Well… the team and I are in Greece!!!! I can’t but hardly believe it. This was our ATL month, and as we were thinking about places to go we said “why not Greece?”. We googled some WYAM contacts and they got us set up with a local church here in Greece.
Although I have been here for about a week, I still can’t quite comprehend the fact that God brought me to Greece. To Thessalonica, no less. As I walked the streets of the city I was overwhelmed that I was standing in the place where both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians was sent to. I have been able to walk the street of Ignatia and see the park where it is thought that Paul preached. There are many ruins within the city. Actually anytime the city does any excavating at all, if they find a ruin, they stop excavation to preserve the ruin. Therefore, most of the ruins date back to b.c. A-MAZING!!! The original wall of the city is still here also, well at least parts of it 🙂
Our contact here in Greece has been wonderful. He is from the Philippines and he and his wife run an international church based out of Thessalonica, but with a daughter church in Athens (we will be leaving for that church this coming Friday). His church here, as Greece is 98% Greek Orthodox, has had to deal with a lot of resistence and persecution from other religions as well as the government. Honestly most of our ministry, outside of doing the Sunday services, has been pouring into the pastor, his wife, son, and sister who also came to Greece to help her brother get this ministry going.
We will be going to Athens on Saturday morning. When we arrive we are going to try and go to the Acropolis and the Parthenon to do evangelism. Then, on Sunday we will be taking over the service again. This has been really fun for me, doing the Sunday services that is. This last Sunday I actually lead worship, on the piano, with a real worship team for the first time since I lefttates.
If you would all be praying for the pastor and his family here. They have been in Greece for 11 years doing ministry under much persecution. Yet, they continue to push on. The Pastor has said on multiple occasions that God has often made Him walk in faith under the phrase “you go and I’ll provide”. This Pastor has said He tried to talk God into “You provide and I’ll go”, but that God has challanged Him many times with making this Pastor go first in obedience and faith. Their church is a small gathering of people who are hungry for Christ. They have truly been an encouragement to us all!!!
Anywho, I think that is all for now. We will be heading to Maldova on the 11th to meet up with the squad for a couple of days before we do ministry there. We have about 30 hours of train rides, not including layovers so if you would be praying for rest and patience for my team and I.
Love you all!
