My home away from home

Here are just a few pictures of where I've been living for the past three months! Sorry it's taken me so long to put them up!!

Well, this is it. We will be leaving the Artemis for the last time in about 7 hours. Our group will fly to Amsterdam and from there begin our journey! Please pray for the 5 of us (Me, Lacey, Lauren, Ashton, and Dani) as well as the rest of our group as we embark on this next leg of our incredible journey! Because that is what it has been. Nothing short of incredible! I just want to thank each and every one of you for all of your love and support of me throughout the last few months of my life! I can't wait to see you all in 2 weeks! I love you all so much!

Free travel itinerary: Fly from Athens to Amsterdam - Train from Amsterdam to Berlin - Berlin to Munich - Munich to Salzburg - Salzburg to Venice - Venice to Rome - Rome to Bern - Bern to Interlaken - Interlaken to Barcelona - Barcelona to Paris - Fly from Paris to Dublin - Dublin to Cork - Cork to Dublin - Dublin to Amsterdam - Amsterdam to Minneapolis- Minneapolis to ALBUQUERQUE !!!!!! (all in 2 weeks, my friends).














Vicky at her desk!




















The entryway with the phonebooth



















The piano room



















The living room














The pool



















The patio in the backyard!














The basketball court!



















The dining room!














The breakfast/tea/coffee bar!



















My (messy) bedroom! :)



















View from outside my window

Time to say good-byes...

This semester has been one of the best experiences of my life and I have been so blessed to have been able to spend the past 3 months here in the wonderful place. The relationships I have formed and the things that I have seen and learned will be with me for the rest of my life. It feels like just yesterday that was sitting in the Amsterdam airport (all by myself) and I saw all of these people and was absolutely petrified. I didn't really know anyone and was terrified when I saw all of these little groups of friends. Oh, how things change! These people that I was once afraid to speak to have become my closest friends and I am so grateful for everything that they have done for me!
As much as Harding frustrates me sometimes, Ashton nailed it right on the head when she said, "This semester has opened my eyes to the blessings it (Harding) gives. I have friends from all over the U.S. I know that, years from now, if I need a house to stay in for the night or a lunch date in a random state, I have several people that I will be able to call on. It has provided me with other college students who share a love for God and know how to have a blast without throwing their morality out the window. I see some of my public university friends who have changed completely and it makes me thank God for girls who want to make stupid videos at 2 a.m. instead of get drunk, for guys that hold each other accountable instead of partying it up every weekend, and for teachers who genuinely care about your soul and well-being." Well said, Ash. Harding has blessed me with the best friends I could have ever asked for. It has also opened my eyes to a world that I have only ever read about before. I will miss our girls tea-time every Wednesday night. That time became a safe haven for me. It was a place where we could go and just have girl time. We would talk about anything and everything whether happy or sad. DiMy has become like a mom away from mom for all of us girls here and it will be tough to say good-bye to her as well.
I am going to miss the Artemis, Porto Rafti, and Athens but most of all I will miss these 42 other people who have been my world for the past 3 months. Thinking back on my semester it seems almost too good to be true. Its like the past 3 months have been a dream. Please pray for all of us as we make this transition back into the "real world." We send off our first group of free travelers this afternoon and I'm sure it will be a very tearful good-bye. Please pray for all of us as we travel around Europe! I love you!

***I'll post again before we leave on Friday!!

I've finished finals now its time for the CRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the past week has probably been one of the most hectic weeks of my young life. Not really, but when you live in Greece and are more interested in going outside and playing then you are of studying it can make life pretty stressful! Well, we had our last day of classes last Saturday so that meant that this week was... dun dun dun.... FINALS! We had our biggest final yesterday (that pretty much turned my brain into mush) and after taking the afternoon off to re-coup I began to study for my other two finals. Today I had music apprec (which I aced by the way!) and Greek (which pretty much kicked my butt, but technically I could fail it and still keep my A!). It is such a relief to be finished with all of my classes and now I am ready to move on to my next big adventure!
Tonight we had our end of the year banquet. Most of us dressed up in togas (yeah, I know the toga is a Roman thing, oh well! haha) and we pretty much had a party! The dining room was all decorated and we had a special meal prepared by our wonderful chef, Fofi! It was so much fun to just relax and know that we didn't have any studying to do! After dinner we all got superlatives and watched a slide show of pictures from the whole semester. It brought back a lot of memories. Memories from our trip to Egypt and our travels around Greece. All of those seem like a lifetime ago but at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday that I was standing by the pyramids and cruising the Nile! This semester has been more of a blessing to me than I realize right now and I am not ready to leave my home here in Porto Rafti just yet but I know that my time here is coming to an end. The Artemis has been my home for the past three months and I know that I will not only miss this place but I will miss the people more than anything. I will miss being just a few doors down from my sisters (its gonna be weird to go back to being the only girl my age for awhile). I will miss being able to walk through the dining room and always find someone who wants to go outside and hit the volleyball around or who wants to play spades. This semester I have formed some of the best friendships with some of the most awesome people that I have ever met and they have been such a blessing to me. I have loved being just a few minutes walk from the beach (don't get much of that in NM). And I will miss the big bowls of fresh strawberries (yes mom, strawberries!) that Fofi sets out for us everyday. The things that I have been able to see and experience will be with me for the rest of my life and I thank God everyday for allowing me to be here.
Tomorrow morning we leave for our three day cruise of the Greek islands. We will go to Mykonos, Rhodes, and Patmos as well as Ephesus in Turkey! Pray for our safety on this trip and also pray for the next few weeks. We will all be leaving for free travel next week and it is going to be hard to say bye to people as they leave. I don't have our free travel schedule in front of me so I don't remember exactly where we're going but I'll put it up when I get it! Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! I love you!

Lighting of the torch, service day, and last day in Athens (aka- day of spontaneity)

So I know I haven't finished blogging about Jerusalem but I had to turn in my journal so as soon as I get it back I'll finish that trip! Well, the past week has been pretty awesome! Along with finishing up classes and soaking up the most I can of Greece while I still have the chance to do so, last Sunday (3/30) we had the opportunity, after celebrating Dani's birthday, to walk down to the Olympic stadium to watch the Olympic torch be passed over to the Chinese officials. It was really cool to be able to see something like that in person! There was a marching band (brought back some good 'ol HS memories!), the guards made an entrance, there was a choir and some dancers, and then the runner of the torch! It was a lot of fun!
Then last Tuesday (4/1), April fools day started right at midnight for us! We got some pretty good pranks in before dawn and it only got better throughout the day! :) Tuesday was also our day of service. My group got to help DiMy plant flowers and weed the back yard! Yes, I was a gardener for a day! I had mud on my clothes, on my face, and in between my toes! It was so much fun!
Yesterday was our last day in Athens. It was a bittersweet feeling saying goodbye to the metro and the bus stop. As we walked around the Plaka for the last time we all talked about all the memories that had been made walking down its streets and while we passed by places we had gone and things we had seen we turned into a very somber crew... that is until I saw a case of earrings. We were in a little store and I saw a case of earrings/nose rings/other rings for piercing. Well, I decided that I wanted to leave Athens with a bang so I.........


























Pierced my nose! Thats right... I did it! It looks really good too! You can't really tell in the pictures but its a light blue and its so cute! The first picture is me freaking out before he did it and the other one is the finished product! (See mom, I told you it would be small!)

Jerusalem- The Garden Tomb

Thursday, March 20, 2008
This morning we crossed back over the border to Israel. Abner and Ghader were both waiting for us at the bus station when we got back! We then drove from the border straight to Jerusalem. As we began our ascent into the mountains surrounding Jerusalem we started singing. We sang "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross" and "As the Deer" and finally as we were about to make the final stretch into the city we sang "As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem." The feeling I got as we sang those songs while coming into the city was definitely God giving me a little taste of what else he had in store for me. The first thing we did was visit the Garden Tomb. This is the non-traditional site of the place where Jesus was buried. The traditional site is on the Via Dolorosa. While there we there sat as a group and read the different accounts of Jesus' burial and were able to sing and pray together. What really made this place awesome for me was the different people that were around us. While we were singing our songs in English, there was a group that was singing in French, and there was another group singing in their native Nigerian language. It hit me right then and there that it didn't matter if we were at the actual place where He was buried. It only mattered that He was buried and that He rose again and that the tomb, wherever it may be, is empty.

Friday, March 22, 2008
This morning we started our day by visiting the Whol Rose Garden. This garden houses over 127 different types of roses and is surrounded by all of the different Parliament buildings. Because of it's central location people come here a lot to protest. When we were in the garden there was a group of people who had been protesting and camping out in the garden for over a year. They were parents who were unfit to take care of their children so the government took them away. The parents have taken this and decided that the government has taken their children to be used for military services and are now protesting to get them back. After this we went to the Israel Museum. It is the museum that has all of the original copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Outside of the museum there is a model of what the old city of Jerusalem would have looked like with the temple. After this we went to Kerem which is where John the Baptist is believed to have lived.

Jordan, here I come!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
This morning we drove to the border of Israel and Jordan. In order to cross the border we had to unload all of our bags, go through passport control, have our bags searched, get a new guide, bus driver, and bus, and then proceed onto the rest of Jordan. Once across the border we met Gamil, our tour guide. He was definitely no Abner but we'll take what we can get. Our group is the first HUG group ever to get to go to Jordan so it was as much of an adventure to us as it was to Captain and DiMy. The first place we went was Mt. Nebo. This the mountain that Moses went to for God to show him the promised land before he died. Had the day been a little bit clearer we would have been able to see the Dead Sea, Jericho, the Jordan River, and the mountains around Jerusalem. Unfortunately it was incredibly hazy so we couldn't see very far but it was still cool to imagine what Moses would have been able to see before he died. Next we went to St. George Church. This church has a mosaic of the oldest map of the Holy Lands that we have. We drove to Amman and spent the night there and guess what we got...... DR PEPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was diet but really, was I in any position to be picky? :)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Today we got to go to the ancient city of Petra. For those Indiana Jones fans out there, this is where they shot the scene in the Last Crusade where they ride the horses through the cliffs to the big temple that is carved into the rock. The city of Petra is an entire city carved into the rocks. It dates back to the 4th century BC and was the capital of the Navadim Kingdom. It was home to 40,000 people and was 19 square miles. We walked up and looked at all of the facades that are still left in the rock and the temples and tombs that are still there. We were then given free time to walk back down and explore the city. That night we stayed in a hotel close to Petra. Sara, my roommate, and I were sitting in the room watching some TV before dinner when all of the sudden we heard loud explosions coming from outside. We looked at each other for a second and then the panic set in. She and I both hit the floor and debated whether or not to crawl to the window and see what was happening. Well, after a few minutes on the floor we crept over the windowsill and pulled up the curtains. You know what it was? .... FIREWORKS! We thought that we were being bombed but instead it was flippin' fireworks... really people? haha! It made for some fun stories at the dinner table though! We head for Jerusalem tomorrow. We'll be there for the remainder of our trip and I am so excited to see this city!!

Jordan definitely wasn't my favorite part of the trip but it was still really cool to see everything! I am so blessed!

On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand (Israel 1)

We just got back from Israel on Monday night and it was by far the best trip of my life! I learned and experienced so many new things that changed me and helped me grow so much spiritually and emotionally. The things that I saw will definitely be with me for the rest of my life. We had some hard times and things got stressful but we all worked together and pulled together as a group and made it through.

Friday, March 14, 2008
We left this morning for Israel! At the airport we went through some of the toughest security that I've ever had to go through. They took Captain and DiMy and asked them questions about why we were going to Israel and what we were going to be doing there, etc. And then they pulled us each aside one at a time and asked us the same questions and then compared our answers. It was pretty intense! When we got to the airport in Israel we were met by possibly the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. It was hilarious to see all of the girls faces as soon as each of us saw him. When we were told that he was not going to be our tour guide but was instead just a rep from the travel agency, lets just say that we weren't happy! haha! Well, we got on the bus and met our real tour guide, Abner (pronounced Avner) and our bus driver Ghader and then made our way to our first stop. The first place we went was Caesarea Maritima. This is the place where Paul was imprisoned before going to Rome. This is also the place where the stone that has the name "Pontious Pilate" was found. This is the only proof that we have that Pilate was a real person other than his mention in the Bible. This is a seaside town so we were given time at the end to go down to the beach and hang out for a bit before heading to the hotel!

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Today was awesome! We started our day with a nature hike up to the ancient city of Dan. It was absolutely gorgeous! We took time to sit down by the Dan Spring and talk about all of the different times in the Bible that the city of Dan is mentioned and we got time to just soak up everything! When we were sitting by the spring I kept thinking about Psalms 1--

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers."

Sitting by this spring that flows into the Jordan river really helped me to understand some of the imagery in the Psalms. It was so calm and peaceful and beautiful. It was a wonderful way to start the day. After lunch we got to go to the Jordan River (Jordan, I got to see the place you were named for!!!!)!! We stood at its banks and sang and prayed. It was so peaceful and I started trying to imagine all of the different things that had happened there. I looked to a part of the river and imagined the Israelites carrying the Ark of the Covenant across on dry land. I imagined Jesus walking down to the bank and talking to John and then being baptized. I then looked up to the sky and imagined the Heavens opening up and hearing God's voice coming down "This is my son. With him I am well pleased." I know that the water in the river is constantly moving and changing but while standing in it, I couldn't help but be humbled knowing that Jesus had been there.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
This morning a few of us got up early and walked down to the Sea of Galilee (our hotel was right by the beach) to watch the sunrise. It was gorgeous! I am so blessed to be able to see and experience all of these wonderful things. Once again, as I looked out over the water, I tried to picture all of the amazing things that had happened here. I pictured Jesus walking down the beach and calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John. I pictured a storm and boat out on the middle of the water with Jesus on it saying, "Peace. Be still!" and everything becoming as it had been. I pictured Jesus standing on the beach calling out to the disciples to throw their nets on the other side. And I also pictured Jesus stepping out on the water and walking on it and I imagined Peter's courage as he jumped out of the boat to meet him. It was once again incredibly humbling to be sitting in a spot where so many amazing events took place. I will definitely never sing "Theres a Sea of Galilee" or "Peter, James, and John in a sailboat" the same again! :) After breakfast we started our day by going to Nazareth and visiting the traditional place where the people of Nazareth took Jesus to throw him off the cliff. Next we went to the Church of Christ in Nazareth. It was awesome to get to worship with fellow Christians in the place where Jesus spent the majority of his life. While we sang in English they sang the songs in Arabic. It was really cool to hear the blending of these two languages singing for the same reason, to the same God. After spending time with the people for a little while after church and playing with the kids we walked down to the Church of the Annunciation. This is supposedly the place where the angel came to Mary. Outside there was some sort of celebration going on and none of us could figure out what was going on. Then I saw a little boy run past me carrying an olive leaf and it clicked! Palm Sunday! I was in NAZARETH on Palm Sunday!!!! At that point it all became a little too much for me to take in at one time. Everything was finally becoming real in my mind and I had to sit back and take a deep breath and think about what else God had in store for me the rest of the week. The next thing we did was go to the Jesus Boat Museum. This museum houses a boat that was found on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that dates back to the time of Jesus. It gave us a pretty good idea of what the boat that Jesus and the disciples used would have looked like. After this we went to Capernaum. We saw Peter's mother-in-laws house and we read about the story of the centurions servant, and where he healed the little girl and told the family that she wasn't dead she was just asleep. It was really cool to be in yet another place where Jesus performed so many of his miracles. Next we went to the Mount of Beatitudes. We hiked to a spot that could have possibly been similar to the place where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Captain, Griff, and Wil all read the Sermon on the Mount while we sat and took everything in. It was awesome! The next thing we did was take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We sailed to the middle of the sea and sang and read different accounts of the Sea of Galilee. It was awesome!

Monday, March 17, 2008
St. Patricks Day!!!! The first thing that we did was visit Qumran. This is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We only got to see replicas of the scrolls but we'll get to see the real ones at the museum in Jerusalem. The next place we went to was Masada. Before we left for Israel Captain made us all watch the movie of Masada with Peter O'Toole. It was a ridiculous movie but in the end it helped me understand what Masada was all about. If you don't know the story of Masada, look it up. Its depressing but pretty interesting. We ended our day a the Dead Sea! Once getting to our hotel we got our bathing suits on and headed down to the beach. The Dead Sea is the lowest point of the earth and is made up of 33% salt... the ocean is only made up of 3%!!! Because it is so dense all you can do once in the water is float! Captain and DiMy brought us all some Dead Sea mud to put all over ourselves! It made for some pretty funny pictures! :)




I'll write about the Jordan part of our trip and Jerusalem later!!!!! I'll also make a post at the end that is just pictures so you can see everything!!!! Gotta go eat and plan free travel!! I love you all!!

When the lights go out...

So we have been finding out lately that here in Greece people like to go on strike... a lot. We have witnessed post office strikes, trash worker strikes, and the lateset- electric company strikes. Over the past two weeks without warning, we find ourselves in complete and total darkness, or without internet, lights, power points, etc. It hasn't been too bad lately because they've been turning it off during the daytime mostly but last night was a little different. While walking back to the hotel after studying for an upcoming test, my friend Lucas and I found ourselves on a very dark street with absolutely no light ahead. I, of course, freaked out until I realized that the electric companies had just decided to switch off the lights and that nothing was really out to get me. We slowly made it back to the hotel and found everyone in a panic, running around looking for candles, boys hiding behind doors and scaring the poo out of all the girls, you know your typical black-out occurances. Once all the comotion had died down we all gathered in the family room to exchange ghost stories. I am NOT a fan of ghost stories but for the sole reason of not wanting to be by myself in the dark I stayed to listen. After a few stories everyone was starting to freak out (one of the guys decided it would be funny to tell a story that had happened to him here a few weeks ago... not a smart move dude). Needless to say, we tried to get the subject changed and someone suggested that we blow out the candles and sing. We sang a few songs and then someone suggested "Blessed Be Your Name." I don't know if everyone else felt the same way I did but when we sang the line, "When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord!" I felt the presence of the Lord there with us. All of my fears went away and I felt surrounded and protected. The next song we sang was "Light the Fire." This was one of my favorite parts of the evening because when we got to the chorus as soon as we said "Light the fire (light the fire), in my soul" the lights suddenly came back on! It was so cool. God is so Good!

"The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27: 1

The love of my life...

Yes... that is right. Dr. Pepper is the love of my life. As many of you know, it is impossible to get this beloved drink anywhere in Europe. Well, the reason I am writing about this is that Kyle's, one of the boys on our trip, mom came to visit this week and brought him some DP. This morning during music appreciation he had a bottle of it with him. Well, I didn't say anything but apparently the look on my face said it all because he caught my eye and very sweetly said, "Alana, do you want some?" I'm not even kidding, I almost cried. But I just wanted to let y'all in on one of my happier moments during this very stressful time before we leave for Israel.

The past few days we have been getting our orientation on Israel. We leave on Friday morning and will be there through March 24. While on this trip we will be traveling to Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Phillipi, Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, Capernaum, Mt. of Beatitudes, Qumran, Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall, Hezekiah's tunnel, Mt of Olives, Bethesda, and the Via Dolorosa just to name a few. In addition to Israel, we will also be spending two days in the country of Jordan to see Mt Nebo and to spend a whole day in Petra. This has been the trip that I have been looking forward to since I decided to spend my semester here. We will be going places that I have only dreamed about visiting. I will be getting to walk where Jesus Christ walked. I will go where he was baptized, where he healed, performed miracles, preached, and where he eventually died! I can not even imagine what it will be like to stand on Golgatha and know that I was standing where my Savior sacrificed himself for me! I know that this will be an experience that I will never forget and that will change my life forever. I ask that you all pray for myself and my group that we will be safe and that we keep our hearts and minds open to everything that God has in store for us on this incredible journey!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support!

Psalm 125:2

Olympia and Zakynthos

Peloponeese Pictures

The Corinthian Canal




















The Bema-PAUL STOOD HERE!!!!!
Acts 18:12




















Erastus- Acts 19:22

YAY! I made it to the top of the Acrocorinth!
















Just doing a bit of rock climbing :)




















Diving off the walls of the castle!
















Look! We found a slide!




















Blogger is being dumb... I'll put up more later! Love!

The Peloponeese, Zakynthos, and Northern Greece

So I am incredibly sorry about the lack of posting lately! Things around here have been so busy and I have hardly had time to sit down and catch my breath! Over the past two and a half weeks I have been to the Peloponeese (southern Greece), the Island of Zakynthos, and the northern part of Greece. I'm gonna try to go day by day and fill you in on all of my exciting adventures!!!!! :) I'll put pictures up too so you can kind of get a feel for all the stuff I've been seeing!!!!

The Peloponeese

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

This morning we left for the Peloponeese. We had to be up and ready to go by 7 which meant waking up even earlier than that.... for those of you who know me well, this obviously wasn't fun. Well, as a kind of guilt offering the Myhans woke us up with the familiar smell of coffee and doughnuts... Duncan Doughnuts to be exact. So all in all it was almost worth it getting up that early. After picking up Katerina, our tour guide, we began our journey South. Our first stop was the Corinthian Canal. On the east side is hte Aegean Sea and on the west is the Ionian sea. The water was a perfect blue that made me feel a little better when I found out that it was a 250 ft drop down. My friend Sara is going bungee jumping there in April and she is trying her best to convince me to go too... Mom what do you think? :) After the canal we made our way to the ancient city of Corinth. Even though I had already been here once before it was still the part of our trip that I was looking forward too the most. This is one of the places that they know without a shadow of a doubt that Paul was. They even have one specific spot where he would have been. The Bema is where Paul would have stood when he was tried by Galleo in Acts 18:12-17. In never ceases to amaze me when I get to stand in places like these and know that I am where such amazing people of faith have been. We stood as a group and sang and prayed. It was really moving. Next we climbed the Acrocorinth. Like the Acropolis in Athens, the Acrocorinth was the highest point in ancient Corinth. We also saw the stones that prove the existence of Sosthenes (Acts 18:17) and Erastus (Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, and II Timothy 4:20). I am so blessed!!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Today was awesome!! We went to the picturesque village of Nafplio. This was the city that was the original capital of Greece before it was moved to Athens. We got to be explorers today as well! Over looking this little town was an awesome Venitian castle. After getting some information about the castle we were set free to explore the castle-- its dungeons, its views, and its deadly drop-offs (my personal fave!). We climbed all the way to the top and saw one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. The bluest water I've ever seen, the town in the middle of the valley, and snow capped mountains in the distance. God is so incredible! So now I've found my castle, where's my prince????

Friday, February 22, 2008

Today we went to Olympia. We walked around this ancient city and saw the workshop of Phidias, the man who created the statue of Zeus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). It would have been so cool to see this statue but unfortunately no one knows what happened to it. We did get to see a model of what it would have looked like and it was incredible! The ruins of the temple of Zeus were awesome as well. After a while all the ruins start looking the same but looking at the fallen pillars of this temple was really impressive. We also got to see the oldest preserved temple- Hera's temple. We also saw her alter where the Olympic torch is lit every 4 years. My favorite part of this day was getting to see the original stadium of Olympia! We took turns running the length of the field that held the very first Olympic games!!!

Apart from getting to see all of these wonderful places this trip was blessing because of the relationships I've formed. Our group of girls has started meeting every Wednesday night to have a devo/talk time/girl time with each other. We had one on Wednesday night and it, of course, turned into an emotional sharing time. We went around in random order and had to talk about who we are. Our fears, our passions, anything that was on our hearts at the time. I feel so close to this girls now and thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. I got to know so much about these girls and realized that we are not alone in our feelings of insecurity and lonliness and. I am so blessed not only to have a wonderful group of Godly girls to laugh with but also to cry with. I have had so many conversations about faith instead of the latest gossip and have shared books that have lifted up and inspired. I love these girls!

Zakynthos

Since this year was a Leap Year, we got that Friday off. Since we got that day off we were allowed to have a three day weekend to have a sort of mini free travel. Myself along with 6 others decided to visit Zakynthos, an island in the Ionian Sea. We took a bus to the port and then took a ferry to the island. Friday afternoon we just spent walking around the little town and exploring its shops. Saturday we headed for the beach. It wasn't really as warm as we were expecting it to be but it was enough for a bathing suit and skirt most of the time. Since it is the off season for tourism we basically had the beach to ourselves other than the occasional jogger and fisherman. The boys decided to climb the mountain that was right off the beach while the girls chilled on the sand. Lacey and I, however, decided that it was not a day for laying out but for exploring this new and exciting place! We felt like kids again, exploring the beach, finding cool shells and rocks in the water, finding coves, rock climbing (in a skirt and bare feet--impressed?) and playing the the crystal clear water. It was one of those moments that could not have been ruined. Lacey is one of my closest friends here this semester and it was so much fun spending this time with her. After the beach we got all dressed up and went and ate and then spent the rest of the evening watching movies and just having a relaxing weekend. We headed home on Sunday morning and got there in just enough time to pack and get ready for our trip to Northern Greece the next day!

Northern Greece

Northern Greece definitly wore me out. We went to Delphi (center of the ancient world), Kalambaka, Philippi (saw the jail where Paul and Silas would have been), Neapolis, Pella and everything inbetween!! It was a fun trip but definitly not my favorite. I'm not sure why but we didn't seem to do much. It felt like we were on the bus for more of the time then we were off of it. Our tour guide was a little nutty, and Captain and DiMy weren't there. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad that I went and was able to see all of these wonderful places and I will definitly never forget it! I'm sorry this is such a short description but give me some time to rest up from it and I'll fill you in on all the details!!!

I'm so sorry that I have been absolutely horrible at posting lately!! I WILL get better! I promise!! We leave for Israel next Friday and as far as we know we are still going to be able to go and will not be close to any of the recent happenings. Pray for our group as we travel and pray for the people that we will meeting and interacting with during our time in Israel. I love you all so much!

"Be joyful ALWAYS; pray CONTINUALLY; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is GOD'S WILL for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Oh,the weather outside is frightful...

...but the fire is so delightful!"

I never realized how true that statement was until yesterday. It started snowing here in Porto Rafti and kept up until after dark sometime last night. We didn't go into Athens because the metro and the buses weren't running because the roads were so bad so we stayed in Porto Rafti and had church here. After church we busted out the leftovers and for the rest of the afternoon just lounged around in our p.j.'s playing spades (my new favorite game), rummy, mafia, etc. It was awesome to just hang out. Also, we were supposed to leave for the Peloponesse (Corinth and Olympia) this morning but because of the road situation our trip has been postponed until Wednesday.

I absolutely love it here and and so blessed to be here! Thank you all so much for your love and support of me and everything that I set out to do! I love you all so very much! :)

***UPDATE***

The challenge has been postponed for a week from Monday. We sat down and talked it through and we're running low on fruit and since its the weekend we won't get anymore until next week and we're leaving on another trip on Monday and it would be too hard to have that much control over what we eat. So we will be resuming the challenge for the next full week. I'll keep you posted! :)

Oh, and for everyone out there, we did not feel the earthquake. It didn't make it far enough out to Porto Rafti and we didn't go into Athens until later in the afternoon. We didn't even know anything had happened until parents started calling.

Love you all!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines day everyone! Like every year, I was not looking forward to this day. We have a few couples on this trip, some that were already formed but some that are the end result of living in such a small space. I could just imagine what it was going to be like watching them all day. Well, this year proved to be much different than I had expected. Why was this day so special?? Well, I'll tell you. The boys here got together with our faculty advisor Dr. Griffith and sang a little song for the girls. They sang (in perfect harmony) "Let me call you sweetheart" and finished down on one knee with a rose in thier hands for each of the girls! It was so precious and definitly made my day.The girls the night before had gotten together and made valentines to stick on all of the boys doors. I'm talking like 2nd grade construction paper hearts and rhyming poems. It was great! And some of the girls that didn't have early classes woke up and made a cake for all of us to have at lunch! Put all of that together and it makes for a pretty awesome day!

Well, the past week has been crammed full of tests and classes and quizzes among other things (sleep, breathing, and finding time to just sit down). I did however manage to find time to read one of my new favorite books. "Redeeming Love" is a story inspired by the book of Hosea and is one of the best books I have read in a long time. If you haven't read it yet and christian romance stories appeal to you then read this book. I know I sound like a commercial but whatever! Haha!

Last night on our way back to Porto Rafti some friends and I decided to take a challenge. For the next week, starting this morning, we aren't going to eat anything but fruits and veggies and drink nothing but water for a whole week. This afternoon at lunch we all sat together to be strong for one another during this very difficult time! Haha! I'll let you know how successful we are!

Well, I've got another test tonight (surprise, surprise) so I must go and study for it but I love you all and will write later!

More pictures!!

Sunrise on the Nile

Man making Alabaster

Our motorboat

Temple of Karnak

Avenue of Rams at Karnak (Jesus would have been here!!)

The boys stretching around one of the HUGE columns... it wasn't as hard as Lucas is making it though! haha

Temple of Luxor

Place in the Temple of Luxor where Moses would have sat!

So I finished posting about the rest of the egypt trip but for some reason it posted underneath the "pictures" post so don't forget to go read it!!! :) Love you all!

Pictures

View from the top deck of the boat as we passed another boat

Me riding the camel! His name was Francisco

Lacey and me on our camels

Holding the crocodile!

Sunset from our little motor boat

View from our window on the cruise!

I'm finished!!! Finally :)

Sunday, February 3
This morning we woke up at 5:30 and were leaving the boat by 6 to head to the Temple of Edfu. It is the temple that is dedicated to the falcon god, Horus. We were supposed to take horse drawn carriages to the temple but Sam (my roommate) and I didn't get our wake up call so we kinda made everyone a little late... OOPS! :) Well, we took a bus to get there instead and it all worked out! haha Osman said we'll ride carriages in Alexandria so we won't be missing out! :) This temple tells the story of the beginning of good and evil in Egyptian mythology. It was really cool to see all of the pictures and heiroglyphics that tell all of these ancient stories! When we got back to the boat around 9 we had one of the most moving church services that I have ever had the privilage of being a part of. We have some of the most talented guys on this trip. They are so on fire for God and I am very blessed to be able to spend time around such awesome godly men. Our service was going to be centered around communion and we were going to be talking about the original Passover (because we were in the place where it all started!). The boys that lead singing lead songs like "How deep the fathers love for us" and "Do not fear"... ones that normally I have a difficult time making it through. Well, this morning Captain reminded us just where we were and what we were being able to experience. He told us to go and look out the window at the Nile and imagine it being completely full of blood. Until that moment I hadn't really thought about it like that. I hadn't fully grasped the fact that I was walking where Moses had walked. I was getting to follow the footsteps of one Gods most faithful servants. He had his doubts and he stumbled but that is what makes him such a hero and getting to see where he went and the influence that he made on the culture was really awesome! One of the boys led a prayer after the singing and he just started to cry. Everything had finally hit him too and when that was coupled with reading about Jesus' sacrifice it was just so powerful and emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the place but it was such an awesome experience! I won't ever take communion the same way again. After church we had a free day for the rest of the afternoon so all the girls put on our bathing suits and went to lay outside on the top deck. (Tanning in February?? Yep we did!! haha). It was really fun to just lay around and read, do mad libs, and play cards. Before dinner Osman gave us a class over heiroglyphics. It was really cool to be able to read such an ancient language and learn how to write it (well, our names at least! haha). Dinner tonight was Egyptian night!! It was so much fun! We all dressed up in the outfits that we had bought at the bazaar and did really exaggerated eye make-up and tried to look as authentic as possible. After dinner we went back up to the lounge to dance the night away! This time there was a group of Islamic teenage girls who joined us! The taught us some of their dances and we got to teach them the macarana and the YMCA!! It was so much fun!

Monday, February 4
Today we docked in Luxor and got off the boat for the last time. We went first to the Valley of the Kings which is where the kings that reigned during the New Kingdom were buried. They were all buried in different caves on the side of a mountain. We went and saw the tomb of Tutmosis III (Pharoah of the earlier Exodus date) and then we got to see King Tut's tomb!! It was really cool to get to see the famous tomb of King Tut!! Inside they had his mummy and his sarcophogus. After the Valley of the Kings we went to the Temple of Karnak. This temple was more like a small city instead of a temple. It was HUGE! Inside the part of the temple that was reserved for the priests there are 134 columns! This was also a place where Jesus would have come when he lived in Egypt. On our way out of the temple we saw a huge statue of a scarab and tradition is that if you walk around the scarab 3 times you'll be rich, 5 times you'll get married, and 7 times you'll get pregnant. So of course, being Harding students, we had to walk around 5 times. No more than that though! No way was I walking over 5! But it did get a laugh that all the girls walked around 5 times... the boys were all a little jumpy after that! :) That evening we went to the temple of Luxor which was, next to church, was my favorite things! When it says in Acts 7:22 "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action" it is talking about the temple of Luxor. Since Moses grew up as an Egyptian prince he would have been educated in the place where the royal family of that time was educated which was Luxor, no matter which date of the Exodus you take. This would have been the exact place that Moses would have been and knowing what we know about where boys would have sat and where girls would have sat during this time we can make a fairly accurate guess as to where in the temple he would have been too!! SO COOL!! We went and sat down on the left side of the temple and sang. The only reason Osman had us stop was because we would have missed our train. It was definitly another one of those 'wow' moments where all you can do is sit back and take it all in. Experiences like these are so humbling and really put things in perspective for me. I am so blessed to be here. Tomorrow is our last day with Osman. I really don't like to think about leaving him. This trip is really teaching me how to put my faith into action and being able to be a witness to Osman is just one of the many ways that I am being shaped and molded into a stronger Christian.

Tuesday, February 5

This morning we got woken up at 4:30 to be ready for the train to stop at 5. We got off the train at 5 and got on the bus which took us to Osman's house. His wife had stayed up half the night making food for us so we could have breakfast at their house. We stayed there for like an hour and sang some more before getting back on the bus to begin our 3 hour drive to Alexandria. Also this morning I woke up with a feeling like someone had filled my lungs with lead so that they wouldn't work anymore. My head was congested, my chest was congested, and my throat hurt and I had to sit on a bus for 6 hours there and back.... I was not a happy camper. I soon figured out though that I was not the only one who had these symptoms. There were about 10 of us in all that were beginning to get sick. Since I was so sick though I didn't get out of Alexandria what I would have liked to so I don't really rememeber much of what went on and what we saw. When we first got there we went and saw the largest catacombs in the world. After the catacombs we went and saw Pompeii's pillar. After that we went to lunch at McDonalds (we begged for mcdonalds because no one wanted to eat anymore bread or rice or pasta). After that we went to the Palace of the last royal family in Egypt. It sits right on the Mediterranean and is absolutely gorgeous! After that we went to the place where the Lighthouse at Alexandria would have stood. From there we took, according to Osman, a "horse dragged carriage" (a horse drawn carriage) down the street. Like I said before, the first rule of driving in Egypt is there are no rules. When our carriage pulled out into the street we merged, yes... we MERGED into oncoming traffic in a flippin horse carriage!! It was fun though! Our driver thought we were a little crazy because we screamed a lot! Osman left us when we got back to Cairo that night. There was not a dry eye there. He gave us all hugs and kisses on the head and told us how much he loved us and then he drove away. He has been such a wonderful influence on my life and I pray that I had the same effect on him.

Well, y'all I'm finally finished!!! I know that I wasn't able to convey to you all everything that I was able to experience but I hope that I did a good job of trying!!! I love you all!!!

Temple of Edfu

The girls on Egyptian night

TNT and Zeta Rho on Egyptian night (mom, you'll appreciate this one!)

Me and Osman!!!!!