As I walked along through the busy streets of downtown Amman, Jordan, I felt a growing excitement. I was going to meet a man whom I had only met once a few days before at the Arabic language school where my sister, Cariann, is a student. Chris and his wife, Maja, are Christians from Holland serving the Lord in the Middle East. Chris and I were on our way to meet a Jordanian man.

As we walked along, Chris told me about Jehad. He owned a little shop down in one of the valleys. He was single and a Muslim. We made our way to Jehad’s food oil shop through an alley that was an outdoor vegetable market. Chris was hoping Jehad’s older brothers would not he there because of intimidation. He was the only one there, so that was the first plus.

After Chris introduced me. Jehad sat us down to some very strong Arabic coffee. As Chris started to talk with him I could tell Jehad could speak English fairly well. Before long he started to ask me questions about whether or not I was a believer in Jesus Christ, which led me to share my testimony. He was listening closely as Chris and I shared the gospel with him and asked a lot of questions in the nearly two hours we spent with him.

The time I spent with Jehad was one of the highlights of my three-week trip to Amman. The trip began in late August, when I left with my grandmother, Lois Long, and Maple-Ann Walker from our church to visit my sister, Cariann. She is finishing her language study there in January and will likely serve somewhere in the Middle East. The way over was quite an experience, considering I had never been on a plane before in my life! The trip took 15 hours with a layover in Paris. The first few days were a culture shock, and it was hard to get used to hearing Arabic spoken all the time. It surprised me when even the kids in the alley could at least say hello in English.

We didn’t visit any other countries, hut from what Cari told us Jordan is one of the most westernized of the Arab nations. Christians are allowed to worship freely, but if you come from a Muslim family you are not allowed to convert to Christianity or your family can disown you. Jehad came from a Muslim family, which meant it was an even bigger deal that he was showing interest in the gospel. Cari’s apartment was on one of the highest mountains in the city, so we could see a good part of the city from her balcony. It was also pleasant be cause the afternoon breeze would blow into the apartment and cool it down.

We spent part of our time visiting the main tourist attractions, which in eluded Petra. It was a city carved into a cliff about 400 B.C. We also went to ruins of Roman cities. These were places where Jesus might have gone sometime in His earthly ministry. We did all this with Cari as our tour guide. She rented a little car, and the scary thing was that Cari had never driven before in Jordan. If you know anything about Amman, it is all hills. It’s even worse than Pittsburgh! To add to all that, she was also driving a stick shift. Somehow we made it out alive. The driving over there is like being on a rollercoaster. They turn two lanes into three with out warning, and the taxi driver you’re riding with just might try passing going uphill into the oncoming traffic.

A really good book I read while I was there that I recommend is Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian. It explains the his tory and the reasons for the conflict over there. We need to be praying that they will find peace not on a piece of paper but in Jesus Christ.

Please pray with me that the that he and others will be— Lord would be opening hearts like Jehad’s to the truth. Pray that he and others will become our brothers and sisters in Christ.