Harry and Andrea

Here, Harry and I are resting atop the Acropolis, home of the original Parthenon, after a very long and challenging hike. And let’s not even talk about how hot it was! This was the day that Harry drank about 3 liters of water in a couple of hours.

A view of Athens from the Acropolis

To see a few more photos of Greece, click on the Greece page at the top. Thanks again for supporting us in prayer and friendship. This post concludes the Greece portion of my blog. Thanks for reading! Check back for more musings about random stuff.

Thank you for your comments! They are very encouraging.

The smallest elevator in the world can be found in Athens, Greece! (I haven’t actually seen every other elevator in the world, but it’s the smallest one I’ve ever seen!)

A random photo that I like of Chalkida, a little town about 30 minutes from our hotel. To set your mind at ease, we did not walk down these steps. We did, however, get on the wrong bus and make it to the last bus leaving Chalkida with about five minutes to spare. This was after Harry had eaten a plateful of slightly cooked scallops that he was expecting to be grilled. Apparently, if it SEEMS like someone speaking a foreign language doesn’t understand your request in English, she probably doesn’t.

A few photos for your enjoyment…if I get any comments, I will consider posting more. Is anyone actually reading this stuff?

Here is the view from our “all-inclusive” resort hotel–meaning, of course, that we are asked not to flush our toilet paper, the shower curtain is really more for decoration and should not in any way be expected to keep the water off of the floor, air conditioning runs from 1-5 pm and then again from 10pm-2am (so that we can sleep on our twin beds for the Greek version of siesta and overnight), as well as an endless supply of cucumbers, tomatoes and feta for breakfast, lunch or dinner AND six pools in one–the only way to beat the Greece heat, where the sun stays directly overhead until after 5 p.m and sweating on the patio at breakfast is normal fare. Don’t feel too sorry for us, though. I mean, look at this view!

This is our team rehearsing to lead worship for the first day of the conference (Sunday). This would have been about 8 a.m. Greece time, about 1 a.m. Central Time–not that our bodies had any clue either way. It was such a sweet time of fellowship with gracious and grateful Ms–despite jetlag, and all of our (ok, my) stressing over singing parts and finer musical points. Note Harry’s perch above in the “Crow’s Nest”, which he arrived at by traveling through a boiler room inhabited by cats. One of the best parts of leading worship for a conference of Ms is hearing them blow you away with their passionate voices and being humbled by how grateful they are for the music you are providing. Even after rehearsing and traveling such a far distance, it doesn’t really seem like that much to offer these people who uprooted their families to move to a country and speak a language that is not their own because their hearts were moved to share their faith with a culture that does not know the One, True God. They are, of course, real people with real struggles like the rest of us, but I am always convicted by their faith to sacrifice comfort for a calling on their hearts.

Here we stand with the Aegean Sea behind us one night when we had a free moment to catch the sunset. Harry is clutching the 1.5 Liter (an absolute necessity for any extended time outside!) water bottle that sustained us in 110+ heat and unforgiving Mediterranean sun!

Yep, folks. That’s right. Call time at the airport will be 4 a.m. That means that people who live out in the stix have to get up at oh, let’s say somewhere around 2 or 2:15. Maybe I should have thought this through a little more before I asked people to pray for the arrival of my passport.

So, be sure and think of us while your fast asleep, cozy in your bed in the wee hours on Friday morning–or feel free to come out to the airport to see us off! Yea, right.

That’s it from this side of the Atlantic. Next time you hear from us, we may be eating baklava and fresh feta.

(Email one of us or comment if you want a copy of the prayer guide.)

We leave for Greece in one week and a little less than 24 hours. And, my passport is still MIA. According to the U.S. Passport Agency–or whoever answers their phone after an interminable wait and several failed attempts to get through, my request that my passport be expedited last Friday was ignored. And I was offered the chance to drive to Chicago or DC to get it in case it doesn’t come in. So, I should probably say, countdown to Greece, God-willing. Please pray that God will provide my passport soon!

Here are a few random facts about Greece to peak your interest:

• 98% of Greeks are Greek Orthodox
• It’s official name is The Hellenic Republic
• The weather today is ???
• Billy Zane is actually Billy Zanetakos, which is a Greek name. For a list of other celebrities with Greek heritage or to scan the Greek personals, see hellenism.net.
• The official Greek motto, which arose during the Hellenic Revolution is “Freedom or Death”. There are 9 lines in the Greek flag because of the 9 syllabus in the Greek pronunciation of this phrase.
• Ode on a Grecian Urn
• Greece is bordered by the countries Albania, the former Yugoslov Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey and the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.
• 2% of the people who live in Greece are not Greek in heritage.
• The sharing place for Balkan music and dance.

-Facts taken from hellenism.net.