TURKEY--Saturday 9/22

Nicea (now underwater) is where the First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church was held as a result of many disputations concerning the nature of the Godhead. Here it was determined (as stated in the Nicean Creed) that Christ and the Father are of “one substance,” basically meaning the same being. From this stems the idea that Mormons are not Christians—we don’t accept that doctrine. I learned that the Nicean Creed was not the cause of apostasy but rather the result of it. It’s so interesting for me to learn about this stuff because it doesn’t shake my testimony at all—to me it’s just fun to learn the history and accept it for how it happened, but I know that God and His Son are two separate, distinct beings. We can’t understand our own nature without understanding the nature of God, and I know that they have bodies of flesh and bone and that we were created in their image.

We had another ferry ride to the Asian side of Istanbul and I got to brush up on my sign language skills (or lack thereof) with my friend Rachel Pullan. I’ve decided that I want to take a sign language class at BYU during winter semester so I can be fluent!

Hagia Sophia—the moment I’d been waiting for all week! I remember learning about it in AP European History in high school and I can’t believe that I actually got to go inside it. This thing is MASSIVE. It was first a church, then a mosque, and now it’s a museum. The pictures hardly capture the grandeur of it. The highlight of being in there though was sharing my headset with Quin Stevenson—we were all listening to our tour guide Ugur but when the other class came in he quickly took our the ear bud and ran over the listen to their tour guide. He referred to her as his “Turkish delight.” It made me laugh so hard! I’m sad to say that I never tried Turkish delight while I was in Turkey…I did try it when I got back to Israel and decided that I didn’t miss out on too much.

We had a red-eye flight out of Istanbul and it was rough, especially for someone like me who gets sick on planes and cranky when she’s tired. But eventually we made it back to our home on Mt. Scopus! It felt so good to sleep in my own bed (that’s actually not my own bed but feels like it by now…). Turkey is amazing! I never thought in my lifetime that I’d go there but I’m so grateful that I had the chance to go! I learned so much about the New Testament. A few things that I’ll never forget are:

-the squatter toilets (I actually didn’t mind them that much…)

-our tour guide Ugur (who said we were his favorite group ever!)

-long bus rides

-heart to hearts with fellow classmates

-taking pictures at the ancient sites

-Brother Schade’s awesome devotionals and one-liners

-trying new food

-people on my bus getting the “Turkey Trots”

-being pampered at Ephesus Princess

-watching the sunset on the Aegean Sea

-learning more about Muslims and respecting their unique practices

-never getting enough sleep

-our last dinner: a whole fish. I actually ate it!

-dance parties to Turkish music on the bus as it was cruising along

-singing along to the Hercules soundtrack after visiting Assos

-Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial

-finding a dead lizard in my room upon return to the JC at 4 am....rest his soul

and so many other things! One last thing that was a recurring theme this week: “The wonders of the world eventually fall, but His word will not. It passes the test of time.” I love Turkey and it’s people and I’m so grateful for the chance I had to live there for a week and learn so many amazing lessons.