Valley of the Kings

Funerary Temple of Ramses III

In the Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings

Yes, the fanny pack is cool. So is the valleyof the Kings. I already want to go back and visit it again. We rode these little cart things up the valley and then unloaded to file through several of the tombs found in the valley where the great Pharaohs were layed to rest. I can't even believe how great of shape they are in. The carvings on the wall and the paint that decorated them are still bright and visible. I played ancient Egyptian historian all day as I tryed to look at each of the millions of pictures that covered every free space of wall. I tryed figuring out what was happening in the picture and what it was communicating. I wasn't much good. I suck close to my friend Nathan who has a gift for seeing things much differently than I ever could and explaining it so it makes sense to me. One of my favorite parts about each tomb were the beautiful blue cielings with gold stars painted perfectly in rows. I would love to have an Egyptian themed room someday that reflects many of the things I loved about visiting Egypt. The last tomb we visited was the tomb of King Tut. Tut really wasn't that important of a pharaoh becasue he was so young and his reign was short, but the discovery of his tomb was important because it was undiscovered by grave robbers so it was just the way it was meant to be when he was placed there to rest. It was much, much smaller than I expected, but exciting none the less. His mummy was displayed near hte entrance of the tomb. In most of the tombs I went into that day, we were rushed through and pushed along so that other tourists could file through. We happened to come to tut's tomb at the right moment because nobody else was pushing to get in so we were allowed to linger for a few more minutes. Tut's mummy was small and he looked like he was a short man. I would put up pictures but we were not allowed to take camers in any of the tombs, so pictures outside of it will have to do. As we walked through many of the tombs, the guys who have all been on missions kept pulling eachother to the side and pointing out "ah ha!" moments as they saw pictures dipicting things they have learned in the temple. It looks like the Egyptians had a larger portion of the truth than we may think. I loved seeing the connections between what I have been learning in my classes at the Jerusalem center and seeing these amazing structures and writings literally THOUSANDS of years old in real life. After the valley of the Kings, we visited the funerary temple of Ramses III. His funerary temple was breath taking! The statues, the pictures carved into the walls, everything, was larger than life. As our tour guide took us around the temple, he kept pointing out scenes dipicting the final judgement as the Egyptians understood it. It was amazing much of the truth showed up in their altered version of the gospel. I am sure I didn't understand it all well as those who had been through the temple, but I would watch their expressions and snap pictures of what ever it was we were looking at when their eyes would get wide and they would look around to see if any one else had made the same connections they did. I will understand someday. I was amazed that I could get the reaffirming feeling of the spirit of how true the gospel is is a several thousand year old Egyptian temple, but if that feeling can come to me when I am on my knees next to my bed or when I am in the middle of a tough trial, I guess it can happen in an ancient Egyptian temple. As we came to the bcak of the temple, our tour guide pointed out that the elevation of each room in the temple got higher and higher the further we entered the temple. All of us let out a unanimous "Oh!" I am sure he was wondering why that was so amazing to us, but for having no idea about our beliefs, our Egyptian guide did an amazing job of pointing out the reflections of the truth of the gospel throughout the funerary temple of Ramses II. We then went back to the hotel for a some free time and then those of us who wanted to pay 10 more dollars go to go on a boat ride up the Nile and then on an hour long ride on camels. My camel's name was Michael Jordan and the young boy pulling my camel along kept telling me not to forget him at chirstmas. I think that was his way of hitting me up for money. That evening we ventured our way into the city and braved the bazaar. I have never been to a marketplace as aggressive as the Luxor Bazaar. The vendors all yelled to us and would not take no for an answer. I ended up buying a couple of pointless things just becasue the bartering for them was so much fun. It was fun to get back to the hotel and compare our spoils of war and how much we all overpayed for the same things. It was then back to the pool for another night of acting much to young but not caring because it was too much fun.