Day 06 - Didyma, Miletus

Merhaba! (Hello in Turkish!)

This morning, we started off by taking a boat tour on the Aegean Sea. It was a beautiful morning with cool crisp air with serene waters.

From there we made our way to Didyma where we explored the temple of Apollo. The temple of Apollo is the second largest in all of Asia Minor second to the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Didyma (which means twins) was built in the 2nd and 1st century B.C. and has 122 columns. Apollo is known as the god of prophecy and inspiration. Didyma gives us context and culture during biblical times contrasting Apollo and the one true God Yahweh. We continued to explore the temple and learned that it was built around a water system which they believed would tell of the future.

Before leaving, pastor Chad left us with a couple of questions to ponder: Does God answer every prayer? And how do we hear from God?

Finally, we ended our tour of turkey with a stop in Miletus. Miletus was a wealthy city which contained 4 ports, was rich in education and architecture, and had a theatre built in 100 a.d. We learned that Miletus had a large Jewish community. Miletus was a part of Paul’s third missionary journey in which he encouraged, blessed, and said goodbye to the elders in Ephesus.

Before leaving, we sang as a group "Amazing Grace" and "How Great is our God". Then we gathered in groups of 3 and prayed for our tour guide Ozan and our two bus drivers Hasan and Abo.

From here we are headed to Athens, Greece where we will be concluding our study tour. We look forward to sharing our wonderful experiences with all of you! Everyone participating on this study tour sends their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!