I’m leaving in a few minutes for LAX, with excitement and anticipation about this photo journalism trip to India. I pray that I will see things through God’s eyes as I try to capture His heart for this part of the world.

I also pray for my beautiful wife as we are apart.

It’s time to go!

We’re in the airport in Amman again, and it looks like this time we’ll be getting on the plane. Thanks for your prayers. We had a fun day yesterday at the Dead Sea while waiting for this flight. We hope the rest of our connections work out, and we make it all the way back to CA soon…

We were supposed to be home by now, but due to a series of events (which includes way overbooked flights, and flight time changes), Katie and I are spending 5 unexpected days in Amman, Jordan. I don’t really feel like going into all the details at this point because I’m tired of thinking about it. It has been quite exhausting and stressful to figure out all the logistics and deal with the airlines.

We’re hoping to make the most of our time here to go do some fun stuff, but we’re not sure yet what we’ll be able to afford to do since these extra hotel/taxi/food expenses are really adding up. Plus, I was supposed to be back at work this week.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you on our situation. We’ll post more when we get a chance. Thanks for your prayers.

Katie and I had a day to relax today, while the rest of our group headed back home. It was great to get some rest, but we already miss the group, and wish the tour wasn’t over.

I spent a bit of time gathering some photo highlights from our first 3 days of the trip, which I have posted here:

http://www.dankatie.com/photos/08/07-israel/highlights1/

Be sure to check them out, and of course feel free to leave comments.

Actually, our trip isn’t over; we have another week by ourselves in a different place. We have a tiring schedule ahead of us: we have to leave for the airport at midnight, and our plane leaves at 3:30 am. Then we have 3 legs of travel until we get to our final destination. I think it will be 12 hours of travel, though much of that in airports.

Thanks for your prayers!

Once again, I must be brief. This trip is packed, and every chance we get to sleep is valuable. One highlight today was hiking up to the fortress at Masada, which is very significant to Jewish history. A second highlight was swimming in the Dead Sea, which was really cool, er actually warm. It’s hard to describe the sensation of floating in salt water so dense without experiencing it first hand. We’re staying tonight in a hotel right on the Dead Sea.

The photos below are from previous days (haven’t downloaded photos from today yet):

Another camel.

A shepherd’s cave. Unlike what traditional manger scenes would suggest, this is similar to where Mary and Joseph would have been when Jesus was born.

This is the Dead Sea from the eastern (Jordanian) side. This is only a small part of the Dead Sea, but you can start to get a sense for how big it is.

Another part of the same castle that I posted a photo of last time (with Katie in a tunnel).

A Bedouin man walking between two of their tents. We saw a lot of Bedouins in Jordan.

A shepherd leading his flock to new pastures.

A young shepherd with one of his sheep.

Another shot of the main facade in Petra.

A different facade. This one was later used as a monastery.

Pagan Nabatean temple in Petra.

Us at the Jordan River near where Jesus was baptized. We are standing in Jordan, and Israel is on the other side of the river less than 30 feet away.

Alright, that’s it for now! Shalom.

This is the first time getting online since we arrived.

We’re doing great, and enjoying the trip very much. We don’t have time to write much, but here are a couple photos. These are all from Jordan.

Camels! Morning of the first day.

Arch at Tel Heshbon.

Herod’s Palace at Machaerus

Exploring a river gorge.

Our group where we turned around in the river gorge. You can go back behind the waterfall.

Katie in a tunnel in one of the castles built during the crusades.

A different castle (sorry, when I have more time I’ll elaborate).

Awesome facade at Petra (where we were today). This is where they filmed a scene for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Camels hanging out in Petra.

Here we are hiking up the canyon in Petra.

Katie at the entrance to one of the big facades in Petra (different from the one shown above).

Today we got to ride donkeys for part of our journey.

I wish I could post more, but it’s already 11pm, and I need to sleep!

The highlight of our time at LAX (waiting for our flight to Chicago) was this ad display:

No boot device, but at least we know the MAC address for easier hacking.

This reminds me of this error screen that I saw in DFW a while back.

It’s been a long time since we’ve touched this travel blog. We didn’t really use it on our last trip to SE Asia in January, but I’m hoping we’ll get to post here on this upcoming trip to Israel and Jordan. We will be spending 2 weeks there doing a walking tour of the places where Jesus walked. We will also be spending a 3rd week in a nearby country doing some photography and writing.

Needless to say, we’re really stoked, and eager to see this part of the world that we’ve never visited. I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to post, but we’ll do what we can. I will most likely also post some photos to my photoblog.