry it's been so long since I've written" like every sing journal entry of mine in the past 5 years.. come on, I can't be the only one...

This month consisted of a LOT of planning, counseling sessions.. with my husband being the counselor.. trying to remember how grateful I am to be here and then being insanely busy planning the branch Halloween party. Not to mention the countless movie nights all the wives making breakfast and hanging together, weekly orphanage trips and weekly scriptures study with some of the RS plus date nights, rainbow street, one too many trips to the Middle Eastern version of Buffalo Wild Wings, and LOTS of stinky taxi rides.

The Mosque right by our house

The beginning of the month we got to go to Wadi Mujib which was INCREDIBLE. It was basically a hike to a waterfall but the entire hike was in 2 ft of water or more.. There were rocks we had to climb up that had water pouring over them there were ladders, and ropes to climb. It was so fun! The way back down was fantastic because it was the current so we got to float in the areas that were deep enough.

We also got to go to the owner of the travel agency that we through's house. Originally he had just invited Dil and his wife (our program director) to dinner but then he extended the invitation to all 60 of us students. It was so fancy! They had a POOL. (unheard of for over here)

A couple weeks ago we went to the Dead Sea which was insane. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to float because my entire life I've been only "skin and bones" as my family would say and have never been able to float in water.. but boy was I wrong. As you walk out into the dead sea, right when you wouldn't be able to touch anymore your feet pop out of the water and you just start bobbing! if you try to go on your side your body will flip around and turn you on your stomach. It is IMPOSSIBLE to drown in the dead sea. I shaved my legs 3 days before we went and after a couple minutes of being in the water my legs just started to burn like crazy because of all the salt in the water. It was NUTS!

After playing in the dead sea for about an hour we went up to the fresh water pool and had to relearn how to swim. HA. After swimming we had a huge lunch at the buffet at the resort..
Funny thought.. in America everyone goes up to the buffet 2, 3, maybe 4 times before they are done eating.. apparently this is just an American thing because we got such funny looks for going up even just a second time.. whoops.

We covered ourselves in mud from the Dead Sea and let it bake on and then washed it off. Our skin was sooo smooth afterward.

the resort and view of the dead sea

Oh I forgot we also went to the Jordan river where Christ was baptized. No one knows exactly where it was along the river but it was still awesome. The river was surprisingly.. filthy. It looked like mud,, but it is also where the branch does baptisms for new members in the ward.
It was funny one of the kids in the primary said to one of my friends..
"Guess what. I was baptized in the Jordan river, you know who else was baptized there? Jesus!. oh, and my dad."
ha ha so awesome.

Lastly for my October post was the Branch HALLOWEEN PARTY!! boy was this an event.
I was in charge of it and it turned out to be very stressful if you don't have a car to go get things, don't know where to find things, and don't know how many people will come.. but I had SO much help from all of the students in the program that it ended up being a huge success!