Turkey day 4

Day 4, and still going strong! We went to two places this day: Assos and Pergamon. It was a long day of driving, but a lovely day nonetheless! 

Assos

This city is found in the travels and missions of Paul, the wonderful and amazing apostle of the New Testament! But it also has a secular history as well.  So, I'll 'splain a little, and then we'll get looking at the pictures.

Assos was founded in the 7th century BC. In the 5th century BC, a large temple to Athena with Doric columns was built on the crest of the hill. After modern excavations, many of the decorations from the temple were removed to the Louvre in Paris. Assos once possessed a very important harbor at the base of the hill.

In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle moved from Athens to Assos to establish an academy. He later went to Macedonia to tutor Alexander the Great!

On his return trip at the end of his third mission (57 AD), the apostle Paul and his companions stopped at Troas to preach. While Luke and the other missionaries sailed from Troas to Assos, Paul walked the 30 miles overland. It is probable that Paul taught the gospel to people living along the road from Troas to Assos. Paul, Luke and their companions left Assos by ship and sailed to Mitylene, eventually making their way to Miletus.

When Paul arrived at Assos, he probably walked through the massive columns at the city gates on the west side of the city. When the missionaries arrived at and departed from Assos by ship, the would have docked at the harbor at the base of the hill. As one look south at the island of Lesbos, their destination of Mitylene is located on the southwestern coast of the island.

A statue of Aristotle was outside of the city before we started walking. I feel like he would find good company with my Dad, Chelise, and Wayne. :)

We had to walk up the windy and cobblestone streets of Behramkale to get to the top of the hill. It was such a cute village! Our teacher said that the people and their families had lived there for generations. 

There was a castle thing at the top of the hill. I don't know what it was for, but I got really excited when I saw it! I want to live in a castle someday!

Another castle thing. I love ancient ruins!

This is the view from the top of Assos! It is so incredibly beautiful! The Aegean Sea, the rolling green hills, the beautiful clear sky...it's simply breathtaking! You can see the island of Lesbos in the top panorama.

At Assos with my crazy hair. I don't even know how to control it anymore. :)

So I wanted to do a handstand picture, but I ended up almost dying because I didn't propel myself hard enough to actually stand on my hands. So I had to be satisfied with a normal human picture. Oh well, I guess I can't have it all... :)

Even the grass is pretty! It's studded with little purple flowers, like stars in the sky!

The remains of the ancient temple of Athena! This column has been reconstructed from all the stones lying around this place. I'm touching an ancient Greek temple!!!!! :)

All that remains of this ancient temple...

So there were little snails everywhere. I wanted to eat one for a dare, but nobody could offer enough shekels. Oh well, maybe another time. :)

We had a little devotional at Assos and learned about following the promptings of the Spirit. We focused on a particular story in Acts 16: 

6) Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
7) After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
8) And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9) And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10) And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. 

Paul had a plan of action, but he listened to the promptings of the Spirit that told him to deviate from his plan and go another way. Paul is a perfect example of putting the will of the Lord before his own, and working with the Lord's timetable. We can learn from him that it is good to have a plan, but we need to always be in touch with the Spirit so we can follow its promptings. Paul also proved himself worthy of further revelation by obeying initial revelation: in verse 7, the Spirit suffered Paul to make a change in his plans, but the exact change was not specified. However, because Paul obeyed the prompting and stopped, ready to follow the Lord's will, the revelation in verse 9 came to him, directing him toward Macedonia. Following the promptings of the Spirit will always lead to more promptings, and we can become refined in the Lord.

Another thing to learn from this story can be taken out of Paul's dream about the man of Macedonia. Brother Judd told us that we will be both Paul and the man of Macedonia at different points in our lives--we will be in the position to help somebody and answer their prayers, and we will be the one pleading for help. It is so important to follow the promptings of the Spirit, for we know that the Lord often answers the prayers of His children through other people. Our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is a perfect example of following promptings to bless the sons and daughters of God. I think that Dan is really good at this, too. It is important to be open to the agenda of the Lord and be willing to help Him in His work. Also, we will be the man of Macedonia, praying for a miracle in our lives. We can have full confidence that the Lord is preparing a Paul for us, someone or something to answer our prayers. The Lord will always answer our prayers, even if they're in His timetable. We can have faith that He will deliver all that He promises us.

We then sang hymn #270, "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," and I thought it perfectly matched the life of Paul and his missions:

It may not be on a mountain height

Or over the stormy sea,

It may not be at the battle's front

My Lord will have need of me.

But if, by a still, small voice he calls

To paths that I do not know, 

I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: 

I'll go where you want me to go.

Perhaps today there are loving words

Which Jesus would have me speak;

There may be now in the paths of sin

Some wand'rer whom I should seek.

O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,

Tho dark and rugged the way,

My voice shall echo the message sweet: 

I'll say what you want me to say.

There's surely somewhere a lowly place

In earth's harvest field so wide

Where I may labor through life's short day

For Jesus, the Crucified.

So trusting my all to thy tender care,

And knowing thou lovest me,

i'll do thy will with a heart sincere;

I'll be what you want me to be. 

I am really grateful for what we learned about Paul and following the promptings of the Spirit. I think that prophets are the most incredible examples to Saints. I'm grateful for Paul and President Monson and their examples of faithfulness and willingness to follow the will of the Lord. I have learned a lot about the Spirit since I've been here, and I know that if we make an effort to stay connected with the Spirit, we can receive answers to all our questions.

Pergamum Acropolis

The Greek word acropolis means "fortified height of a city", and boy is that description accurate! Pergamum was built on a steep hill that rises 1000 feet above the valley floor! People have to take a tram to get to the top. Or morph into a mountain goat, but that is less common. 

Greek mythology states that Pergumum was founded by Telephus, the son of Hercules. Many of the buildings at Pergamum were constructed during the Hellenistic time period (3rd to 2nd century BC). The theater, built on the steep slope of the hill, provides a spectacular view of the valley below and contains around 10,000 seats--the steepest seating of any known theater in the ancient world. Above the theater are the Temple of Athena and the Altar of Zeus. The remains of the Temple are just a few column bases, and the Altar has been moved to the Pergamum Museum in Berlin. 

Pergamum also had the second largest library in the ancient world, the largest being at Alexandria, Egypt!! The Pergamum library was thought to have contained 200,000 works, which Mark Antony gave to Cleopatra as a gift. Pergamum was one of the centers of the emperor cult and was given the honor of building temples to multiple emperors, including Augustus and Trajan. 

Although there is no account of it in the Book of Acts, some of the residents of Pergamum accepted the gospel during the 1st century. Pergamum was one of the seven churches of Asia Minor to which John addressed the Book of Revelation. The Lord braised the members of the Pergamum branch for their fathfulness, in particular a man named Antipas who gave his life as a martyr (Rev 20:13). The Lord also criticized some members of the church in Pergamum because they were participating in pagan religious practices. This reference fits the setting in Pergamum well, with its temples to Zeus, Athena, and Dionysius. 

The Lord also refers to Pergamum as the place "where Satan dwelleth" (Rev 2:13). Some modern translations render this as "the seat of Satan." Some scholars think that this may be a reference to the Great Altar of Zeus, where people worshiped the chief god of the Greek pantheon. Other scholars, however, think that this may be a reference to the emperor cult that figured so prominently at Pergamum. One of the warnings in the Book of Revelation is to not worship the image of the beast, a probably reference to emperor worship. Thus the "seat of Satan" at Pergamum may have been the Great Altar of Zeus or it may have been the Temple to Trajan. 

This is the tram that we had to take to get to the top of the mountain! It was actually really fun :) I tried to get people to rock the tram so it would feel like a roller coaster, but my persuasion fell on motion-sick ears. Also, I was talking to our guide Yasemin about Dan, and how he loves Man vs. Wild and how he just watched an episode where Bear Grylls was in the frozen tundra and he caught a caribou and drank it's warm blood to stay alive, and she was disgusted and said that I needed a new boyfriend. Ha ha ha :) I thought it was so funny. I will keep my boyfriend, though. He's the best one in the world :)

My tram buddies! Michelle and Amber are the BEST!

When we got to the top, there were a bunch of little shops selling stuff before you hiked up to the ruins. I saw these marble and gold apples and freaked out! They reminded me of one of my favorite Greek myths growing up. The one about Atalanta, and how she didn't want to marry anybody, but her father wanted to marry her off, so she said that whoever could beat her in a footrace would win her hand in marriage! And then everybody wanted to marry her cause she's super pretty and cool, but nobody could beat her, and if they lost, they were all beheaded. :) And so there was one guy who really loved her (his name had a 'Hippo' in it, I think, but I couldn't wrap my 7-year old mind around, so let's just call him Hippo) and wanted to marry her, so he petitioned to Aphrodite to help him win the race. Aphrodite gave him 3 golden apples to help! As Hippo and Atalanta were racing, she was beating him, and he threw the golden apple as far off the course as he could, and she was really distracted by the shiny golden thing, so she ran after it and he got some headway. This happened twice more, and he won the race and they got married :) Cool apples, eh? :)

There were little daisies blooming EVERYWHERE! It was the most beautiful thing! I was freaking out because this place is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! You'll understand what I mean as you see more pictures!! :) These daisies reminded me of V'dub! :)

This tree was the first thing I saw, and it reminded me of the Tree of Gondor in the White City. You know, as it's dying and before Aragorn finds the sapling with Gandalf. Go read your LOTR. :)

The remains of Trajan's palace! Ooh, so epic! I love ancient ruins, especially Greek and Roman ones! There is just an air of mystery and legend about them!

In case you forgot what I looked like, here you go. Me in Trajan's palace!

In front of the beautiful view! High on the mountain top... :)

Okay. For real, these pictures aren't photoshopped. This was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I would be totally fine with living here for the rest of my life. I have never been so moved by nature before! I was jumping around and freaking out because it was SO BEAUTIFUL! These green mountains and blue seas just stir my heart!

The sky was a masterpiece every single day. There has never been so much room in the sky before, I'm thoroughly convinced. I wish that I could have taken a picture with my eyes, so that everyone could see the entirety of what I saw. I'm pretty sure this is what Heaven looks like!

I find this series of pictures quite amusing :) I found a little space in the reconstructed front-thing of Trajan's palace to peep through. (I wish I knew what it was called. I feel like "front-thing" isn't quite the proper name...)

And here I am, trying to support the whole thing, keeping it from falling off the tiny wall!!!

And then I had to hang on for dear life, or else I was going to fall to my death. Hehee :)

I feel like some pictures don't really need words to describe what I was doing, but I blab about them anyway. I'll just let this one go, because I can't explain what I'm doing. :)

Emily, Michelle, and me! Beautiful view, my beautiful friends! :)

So this is all that remains of the incredible library of Pergamum. :( I was making my way over to that spot to get a picture, but I didn't realize that I was in somebody else's picture, so I had to duck awkwardly to avoid being in their picture. I'm glad that Michelle documented this moment. I think it's hilarious :)

Reading at the library of Pergamum :) Our guide told us that Pergamum is where parchment was invented! The Egyptians stopped exporting papyrus to Pergamum when they heard that their library was getting so big, and the Pergamumians (hehehe:) had to invent something else to write on. I'm glad the Egyptians were selfish, we probably never would've gotten paper if they hadn't!

We walked down to the lower levels of Pergamum along the cardo section. This is where people set up shops and sold lots of stuff! There was a shop along the side of in-between each of those arches. 

I should be a shopkeeper. I am SO good at bargaining now. My mother would be proud :)

We descended into this little tunnel thing to go down to the theater, and I got weirdly scared. Michelle documented the dramaticized moment.

The view as we came out of the tunnel.  It was literally breathtaking. Oh my goodness, I want to live on the top of this hill someday. :)

This photo really shows how huge the theater is! And how steep! We were standing pretty far away, but it still looks massive. I hurt my knees pretty bad running the half-marathon, and trying to make it down all those steps to the bottom of the theater was one of the most painful things EVER. But every step was worth the discovery at the bottom.

This is the remains of a temple dedicated to Dionysius, right outside of the stage area. I think that the practice of building temples to Dionysius by the theater was pretty common. He's a crazy dude.

There was the base of a column that was just calling for an awkward pose. I answered the call.

Hehehehe :) Pretemding to be a wine-bibber on the steps of the temple of the god of wine. I thought this action very appropriate. But don't worry--I've never had real wine, and I don't plan to. This is just water.

This might be my favorite picture that has ever been taken of me. I don't understand what's going on in this picture, nor do I recall it being taken, but it's HILARIOUS. Sara is like, having a Sound of Music moment in the theater, and some boy is bending down to do something, and I have no idea what I'm doing or how I got there. But it is the funniest pose I have ever been in. I laughed SO HARD when I saw this picture :)

We had a mini devotional here. We had talked about how we need to be loyal to Christ, even though other gods may pester us for attention. The people here had problems with falling back into worshiping pagan gods and forsaking their covenants with Christ. We aren't necessarily surrounded by the pressures to worship ancient Greek gods, but anything can become a false god if it causes us to  forsake Christ. Keeping our covenants is the most important thing we can do in this life! We should always put Christ first in our lives!

On the tram ride back. I think I felt awkward because I was sitting in between two boys, and that is the closest I've been to a boy since I said goodbye to Dan. Hehehe, that's an awkward face :)