Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Dancin the night away, Greek style

Monday 5/25/09
We are back from Thessaloniki and loving our time back at Cosmo. It is our home away from home :). Last night we had a great Greek feast and danced the evening away with traditional Greek dances! I have a video of the whole thing! Today we went to the Parthenon and Mars hill! It was soooooooo cool. We also got to shop around Athens today and just be tourist. The other day we went to the Red Light district, let me just tell you be prepared, there will be a lot of processing :).

Some sad news, my camera got stolen :(. Trust me there were many tears, Someone pick pocketed me on the train. Thank God that I have so many wonderful teammates that have shared their cameras with me. Sorry guys! I tried to be careful, but the pick pocketers are EVERYWHERE!

Besides that, everything has been wonderful. If you read through the book of Acts, I have basically been everywhere in that book. It is a lot hotter here than we expected, it was about 90 today. I am looking forward to a little cooler weather. Part of our team left this evening to go on with their travels and we have one more day here. We will be leaving Wednesday morning to be back in Denver Wednesday night, I am guessing we will be at CCU around 10pm.

welcome to Greece!

Greetings from Athens, Greece...Or should I say the marble roads where Paul walked. Crazy!!!

Our time has been great! Absolutely crazy busy, but so good. I have been stretched in so many ways! I have not been able to go to the red light district yet, but will probably on Thursdays, please be praying for us. I can not tell you the depth of the impact it has on being around this kind of life style; so sad! We have worked at camps, soup kitchens and overall traveled the country. A little unorganized, because Greeks do not plan the way we do, but it has sure been an adventure. Tonight we went to a revival meeting at a homeless soup kitchen. It was sooooo good! I shared part of my testimony to a bunch of Greeks and refugees.

Tomorrow we travel to Thessaloniki to be there through Sunday. We are traveling by train tomorrow and then staying in dorms right by the sea! We went to Sunni Cap (A ruin of Poseidon's temple) the other day. It was sooo beautiful, I can't even tell you!!!

Please be praying for calm nerves as we work on the Red Light District. The feeling of fear has been trying really hard to take us over. Also be praying for continually unity on our team. We get along great, but we are not at the end of our trip yet :).

I have been growing so much in my time here and learning a lot about trusting the Lord with ministry. It is not hard to see that we are fallen people, desperately in need of the Lord, while over here. I can't wait to share it with you all!

Thank you for your prayers!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Here and hitting the ground running

Things here are great! We went to a Refugee camp yesterday and Hung out with a lot of Afghanistan and Iran women. It was sooooo crazy! SO many different Cultures around, you would not believe it! We worked at the Cozmo vision center outside today and are going to the Aegean sea tonight!!!! We will definitely be busy our whole time here, but it is great! I am sure I will sleep for days when I get back! It is so beautiful in Greece, the city reminds me of Israel and the land of Italy. Thought I would let you know I am here and having a great time!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Off to Greece!

Tomorrow is the day! Our flight leaves at 10 in the morning for NYC. Then off to Paris and then Athens.

If you feel lead to here are some things we need prayer for:
- SAFE and SMOOTH TRAVEL! We are a big group and our flight from Paris to Athens does not leave us with much of a lay over, so please pray for smooth transitions from flight to flight.

- OUR GROUP. That our team would be open and willing to hear the Lord through out the trip. That we would work together and remember to keep Christ first. That we would love on each other and bond.

- THE FIELD. We have a packed seclude, so please pray for our endurance and strength as we go out and be apart of all the different ministries.

- HEALTH. It is so easy for someone to get sick with all the changes, so please pray for good health.

-SAFETY. We are going to be traveling to another culture with many difference than our own, please pray that we are wise in all our decisions. Also, please pray for our ministry out in the streets, that our leaders would be smart about where we go. May the Lord cover us in all places!

- THE LORD'S WILL! Most importantly please pray that we would speak truth, hope, and love. May the Lord's will be done through us and with us. Please pray that we would truth Him and continue to give Him our ministry! That the Lord would guide us and give us the words and actions. That He would cover our whole trip in His love and will!

Thank you all so much! Can't wait to see you all when we return. I will hopefully be able to update this a few times while I am over in Greece. So if you are interested, please keep a look out for new post!

See you all the 28th!

In His love!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The blessings of Hope




With only about a month to go, our team has entered the final push. For me and many of my teammates, we were still in need of about $500 to finish the cost of our trip. Thinking through different ideas to get to our goal of $2600, we came up with the idea of doing a bake sale. Immediately I thought of Hope Fellowship, my parents home church.

As a team our goal has always been that if we have a fundraiser, we need to make sure it gives back the the community in some way. What better way to do this than a bake sale. We raise money and you get some yummy treats. With the help of my parents, pastor's Paul and Scott along with many others, I took on this project to raise the rest that we needed.

Last Sunday (March 22nd) we came to Hope with presentation ready and the hope that the Lord would provide. I appreciated so much the fact that Hope allowed me to explain to the congregation not only about our trip and what we are planning on doing, but also the crisis that is happening within the sex industry in Athens.

After taking orders we headed home to see what the week ahead of baking would look like for us. Starting Wednesday, the smell of breads, cakes, cookies, pies and much more filled the house. I was SO thankful for the help of my parents, I couldn't have done it without them. And besides, if you know my family at all, you know my dad's home made pies are going to be worth it :). A week later (March 29th), was our delivery day. Bake goods after bake goods, we filled the foyer with goodies.

As I walked away from church that day, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the congregation. Not only did Hope buy their worth of bake goods that would provide for the rest of my trip, but much more. Our team has been so overwhelming blessed by this church and their hospitality and willingness to give. Hope is a huge part of our team now and a huge part of the ministry of Athens Greece.

Thanks to all of you at Hope! You will never know how the Lord has used you for our team!



Sunday, March 15, 2009

Bowl for a Buck!


Almost our whole team!


Sportin' Our Togas!


He won our trip $500!



The man himself. Thanks Dad!



Some great supporters!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

An update with only a few months to go!

Greetings with only about 11 weeks to go till I walk onto a plane and start a new adventure! Our trip planing is in full swing now and we have definitely hit the ground running! I am amazed at the blessings that myself and my team have experienced within only a few months. The Lord is good! I am happy and so very thankful to say that our team was the first team to meet the deadline for buying ALL of our plan tickets. We are officially going to Greece!!!! You all have blown me away by your support. THANK YOU! Your prayer and financial support has been much felt and much appreciated. I know there would be no way that I could even think about this trip without all of you!

A few updates:
* Pete from AMG international (Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel) has come in to Denver this week and it has been great to talk to him. He will be going on our trip with us. AMG was founded in the 1940's in Greece. Pete has been to Greece two other times and is very educated in the culture and happenings that are going on over there. AMG has been doing a great job of educating us on Greek Culture and getting us familiar with the land and people. Along with teaching us a few words such as YIA sas which in Greek means hi. Trust me, it is not said the same way it sounds. I tried :).
* Our team has been growing together as we have been preparing for this trip. In the next few weeks we will be involved in some of our biggest fundraiser. (Including a bowling fudraiser which my brother and dad are bowling in :) Please be praying for God's blessing on those fundraisers. But also that we will be able to bless the people around us that we are helping in these fundraisers. It has been fun to see God work and build our team closer and closer together as we prepare for our trip.
* As part of one of our fundraisers we are partnering with Jamba Juice in the Belmar shopping area. If you buy a drink from Jamba Juice between the days of Feb. 27-Mar. 1 20% of your entire purchase with benefit our trip to Greece.

I am continually amazed at how God is working through this trip! He amazes me at how He knows the desires of our hearts. If we walk in His will our desires match with His. I can not wait to see what the Lord does in Greece! I see how He shapes my heart a little more each day for the people of this ancient land. This is an exciting time and I am blessed to have you all walk with me in this journey!
I am hoping to have this blog be my journal of sorts for this trip. So if you wish, please be checking it before May and while I am in Greece.