jericho

Field trip day! Yay! We didn’t leave too early which was good. We went to Jericho. Like as in, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down! So cool! It was pretty warm as usual, but I guess we should be used to it? On the way there we go down like 3500 feet. Jerusalem is 2550 ABOVE seal level and Jericho is actually 1200 ft BELOW sea level so naturally we had to sing Under the Sea. Jericho is an oasis and apparently looks kind of like Egypt. Lots of fresh fruits grow here and there’s palm trees and such. 

This is the Zacchaeus tree! Remember this story from Luke 10??

 and this is the fun stuff we get to look at! Rocks and walls! Can you just picture the city??

 After the tel we went to Elisha’s spring across the street. In 2 Kings 2 Elijah cures the waters of the spring. The people that live in Jericho still get their water from here. We even got to taste it! 

 Then we went to King Herod’s Winter Palace. He was living here when he died and that was when Mary and Joseph were able to bring Jesus back from Egypt. We talked about the important of keeping God’s laws and how that is the only thing that protects us. Herod was subject to a lot of nasty bodily decay because he did not live in such a way that he could receive blessings from God in regards to his health. 

 This is his giant bath!

 My favorite part of the day was going to the ancient road to Jericho. Ya know the one that is written about in the Good Samaritan? From where we were standing you could see all the way to Jericho in one direction and all the way to the Augusta Victoria Tower in Jerusalem. Let’s just say, I wouldn’t want to walk that. Because right in the middle of it is the Judaean Wilderness. Just brown hills the whole way. We then took a minute and talked about the mount of temptation which could have been really any of those hills around us. Christ had been out fasting for 40 days and Dr. Chadwick compared this to his MTC experience. He was preparing for his ministry.  He picked up one of the stones and said how he has had one of these on his desk ever since the first time he came here. Because it looks like a piece of pita bread. And after you’ve been fasting for 40 days, it would probably be so nice to have those stones turn to bread. But it’s when we say, “get thee hence” to Satan that we are endowed with spiritual power. Kind of like our temple experience. We can then have angels minister to us. And this has been a pattern ever since Adam. Christ really did experience everything that we have to experience. He was just perfect at it haha! Dr. Chadwick also talked about the importance of LOOKING. That’s what we came here to do. And that we will understand the scriptures in ways that other people never will because we’ve been here and seen exactly where it happened and the geographical and cultural context that adds so much depth to the words in that holy book. And so it’s our responsibility to go home and share what we have learned with others. To help open their eyes. We then sang Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd and there was a herd of sheep across the hill from us. He said, I hope whenever you sing this song in sacrament meeting from now on that you will never forget the day you were in Jericho. 

The next two pictures were taken at the exact same spot. The one on top shows that right around the corner you can see the Dead Sea. In the next one you can see a tower which is in Jurusalem! I'm still amazed at all these views!

the wheels on the bus

I don't have any pictures from our bus adventures but I thought it was worth mentioning. I won't even add up the amount of hours spent on the bus but it was more than any human should spend sitting down.

So what did we do to pass the time??

IPOD IDOL
one person has headphones on and is given a random song to sing. the audience dies in laughter because of how good (or not so good) the "idol" is at singing that tune!

WORD GAMES
the question game, mafia, hand game, smurf, you name it.

SLEEP
you can never have too much of this

TALKING
our relationships definitely improved with our classmates on this trip. we spent so much time together!

INFORMATION OVERLOAD
sometimes Yasemin or our teachers would talk to us about the land or the cultures or about a place we were going to on the bus. this whole semester has felt like a fire hydrant of information being put in our brains!

Occasionally if it was a really long bus day we would make stops. Snacks and bathroom breaks were a must.

We kind of dominated the back of the bus, but we always made the most of it regardless of whether it was one hour or seven.

night life

Something fun about our Turkey trip was that we got to go out at night! It was a blast exploring cities that we completely foreign to us! We also got to take the metro in Istanbul! I missed those! It definitely a highlight. The first night we went out to a place called Taksim Square. It's kind of like the Times Square of Istanbul. It was alive and well at night and we just walked through the streets, checking out some stores, listening to music in the streets, and people watching. 

These ice cream guys were hilarious! They had these metals sticks that they used to scoop out the ice cream and they would do all sorts of tricks before they even put it in your cone. It was highly entertaining!

The second night we made probably one of the best decisions of our lives. I don't have all the pics yet but I wanted to get these posts up! We went to a place called the Sapphire which is a mall, a restaurant, and residential. It's the tallest building in all of Istanbul and all of eastern Europe!  It was unreal! You could see for miles. All the city lights, the bridges, the water. It was amazing! We just stood there in awe! You have to go up 54 stories on an elevator and then 2 more levels up on stairs. The elevator goes so fast your ears pop! You really do feel like you’re on top of the world. I was with JT, Jezz, Thomas, and Spencer. They made us feel pretty safe. I’m glad Jezz and I are both in agreement about how it’s just so much more fun and chill to be with boys haha! We stood at the top just enjoying the view and talking and taking pictures for over an hour. There was a huge Turkish flag up there as well. JT is obsessed with it haha! 

These next few pictures are taken in Canakkale, which is not too far from Troy. This horse is the one that was used in the movie! This hotel was on the water too and we really enjoyed walking through the little town and then sitting on the water, talking for the rest of the evening.

meals

In Turkey, our meals were quite the experience. Especially our lunches. Every single day we were at ankther beautiful venue overlooking the water. We were then presented with a 4 course meal. First was always lentil soup and bread. Next was a salad or appetizer of some sort. Third was the main course usually something with chicken or meatloaf type and rice or potatoes and other vegetables. Last was always fruit. It was so.much.food. We learned quickly that you didn't have to eat everything on your plate during each course. Some places were better than others but overall it was pretty good. It just seemed like meal times were always a huge ordeal. But we weren't complaining. The fancy catering was kind of nice! Everyone should be proud of all the new things I tried!

This is baklava! Remember in Aladdin when the genie sings, "a little more baklava"?! Yeah, didn't even know that was a real thing until this day. We realixed how many Aladdin references were exhibited throughout our travels and we decided it was necessary to watch it when we got back to the center.

It's all about the presentation, am I right?

For breakfast and dinner we always had a buffet. I feel like in Turkey their breakfasts food would be more appropriate at dinner time haha! But we always managed to find something we liked. One day I was really craving ice cream and mentioned how it would make my day if our new hotel had some. Lesson learned: ask and ye shall receive. They had THE BEST ice cream. Pistachio, cake batter, carmel, chocolate, lemon, strawberry. It was all divine.

nicea

Here's me and my cute roommates! We missed each other this week because they oaired us up with a different roommate during our trip.

This is the site of the 7th Ecumenical Council. They discussed the detruction of religious icons and statues.

Right down the path from this sign was a small little restroom. Outside sat a lady who I think looked after them and cleaned up and such. While we were waiting in line we watched a little boy come up and give this woman a HUGE hug. He ran up to her and was so excited to see her. It was precious! After we were done, she tried to say something to me. I honestly had no idea what she was trying to say. We both kept on trying to communicate with each other for a minutes with words in different languages, facial expressions, and hand gestures. It was nearly impossible. I think the only thing we established was that I spoke English. But one thing that was communicated in that conversation was HAPPINESS and KINDNESS. I'm so grateful for this little encounter that reminded me of the simple power of a smile. I wish I would've taken a picture of this cute old lady!

We waited all week to get to iznik for our tiles. It was so hard to decide what to buy because they were all gorgeous! I wish I had my own home to decorate.

This is the Grand Mosque. It was so hot in here and smelled like feet since you can't wear shoes. It was not the most pleasant smell. This mosque has 20 domes and a fountain in the middle that is used for ritual washing. It also has a lot of calligraphy. As we learned later in our Palestine class, all writing is considered sacred and man is seen as different than all other creatures because of his ability to write. The overall color schene in this mosque was green.

There were actually men praying while we were here today.

priene and sardis

This is the one picture I have from Priene. We were there just shortly before sunset and it was a lot of people's favorite site. They loved the forest and how peaceful it was up on the mountain (you had to hike up a little bit to it). The cool thing about this ancient city is that it was built using the grid system just like the saints used in Utah. 

We also talked about Paul's experience with Priene and Miletus which is not far from there. Paul had a meeting with some elders of the church from the surrounding area. It talks in Acts 20 about how Paul looked to trials and embraced them because they kept him close to the Lord. He also listened to promptings. Dr. Whitchurch reminded us that throughout this semester it may be exactly what we were expecting or the Lord could be preparing us for a different course. If we listen to those promptings we will be where we need to be and figure out what we're supposed to be doing. Paul told the men here that this is the last time he would see them. He warned them of apostasy and when it was time for him to leave, they all walked him to the ship, weeping. Appropriately, we talked about apostles "graduating" to the next life not only with the example of Paul, but also Elder Scott who passed away the day before. Each of the apostles that recently passed away has had such a huge influence on our lives and it was a nice time to reflect on what they have taught us.

The theater had thrones!

This is Sardis. The synagogue below is the largest ancient synagogue discovered outside of the Holy Land. It was so pretty with floor mosaics and decorative walls.

This is the gymnasium! It had baths with both hot, warm, and cold water.

The other side of Sardis across the street is the temple. It was an Ionic temple which means the columns are thinner and stand on a base.