Plugging Away

Days 5, 6, and 7 have just flown by!  It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day at St. Andrews :-(  

Days 5 and 6 were again busy, busy work days.  We have painted, drilled, anchored, sanded, spackled, and made level just about every surface we come in contact with in the last few days.  In fact today at the Acropolis we were discussing how best to use our skills to right a few of the columns that have gone wonky over the last 2500 years!

We have just fallen in love with the people we have met in our time at the church and had a WONDERFUL time worshiping the Lord together this morning.  After church we grabbed lunch to go and made our way to the Acropolis.  It was just a small hill to hike (said tongue in cheek!).  After viewing Athens from that magnificent height we descended to Mars Hill and had our picture taken at its base (see below).  

Tomorrow we will hit the kitchen and wash room with all the vim and vigor we've got left!

A part of the Paint Crew sporting their awesome headcoverings!

Up, down, up, down

The Team at the Areopagus (Mars Hill) in front of a plaque with Paul's Acts 17:22ff speech written in Greek.

After this, [The Team] left Athens and went to Corinth!

Temple ruin in the city of Old Corinth

Today was an amazing day of walking where Paul walked and using our imaginations to see what Corinth would have been like in his day.  Each one of us will read the stories in Acts and the writings of Paul in 1st and 2nd Corinthians in a new light as a result of this experience.

For dinner we completed our day as tourists with supper, family-style, at a WONDERFUL seafood restaurant looking out over the Saronic Gulf.  Many of us had octopus, squid, and/or sardines for the first time - what an experience!

Tomorrow it is back to the church for two intense days of work before taking a rest on Sunday to worship with the great people of St. Andrews and see Athens as tourists.  

It's a Transliteration...NOT a Translation

This scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a spot-on peek into our day today!  The leader of the Women's Bible Study's at St. Andrews was popping in and out today and during lunch she gave a very thorough explanation of how English words are often transliterations - not translations - of Greek words.  

We worked hard again today, continuing to demolish and renovate all at the same time!  There is now sheet rock on the walls in the kitchen, holes where there used to be none and no hole where there was one at the beginning of the week.  The 9,736 IKEA cabinets are all assembled and we are only short 2 screws!!!!  They just need their feet and then they can be installed in the kitchen.  The two 12 foot stairwell walls are completely plastered and sanded and are awaiting their fresh coat of paint!  As you can see it has been a very busy, full 2 days.  

A Visual Slice of Day 2

Ryan loves the morning commute!

Arriving at St. Andrews for Day 2

The DELICIOUS spread we find each morning for 'second breakfast',
morning coffee break,  lunch, and afternoon coffee break -
being on the Greek work schedule is AWESOME!
Your host church being an INTERNATIONAL church - AWESOME-R!
We are eating our way around the world this week!

The Kitchen after the mornings work.  The sheet rock was up by this afternoon but alas no pictures were taken  : - (

Those 9,736 IKEA cabinets Brian was working on yesterday - today Claire and Kenzie put 1 or 2 knobs or handles on each one!

Our Fearless Leader and 1/2 of the Cabinet Crew

Sam and Ryan demonstrating how to get double the use out of a ladder.

Jeanne working to make the wall smooth as glass after the plaster dried.

Barbie shows her dedication to the Cabinet Crew by becoming one with the cabinet!

Ben working hard in the kitchen!

Tomorrow we will live out Acts 18:1 which says, "After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth" Unfortunately, we have no Paul's on our team but you get the idea.  Check back tomorrow for pictures and stories!

Ladders, Roofs and Souvlaki's - Oh MY!

Our Day in Pictures

Bethel - Our home away from home for the week.

Ryan shows us how its done!

The Kitchen Remodel - BEFORE

Kenzie plasters from on high!

Afternoon Coffee Break on the roof of the church

"Only 9,736 more IKEA cabinets to assemble"

Souvlaki's (Gyro's) make for a yummy supper.

Today was a GREAT day.  It started out with an hour bus ride into Athens.  We saw the beautiful people and places of Athens up close and in person on our ride!  After arriving at the church we had our morning devo's, an orientation to the work we will be doing and a safety briefing.  Good to note: just because we prayed for safety doesn't mean we get to be stupid!  We got to work and after settling into our assigned tasks made great headway for day one!  We wrapped up our workday around 6:30pm, got cleaned up and headed out for supper.  After supper we had an hour bus ride back to Bethel house and then many of us lounged on our second story balcony, taking in the BEAUTIFUL night!

We're HERE!

All 15 of us, our carry-on's AND every piece of checked 

luggage arrived safely in Athens around 5:45pm Greece Time (CST +7)! 

We were met at the airport by Kim Garrity and a couple who attend the church where we will be working.  We have arrived at the retreat center where we will be staying, ate some supper, had a brief orientation meeting and are now working on settling into our rooms and preparing what we will need to start work tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning at 8am we will board a city bus and commute to downtown with the rest of the working population.  We are looking forward to seeing Athens by daylight, seeing the church for the first time and meeting tomorrows volunteers from the church.

Breaking News:  Hopefully the Tooth Fairy makes Trans-Atlantic flights - Claire just lost a TOOTH!

T-7

Seven days (or <168 hours) from now we will be on our first flight bound for Athens via London!  It’s hard to believe that a journey which started last fall is so close that packing lists are being made and clothing is beginning to be tossed in bags.  For those of you following along at home here is a bit more about what our mission to Athens will entail. 

We will be working with Kim Garrity, missionary partner of McKinney, at St. Andrews International Church (http://www.standrewsgreece.com) in downtown Athens.  Kim and his wife Jenny work with the EuroTeam arm of Greater Europe Mission organizing and leading work teams to complete building projects. Our team will be working to provide renovations at St. Andrews - a church which has a history of ministering to American ex-patriots and other English speaking ex-pats from around the world.  St. Andrews is currently expanding their ministry to intentionally reach the Greek-speaking population by moving their church from a suburb of Athens into the heart of downtown and by adding Greek translations of their services.

In Acts 17:16-34 Luke records Paul’s experience in Athens.  In verse 16 he tells us that Athens was a city full of idols and that Paul was distressed by all that he was seeing.  Today’s Greek culture is not much different from the one Paul encountered.  The once vibrant 1^st century church has been replaced by a works-based religion.  It is estimated that only 0.4% of the population are true followers of Jesus.  Greek society as a whole and the media and government specifically generally despise and occasionally persecute Evangelicals.  That pressure combined with a strong sense of nationalism has made modern missions and evangelism very challenging.     

This is why we are asking you to join us in praying not only for our short-term mission but for the long-term vision of Steve Dutton, pastor of St. Andrews, and his congregation as they too step Beyond the Known and follow God into uncharted territory; trusting He is already at work moving in the hearts of those who will soon call St. Andrews home.  

Meet Your 2011 Greece Team

2011 Greece Missions Team

L to R:  Ben,  Claire,  Bill,  Brian,  Elizabeth,  Ronald,  

Cristina,  Jeanne,  Angela,  Sam,  Kinzie,  Ryan,  Barbie,  Larry,  Fara

(Jeanne's Son is attempting to sneak in on the right, 

unfortunately his perpetual energy will not be traveling with us)

We depart Sunday March 13th.

Stay tuned for more information and to follow along on our adventure!