Amazing

Life is absolutely amazing, even if it has only gone below 100 degrees about one day this whole trip. Not only have I not had internet service most places I've gone, i 've also been way too tired to do much but fall in bed and sleep as soon as I get back to my room every night. I try to sleep on the bus, but can only manage at the most about 5 minutes, who can sleep when you're passing right along the Nile or the Valley around Gallilee. So once I finish writing everything then I'll send out the whole day by day accounts.

But to summarize, I have seen amazing things, I still can't belive I've gone to everything I have, at times I have to kick myself, realizing that i'm actually here, it's not some dream or my imagination.

In Egypt we went to the pyramids, cairo bazaar, saladin's citadel, cairo museum (though I was sick that day so only got a quick run through tour of the main things like tut's treasures and some animal mummies) , valley of the kings, saw Tut's mummy, Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, sakkara, memphis, Karnak and the temple at Luxor. Touched the Nile, fended off a crazy carriage driver who wouldn't leave us alone, and flew in the business class for about 30min each way.

I climbed Mt. Sinai and watched an amazing sunrise and snorkeled in the Red Sea. I hiked through the slot canyons of Petra and saw the amazing treasury, royal tombs, and necropolis there. I floated in the dead sea and got stinging water in my eyes, nose and mouth, it was nasty and hurt, but other than that it was fun.

We went to Masad and Qumran, amazing places as well, I only wish we didn't have to hurry through them all so fast. they are definitely places that make you think and wonder and dig inside yourselves. saw Jericho and Bet She'an, getting to go into the west bank, which is completely safe, Blar says he feels safer there than downtown SL.

Today we sailed across the sea of Gallilee to Tel Dan to see a part of a gate that Abraham would have walked through, and to capernaum where there is still the synagigue jesus would have gone to and peter's house. as well as the traditional site of the Mt. of Beattitudes and banias at the foot of Mt Hermon where Jesus asked "whom do ye say that i am" to peter and the other apostles and water flows straight from under the rocks. And passed along ther Golan heights where so much modern history has occurred. we went into a druse village for lunch and had Lebunae and saw why certain statements were so poignant that the Saviour made. Like a city set on a hill, if referring to one like tiberias you can not only see it at night with its lights, but during the day the white building (stones, i forgot what kind) sticks out just as bright, it can be seen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. and to the stream of Mt Hermon where the rock flowed straight out and the apostles would have been surrounded by about 6 different temples of greek and roman gods and idols.

it's asolutely amazing to study the scriptures and read about the stories on the spoats where they occurred. it doesn't really strengthen your testimony or make you believe if you doubted or anything, but i don't think it's supposed to, that's not what it;s meant for. It's just that you can feel a different spirit, a reference and appreciation, it makes you ponder more what these accounts and stories mean to you and how they can really apply in your life. sometimes we have fun and joke a little like instead of "I walked today where jesus walked..." we sing "i swam today where jesus walked..." but it really hits you hard when you go to places like capernaum or ceasaria phillipi that these are real places and this is where it happened, that we were standing in the synagogue only two feet above where jesus told them to go get the coin out of the fish and much more.

It's amazing, this world is amazing, all that the Lord has done for us is amazing. I know that Christ is our Saviour, that if we look to him he is there and is our deliverer. He once lived and talked on this earth just as all of us and will once again do so in the coming day. he is waiting with outstretched arms and an open heart if we will but turn towards him.

So I got there, had to pay 60 LE to get into the complex even though I had already paid in the tour package. I didn’t really know what I was doing at that point, just praying really hard that it would work out. It was an awesome sight, an amazing to think that I was there, right in front of me were these amazing structures thousands of years old, everything I had dreamed of, and yet I couldn’t enjoy them as I wanted, I was too rushed and anxious looking for everybody. And on top of that, me being a blonde haired girl walking alone, it was a beacon for every vender/whatever guy out ooking for money,. One kid especially just wouldn’t leave me alone- ‘come I show you where to touch it, here special spot, let me take your picture, perfect spot for picture…” – so I finally was like ok, I don’t know if I’ll find the group here, who knows if I’ll get the chance again, so I gave him my camera to take my picture and then he kept wanting me to have different poses and junk and I was like no, I’m good that’s all. I got my camera back, though of course after I had to pay him- “that’s all, this is nothing, I want American, Egyptian nothing, this is nothing..” – I finally got him off my back, after telling him for sure I did not want a picture with a donkey, and no I did not want him to take me anywhere, that I just needed to get back to my group (I was hoping that mentioning my big group would deter him a little, it didn’t).

So I got rid of him, had barely made it to the side of the first pyramid when a kid was riding by on the camel, I was definitely tired and not thinking cause when he said, here take my picture, I said ok, and did, and then looked up to see his dad coming and realized how stupid I was, so I had to go through the same sequence, managed to get away, not paying any American money, but still probably giving him more than I should have. I got out behind Cheop’s and saw a parking lot of mostly tour buses near chefron’s so I decided to look over there, praying that I would find them or pick pick out the bus, even though I couldn’t remember at all what the bus looked like.

So I was walking over there and, yay! As I walked into the parking lot there were a few from my group that happened to be standing in front of the bus as they were getting ready to leave and waiting for everybody else to come back. They were excited to see me, everybody was very sorry they had not noticed I was gone and were very impressed with what I had done. And Allan said he was now my buddy (he even had a spot for me right next him on the bus) and he has kept true to that, pretty much every corner we turn or street place we go, Allan is always looking back to find me and make sure I’m there. I’m usually the last one coming up from anything, but I do try to stay fairly close so he doesn’t get a heart attack or something, he is a sweet guy though, and I do know he’s just looking out for me.

It was because of me, though, that every time we got on or off the bus or get somewhere new we have to count off. Now Blair just put us into groups though to make it easier so just one person looks after each group, and off course Allan is the leader of ours, it’s pretty funny. And now I can’t get really anywhere without someone making sure I’m around or on the bus, and if I’m the slightest bit late to breakfast in the morning they’re just about ready to send someone to come make sure I;m awake and coming. Sometimes it’s kinda like I have 20 or so eyes on me like hawks. Luckily it’s getting a little more relaxed now, so it’s not so bad anymore.

Anyways, once I got there, our Cairo guide was there too, Noha, and she wanted to make sure I saw the inside, so she took me over quickly to the tomb of the 2^nd pyramid so I could go inside, which I was very appreciative of, I had been quite sad thinking I was going to miss it. Though that was also fast too because I didn’t want to keep the group waiting and felt kinda bad. It was amazing as well, though, I wish I could gone through it much slower. But that’s ok, it just means I have to come back again.

marhaba!

It's been so crazy, nonstop going and going so I haven't had much time to write or anything. We do have a 7 hour drive to sinai tomorrow, hopefully i'll be able to get everything in order and recorded, i've been seriously remiss in my journal too. Well, it's still as absolutely amazing as when I got here, well actually it's even more so. I've already had a great adventure, one that Erica would especially appreciate. Basically I was awake all night tuesday night finishing my papers, but I did get them sent off by about 4 am :) Our wake up call was to be 6:00 and then on the buses to leave at 7am. So it rang,I answered with every intention of getting up, then kinda fell back to sleep until 7:30. I rushed to put everything together, ran down to the hotel lobby, and found no one. So i was a little worried, but looked around thinking someone for sure would have waited for me, though was wondering why no one came to to my room to get me. I checked with the desk and found that everyone had checked out(i think even me supposedly) and they had left(I found out later I had missed them by about 5 minutes). SO basically I found myself rather alone and without contact to anyone and no way for anyone to contact me. And that night we were to leave for Luxor, not coming back to the same hotel until the day after. i definitely did not want to miss that (especially since they had somehow missed a ticket for that for me too so had to quickly get me one) or anything, so i decided to go find them, planning on three main spots I could catch them throughout the day. I had the hotel call a taxi for me to go to the Giza pyramid complex, they charged me 100 LE, much more than I could have if i went to corner to get a taxi for myself, but at the moment i was more concerned with finding everybody. It was a really nice ride though, my driver kinda acted like a guide, pointing out things to me and slowing down for me to take pictures of certain buildings. It took about an hour through Cairo traffic to get there, then he dropped me off at the gates. To be continued ( because i am way too tired to keep writing)...

:)

hi, I'm here! It's absolutely amazing, I still don't believe it!!! Went to the old city after arriving into our hotels, driving past the city of the dead, I almost had to sleep out on the streets, but don't worry they got me a room, and hopefully a ticket for tomorrow's flight to luxor, we walked around the bazaar for about an hour, it was amazing how similar yet how different things are, it reminded me of tiajuana a little, yet it was also totally different, and apparently they really like blondes here, I could have walked out of there with about 50 husbands and twice as many boyfriends :) umm i'll write better later, and don't worry  i found out why we're supposed to bring along the pepto bismol,good night.