Today's Silver Linings : March 2013

Being in the Holy Land for Holy Week is truly amazing. There are literally thousands of people who come to the Holy Land to worship and commemorate the final days of the Savior’s life and to celebrate his resurrection. I had the once in a life time opportunity to be able to be in the Holy Land for this great event. I loved it so much. I not only studied the Savior’s life in depth, but I was able to witness various Christian denominations worship in diverse ways and languages.

Palm Sunday is an event I have never paid much attention to. However after this week I will never be able to look at this day the same. “And they brought the colt to Jesus,and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord..” – Mark 11:7-9

There were thousands of people that did the palm walk to commemorate Christ’s journey into Jerusalem. Before the walk I went to a Episcopalian Procession. This is where they blessed the palm leaves and had a service. The service was in both English and Arabic.

When we got to the beginning of the walk there was such fun energy present. The streets were packed with people. There were palm tree branches waving in the air as you heard groups of people singing songs of worship and chanting prayers.

On Monday Christ cursed the fig tree, before cleansing and teaching in the temple. Tuesday Christ continued to teach. On Wednesday the plot to kill Jesus was made and Judas agrees to betray Jesus. Thursday was when Christ and the disciples had the Last Supper, before Christ went to Gethsemane. In Gethsemane Christ suffered for all of our sins. He felt our deepest sorrows, and knew each of the agony we experience in this world. He was later betrayed by his own disciple Judas, and was arrested and taken to Jewish authorities.

Friday Jesus is put in the hands of the Romans, and crucified. Christ not only had to experience physical death, but he had to know what it was like to die spiritually as well. This is something I had not really thought about in great detail before. But Christ truly knows what everyone on this earth has gone through, and he can have complete empathy for each and everyone of us. He knows how to succor us.

In honor of this I was able to do the Via Dolorosa. This is the walk Christ took as he carried his cross to Golgotha. There were 14 stations and it ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher I visited the Holy Sepulcher a few times this week and one time I was there, there was a mass going on. I couldn’t understand anything that was being said, but it was still really cool to watch.

Saturday Jesus went to the Spirit World before he was resurrected on Easter Sunday. We left the Jerusalem Center at five thirty in the morning to be able to get to the Garden Tomb's Morning Service. The service started at six thirty. The service consisted of singing songs with a live band and listening to a sermon from a pastor . There were hundreds of people there. The whole garden was packed with people worshiping and praising the Lord.

Christ conquered death that day. He paid the price for us so we can overcome death too- physical and spiritual. Christ knows how each of us feel and he will always be there for us if we come unto him. Let us all remember the true reason we celebrate Easter.

“He is not here: for he is risen” Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter!

I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!! Turkey was so incredible I seriously fell in love with that beautiful country. I was able to stay for a week and caravan across the country to various historical sites. We spent a lot of time on the bus driving which I really liked because of the scenery. We drove through extremely green hills and alongside bright blue bodies of water. Breathtaking is an understatement.

We flew from Tel Aviv to Istanbul on Sunday, the 10^th of March. The flight was enjoyable. Not only did I get to know students I sat by better, but I was also treated to the famous Turkish Air luxuries including the full course meal they provided.

By the time we got to Istanbul we drove to the hotel and were set free to explore the streets if we so desired. Well a bunch of curious students in a foreign country is the perfect recipe for exploring. While exploring we stumbled upon a mosque and we were able to go inside. Something that is culturally fascinating is that about 98% of Istanbul is Muslim. This means there are mosques everywhere. It is so interesting to see how many mosques there are. I am sure it is similar to the phenomenon of going to Utah and seeing a church building on about every other road.

I am really grateful I was able to go inside mosques in Turkey because I have not been in any in Jerusalem. But the mosques they have in Turkey are exquisite. Women are supposed to cover their hair because it is more modest. If you don’t happen to have a scarf, they usually provide a box of them at the entrance. Everyone is also required to take their shoes off before entering.

On Monday we had a packed day. We visited the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica, Grand Bazaar and finished with a Boat Ride on the Bosphorus.

The Hippodrome was just north of the Blue Mosque. It belonged to Constantinople and was used for public
events such as horse and chariot races as well as civic celebrations. I was expecting a dirt arena. However it
was paved over and appeared just like a sidewalk. Something cool we saw on the Hippodrome was a giant
stone column that Egypt gave to them.

Inside the Blue Mosque, also called the Sultanahmet mosque, was incredible. It is called the Blue Mosque because of all the blue tile used in the interior. It was built in the 17^th Century by Ahmet I who wanted to build something his people could remember him by. It took 7 years to build and was completed in 1616. Because of the grandness of the mosque it affected the economy of his empire.

There is a central dome and eight other domes that “cascade” down. It has traditional Islamic architecture, and a large outer court yard that is as large as the base of the mosque itself.

Something that I think is really interesting about the construction of the mosque is the number of minarets(towers). The Blue Mosque contains six minarets which was very controversial The Grand Mosque in Mecca which contains the Kaaba also had six. The Kaaba is a stone building that is considered the most holy site in Islam. This is why they face the direction of the Kaaba, located in Mecca, when they pray. Well the issue was resolved by adding a seventh minaret to the Grand Mosque.

Lower level has over 20,000 blue ceramic tiles.

The Topkapi Palace was where the capital was around the 1400s after Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople. The Topkapi palace was the main residence of the Sultans for 400 years. After WW1 it was converted into a museum.

A small replica of the Palace.

Basilica Cistern was an underground cistern was built in the 6^th century by Justinian. The cistern was built to provide water for the Imperial palace. There are 336 marble and granite columns and walls 13 feet thick in order to hold 2,800,000 cubic feet of water.

There were two Medusa heads supporting columns. These stones were most likely from earlier Roman structures.

According to the story of Medusa, if you look at her you will turn to stone.

The Grand Bazaar consists of something like 4000 little shops. We had a few hours to shop around which if anybody knows me, knows I loved it.

We had one boat ride and two ferry rides over the course of the week. The first boat ride was by far my favorite. It was an hour or two and we were in the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus is a 20 mile long strait that connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. It also separates the continents of Europe and Asia. I thought it was so cool how on one side of the boat was the continent of Europe and if I looked on the other side was the continent of Asia. It was so relaxing and beautiful. You could see all of the cool buildings, houses, and mosques via boat.

The next day (Tuesday) we had about a four hour bus ride to Gallipoli. Gallipoli was a battle during WW1. The Ottoman Empire became allies with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria- Hungary) who opposed the Allied Powers (United States, Britain, France, and Russia.) To summarize what happened, the British and French wanted to pose an attack on the Dardanelles, controlled by the Ottomans, so they could get Istanbul. There was a stalemate and they wanted to open the sea passage to Russia. This attack included soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC.) However due to poor planning and communication the battle was a huge slaughter for both sides. The ANZAC troops attempted a land invasion on the western side of the peninsula. Unfortunately the troops initially arrived in the wrong location which happened to be right in front of a huge hill that was fortified by the Ottomans. Many people died due to combat and disease (about 250,000 on both sides.) The Allies eventually retreated and the Ottomans won.

It was interesting to visit this site because I had watched a movie on it a week earlier. I fell in love with the characters and stories which made the battle seem more real to me. Many Australians and New Zealanders visit this site, and celebrate ANZAC day on April 25^th. We happened to be there when there were some people visiting. One of them came up to my professor and thanked him for teaching about this site and for having American students remember and honor their people who died there. It really touched me.

We took a ferry over the Dardanelles to visit Troy, our next site. By doing this we left the continent of Europe and went to the continent of Asia. It is so crazy how you can do that so simply. It was also cool because are huge bus went on the ferry with us. I know this may sound naïve, but I had no idea that buses could get on ferries. They just seem so big and I hadn’t really seen very big ferries before.

They have squatter toilets all over in Turkey. This is the one on the ferry. It was just as much fun to use as it looks.

Troy is a really cool site. This is the site of the famous Trojan War. As the story of the Trojan War goes, there was Paris, the prince of Troy, who took Helen, the queen of Sparta. This made a lot of people upset which led to Greece sailing over to Troy and engaging in a 10 year war. Greece finally won by making a wooden horse and having the soldiers hid inside. When the Trojan army brought the horse inside the city to celebrate, the Greek soldiers came out and slaughtered the Trojans.

I was really excited to see the replica of the Trojan horse they had on site. But to my surprise, the horse was under construction. Where I thought I would see the famous symbol, I saw a huge object covered in black tarp. This was kind of sad, but it was still a cool site.

Touching the leg of the wooden horse.

Anne and I's reenactment

Wednesday was the day we visited Assos and Pergamon. These were two of the prettiest sites in my opinion. Assos is a city on a hill that overlooks the Aegean Sea. To put this into better context, you were practically surrounded by a bright blue glass blanket. In the Bible we learn that Paul stopped in Assos during his third mission in 57 A.D. Some of Paul’s companions and other missionaries such as Luke sailed and stayed at Assos as well before going to Mitylene. Aristotle also moved to Assos to establish an academy.

5^th century B.C. temple dedicated to Athena.

Meditation.

According to Greek Mythology, Pergamum was founded by Telephus, the son of Herecules and the grandson of Zeus. It was SO green there. Most of the buildings were built in the 3^rd and 2^nd century B.C (Hellenistic time period.) We had to ride a lift to the top which was really fun.

Pergamum has the steepest theater in the ancient world with a total of 10,000 seats. This seemed evident when you started going up and down the step. Those steps are steep!

It was really windy there. My hair is an indicator of this.

The Church of St. John was our first site on Thursday. This is where many people believe that John was buried. Many people came and visited this church because they believed the dust from his grave had healing powers.

It had such fun places to take pictures.

In the distance you saw one measly reconstructed column. However this one reconstructed column use to be part of the Temple of Artemis. Believe it or not, this temple use to be one of the ancient wonders of the world. It is sad to only have one column left. It was dismantled and the stones were used for other buildings including the Hagia Sophia.

Ephesus was incredible. There was so many buildings and structures that were in good condition. It was the capital of the province of Asia and it became one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Paul visited Ephesus while returning from his second mission, and at the beginning of his third mission. He said in Ephesus for about two years where he baptized people, gave them the Holy Ghost, taught at the school of Tyrannus, and performed many miracles. He also wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians while in Ephesus.

Nike.

There is a picture of Ephesus in the Bible.

The library was built in 2^nd century A.D.

Prienne structures that still stand today were built in the 4^th century B.C. Alexander the Great lived in Prienne while he was besieging Miletus.

Dr. Jackson. This is my program director.

We had actually great luck with the weather. Sometimes I forget that I am visiting all of these sights when it is winter. There was chance of rain most of the week, but Friday was the first day it rained. Some of Sardis’ inhabitants were Jews. These Jews were threatened with destruction by Haman. We learn of this story in the book of Esther in the Bible. These Jews were saved by Mordecai and Ester.

Another biblical connection with Sardis happens at the end of the 1^st century A.D. The church members were rebuked by the Lord for hypocrisy. The Lord also tells them to repent for his coming. Revelations 3:3

This is the gymnasium where boys would fight and learn about philosophic things. Interesting fact is they usually did these things naked.

Sardis has the largest ancient synagogue discovered outside of the Holy Land.

Thyatira was famous for the production of purple dye which came from a certain kind of shellfish in the Mediterranean.

The Grand Mosque in Bursa was unbelievable. It was built around 1400 and has 20 domes. I was fortunate enough to be able to witness Muslims praying during the Call to Prayer. Although I have heard the Call to Prayer many times, this was the first time I have ever been inside a mosque while it goes off. It was really incredible to be able to witness up close Muslims worshiping. I really feel blessed to be able to witness other people’s devotion to their religion. Every religion worships in unique ways that may be different from each other, yet they still all possess dedication and love. It is a really beautiful thing.

Our week long tour guide teaching us about the mosque.

Saturday

Nicaea is where the Nicene Creed began. Emperor Constantine brought the early Christian Church leaders for the council of Nicea. Nicaea was the location of two of the seven Ecumenical Councils. These councils took place post-apostolic and they were used to establish the official church doctrine and beliefs of Christianity. Latter-day saints do not believe that these councils had authority due to the fact that the keys of apostleship and revelation had been taken from the earth at that point. One of the topics they discussed here was whether or not Christ was a created being or if he is the same as the Father. The second question they discussed was if worship of images of Jesus and other saints allowed. Over the course of the Turkey trip I visited six of the seven council locations, and could look at the seventh one from a distance.

Pondering about the questions in life.

We rode the ferry back over to Istanbul. Once we were in Istanbul we visited the Hagia Sophia. We had 10 minutes to spare before they stopped letting people in. I am really glad we made it because the Hagia Sophia is one of the wonders of the world. The Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world for almost 1000 years. It originally was a Christian church, however it was later converted into a mosque when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453. It is now a museum and has been one since 1935.

When the Ottomans converted the church into a mosque they covered some of the mosaics with plaster. This actually ended up preserving them.

For dinner we had fish. This was the first time we had fish as a main course which was surprising because our teachers made it sound like we were going to have fish a lot. For most meals in Turkey they would start out by bringing out lentil soup and bread, then they would usually bring out rice with vegetables and meat for shish kebabs. It was very interesting how they would bring out one small item of the meal and not bring out the next part until everyone was done with the first. Sometimes it seemed like it was a nine course meal. It was all really good though.