The ancient city of Petra is one of the main tourist attractions of Jordan.

Todd and Chad and I set off one afternoon and after a 3-hour drive south from Amman we arrived at the modern town of Petra. We checked into a hotel, ate supper at a restaurant called the Red Cave, and then went for a Turkish bath.

This is, of course, not a tub bath but a steam bath, with steam so dense you cannot really see the other people near you, and you have to be led into the room by the hand of an attendant. (In case anyone is interested, when men are in the bath, the attendants are males. And the bathers wear lightweight, colorful towels around the waist.)

The bath actually had two rooms. The inner room was hotter than the outer one, and the steam was so hot and dense, and breathing was so hard, that I soon left the inner room to sit in the outer room.

After a half hour of this, the attendant came and led me into still a third steam room and had me lie down on a marble slab for a 20-minute, vigorous massage that occasionally bordered on too rough but overall was totally delightful, aromatic and relaxing. Then I was led back to the first steam room, where I continued to relax and perspire while my two friends received their massages.

Afterwards, dressed in street clothes again, we sat in the lobby of the bath establishment, sipping tea and having far-ranging conversation with the two men who had attended us in the bath.

Next morning, off to begin our hike down a ravine to old Petra, a city carved out of solid rock in a valley accessible only by this narrow pass through towering cliffs.

This remarkable city was built by the Nabateans, a gifted people of ancient Arab tribes. They constructed the city about 100 BC and made it their capital. It was annexed by the Romans in 106 AD.

Later it was abandoned, and after the 14th Century it was completely lost to the West, until a Swiss traveler, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, rediscovered it in 1812.

Petra is now known as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Back to the journey, after a half hour of walking you come to the Treasury, the most famous and perhaps best preserved building of the settlement.

My little friend, British Bear, travels with me everywhere and, having a keen sense of historical appreciation, he makes his way into key scenes, as you see in the above photo.

Other scenes…

When the Romans controlled Petra, they built a major avenue with pillars, shops and temples. Parts of these features remain today.

It takes another half hour to walk the entire length of the valley-city. At the far end of the valley, you may, if you wish, climb 800 steps cut into the steep rock mountains to reach a building called the Monastery. We so wished, and we so climbed.

Evidently this building never actually served as a monastery, but was used as a Christian church or chapel in the Byzantine period.

The climb up to the Monastery was more challenging than we expected. Our advice to future travelers is to pay the money to ride up on a donkey. In our opinion, the exhausting climb on foot does not add anything positive to the Petra experience!

From that mountain top we jarred our way down again, then walked up through the valley-city again, looking again at the impressive tombs of ancient wealthy people.

Then up through the narrow ravine again, which widens at a few places.

We returned to the modern city four and a half hours after we started this trek, grateful at having visited this astounding marvel of the secluded rose-red city (as you have seen, much of the rock is rose-colored) but also glad not to have to walk another step.

From November 28 to December 3 we are spending a week in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Visiting friends, meeting new people, and learning about the culture and religion, which is Islam.

Amman is a thoroughly modern city, with shopping malls similar to USA. Common USA restaurants are McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Fuddrucker’s and, recently opened, Chili’s.

Amman’s population – 1.3 million; Jordan’s population – 6 million. Languages: Arabic and English. Currency: Jordanian dinar (dee-NARR). One dinar equals $1.3 American dollars.

Weather: sunny days and chilly nights.

Homes, apartments and other buildings are made of light tan Jordanian stone.

Because there is so little wood in the homes, a house fire is usually not a major problem.

The apartments have spacious rooms. Usually the first room you enter is a large salon for entertaining guests.

We had lunch at Hashim’s restaurant downtown. Typical Jordanian food – hummus and other bean pastes, pita bread, sliced tomaotes, sliced cucumbers and sprigs of mint.

Oh, yes – and hot peppers, to which I said, “No, thanks.”

Here are a few scenes around the city.

No, you can’t drive off in this vintage vehicle. It is an in-place attraction for children…and adults.

Several times at airports I have seen this ad. I thought you might like to see it, too.

We had one bad experience in Madrid.

While we were riding on the most crowded bus I have ever been on in my life, someone stole my wallet – credit cards, debit card, driver’s license and some cash. I discovered the loss just after getting off the bus. After the theft I thought of several things I could have done differently that would have made such a robbery impossible, or at least very unlikely, but my brainy thoughts were too late.

Within an hour I got our credit cards canceled. For the next three parts of our trip I will have to rely on cash borrowed from friends.

But all our other experiences in Madrid were good ones!

Many of the buildings have art work on ceramic tiles, as the next two photos show.

Here is an art piece on the wall of the Metro (subway).

And here are various scenes from around the city.

When you come to Madrid and take the bus tour for yourself, you will get so much more than these few pictures show, but at least this is an introduction.

On Sunday, November 22, I preached twice, first at the noon service at Circle of Hope, our church in Madrid, and then at 6:00 PM at Fountain of Life, the church in Hoyo, which is a town about a half hour’s drive from Madrid. The attendance was 35 in each service.

There is a total of 13 nationalities in the two churches.

On Monday through Wednesday we had numerous appointments and meetings.

For part of a day we went with Josiah, a student from USA, on narrated bus tour of the city. Josiah is quite a linguist. He is fluent in German and Spanish and hopes to learn three additional ones.

Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) is the central square of Madrid. It includes this statue which is the popular and famous symbol of the city.

The bear is pictured as nibbling on a red berry, the mandrono, that grows on a tree.

Next to the Royal Palace is the Cathedral of Almudena (from an Arabic word meaning city wall).

On November 19 we flew to Madrid, where our friends Bruce and Merly met us, along with Josiah, who is a student from US.

We went immediately to a staff meeting of our Madrid team.

Friday, we met with the Bundys for a full day of working on 16 or more administrative and pastoral care items.

Saturday was my birthday. Three times during the day I worked on email work and sermon preparation. But all was not labor.

In the morning we went for a long walk around the Royal Palace and its gardens. The palace has 2,800 rooms. Interestingly enough, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia do not live here but at another location in Madrid.

Here are the front and rear views of the Royal Palace.

Next we found a typical Spanish cafeteria and restaurant, where we ate late breakfast. I had a tortilla, which is not a flat bread as we know it in US, but a fluffy egg and potato omelet. Delicious!

The basement had character – sort of a catacombs feel.

For Spaniards the noon meal is the big meal of the day, and they eat it at 2:00 or later. So we went with the Bundy family to Xanadu, a huge mall, where we ate at 4:00 at Foster’s Hollywood restaurant, which serves American style food.

The mall had many Christmas decorations.

It also claims to have the largest indoor ski slope in the world.

Who knew?

With Bath and Bristol behind us, we returned to London to take up our typical ministry again – from November 15 through 18.

On Sunday the 15th we took Hope to attend services at Forest Gate Church, where Elias Moyo is founding pastor. He had both Hope and me give greetings. I of course highlighted the work of our London team and invited this church to visit the ministry at Speakers’ Corner. The service leader was from Nigeria. Elias preached on “Missions – God’s Agenda for Biblical People.”

Elias took the three of us out to dinner at Nando’s – a Portuguese restaurant (part of a chain) featuring chicken prepared in more ways than you can imagine. Then he went with us to Speakers’ Corner. A cold day but at least it was not raining as it has been for the last three days.

My friend Steve, an Anglican pastor, also came to the Corner. Then he and Elias went with the rest of us to a restaurant for food, debriefing and general conversation.

After a while Mr. N. joined us at the restaurant. He is an atheist who comes to the Corner every Sunday to argue (on the ground, not on a ladder) against all theists. Whether his objections to Christianity come from sincere philosophical reservations or from a stubborn heart, we of course do not know. But we do count him a friend. Join us in praying for his salvation through faith in Christ.

Walking down famous Oxford Street at night, we saw some Christmas lights. This display features an image of Jim Carrey from the movie “A Christmas Carol.”

One evening we attended a lecture by Dr. Sam Solomon, once a Muslim scholar, now a Christian, on what Muslims really believe about Muhammad. It was eye-opening. Dr. Solomon has memorized the entire Quran in Arabic, as have many Muslims.

Another evening we attended a planning meeting where the team is preparing for several future debates between Muslims and Christians.

We had dinner with Pastor Obert Nkala and his wife, who are Brethren in Christ people from Zimbabwe.They have lived in London 11 years. Four years ago he started a Brethren in Christ Church in Beckton, East London. He invited us to visit his church in the future when we can.

We spent time with Paul and Claire, part of our London team. They drove us through Epping Forest, a beautiful area, with some yellow, brown and gold leaves remaining on the trees and a lovely carpet of leaves on the forest floor. In the country we had lunch at a restaurant with a New Orleans theme and posters and American music, but the name of the restaurant was, inexplicably,….

You never know what you will see in London.

From our visit to John Wesley’s Chapel in Bristol I picked up this quote of Wesley.

“All my designs, and thought, and care, and labour are directed to this one point – to advance the kingdom of Christ upon earth.”

What fills all your thought, care and work?

Also, Wesley described war as “a most horrid reproach to the name of Christian, yea to all men and women, to all reason and humanity.”

In my previous blog I showed a statue of Charles Wesley, the co-founder of Methodism. As for his hymn writing, he composed about 7,000 hymns, many of which are still sung today.

We spent a day in Bristol.

I knew that it was a significant location in the ministry of John Wesley, so I wanted to check out Wesley’s Chapel. In the 1700s it was in a residential area next to the wharf and river. Today it is in a pedestrian shopping area.

Here is the entrance and the front courtyard.

The statue is, of course, Wesley holding a book in his hand, reading as he rides horseback to his next preaching appointment.

We arrived in time for weekly communion, held on Fridays at 1:00. Rev. Gordon James led the communion service. About 15 people were present.

The upstairs includes small rooms where the itinerant preachers stayed, rooms for Wesley himself (between travels he lived either here or in London, evidently spending the greater amount of time here) and a common room in the center, where the preachers studied and ate meals. Wesley ate with them when he was in town.

The back courtyard has a statue of Charles Wesley, the preacher and prolific song writer.

Next we walked through the shopping area and saw this Christmas display.

We walked through The Mall, which is huge and impressive.

And if you think your Christmas tree balls are big….

At the train station I saw this mosaic of a tower of the nearby Clifton Suspension Bridge, completed in 1864, rising 425 feet above the Avon Gorge and River.

At McDonald’s in the shopping area friendly female staff person asked us where we are from and what we do. She went on to tell us of losses and difficulties in her life. We told her we would pray for her. Would you join us in praying that she will find peace of mind, find caring Christians and become a devoted follower of Christ?

While touring Bath and Bristol, we stayed in the Methuen Arms Hotel in the town of Corsham, about 12 miles from Bath. Here is a photo of the hotel.

It was built as a private home in the 1400s and was in the Nott family for 400 years! Now the Methuen family owns it; hence the name of the hotel.

The restaurant in the older part of the building has low ceilings, stone walls and an ancient feel about it.

Here we were served breakfast. We could order many different hot items in addition to the buffet of juice, cereal, fruit and yogurt. A great way to start the day!

We enjoyed these days off, but of course I needed to keep up with necessary work, so I spent one to two hours each day in email messages.

This trip has more meetings and issues to be addressed than my previous trips. That is why today is November 24, and I am still blogging about what happened on November 12.