Day 1 in Turkey (Perga, Aspendos, Attalia)

Well, I made it to Turkey without any hiccups. All of my flights were on time and were smooth sailing. My luggage also arrived with me in Turkey, which is also a plus. Thanks for all of your prayers! You have not idea how much I appreciate them.

Basically, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday traveling. I left home around noon on Tuesday and arrived at the hotel in Turkey around 9pm on Wednesday night. I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago, then a 10hr flight from Chicago to Istanbul, then an hour flight from Istanbul to Antalya, where our hotel was located. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, a shower, then everyone did their best to get a good nights sleep. The nine hour time difference sure messes with your schedule! However, I slept pretty well.

The morning was kicked off my hearing the morning call to prayer by the local mosque. Talk about a quick way to realize I'm not home anymore. My roommate and I headed out to find an ATM so that we could get some Turkish Liras and then headed to breakfast. After breakfast our group was off to the first site of the trip--Perga.

Now, I'm going to throw a little note in here before I start talking about the locations from the trip. I realize that everyone is going to want to see pictures from these locations. However, I'm most likely not going to be posting them for a couple reasons. First, the internet hasn't been good enough to upload pictures yet. Second, I don't want to give away all of my pictures before I do a presentation back home. So, see this as just building expectation and anticipation for my upcoming presentation back home :-)

Perga is a town just off the coast of the Mediterranean. Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark landed in Perga on Paul's first missionary journey. In Acts 13:13-14 it says, "Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphlyia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia." This was a pretty cool town to check out. It is also very well preserved. We were able to see the Roman baths, the Agora (or marketplace), the Cordo Maximus (Main Street), and various other streets, buildings, fountains, and statues. It was a great first stop in the trip. We were able to check out a newly excavated area of the town that was really impressive and well preserved. Many of us were blown away by the amount of marble used throughout the city. It seemed as if everything was covered in marble. Our tour guide told us that marble is one of the cheapest building materials in Turkey. Know what one of the most expensive is? Wood. Pretty interesting how things change depending on your location and the resources available.

We left from Perga and headed to Aspendos. Aspendos has the best preserved Roman theater in their world. Man was it impressive! It is so well preserved that it is still being used today. The theater seated 18,000 people. And, yes, from the very top of the theater we could hear people talking at the bottom. The acoustics are as good as they said they were going to be. To put this in perspective a bit, the Xcel Energy Center seats 18, 586 people. So, not much bigger than this ancient theater. This theater doesn't necessarily have any connections to the Bible, however, it will help us to picture some of the other theaters that we will see that aren't as well preserved.

We left Aspendos and made a quick stop to see that harbor in Antalya. It's a very beautiful place. The city of Antalya was called Attalia in the Biblical times. It was out of this same harbor that Paul and Barnabas sailed out of on their way home from the first missionary journey. In Acts 14:24-26 it says, "Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphlyia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled." A storm was coming is as we looked across the harbor and the Mediterranean Sea was really rockin and rollin. It really allowed us to see how dangerous it would have been  to sail in ancient times.

We also were blessed to stop at a little cafe called St. Paul's Cafe. It is owned by a Christian pastor who runs a Christian church out of the cafe. It is a pretty amazing ministry. One of the elders from the church talked to us about what it was like for him to convert from Islam to the Christian faith (it was not easy). He also talked to us about what it is like to do Christian ministry in a country that is 99.8% Muslim (also, not easy). It was pretty incredible to hear about the work the Lord is doing through that small church and the power of the gospel. The ground may be hard in Turkey, but God is breaking hard hearts and replacing them with flesh. This has been one of the highlights of the trip. I think I could have talked with him for a very long time.

Now, I'm back in the hotel room getting ready to crash. Definitely feeling the jet lag. The internet has been somewhat sketchy so far, so I'm not sure how often I'll get to post on the blog. I'm hoping to do so somewhat regularly. I know that many are wanting to follow my travels a little bit and it helps me to think back over the day. Thanks again for your prayers so far and for the many who have committed themselves to praying for me throughout the entire trip. God has been answering your prayers and will continue to do so. To Him be all the glory!