Again I say,
priceless.
Mmmm....
The graduation cap is a symbol of the importance of education in my home. Both of my parents always said that one of their greatest regrets was that they never went beyond a high school diploma in their education. As we grew up, they taught us how crucial a college education was and showed us the possibilities it would open up for us in our futures. It was always assumed that each of us would graduate from college. The first four have completed that task and I am the last, bringing up the rear. My education is very important to me, especially as it means so much more than classroom knowledge. I have been able to learn life lessons through my college experiences and hope to continue to do so until graduation day in April 2011 when I'll leave the world of the student to enter the world of the teacher.
The pyramids are a symbol of adventure. I've always felt that life is meant to be lived fully. We should take advantage of every chance we get to experience things we never have before, even if it requires a little bit of work. In my opinion, adventures are waiting around every corner. It's only when we get stuck in the mundane routine of every day life that we miss them. I've been stuck in the mundane before, until I realized that life gets so much more exciting with each new experience I had. It's a gift and I have to remind myself often to treat it that way.
Drawing water from a well
Leading our beloved sheep (Stef, Anne, and Me)
Playing with Fig Trees
Cool Fact of the Day!! When we were drawing water from the well our guide talked to us about the story of Rebekah and I gained some awesome insight into how amazing of a woman she actually was. Quick recap: When Abraham's servant goes to Haran to find a wife for Isaac, he comes to the well after traveling a very long way. He's incredibly thirsty as well as his 10 camels (who haven't drinken for weeks probably). He decides he'll be able to find a wife for Isaac by testing the next woman that comes to get water from the well. Rebekah comes to the well, and the servant asks if she can get him some water. She doesn't even hesitate to jump to his service, but what's more, she offers to give water to each of his camels. Now, I personally always thought that was cool of her, but never really thought about it much more than that. Turns out that one dip of the bucket down the well brings up about 5 quarts. Well, each of the camels, after such a long journey, would have drinken about 150 quarts. The servant had 10 camels. If you do the math, that means that Rebekah voluntarily retrieved water from the well about 300 times for Abraham's servant. 300 TIMES!! And that thing is not light, I'll tell you that much. She probably would have spent a good couple of hours getting water for this man and his camels, and there's no way that's an easy task. It had to have exhausted her physically. But she did it willingly! For a complete stranger! Seriously, what a woman. How often do we take the time to do stuff like that for someone else? Let alone for a complete stranger? I was blown away by the whole thing. Isaac got himself a gem.
The day was awesome! And now, for your viewing pleasure (congratulations on reaching the end of this rather long post):
The stache (sp?) I saw today in the Old City. You can't see its full glory very well in this picture, but MAN! It was incredible. It reminded me of you, Dad!
Well, that's it for now! We're leaving in just a few short hours for Galilee! It's gonna be so great, I'm so excited. The majority of Christ's ministry was spent in Galilee so we'll be seeing most of the locations of events in the New Testament. How could that not be exciting?! We'll be in there for about a week and a half, but I'm taking my computer so we'll see if I can update you while we're there. No promises though...Lata!
We're done!!! Those big fat smiles are genuine.
At the church, we learned something really cool. You know that verse in the New Testament when Christ says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"? (Matt. 19:24). I always thought that referred to an actual eye of a needle. Apparently, it refers to a type of door made in Jesus' time. It was a short, half-sized door big enough for people to get through but small enough that it would be easy enough to block up in case of an attack. I guess people would bring their camels through that door, but the camel would have to kneel down and scoot through as its owner coaxed it all the way through. So the Savior wasn't saying it's impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. He was saying that it is much more difficult and requires extra effort. Cool, yeah? I thought so too.
Us going through the door of the eye of the needle
At the end of the trip, we went out to Shepherds' Fields. There, in the vicinity of where it is believed that the angel came to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus Christ, we talked about the birth of the Savior and the people that each played a significant part in it. It was dark by this point, and a little cold. Brother Wilson pointed out that we're only about 2 weeks away from the actual time of year that the Savior was born, so this is probably what the weather was really like. It was quite the experience to sit there and imagine what had happened in that field or closeby, and the feelings that must have been felt there. It was the perfect way to end the day. The only problem is now I'm in the Christmas mood! Only....9 more months!
It really was such a neat experience and I'm so grateful for it. Egypt altogether was a phenomenal adventure, and I loved the whole thing! And I especially love that I've finished the blogging of it, so sorry it took so long. I'm sure I'll have so much more to tell you and show you when I get home, so be prepared!
This was taken a few days earlier, when we were at the Valley of the Kings (burial place of the ancient Egyptian kings). Me and Richelle outside the actual tomb of "King Tut"
2. The mummy room. Wow. Have you ever seen a real mummy? If not, I suggest you find a way to do it. It is a crazy experience! We had to pay extra to enter this special room in the museum, but it was well worth it. This room contained the mummified bodies of at least a dozen ancient rulers, one of which was Rameses II who is believed to be the Pharaoh during the exodus when Moses delivered the Hebrews from captivity in Egypt. I looked at the body of the man who very likely spoke face to face with Moses. So crazy. Their heads and upper bodies were all unwrapped for us to see, and was it ever a sight to see! I can't believe that after 4,000 years, those bodies are still here, and still look like that! Some of them even still had hair! Sorry I don't have any pictures. Cameras weren't allowed in the museum, for obvious reasons. But man, it was amazing.
For lunch, we went to Hard Rock Cafe, Cairo edition! The best thing about Hard Rock is that this was honestly the sign on the bathroom door:
After lunch, we went to the Muhammad Ali Mosque, which was beautiful (as shown below). It's a mosque Muhammad built himself to house his tomb.
Sorry there aren't a whole lot of pictures from this day. I wasn't "all there" health-wise so I wasn't really into doing the picture thing that day. I was a little out-of-it. In fact, after getting back from the mosque, I went straight to bed and slept 13 hours!! Kind of a boring night, but it paid off big time. I was ready for Day 7!
After the terror was over. I had regained my composure and we smiled with our kind dare-devil friend.
We finally made it alive to the Karnak Temple. And it was well worth it! This is one of those places that you hear about and never think you’ll actually get to. It was another feast for the eyes. In the center of the temple is a huge hall filled with 134 enormous columns, covered in writings and hieroglyphics. Our tour guide was telling us how they were able to chisel the hieroglyphics into the stone when it seems impossible because they go so high. Apparently, Egypt has an abundance of sand (who knew?), so they filled the ENTIRE hall with sand, almost up to the very top, and the workers would chisel away that top part of the columns until they ran out of room. Then they would drain some of the sand, just enough to give them more chiseling space, and they’d go at it again until they ran out of room. And so it continued until they’d carved the entire height of the 134 pillars. And let me tell you, they are a sight to behold! After Karnak, we went straight to the Luxor Temple, which was also beautiful in its own way. The whole day we were full of awe.
The beautiful pillars at Karnak
Just another gorgeous shot, compliments of Richelle. 
Well, the beauty of the Sunset was phenomenol, but we still had more to our day. The time came to leave Luxor and head back to Cairo where we still had more to see. It was a sad day. I LOVED Luxor. One day, I'll come back again...
So that night, we took an all night train to get back to Cairo. Remember the before-mentioned meal of bread, bread, bread, and one more piece of bread? Yeah, that was on this train. It probably wasn't the cleanest place I'd ever been, but I think Romanian trains prepped me, so it wasn't too bad. I got to share a room with Eliza, my roommate on the Egypt trip. I feel it's necessary to do a shout-out to that girl. She really made the tripsuch a blast. I loved sharing a room with her, even if it was just for a week. Especially in those moments when we busted out her ipod and sang every song we came across at the top of our lungs. Ah....good stuff.
Here we go!!
My little Mohammad, Bob Marley, and Me!
