Our time in Greece was absolutely incredible. I fell in love with the city of Thessaloniki, its history, its culture, and especially its people.
On our first day of ministry, our group’s plan was to prayer walk along the boardwalk, talk to the locals, and do some public worship. The city of Thessaloniki comes alive at night as the board walk and the streets become flooded with people, so we decided to start our ministry in the evening.
But instead, the streets became flooded with rain.
It rained the entire night, and the area was practically devoid of all the life that typically flourishes on the board walk. We persisted through the rain to do some prayer walking, and we even met a couple of really cool people, but the night did not go quite as expected.
By the time we met up for worship, it was pouring rain, and there were still hardly any people to be seen.
We decided to head to the pier to see if there were any people there and possibly a covered spot where we could find some shelter to worship in, but again, the area was empty.
I have to admit, I felt pretty defeated at this point. Nothing had seemed to go right, and we decided to call it a night and get some food.
But the night was only just beginning.
Three of my squad mates and I made our way through the pouring rain to the first restaurant we could find.
It was there that we met our waiter, Lefteris.
We all quickly sensed that there was something different about this guy. Not only was he hilarious, but he had a certain depth that broke through his broken English.
We struck up some great conversations throughout the night, and when we asked him his name, he told us it meant “freedom” in Greek.
He asked us if we were free, and we said yes, but he did not believe that he was free himself.
He told us that he believed in God, but that he did not believe that God could see past his sin and his mistakes.
As the conversation continued, we told him about true freedom in Christ, about how much God loved him, and about how Jesus makes us pure.
After his shift ended, he joined us and hung out with us at our table. He broke down as the Holy Spirit spoke through Kathryn about his childhood and about the purpose God has for his life.
At the end of the night, we asked him if we could pray for him, and I marveled at how God was working in him as this grown man cried right in front of me.
It was crazy how a night that seemed so defeating led us to this man. How the night ended in him telling us that he loved us and that he wanted to hang out with us again.
We got to hang out with him again all night the next evening, and he took us on some great Greek adventures. It was so cool how in a city full of people, he still chose to spend a whole evening with a couple of crazy Americans who happened to sit at his table the night before.
It was hard to say goodbye to Greece knowing that this meant saying goodbye to Lefteris, but I pray that God will continue working in his heart and that he will find true freedom in Christ.
We are back in Romania now, and we are starting ministry in Draganesti-Olt tomorrow. I am so excited to continue working with Hope Church and serving the people of Romania.
