Weekend Get Away!

So this past weekend I went on a trip down south with Julie's family! It was amazing to get out of the city and see some of this beautiful country I live in. And it was fun just to be American tourists for a weekend. We took many modes of transportation…plane, van, bus, ferry, and car. It was a fun and eventful weekend that felt like a week. We did a lot in 36 hours!
We flew out early Saturday morning to Izmir, where our wonderful tour guide met us. He had a car waiting and drove us to Efes (Ephesus). He talked the entire 45 minute drive, asking us a million questions and then answering them before we could. I ended up falling asleep since I had been up since 5am. Anyways he gave us a wonderful tour around the town of Ephesus, full of funny stories and interesting facts. The whole time I was there I kept picturing Paul walking the streets, talking to people, sharing life and truth with them. It was just so neat to me to see that it was a real place. That people actually lived life there many years ago, serving the same one that I serve.

After the tour we were taken to a Turkish Carpet shop where we ate lunch and were given a presentation about Turkish rugs. It was interesting to learn how they are made, what they are made of, etc. but of course the whole point was that afterwards we would purchase one! Unfortunately I don’t have 10 grand to spend on a carpet right now. Maybe one day!
Next we went to see Artemis’ Temple. The whole time the tour guide was talking, Julie and I were looking around trying to find what he was talking about. Finally I just asked, “Where is the temple?” He stared at me and said, “Can’t you see…it’s the ruins, see that column right there, and those stones!” As you can see from the picture below there is not much left! But at least I can say I have been there. The temple of the Virgin Mary was next on our stop. It is believed that John took Mary here after the crucifixion and that she died outside of Efes. Ill post more pictures on facebook sometime this week :)