EGYPT, DAY 6 / 7
			Sunday, February 23, 2003
			Today we woke up at 6:30 and after breakfast we headed to Sakkara, a 45 minute drive from our hotel.  Sakkara is the site of Djoser's Step Pyramid.  Djoser's was the first pyramid, dating around 3,000 BC.  His pyramid is made up of 6 stacked "mastabas"--box shaped sections of stone--which get smaller at the top.  At the time, the people would bury their dead under mud/brick beds, so the Pharoah thought that his should naturally be much larger than everyone else's, thus the massive mastabas.  The area is filled with other pyramids, much smaller than the massive ones we visited in Giza, since they were mostly built later on when the Pharoahs were seen less and less as gods.  The last pyramid ever constructed is also at the site, next to Djoser's, however it is just a heap of rubble now.  101 pyramids have been found thus far, and both number 1 and number 101 are within 100 yards of eachother.  Sakkara also boasts the world's oldest stone structures and the world's oldest vaulted ceilings along with its pyramids.      After Sakkara, we drove to a rug shop/school.  It is family owned and operated and produces the finest hand made silk rugs in the world.  The showroom upstairs, which displays hundreds of the beautiful rugs, is also the largest of its kind.  When we first walked in, we saw some of the children working away at the rugs.  The kids, mainly 8 year olds, get time off from school every day to learn the trade.  I have never seen anything like it-- the girls were absolutely flying, tying little knots in order to create an ancient Egyptian design on the large rug.  We were told that there are 625 knots per square inch of rug, and close to a million per square yard!  This explains why some of the rugs we saw took a year and a half to make.  The rugs, world reknowned for their quality and craftsmanship, have a different shine from different angles, because of the way the light hits them, and are beyond description.  Some cost as much as $40,000 US Dollars, and one guy tried to sell Daniel and me one for $2,000 (like we actually carry around two grand in our pockets!).      From the rug shop, we traveled back to the area known as "Coptic Cairo", which is the Christian section of town.  This is supposedly the area where Christ lived as an infant while his parents fled to Egypt from Bethlehem.  There, above the traditonal house of Jesus is the oldest synagogue in all of Africa.  After a brief stay in this section of the town, we visited a Muslim mosque, the second largest in the world, and learned a little about the history of the Muslims under Mohammed Ali in Egypt.  The architecture was incredible, but the trip didn't really impact me all that much.  This was our last stop for the day, so we headed back to our hotel, had dinner, and then had a worship service in the Edwards' bungalow.  The singing and devotional were great, and Dr. Edwards made a wonderful point during the Lord's supper.  He talked about how the Egyptians in ancient times put their faith in men, and built large monuments, temples and tombs for them which were supposed to last forever and lead them into eternal life.  Now, nothing is left of the Pharoahs' legacies and supposed gods but rubble and empty tombs thanks to grave robbers and thieves.  Our Lord's tomb is also empty--but not for the same reason.  Christ rose again and we have the true promise of eternal life with Him because of it, and that is a very encouraging though.  Anyway, we sang a lot of beautiful songs in the tiny upper room in a country that does not accept our savior.  It reminded me very much of the early Christians mentioned in the New Testament.  Anyway, after the devo, we went back to our bungalows and played cards outside and enjoyed our last night in Egypt...
		Monday, February 24, 2003
		Today, our last day in Egypt, we set foot on three different continents...       We started our day early and cleaned out all of our things before heading to breakfast in the hotel.  Then we loaded our bags onto the buses and made a two hour drive North and East to the land of Goshen, in the Nile Delta region.  We stopped in Succoth, which is not much today, but is mentioned in Exodus 12:37 as the place where the Israelites gathered their things before their departure from Egypt.  There, in the smelly and dirty area, remains still exist of the brick houses of the Israelites (the brick does not hav any straw in it...)  and Semitic pottery is scattered all over the ground in millions of fragments.  Many of us grabbed a couple of pieces as souvenirs.  Anyway, there wasn't much to see at Succoth, but it was still very neat to be able to make the connection with the land mentioned in the Old Testament.      From Succoth, we traveled a short distance to the Suez Canal, which separates the main portion of Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.  Interestingly, Egypt is on both sides, as the country is actually a part of two continents.  When we crossed over the canal via ferry, we set foot on the continent of Asia, but only stayed long enough to be able to make such a claim.  When we crossed back over after 10 minutes in Asia, we drove again to the place called "Marah", which is where the Lord made the bitter water sweet for the Israelites in Exodus 15:23-25.  This concluded our visit to the land of Goshen.  So, we drove back to Cairo, all the while considering the fact that we would be leaving shortly as we remembered the week.  We stopped for a delicious lunch on the Nile before heading to the airport for our flight back to Athens, Greece.  Africa, Asia and Europe--3 continents in one day.