So we get to Egypt and it's 114 degrees. It was HOT. But so awesome!
One of the first things we did was see the pyramids! They are impressive. They are constructed of massive stone blocks and it is estimated that if the slaves worked 12 hours a day for the 26 years they would have had to place a block about once every two minutes. That in intense heat would have been such hard work. I definitely gained an appreciation for what the Israelites (our ancestors) went through while in bondage.
Also in Cairo we went to the Cairo museum. It was incredible to see the mummies that have been preserved for thousands of years. They even mummified their pets!
Then we went to Luxor and visited some ancient Egyptian temples. Those were just as impressive, if not more, than the pyramids. They were huge temples built in order to worship. I cannot even express the grandeur of these temples. They are incredibly huge, old, and detailed! The Karnak temple is probably what Moses grew up with (or he grew up frequenting another similar temple). In the day pharaohs were treated like gods. This just gives more meaning to when Moses sees the glory of God and then says "Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed"(Moses 1: 10). Men can create incredible things but they are nothing compared to God's glory and what He is able to do with us.
It was also cool to familiarize myself with Egypt in order to picture better what that must have been like for the Israelites to have to leave. Everything neighboring the Nile is super green and lush but after you get out a couple of miles it is just desert wasteland. I can understand better why the Israelites would have been scared to leave and why they complained so much. It would have been terrifying to leave your nice green fertile land and venture out into what appears to be nothing. I think sometimes we aren't in the best place, but we are comfortable. And then the Lord tells us to leave what we are familiar with and we get scared. Our ancestors did it though and so can we!
Seriously, there's nothing out there.
Another favorite was visiting my first Mosque! They are beautiful buildings. It sure has been an enriching experience to understand Islam's history better and interesting to learn what practices are part of their religion and what is part of the culture Islam emerged from.
We also visited the temple dedicated to Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh. Girl power.
We also got around by Nile.
And by camel.
And we found a cool cave that inspired this cool pic.
Also- random fun thing. We took a carriage ride and our driver was CRAZY. We were getting passed by all our classmates so I said we should go faster. And he took it to heart! Our horse, Sofia started going crazy fast. And our driver just kept turning around and saying to us "So fun!" and laughing maniacally. It was kinda creepy actually, but mostly really fun. Anyway, the horse started going so fast that is had a little accident. For one hopeful moment I thought that the horse had trampled a dirt clod and kicked it up into all our faces. That was not the case. It was poop. The horse pooped while running super hard and little flecks of it came straight at us. Nothing stuck, but I definitely washed by face after that. Moral of the story: carriage rides are fun but don't try and race.
All in all, it was an incredible trip! I feel so grateful for the opportunity to visit and feel appreciation for the Exodus and all the incredible events that took place in Egypt! For now, I'll be in Jerusalem, studying for midterms and seeing cool stuff around here. We do study, although I realize that seems hard to believe. Here's a pic to prove it. Love you guys! Until next time.
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