Hi! My name is Athena Papadopoulos, I'm 21 years old, and I have been on this exciting journey of life with my savior Jesus Christ.
Short summary of my testimony…
– I grew up in a Christian home attending church every moment the doors were open.
– I asked Jesus to save me fully understanding the work he did on the cross when I was 5 years old.
– Jesus was now present in my life, but I still continued to live for myself.
– I rededicated my life to Christ when I was 12 at a summer camp. I was finally understanding that my life in Christ was not about me.
Jesus really took hold of my life and it's amazing how simple things like spending time in God's word will do to your perspective. After graduating high school in 2009 I was unsure about what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew that I wanted to follow God's leading. I found out about a one year Bible college in Florida called the Word of Life Bible Institute and decided to give it a try. That year turned my life upside down. I thought I knew about the bible, but I learned so much. I really started to feel God's push to become a missionary in a foreign country. But I had never done anything like that before, how do I go about doing that?
I graduated from the Bible Institute in August of 2010
Along the way, I discovered an organization by the name of Empower A Child during my year at Bible College that was doing work with forgotten youth (orphans, street kids, juivenille delinquents) in Kenya. I left in September 2010 on my first missions trip to Nairobi, Kenya on a one-way ticket, unsure of how long God wanted me there and really what to expect. This was my first time in a 3rd world country and the living conditions of the people there blew my mind. Long story short. God miraculously provided the funding for me to stay there an entire year before I purchased my plane ticket home.
Coming back to America was hard…feeling like I left a part of me in Africa and still feeling like I needed to do something with all that I had just experienced. This is when I started to get some pretty crazy ideas on what to do next. One of the biggest needs I experienced while in Africa was the need for clean water. In the city or in the village the lack of clean water was there. So what do I do with the information? I felt like God was calling me to do something radical. If I couldn't still be in Africa, maybe there was something I could do here in America to make a difference. I had heard of people who had run or biked across the United States raising awareness for various causes and thought, I'm a runner, why don't I do this for clean water projects in Africa. So with the help of the organization World Vision I left Jacksonville Beach, Florida in January of this year and headed west towards San Diego, California…on foot. Crazy right? Most people thought so, but obviously not God. He was my ultimate provider on that journey. Every single one of my needs was met on the trip. Places to stay, food, new shoes, etc. And over almost 19,000 dollars raised for clean water projects in Africa. That's equivilant to about 3 wells. If your curious about that adventure visit www.coast2coast4cleanwater.webs.com God is stinkin' amazing right?
Like I said…I feel like I've been on this crazy adventure of life with God as my savior and I feel like serving him can only get better. Now I have the amazing opportunity to serve him and love others on The World Race. I'm so excited to see what's next.
