Final day of best experience of my life

Our last day was spent touring Athens we finally got to go up to the top of the Acropolis and see the Parthenon. After lunch we met the pastor of the First Evangelical Church of Athens. He took us to Mars hill and we read Paul's sermon that he had given there. We walked around the city and listened to him talk about Athens, the people of Greece and himself. We eventually made it to the site where the are going to be planting another church. It was in an area that was very poor. We stood there and prayed for the building of the church there. This was the last thing we did on our trip. The next day we had a long journey home but we made it.

Recap Day 5

Due to protests in Athens we decided to take a day trip to Corinth. We stopped at the Corinth Canal on the way. It was an amazing site, it was dug by hand. I wanted to go bungee jumping of the bridge but we only had 15 minutes there. We loaded the bus again and headed for the ruins of the ancient city. There we saw the Temple of Apollo and where the held an Olympic like games. We also saw the Bema seat where Paul stood before the Tribunal. We saw headless statues of saints in a museum. We had lunch at a restaurant that was by the sea. We then left to go to the top of the Acrocorinth, which is a citadel on the top of this mountain. The view was awe inspiring, it was the most beautiful view I had ever seen. After this we headed back to Athens. On our way back we stop at a small town by the sea. We got out and walked and laid on the beach. It was amazing there was no sand the shore was made of billions of small stones. The water was so blue and clear that you could see a few feet down. We eventually left and returned to Athens. Later that night we had two girls from our group went to work with a group that dealt with the prostitutes in Athens. The rest of us had been fasting since lunch and prayed until they got back early the next morning around 1. It was an awesome experience for me and the others after hearing the stories the girls told us.

Recap Day 4

We headed back to the University today. I was dreading going back. When we got there I decided to go with Drew because he is good at talking to people. We saw this guy sitting by himself so we went up to him and introduced ourselves to him. He let us sit with him and talk. We learned a lot about him where he grew up, what he was studying what he want to do after school, and what he liked doing. He lived on a island growing up, he plays the guitar and likes the Dave Matthews Band. We talked to him for about 45 minutes then he had to go to class. We went to this coffee shop in the school and while Drew went to the bath room, I saw two guys sitting together. I decided it was my turn to talk to someone I went up to them and introduced myself. They did not speak much English but it didn't matter I tried to speak to them as much as I could. Drew joined me a few minutes later and they asked us what we thought about Greece. We told them we loved
it. They left we went to find the rest of the group and leave.

Recap Day 3

On the third day we were headed to the University of Athens. We went to the Philosophy building which held 20,000 students. I thought to myself on the way there " O, great I get to walk up to complete strangers and talk to them". I was not very thrilled with this thought I am not the person that can go up to anyone and start a conversation. We got there and as I looked around it got worse. There were so many people there, most of them don't speak the same language and can barely understand me. Also the were hundreds of posters on the walls and writing also of socialist and communist symbols. Me and to other guys decided to sit and eat our lunch so we would not have to carry them all day. Two girls can up to us and started to talk, the asked if we knew French only one of us knew a little. They knew we were not Greek before we started talking. We all had blue eyes and that gave us away. We asked them what they were studying. We also saw that they were at this table with a lot of those posters on it, we asked what it meant, one of them told us it was a socialist party and that them and the communist students were having a debate today. They left after a few more minutes, we then went to look at the rest of the building. We had trouble getting people to talk to us. I guess asking " do you speak English" was not a good way to start a conversation. We eventually on our way back to the bus met up with two girls that were with us, they had met a girl that was very nice. She talk to us until the bus and the rest of the group got there. She gave the girls her e-mail so she could talk to them after we had left Greece. This day was not my cup of tea and later that night I found out we were going there again tomorrow. I was not happy, I had already had what I thought was a unfruitful day.But I guess God had a reason for me to go back there.

Recap day 2

Our second day in Greece was my favorite and the reason I still wish I was there. On that day we were headed to help with refugees with a group called "Helping Hands". On our way there the sky was a weird shade of orange, and was raining. This was not your normal rain, it was mud falling from the sky if you can imagine that, as the Pastor said " it was like one of the Egyptian plagues". Later to find out that it was doing this because of sandstorms in Egypt. Odd as all this was we made it to the place. The bus that was taking us there could not drive straight up to the building. It had to let us off a few blocks from the place where a man met us to take us to the place we needed to be at. As we walked with him we started to see a lot of refugees start to crowd the streets. We were almost at the place when I saw something I thought I never would. There were people shooting on whatever drug they could get a hold of in Athens. This was horrifying, even more so when we learned that these people could not or did not want to go back to their home country. And they were not able to get a job in Greece, because they had no identity at all the only people who knew who they were was themselves and their family. They had no chance at a normal life and one of security. A group of us went on a prayer walk and another stayed to help with the refugees. I was in the first group to go on the prayer walk. It was a very hard thing. As we walked we saw all of these refugees in the street and the sex shops lining the streets. Prostitution is legal in Greece and is also tolerated. This was one of the hardest things to learn about. When we got back to Helping Hands we switched jobs with the other group. Me and Josh were there to just sit and talk with some of the refugees there. We were told by Drew a person in the other group to go talk to these two guys named Sam and Javad. These guys both were from Afghanistan. As soon as me and Josh walked up Sam got us chairs and Javad got us some tea to drink. These simple actions blew my mind. I was there to serve them and they were serving me. I later thought about that situation more. We sat with them and talked and learned a lot about both of them. Sam always was trying to make us laugh. They both left to go get some food and we went and started talking to some more people. They later came back and sat with me, Josh and Drew. Javad started asking Drew about this little book on the table that was in some sort of Arabic. Drew asked him what it said, it was a translation of the book of Luke. Drew was able through that little question to start sharing at least a little bit of the gospel. We do not know if he understood but we pray everyday that through some way that he did and would be able to find God, a God that loves. This little thing makes me want to go back and be able to talk to him a little more.

Recap

This is a recap of my experience on the mission trip to Greece over my Spring Break. From the moment we left Chattanooga I knew that a lot of things were about to change. What I didn't know is how much. It took a good deal of time to final land in Athens,Greece. And by the time we did we were all dead tired.
Our first true day in Athens we had the privilege to attend Sunday service at the 1st Evangelical Church of Athens. It was beautiful and an amazing sight. We had to wear these headsets that translated the sermon for us. It was odd not knowing what was being said without them. The biggest struggle for me was not being able to sing because I can't speak Greek, but being able to listen to my brothers and sisters in Christ in their language was an experience I will not easily forget. After the service they had a lunch for us in the church where we got to eat with the other RUF groups and a few Greek students that attend this church. After for the rest of the day we got to explore Athens. My group went to the Acropolis Museum with a couple of the Greek guys from the church. Some of the group had to go and exchange their currency and while they did that I got a chance with another guys from my group to talk to the guys. They tired teaching us a few Greek phrases that we could use. They also, told us of some thing that are rude to do in Greece that we wouldn't think was. We spent a couple hours in the museum looking at the art and artifacts. We then followed our leader to see something. I don't remember if we ever got to see it; he wasn't that good with a map. Even so, we got to wander about the city and fellowship with one another. We also, ran into some of the best dogs you could possibly find. They followed us for the rest of the day and barked at and ran after anything they thought would harm us, it was a strange thing. That is what went on my first day in Greece.