This last week was spent in the wonderful Thessaloniki, Greece…the same place Paul sent his letters to the Thessalonians. To put it lightly, I WAS PUMPED to spend time in a place with so much history (plus, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, amiright ladiessss). Since our team of 46 only had one week to spend in Greece, I began wondering how fruitful our ministry could actually be there. Boy did God teach me.
All of our ministry while in Greece happened at night, Around 3:30 pm we would worship and then begin praying for the city while walked around it . Our actual ministry started at 7 pm and ended no earlier than 10 pm (but many times go until 2 or 3 in the morning). Greeks love nighttime, so we adjusted our schedule to match theirs. For those who haven’t done the math yet, this meant we were free to explore until 3:30 pm. This included following smells and eating as many weird, but delicious smelling, pastries as I could. God took me as I am and used the path of good smelling treats to bring me in contact with many people I got to share the Gospel with this week.
-
Tanweer
After fulfilling a craving for a delicious chocolate dessert and on our way to find some dinner (no, I wasn’t still hungry) two squad mates and I met a man named Tanweer, who was trying to sell us something illegal (I think). Tanweer invited us to coffee after we politely declined whatever it was he sold. It was around 6 in the evening, so we went to get cokes at TGI Fridays (they’re in Greece!). While we talked with Tanweer, we learned that he is from Pakistan and considers himself Mormon. Most importantly, we learned that he does not believe God loves him because he can’t stop sinning. Tanweer did not accept the Gospel, but he heard three girls tell him over and over how much his Savior loved and wanted him.
-
Femi
While on a mission to get some peaches at the local market (I still wasn’t hungry but I saw someone with a bunch of peaches) my teammate Emma and I met a man named Femi, all because we smiled at him. He stopped us on the street and said, “You see me.” He then proceeded to invite us to get a drink with him. I saw some fresh squeezed orange juice in my immediate future and urgently accepted. Femi is from Nigeria and considers himself to Greek Orthodox. He doesn’t go to church because sometimes he likes to have a beer. No matter how many times we explained that God loves us all the same, no matter how often we sin, he could not bring himself to believe it. He let us pray for him, asked us to lunch the next day, and we got connected on Facebook. Femi saw something different in us, and I hope he realizes that it was The Holy Spirit in us that saw him that day on the street.
-
Demetri
After having lunch, Emma and I decided crepes would be splendid (we just has lunch, so we weren’t hungry). The crepes were quite a walk, but one worth taking, so on the way back Demetri fell into our path. Demetri has a bit of a background story behind him. The previous day was the first time I noticed him, and the first time my heart broke and God urged me to talk with him, but I chose to pray from afar instead. Demetri got my attention because of his appearance. His feet were terribly swollen, he had burned skin all over his legs, and chunks were missing (sorry for the graphic description) and not one person was trying to help him. After missing my opportunity to talk to him, I prayed that if God really wanted me to He would make Demetri come back into our path. Assuming it would happen the same day, I thought I was in the clear, but God chose this random time off with Emma to have him literally come into my path again. And I froze. God wanted Emma to be there because He knew she would not. I quickly explained my reaction, she took me to buy Demetri water, and we came back to talk with him. Demetri didn’t speak any English, and was frantically talking to us (asking for money, I assume). One of the wonderful things about God, is that we can pray in any language so Emma and I prayed out loud for this man and watched a calming nature come over him. He didn’t know what we were saying, what we were doing, or the God we prayed to, but Demetri understood it was something powerful and stayed silent during the entire prayer.
-
Irene and Maria
After finishing with ministry our last night, I chose to stay with Jenna and Natalie with the hopes of getting ice cream one last time (not hungry, just the last time I could get it in Greece). Before walking back to the church, two girls asked us to take their picture. Their names were Irene and Maria. Since we were American, they asked us why we were in Greece and how we decided to come. We got to tell they all about The World Race, how we prayed to God asking Him is we should come, and how He answered us. Before saying goodnight, we invited the girls to church the next morning. After the church service the next morning, I noticed Irene had come. She told us how her friend from South Africa (where she used to live) is a strong Christian and has been trying to get her to believe for the last 3 months, how she remembered the song we sang (Raise Me Up) from her childhood, and how she knows meeting us wasn’t an accident. We got to pray for the beginning of her relationship with God, teach her about the first and second commandments (loving God and loving others), and get her connected with the church, who gave her the New Testament of the Bible. God has wonderful plans for Irene’s life.
These are just four stories from one person of how God worked in Greece this week. God is all over the city of Thessaloniki and is urgently calling His children back to Him. I am so excited to see how much of an impact the next World Race squads are going to make in Greece, especially because they will have a whole month to work with the contacts we were able to get there. God is not limited in time (or by our weird eating habits).
As of right now I am at $8,750. I need to be at $11,000 by October 1. That leaves just a little over $2,000 to raise – YAY!
The remainder of the month will be spent in Draganesti-Olt, Romania with our host Raul. This is a Gypsy (Roma) community that is predominately Orthodox and has a history of witchcraft. Pray for good conversations, happy hearts, and selfless tendencies (all 55 members of our squad are living in ONE house #RealWorldRomania).
