Overwhelming...

On Tuesday morning, I was able to get in my “rave run” in Athens to view the Acropolis.  What a treat!  W and I have now joined up with J and C for the remainder of our travels.  Turns out…C is also a runner!  And, he is familiar with Athens!  So, we went on a 3 mile run together on trails around the Acropolis, up the mountain for an amazing view of the city.  So thankful for the gift of running and the opportunity it brings for me to see parts of cities when I travel.

 

 

After breakfast at the hotel, we walked about 1.5 miles through the city (rather than taking the metro) to get to our first ministry visit—Helping Hands Ministry.  This was a nice walk and we saw many different shops and sights.

 

 

We spent most of our day with Helping Hands, observing, learning and serving with them.  Helping Hands is a ministry to refugees in Athens.  Many of the refugee families are from Afghanistan and Iran.  They have program options each day of the week—meals a few times a week, ladies group, mens group, Bible studies, etc.  On days they serve meals, there are about 150 who come for the meal and maybe 30 that stay for a message after the meal.  They have childcare during that time.

 

Helping Hands also has another building in the city where they offer language classes for both English and Greek, therapy (dealing with trauma), other Bible studies, and just a safe place for people to come and have quiet conversations.  They have found that many of the people are eager to learn and welcome the opportunity to have a Bible.  They embrace the freedom they have to even have a Bible and read it!  The field is ripe for harvest!

The Greek churches are also involved in migrant ministry.

We met with Tasha and Alex, two of the leaders of the ministry.  We learned of many ways we could partner or send workers to them.  There is a need for both short term and long term workers.  We learned more of the process of what happens when refugees arrive in Athens.  Many come from Lesvos, when they receive their papers to move on to Athens.  What happens, though, is that they arrive in Athens, and may be in another refugee camp there.  There are 7 refugee camps in Athens.  While there are camps, sometimes what happens is that they cannot get into the camps until they have correct paperwork.  Different ethnic groups are assigned different days, once a week, to get the paperwork…and, they only take so many at one time.  So, maybe they take 50 for one day, but if you are number 51, you have to wait another entire week before you can try again!  So, many that come from Lesvos, are on the streets until they can get into a camp.  Helping Hands indicated that the group that they serve is probably a third from the streets, a third from camps, and a third that have made it to an apartment in Athens.

After learning much about the ministry, we were put to work.  The 3-4 hour time slot was divided into a few “shifts.”  First shift was really “welcoming” the people as they came in and visiting with them.  Second shift was serving the food.  Third shift was clean up and childcare.  We helped to serve the meal (soup, salad, bread and an orange).  The food was delicious!  (we ate after everyone was served J)  I helped Bev (a worker that has been serving there for 1 ½ years) with the toddlers. 

We debriefed with the group a bit and learned of more stories of some of the people there.  There ARE people that are choosing to become Christians.  So many are new to the faith.  I took only 2 photos and had them approved by the leadership team there to know if I could post them.  They do not allow any photos to be posted on social media unless they review – many of these people could face death for their choice in faith if they ever returned to their home country! 

Once we left Helping Hands, we took the metro to our next ministry visit—Hellenic Ministries.  This ministry has been around more than 20 years.  They have many areas of ministry and ways to get involved:  New Testament distribution, pregnancy crisis center, school to prepare children for Greek school, sports camps, church planting, womens and childrens ministries, skills training, and media ministries.  They also have various mercy ministries to get plugged in to.  The ministries reach out to both Greeks in need (part of the week) and refugees (another part of the week). 

Some sights along the way after we got off the metro:

Today, between the two ministries, we heard many overwhelming and powerful stories of courage:

·       A couple who came from Afghanistan with their children.  At some point, they got separated from their son and he was able to go on without them.  Their 10-year old son is Germany and they are stuck here.  They don’t know when they will see him.

·       A family with 2 children arrived on a boat from Turkey, the father handed their baby to their 8 year old daughter when he went back to get his wife.  When he came to the edge of the boat again, he didn’t see his baby, maybe the sister had dropped him.  They frantically searched for the baby and saw it floating on the water, not breathing.  They worked to resuscitate him and he started breathing!  (miracle #1)  They started to learn of Christianity and the father was against Christians.  Two months later, he was baptized!  (miracle #2)  His wife was not happy….however, 9 months later, she was also baptized!  (miracle #3)  This man had also been traveling with his parents, but had to leave them in Turkey.  He eventually learned that they were in Lesvos.  He went to Lesvos and shared his new faith with them, for 4 days.  His mother was baptized (miracle #4)  Later, his father also was baptized (miracle #5).  After all of this…this family had the option to go on to Germany and get a job and a new life (they were approved) but they have chosen to stay in Greece—he said he could better reach his people here in Greece!

·       Many other families who are separated from each other…not knowing if or when they will see each other again

The need for workers is great!  If you are reading this and have any interest in talking with me more about these options, please get in touch with me!

·       Long term workers (although it is hard for people from US to get a long-term visa)

·       Short term workers (3 months at a time)

·       Teaching English

·       Teaching skills – sewing, computer, music or learning instrument, carpentry

·       People who can speak Farsi

·       Administrative people

·       Experienced media people

·       Humble, flexible, resilient workers

This seems to be a strategic time…as I’ve said before, the world is coming to us.  There are many ways you can connect with refugees in your own hometown OR I can help you connect with ministries overseas.  Greece is a very open place (maybe the most open place) in the world to be able to share gospel. 

Tuesday was a hard day for me emotionally.  In many ways, much harder than my time at the camp.  To hear all that many have gone through and all of the loss.  It just breaks my heart.  My heart is even more burdened for the unreached. 

I was wiped out when we got back to the hotel on Tuesday night.  I feel like I’m coming down with a cold.  Please pray that I can fight it off.  I am staying hydrated and sleeping well.