My journey...

Turkey is such a lovely country. So rich in culture and history. The early church history is from there as well. To think that Turkey was once a christian place but now it is 93% muslim. What happened? God tried to warn the churches in the book of revelation to repent and turn to Him but I guess they did not take heed. I saw a church which was later converted into a mosque when the muslim spread in the country. They still had the image of Christ and Mary on the walls. They also had the Quran verses painted together with those icons. The cross on the door was changed into an arrow.

It was in Nicerea (not sure of the spelling) in Turkey that our Fathers of faith gathered for the first time to have a theological discussion about Jesus. Is he human or is he God. Thus came our Nicene creed. I always wondered why they called it Nicene creed. What is the meaning of Nicene. Now I know. Because it was in Nicerea that they came up with the creed.

It was such a great trip. I totally enjoyed listening to the stories and the history explained by our guide. He explained in such a way that it captures your attention. He made history and culture interesting. Not to mention he was cute too. hee hee. The Turkish are so friendly. At one place, we met a lot of youth going for a picnic and they offered us cake. They are just so warm and welcoming and friendly. They believe very much in community. One of the thing that the chuch has lost along the way.

Our Guide on the left

The sad thing about the trip. On the first day, after taking about 200 photos, my memory card died on me and I lost all the pics. Then on the second last day of the tour, I dropped my nikon D70. It is now not functioning. I was so upset. But I still managed to take more than 2000 pictures during this trip which I will post a few on my flickr blog when I find the time.

The group size was about 18 people plus the tour leader and they were all very nice people. We had fun. We took care of one another. It was good. We saw snow in Spring. It was not suppose to snow but it did. We did not bring much warm clothing so I was freezing but it was all worth it to see the snow. The place is so much more scenic with the snow. Even the guide says that he hardly experience snow in spring.

When we touched down, it was raining but for the rest of the time we were there, it was perfect weather. The day we left, it started to rain again.

I went hot air ballooning for the first time. It was on the hills covered snow with the volcanic rocks. You can't really see the snow from the picture below. A place called capadocea. Place where the early christians ran to hide from persecution. They carved holes in the rocks to live in. The built underground homes. You just have to be there to. I nearly cried because of the magnificent landscape which made me think of the awesomeness of our God. Everywhere you look, few hundred holes and most of them were churches where the people met to worship God.



I also went to Ephesus. Place where Paul went and stayed for months to encourage the church. Below is the front of the library. One of the largest in that time and the structure still stands. Of course with a little bit of help from the archealogists.



I did have my rest. Though not enough. I had long bus trips and during those trips, had a few revelations which I may blog about in my next entries.

I was just so in awe of the goodness of God and the wonder of God and the greatness of God.