Here’s a photo journal from my recent trip to Bulgaria for
lay evangelism training.  Because our
programs in Bulgaria were to
be held on two weekends, the week between was spent in Turkey doing a
self-guided study tour of the seven churches. 
Although we only intended to see two of them, we ended up visiting all
seven sites!  It was such a blessing.

Thanks to the generosity of a friend my parents and sister
Amy were able to go along to help with the training and go along with us on the
study tour.  It was such a
blessing!!  I have always dreamed of
going to Turkey
to the seven churches, but it never seemed that likely to happen.  The five of us – my parents, Amy, Leasa
Hodges (ASI), and myself had a wonderful time.

On the way back it was much cheaper for us to travel through
Greece (the train from Sophia to Thessaloniki was about US$40) than to fly back
from Sophia, so we took a couple of extra days to see Thessalonica, Kavala
(Neapolis), Philippi, Amphipolis, and Athens.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! The most amazing thing now that I look back is that we did it all in just two weeks.

BULGARIA

The main purpose of our trip was equipping lay members to do
personal (and small-scale public) evangelism using the New Beginnings DVD
studies.  We trained the members and
equipped them with a player, the New Beginnings disc, and a printed book of the
25 New Beginnings sermons.  Altogether we
trained about 400 members.

Our first weekend was in Kyustendil, a city southeast of
Sophia and very near the border of Macedonia.  Here is a large Gypsy community which has
been transformed by the power of the gospel and the Adventist message.  In the past five years the Adventist Gypsy
population has grown from around five to around 3,000.  In Kyustendil Gypsies were gathered from
around the country.

The Gypsies are still very much discriminated against (even
within the Church) and lack the basic human rights and many services that we
take for granted.

Each of us had parts of the training which we
presented.  Here I am giving an overview
on preaching evangelistic sermons.

Here’s my Mom.

Leasa
Hodges.

My wonderful sister Amy.

The next weekend we trained in one of the main churches in
Sophia.  Here are the members after they
received their equipment and training.

I confess.  I fell in love in Bulgaria.  The Gypsy
children completely stole my heart. This little boy had a shirt full of
cherries.

Please join me in praying for the members who are now
working to win their friends and associates to Jesus and His end-time message. 

Many, many biblical sites are to be found in Turkey.  Five days is hardly enough to scratch the
surface!  We found the people in Turkey to be
incredibly warm and friendly, and we felt very comfortable there.  I rented a car and we drove all around the
western side of the country, the ancient region of Anatolya.  I’ll post in the order of the seven churches
found in Revelation chapters two and three.

This city has some incredible ruins and I took hundreds of
pictures!  Everywhere you turn are ruins
of temples or fountains dedicated to the gods, mythical figures, and emperors
that are so well known. Here I am at Ephesus,
in front of the façade of the library.

Here we are in the theater of Ephesus where Dimitrius made his
speech against Paul, crediting him with the falling off of the worship of the
goddess Diana (Artemis) and the sale of her images.

Funny how the great Diana of the Ephesians isn’t much of a
power in our world today, but the God how Paul preached is worshiped around the
globe.  It’s also interesting to note
that in this city where the female goddess of fertility was worshiped Mary
worship continues (at the ruins of what is purported, based on a nun’s
supernatural visions, to be the home which John provided for her) and the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was adopted.  Here is all that remains of the temple of Artemis, once the largest and grandest
of its kind in the world. 

My sister traveling Paul-style.

I had to include this one.

Also in Ephesus
is the ruins of a huge basilica which was built over the tomb believed to be
that of the disciple John.

Now the city of Izmir, the
third largest in Turkey, Smyrna still offers view
of a well-preserved Roman Agora (market) where undoubtedly both the disciple
John and the apostle Paul visited.

Here I am in the lower floor of the Agora.

Above ground.

Above the city of Smyrna
was a fortress, mostly Byzantine but which was begun during or soon after the
time of Alexander the Great. Here’s Amy and me inside the Kadifekale.

We didn’t have much time in Pergamus but here is an ancient
temple to the Egyptian gods which was built right over the river.  Its tunnels and some of its underground
passageways are still viable today.

A common sight in Turkey – hand-woven carpets.

At what was then the world’s most famous health center, the Asclepieum,
patients were forbidden to die (it was illegal).  Various hydrotherapy treatments were
employed.

Little exists of Thyatira by way of archeological remains,
except this excavation in the center of town.

This is another temple built originally to the goddess
Artemis, but perhaps later used for the worship of Zeus. It was built around
300 B.C.

A couple of massive columns are all that remain of what was
obviously a huge basilica dedicated to the disciple John.

One of the richest cities in the Roman period, Laodicea refused the
emperor’s assistance after it was devastated by an earthquake in the first
century. An archeological excavation is currently underway and the glorious
main street of town is being uncovered!

Laodicea
was equipped with a “modern” water supply system that fed running water to the
homes and temples.  Here is the ruins of
one of the two cisterns, with the clay conduits still visible.

The theatre in Laodicea
was large enough to seat more than 16,000 spectators.  In this picture my family is standing or
seated on the opposite side of the theater.  In the background, across the valley, can be
seen the white deposits from the hot springs of Hierapolis (Colossians
4:13).

Here’s a closer shot so you can see my dad (and the size of
the theater).

Across the valley from Laodicea
was Hierapolis, a resort community where many
came to enjoy the water from the hot springs
coming from the ground.  This water was
believed to have healing properties.  But
by the time the water would reach Laodicea it would be neither hot enough for
bathing nor cold enough for drinking – good for very little but being spewed
from the mouth.

The theater of Laodicea as seen from Hierapolis.