First days on campus and a trip to the market!

Well, yesterday and today were our first days on campus meeting students for the year! It has given me an intro into what the rest of the year will look like. This time on campus has truly opened my eyes to how students view God, religion, and church. God is definitely not a part of their personal lives, and they are just so indifferent about life in general. Here is a glimpse of what these 2 days have looked like:

Monday Catherine and I met two girls, Christina and Georgia. They were sitting on some steps at U of A, both had long dark hair and were wearing the typical black shirts/skinny jeans ensemble of most Greek girls. We started a conversation and they asked where we were from and why we were in Athens. After small talk we told them we were with "Agape" (the European Campus Crusade) and wanted wanted to talk with students about their view of God and how to make him a part of their personal lives. The girls stared at each other and laughingly said they did not think God was personal at all.

Christina said she went to church at Christmas and Easter and only prayed when she needed help with something in life. Then after talking longer...

Georgia said: "Being able to talk to God is crazy. I have to depend on friends and myself in life, that is all there is."

Catherine: "Wow, that sounds really lonely to me."

Georgia: "Yes it is. Life is just lonely. We are on this earth alone and depend on ourselves."

It broke my heart to think of going through life on my own and having nothing to live for and nothing to rely on. This is just a picture of how the typical Greek student views life. We were able to get their numbers though and they said they would like to get together again this week...so we'll see what happens.

Today we met some very friendly students who all wanted to get together again for coffee (pretty much everything revolves around coffee here). And one girl even said what we do is "really cool" (praise the Lord!).

So that is how things have been so far. Please pray for more interested, curious students and lots of Greek friends!

On another note, Marta and I went to the market on Monday where all the local farmers sell their fruits and vegetables. It was one of the highlights of the past two weeks! A guy selling flowers even gave us each a red rose as we walked past. It felt like we were in a movie, so we took a picture. One of many more market trips I'm sure!!

Again, keep Athens in your prayers! We are on campus all week, so there will be more stories to come...