Church of St. John, Ephesus, and Miletus Sept 20th

Church of St. John was first on the list along with the view of the Temple of Artimus. Once again a lot of really cool old buildings, columns, and in this church a baptismal font. The baptismal font was not used for immersive baptisms though, but was neat nonetheless. We then went to Ephesus, it was packed with people, hot, and glorious. There were so many ruins left of that city it blew my mind. The highlight was sitting in the theature and reading our of the book of Acts where the people of Ephesus gathered in the same theatre we were in and screamed for hours "great is Diana of Ephesus". It was a neat experience and we had a nice devotional there. We sang a hymn that no one knew so it sounded horrible, which was embarrassing because we were sorrounded by tourists, so after the class picture I demanded another, which we did. We then went to the church of Mary and got a tour from Brother Jackson. We had to wait a little on the bus because we had lost a student, she was found. Lunch was at this little quaint restaurant that was run by a family in the countryside, they loved us. Probably the coolest lunch yet because of the mom & pop atmosphere, you can taste the love. We then went to Miletus, which was again...amazing. There was a huge ampitheatre and ruins of the city. We had a devotional here about Paul's farewell that took place here among his converts, it was touching. We ended it by singing 'God be with you till we meet again' which added so much more emotion and spirit to the scriptural account we just read. After Miletus we drove back to the Hotel and played around in the pools there. Jed, Jordan, Tommy, Lorina, and I coreographed some synchronized swimming, it was good fun. Then we went down to the ocean and had a beautiful sunset swim in the Aegean Sea. It was one of those moments when you are overwhelmed with beauty and joy. We continued to hang out and enjoy our time there in the Hotel.