Valley of the Whales and Youth Activity

 

On Feb 28th we took a trip to the Valley of the Whales or Wadi al Hetan. Here there are more than a thousand fossilized whales that have been found. The area used to be a large sea millions of years ago. Ironically, this is the same day that the Trump administration decided to bomb Iran and start a regional conflict.
It is a lot of desert here now, but there were mango swamps millions of years ago.
Many different kinds of whale bones have been discovered here. There was quite a evolution of different whales.
These rocks contain remains of fossilized mango swamps.
More desert. We went when the weather was quite cool (for Egypt) and there was a breeze. The temperature was probably in the 60s.
The area was interesting to see.
We traveled there with the other missionary couple, Dave and Maire Whipple.
Interesting rock formations.
You can see in the middle layer of this rock a whale skeleton. The next picture is a monument to celebrate the valley of the whales. It was probably 30 miles before one arrived. The last 30 miles was off road mostly going through sand and rough road.
On March 1st we went with 18 youth on a somewhat organized, unorganized activity. They wanted to play soccer and then do something afterwards. We walked a very long way to the field, but because it was Ramadan it was going to be closed. We finally persuaded the manager to let us play for almost an hour.
At the end of the hour we went to our house and ordered KFC chicken (51 pieces), but because it was Ramadan it never came and 2 days later has not arrived. We finally emptied our freezer of ice cream (3 cartons) and sent the children home at 8:30 pm. This was a long day and I set a record for the distance I walked on our mission with 20, 020 steps or 10.1 miles for one day. I was tired and sore from trying to play soccer with the kids.
On March 2 we had another dinner and gospel discussion. We had 3 members and 3 non-members (not including Kathleen and I). The discussion went very well and they also stayed until 8:30 pm. We will have Guirgis' baptism on March 14th. He is the one on the left of me. His brother, Maged, the next person, is not ready yet, but the next person, Paul, would like me to baptize him. However, he is the one who will need special permission. On March 3rd I met with him and President Platt, our District President to familize him with Paul's testimony and desires. It still may take time for his baptism to occur, as he was originally a Muslim, but has been an open Christian for 20 years.












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