Elise In Uganda

Hi friends,  This will probably be a short post because I am only doing this in my itouch. Let me apologize in advance for the misspellings.  We left Israel on the 9th of May. It was really incredible to tour all o the biblical sites. Seeing where Abraham took his son Isaac to sacrifice, seeing where Ruth and Naomi would have travelled from, to the empty tomb where Jesus laid for only three days. It was absolutely incredible. I wish I had enough space and time to write down all that the Lord is doing in my heart here. Israel alone undoubtedly has radically challenged my faith and I don't think I'll ever read the bible the same. We got to go in the dead sea too while we were in Israel! My skin has never been so soft! But I did get some of the water in my eyes  and I literally had to have one of the guys lead me back to shore. That was not so much fun.  We flew out of Israel really early in the morning and flew into Athens. Then we had a full day where we visited Acropolis and Mars Hill. Then we got to run around the city all day. While I was in Israel I got some sort of bite on my right leg (who woulda guessed a foreign bite in two different countries!) and it was looking to be rather concerning. The swelling and infection got as big as a softball at times and if I would walk and do a lot on it, it tended to get more angry. So my prof made me elevate it for a good portion of that day. That night we caught a big ferry across the Aegean Sea to get to Turkey. I was on house arrest it seemed like cause my leg needed to be drained and elevated.  We landed on one of the Greek island and watched the sun rise on the harbor as we waited for our next ferry. Eventually we finally made it to turkey, after a plane, boat and bus ride!  Our first day we went to Ephesus. Ephesus is probably the most well preserved ancient city. It was beautiful but was sad to see all the idols so prominent in just the ruins. Totally gives a new context when Paul writes to the Ephesians about serving ONE God alone (4:1-8).  The next day was another travel day. We went from Izmir to Istanbul. Istanbul was incredible! I would easily live in Israel or Istanbul! It took us around nine hours between a ferry and a boat to get there, but well worth it! I had a blast roaming the city and exploring with these new friends. A riot broke out after te championship futbol game and the city literally went insane. 10 minutes before things got really nuts we were in the city square. The next day we heard a someone died by getting trampled by the crowds. It was crazy! Don't worry though mom and dad! :) still safe and sound.  We visited different the sultans palace where i saw an 86 karat diamond! Then we visited different   mosques like the famous blue mosque and we got to see Hagia Sophia!!! Then we saw these Egyptian obelisks that were brought over for the hippodrome that was once in the city center. Then that night we had a Turkish dinner that was absolutely incredible! Mmmm.  The next day we went to Kavala, Greece and had a travel day. When we first got into town we stumbled upon the Olympic Flame! That was exciting! And then settled into our hotel. The next day we went to Philippi, which I was incredibly stoked  for!  And then headed to Katarini from Kavala. Yesterday in Katarini we went to King Phillip's tomb and then explored the city.  Today we head off for Thesseloniki! Sorry for the long blog post! Hope you are all doing well!