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.

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.

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!

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.)

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.

We are traveling to Eretria, Greece, about 30 miles outside of Athens by ferry and bus, on the island of Evia. It’s not the hottest tourist destination, but it is a beautiful retreat for the Ms. It’s surrounded by mountains and the Aegean Sea. We leave at 6 a.m. on June 22nd and will arrive in Greece around 8 a.m. on the 23rd. There is an 8 hour time difference between Nashville and Greece.

The worship team consists of Harry as the sound technician, me and Geoff as vocalists, Jay, Earl, Mike and Ben as musicians and Jeff as our worship leader. As we said in our letter, we are leading worship for a week-long conference for Ms in Central and Eastern Europe. The other members of our team are serving in other ways: Vicki is providing printed materials for the missionaries, Kelly is providing counseling services, Kristi is providing prayer support, and Duffy is our coordinator.

Here are a some prayer requests for the next two weeks as we prepare to leave:

• Praise God for His provision for this trip. We continue to be amazed and touched by the kindness of God’s people. Please pray that He will continue to provide for the other members of our team–financially, practically for their families.
• Pray for the Ms and the regions that they represent in Central and Eastern Europe. Pray that this will be a time for them to be renewed and encouraged in the gospel and with fellowship.
• Pray for the unity of our team. We only have one more team meeting before we leave and it’s finally starting to feel like a team. Please pray that God will use us to be a blessing to the Ms.
• Pray for Harry as he tries to communicate with the staff at the hotel regarding sound issues and equipment. Pray for me and the rest of the worship team as we learn the music.
• It has been a really stressful season for Harry and me recently. We are really looking forward to the time away, a chance to focus on ministry together, and for time to meditate on what God is doing around the world. Please pray that God will use this time to renew our likemindedness, our commitment to one another and our fervor for missions.
• Getting to the airport is going to offer some creative challenges because we have to be there at 4:30 a.m. and we are currently car-less, due to a string of circumstances over the past few months. Please pray that God will provide what we need.
• My passport renewal still has not arrived and getting in touch with the passport office has proven difficult to say the least. Please pray that it will arrive quickly.

Thank you for sending in your blue cards. If you haven’t sent yours in, please give them to us, or mail them whenever you get a chance. We really have been blessed by knowing how to pray for you. Also, let us know if you’d like to be added to the email updates by commenting below or emailing us directly.

Harry and I would have been totally hopeless without the help of his parents, Ed and Harriet. Their help pricing, sorting, arranging, haggling and tearing down was invaluable!! We are also very thankful for the people who donated their stuff to sell–so much stuff that we are going to have to have another sale!
We sold about 25% of the stuff we had to sell and made about $350, which we were very excited about! The only part we’re not excited about is the second yard sale we will be obligated to have with the other 75%. Oh well, it has to be easier once everything is sorted and priced, right???

And I still probably have no idea what is ahead of me. I’ve made signs that Harry has secured in the ground, posted on Craig’s list, gathered items from five different families, made posters for pricing and we’ve sorted. Boy, have we sorted. But the pricing–the thing that scares me the most–we’ve saved for tonight! Ah!

But I am clinging to the promise: if you price it, they will come! That’s a promise, right?