The Words of Young Oon Kim
|
|
The Words of Young Oon Kim |
Dear Family,
After a three-hour flight from Rome, we arrived in Athens, Greece. It is our rule to bless ground before seeing anything, so we went out with a city map to look for a park. It is not allowed in Greece to step on the grass in the parks, so after a long walk we found a place in the park in front of Zagg1ion (name of a building) and it was blessed at 8:10 pm on August 22nd.
Next day we took a sightseeing bus and visited a museum, the Royal Palace, the Olympic Stadium, and the Temple of Zeus which is now completely destroyed. We saw about 14 huge stone pillars in a big yard. Our guide explained that Socrates, Plato and other philosophers of ancient Greece came here and discussed truth with young people in this yard. The original stadium was destroyed and they rebuilt the present one. The huge and beautiful temples of many heathen gods were destroyed by the wars which the Greeks fought with the Arabs from the 12th century on, and with the Germans in World War II. From 1 to 4 pm the city takes a nap and is very quiet, but they enjoy life until very late at night. It is very hot in the daytime and the people just need rest. In the evening we took a walk and went to see a circus, singing and black magic performed in an open-air restaurant. So many people come here and enjoy the cool air, drink beer and coca cola, and see the free performance.
We saw another museum on August 24, and in the afternoon left for Cairo, Egypt, arriving there at 8:20 pm. On August 25th our Leader blessed ground at 9:30 a.m. in Orman Garden near the River Nile and Cairo University. Then we visited former King Farouk's gorgeous palace. He was driven away from his throne by President Nasser and the Egyptian people. Next we went to three large mosques which are 600 to 900 years old. We saw many Moslems praying in the temple.
Next day we visited a number of pyramids, a sphinx, and other ancient royal tombs which the Egyptians call the Dead City because they built houses on many acres of desert. This is another type of ancient cemetery. We entered an open pyramid (only one is open) which was as high as a mountain. We crawled over a hundred feet and climbed up another couple of hundred feet to the top, and found an empty stone coffin in a cell. The mummy had been taken to the museum which we had already visited.
In both Athens and Cairo we saw the great civilizations which existed before Christ. The ancient Egyptians believed in the resurrection of the dead and built great tombs. Some tombs and statues were built 8,000 years ago, and many statues were erected 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Our Leader was greatly astonished to see the huge pillars used in the Greek temples in Athens, and the ancient architecture of the pyramids and mosques built so many centuries ago. He stood by the River Nile and seemed to pray for a few minutes. The Egyptians call the river the Mother of Egypt because, in the huge desert of Sahara, the river makes part of the desert green and brings abundant food and water for the Egyptians to live.
Then we visited the city of Alexandria, spending a whole day there. It has a beautiful beach around it. Many Greeks had accepted Christianity after the Jews rejected it in Jerusalem 20 centuries ago, but today Alexandria is another city of Moslems. Christians are a minority as in Cairo.
The Sahara Desert was quite impressive to us all. The weather in Cairo is extremely hot with only a few drops of rain in a year. No water, no green. We must be grateful every day simply for water, green and cool weather.
We had a private guide in Cairo whom we hired all day for $2. He was a university student (45 years old) and explained the past and present of Egypt so well. He made us love the Egyptians. Life here is very hard. Two dollars a day is a good wage for them.
Praying for the blessing of Greece and Egypt, we flew over the desert and arrived in the land of the prophets, Jordan. We were received by Major Mudaber and his family and friends. Love to all.