Two days into Greece already and I am so thankful that the travel days are over. As fun as they were, they were super exhausting and now I get to start ministry in Greece! During the travel days my squad had a 16 hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey. This layover could have been really boring but we filled it with a free cruise and dinner through our airline! The small cruise was beautiful and we got to walk through some busy streets in Istanbul during the night. For dinner, we had lamb, vegetables, and some dessert that I have never seen before. What could have been a really boring layover turned into my first out of country experience!

The next morning we made it to our apartments in Greece around 10:30am and then got to walk around the city of Thessaloniki for a bit. Then, surviving off of very minimal airport sleep, we had to go grocery shopping. Who would have thought that it is very difficult to grocery shop for 8 guys when you can't read to understand anything. Good news though, we made it out and had food to eat! After we went grocery shopping and ate dinner we all went to bed around 7pm and some even earlier because of the lack of sleep.

After two days, I'm getting into a little bit of a rhythm of the time change. Ministry will be most days from 2-8pm and then we will have an adventure day and a sabbath each week. In Greece ministry is going to be a lot of street evangelism and hanging out with the locals. We will be focusing on people that can speak English, and some of the younger generation. Additionally, I will be helping to lead the making of discipleship videos for future people that partner with Hope for Greece. Overall, ministry will be filled with lots of conversations, sports, and coffee meet ups!

My living space is pretty tight and I'm currently sleeping on a couch but all is well as long as the AC works. What better way to grow closer to my team than living tightly with everyone😂. In all seriousness, living close together will definitely become a challenge and stretch each person on the team to learn how to love even when the situation is not the best. We need to remember why we are here and that the Lord has called each person here for purpose and our goal is to spread the Gospel to lots of people. Sometimes sacrificing comfort is necessary to answer the call of God.

Isaiah 61: 1-3...

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

Those who believe in the Lord are filled with his Spirit and have the power of the Lord inside of them. Walk in confidence from the Lord and draw near to his Spirit inside of you.

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