So technically, this month we are in Romania for All Squad Month (meaning that the entire squad spends the month together, instead of our teams being in different ministry locations). But our Romanian host is working with new contacts in Thessaloniki, Greece. So he wanted to take some of us to Greece to help build those relationships. 46 of us decided that we were willing to make that sacrifice for the Kingdom. So we spent the last week in Greece.
We spent the first couple of days playing tourist; first in Thessaloniki, then at a couple of beaches in Halkidiki. Tough life, huh? If it makes it any more World Race sounding, the guys spent the week sleeping in the church on pews that were pushed together.
The second half of the week, we went out into the city to make connections and build relationships. Greece is a traditional European culture in that they observe a sort of “siesta” time in the afternoon, so their dinner and evening activities are later than we would have in the states. Most restaurants don’t even open for dinner until 7pm. So that’s when we would head out.
There were several different options, and for some reason, I felt called to the basketball court. The first evening, it started raining as soon as we got to the court, so none of the locals ever showed up. We met one young Ukrainian guy who couldn’t find his hotel, so he stopped to watch us play for a while. We also met the young Greek police officer who was guarding the courthouse next to the basketball court where we ran for cover when the lightening started. We chatted with those guys for quite a while, but we never did get to follow up with them another night.
The next couple of evenings, we went to a basketball court down by the boardwalk, where there are many more people. Y’all, I am not in basketball shape. Distance running and basketball use completely different muscle groups. I got schooled. But it was a lot of fun to go out there with some of my squadmates, and just have a good time and hang out with the locals. Our third night, Josh got to talking to one of the locals after we’d played a couple of games, and we could see the seed being planted. Who knows what God is doing in that young man’s life, but he was very receptive to Josh, and left us feeling hopeful for him.
Of course, no World Race trip would be complete without some travel drama. On our way back to Draganesti last night/this morning, one of the buses broke down. So we loaded everybody into the other bus for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, we had only a couple of hours to go, and thank the Lord that the other bus survived the rest of the trip.
P.S. There were several people who got sick while we were in Thessaloniki, but most folks are feeling better now – thanks for the prayers! Please continue to pray for us and our time here in Draganesti.
