on the coast past the temple poseidon
at the top of mars hill
there is graffiti everywhere! i kinda like how it looks.
Eating my first gyros! (it costs to sit at a table to eat!!!)
i just love these girls!
Calle, Mary Beth, and I
Its a good thing im not afraid of heights!
It's all a matter of goodluck!
By the shore.
Temple Poseidon, on the rocksA new day in Athens! the bus did not depart from the Artemis until 10 a.m. so we all had a chance to get some extra sleep and catch up from jet lag. As always, i was the last one on the bus because i forgot my whisper set in my room, which is on the fourth floor. :) so i got my work out for the morning. i found a spot in the back of the bus next to some missionaries from china who know our directors. They were really nice people, and talked alot of their travels and time in China. Currently, they are teachign english to students and then they invite them into their homes if they find interest of the Gospel. I love hearing about their work. Someday i would love to do something in this line of work.
Our bus, another mercedes bentz, dropped us off in the middle of Athens somewhere, where we were to attend church service. The congregation was mostly Greek, and had a few Russians. The directors translated the Greek into English while we were singing. The leader did not understand that we had a personal pa system and were already hearing the translation, so he translated at the end of everything that was said. :) it was great. Hearing the Greek sing was beautiful, so powerful. I could recognize the tune of some of the songs and a few times as a group we joined in with english. i cannot describe how it made me feel. it put a smile on my face and gave me the chills. We sang a few songs in English by ourselves as well, and then some Russian hymns were sang. I had a hard time understanding the message because my head set was cutting out.
After worship we had time to mingle with the members. and wait until you hear this story!!! Calle was like, i think i know that lady. But what are the odds right. so we walked up to her and she was like do you by chance have a daugheter...did she by chance go to libscomb? and SHE DID!!!! this lady is the ONLY greek lady that calle knew. and she was in the SAME CHURCH THE SAME DAY THAT WE WERE HERE!!!! it was sooo crazy! this lady has stayed at calle's house many tiems and now we run into her in Greece! God works in the most mysterious ways!!
sooo more about our day...
after church we walked through the streets in Athens and looked for sunglasses and watches for some people. note... do not laugh when around vendors. they think you are making fun of them. trust me. for awhiel we walked through the streets and observed until we came to this restaurant called zabbas, i think. it is here that i experience my first gyros!! and it was heavenly! gyros are pita bread with chicken or pork, (chicken is better) and a mayo sour cream sauce, onions, tomatoes, and a type of red seasoning. they were pretty cheap too. 1.8 euro. i could eat those all year long! calle, seth and i went to sit at a table to enjoy our prized meal and the waiter came over to tell us that it costs money to sit down and eat. sooo... we sat on a doorstep down the alley.
after our gyros we were given about 45 minutes to wander through the marketplace. i went with a small group and we looked through many of the shops and found lots of things we wanted to buy but withheld the urge to spend money. there was a beautiful leather bag i was determined to buy. i mustered up my best greeek and said poso... (forgot the rest of the sentence) and the lady said 65. as in 65 euro. sadly... i didn't get it. but ir eally do need to buy a satchel of some sort. i did not bring a purse, and i am a girl. please make the connection. idea gone wrong. im sure there are many places to buy bags along the way though, and then it will be authentic.
we maneuvered our way through the alleyways and foudn ourself back at the meeting place ahead of schedule. THATS RIGHT! calle and i were on time! better yet...early. this moment was marked down in history and noted by our directors. after everyone arrived, we were off to climb mars hill and the acropolis. unfortunatley, after our ascent of the mountain, the gate to the acropolis had closed ten minutes prior to our arrival. after the new year began the site viewing closed at 3 p.m. rather than 5 p.m. Therefore, we had to improvise and had time to make our tirp as itneresting as possible. Personally i like it better when we just go with the flow. We climbed through the mountain ish area and came to mars hill, which is where paul gave his address to the ariopagus. i believe it was in acts 17. apparently he moved, but the site is still historic. while on top of the hill we took many photos and then sat down for a devo. we began to improv sing praise to the Lord, and it was glorious! sitting on the same place that paul was, breathing the same air, worshiping the same Lord. Time is our only separation. I wish i could see it through Paul's eyes. As we worshiped, i was able to look out across the entire city of Athens. All i could see for miles, and into the distance were houses, buildings, stores: People. I wonder how many of those people know Christ, and the power of his healing. How many of those people have experienced the joy of His presence. And then the faces of the people i have been blessed to spend the next three months with. The voices ringing off the mountain top and escalating into the ears of others. We were surrounded by people. Many stared, and watched as we praised our God and our Father. Some filmed, and some came to converse with us after. How many people questioned God, or even understood the words that came from our lips?
I met a couple after our devo who are musicians from Greece. I forgot what town they are from, but we are travelign to it in march. Our director Rebecca invited them to come to our Hotel and spend time with us. The lady was played the piano and the man played the guitar. They could not fathom how we are all not musicians and could sing with such clarity, and such harmony. I don't know if they know the Lord, but how great would it be if just by our simple act of singing, they came to know Christ.
As of this point we made our way back down the hil in a different direction where our directors had not been before. Socrates prison was in one of the rock walls.
Our bus, another mercedes bentz, dropped us off in the middle of Athens somewhere, where we were to attend church service. The congregation was mostly Greek, and had a few Russians. The directors translated the Greek into English while we were singing. The leader did not understand that we had a personal pa system and were already hearing the translation, so he translated at the end of everything that was said. :) it was great. Hearing the Greek sing was beautiful, so powerful. I could recognize the tune of some of the songs and a few times as a group we joined in with english. i cannot describe how it made me feel. it put a smile on my face and gave me the chills. We sang a few songs in English by ourselves as well, and then some Russian hymns were sang. I had a hard time understanding the message because my head set was cutting out.
After worship we had time to mingle with the members. and wait until you hear this story!!! Calle was like, i think i know that lady. But what are the odds right. so we walked up to her and she was like do you by chance have a daugheter...did she by chance go to libscomb? and SHE DID!!!! this lady is the ONLY greek lady that calle knew. and she was in the SAME CHURCH THE SAME DAY THAT WE WERE HERE!!!! it was sooo crazy! this lady has stayed at calle's house many tiems and now we run into her in Greece! God works in the most mysterious ways!!
sooo more about our day...
after church we walked through the streets in Athens and looked for sunglasses and watches for some people. note... do not laugh when around vendors. they think you are making fun of them. trust me. for awhiel we walked through the streets and observed until we came to this restaurant called zabbas, i think. it is here that i experience my first gyros!! and it was heavenly! gyros are pita bread with chicken or pork, (chicken is better) and a mayo sour cream sauce, onions, tomatoes, and a type of red seasoning. they were pretty cheap too. 1.8 euro. i could eat those all year long! calle, seth and i went to sit at a table to enjoy our prized meal and the waiter came over to tell us that it costs money to sit down and eat. sooo... we sat on a doorstep down the alley.
after our gyros we were given about 45 minutes to wander through the marketplace. i went with a small group and we looked through many of the shops and found lots of things we wanted to buy but withheld the urge to spend money. there was a beautiful leather bag i was determined to buy. i mustered up my best greeek and said poso... (forgot the rest of the sentence) and the lady said 65. as in 65 euro. sadly... i didn't get it. but ir eally do need to buy a satchel of some sort. i did not bring a purse, and i am a girl. please make the connection. idea gone wrong. im sure there are many places to buy bags along the way though, and then it will be authentic.
we maneuvered our way through the alleyways and foudn ourself back at the meeting place ahead of schedule. THATS RIGHT! calle and i were on time! better yet...early. this moment was marked down in history and noted by our directors. after everyone arrived, we were off to climb mars hill and the acropolis. unfortunatley, after our ascent of the mountain, the gate to the acropolis had closed ten minutes prior to our arrival. after the new year began the site viewing closed at 3 p.m. rather than 5 p.m. Therefore, we had to improvise and had time to make our tirp as itneresting as possible. Personally i like it better when we just go with the flow. We climbed through the mountain ish area and came to mars hill, which is where paul gave his address to the ariopagus. i believe it was in acts 17. apparently he moved, but the site is still historic. while on top of the hill we took many photos and then sat down for a devo. we began to improv sing praise to the Lord, and it was glorious! sitting on the same place that paul was, breathing the same air, worshiping the same Lord. Time is our only separation. I wish i could see it through Paul's eyes. As we worshiped, i was able to look out across the entire city of Athens. All i could see for miles, and into the distance were houses, buildings, stores: People. I wonder how many of those people know Christ, and the power of his healing. How many of those people have experienced the joy of His presence. And then the faces of the people i have been blessed to spend the next three months with. The voices ringing off the mountain top and escalating into the ears of others. We were surrounded by people. Many stared, and watched as we praised our God and our Father. Some filmed, and some came to converse with us after. How many people questioned God, or even understood the words that came from our lips?
I met a couple after our devo who are musicians from Greece. I forgot what town they are from, but we are travelign to it in march. Our director Rebecca invited them to come to our Hotel and spend time with us. The lady was played the piano and the man played the guitar. They could not fathom how we are all not musicians and could sing with such clarity, and such harmony. I don't know if they know the Lord, but how great would it be if just by our simple act of singing, they came to know Christ.
As of this point we made our way back down the hil in a different direction where our directors had not been before. Socrates prison was in one of the rock walls.
1. I laughed and even read to sara out loud about you leaving your whispering set in your room. We think you're silly and that is a very typical meghan thing to do.
ReplyDelete2. In Guatemala we always go to this church that sings very american worship songs, but in Spanish, and sometimes I can sing them in Spanish and sometimes just English, but I know that chills feeling you got. It is the most amazing worship I have EVER experienced. Hopefully in a couple weeks you'll be able to sing with them in Greek :)
3. They sell greek gyros here on campus and first I LOVE them and second I can't even tell you howwwwww badddddly I wanna try one IN GREECE! Tom tried one last semester when he was there and talked about it for like 2 months.
4. Isn't it weird how they charge you over there at restaurants to sit down? Watch out for that when you free travel too.
5. Dude how are you carrying everything without a purse? Get one. stat. But don't spend 65 euro :S that is tooo ridiculous. That's like... 90 bucks! ish.. You'll find one. Even if it's dumpy 5 euro one, get something to carry your camera and money and stuff. Then get a better one.
6. Starting to get jealous about you seeing Biblical sites. :) But don't hold back. Am LOVINGGGG reading about your travels to places I just read about in the NT. Plus I get to go later this year or early next year so... LOVE IT!
7. Write more write more! I am going to demand you write all the time. :) loveeeee reading all your experiences!!!