Hello friends and family! I have been given the privilege to update you today! Our main site of the day was Aphrodisias! We went into the checkpoint and one of my Joshua brothers named Wyatt gave a devotional on James and perseverance. I met a stray cat here that we named tater-tot, and we learned about the old photographer Ara Guler! He took cool pictures and tried to publish them, but the editors declined due to average looking pictures with cursed ruins. The city was initially found in the 1800s, but Ara Guler found it in 1967.
First up within the ancient city we went to the sebasteion, where the structures displayed the roman propaganda of the city, as they depicted the story of the power of the gods and emperors. Our next destination was a Greek-designed theater and we quickly spread out in the stands. Mia, Precious, and Jen harmonized and sang Nothing but the Blood. It was beautiful! There was a crowd of Turkish kids who were watching from the top, and they decided to respond with their own show, and they sang for us! Up next we saw the Bath-house building and Beuletarium. This would have been a covered theater where richer people met, and there were many dolphin-carved seats and seats supported by lions. Sam told us how dolphins are royal symbols associated with Aphrodite, who was thought to come out of the sea. After seeing and learning these things about dolphins and lions, we made our way over to the temple of Aphrodite where shockingly, the pillars are original! Aphrodite was the goddess of love.
Next, we went to the Aphrodisias stadium, and Jen spoke on running the race of life, complimenting Wyatt’s earlier devotional. We then split into small groups and ran/walked around the ancient stadium, talking about God’s truth, the race of life, and simply encouraging and praying for each other. This was a really special time for me, and I will remember this moment with these 3 other boys for a long time.
For our midday meal, we went to a fun restaurant nearby with a musician playing the Saz with a dancing parrot! It seems like there will be a lot of driving to our next hotel, which is in Sardis! Signing off for now,
– Luke (Current Student)