The end is near...

Well today is my last day in Athens. I seriously cannot believe how quickly this year pasted by. It's truly incredible. It feels like just yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my parents and eating my last Amy's ice cream in the Austin airport. I really do think time passes faster when you are in a foreign country. Ironically the pace of life is so slow here and days feel much longer than in the States...I'm going to miss that.

We wrapped up summer project on a three day cruise to see some islands and Ephesus...just so the students could see what they pictured in their mind before they came to Greece and saw only Athens. It was so encouraging to here what God taught these students this summer and what they learned about ministry. Here is an excerpt of what one Texas State student, Thom, wrote about everyone's experience:

"the last night on the boat we had a time where we all shared what we will take away from this trip...[some] realized that God had given them passions to pursue, others walked away with faith challenging (but deepening) questions like 'do i really believe the things that i'm sharing with these students, and if so, why am i not living like it.' some experienced for the first time what it felt like for someone to think you're an absolute fool for believing what you do, while others began to understand the growth in introspection of why we do the things we do. a couple praised God that during this trip, they began truly understand how much God really loves them and they walked away with a stronger love for the gospel."

Those are just a few things God did, as well as opened the eyes of many Greeks to view God and Christ in a way they never imagined before. I'll hopefully be able to share some of those stories another time...or just ask me when I'm back!

Today will be filled with continued packing, paying my last rent bill, defrosting my fridge, hopefully a last time with the Lord on Mars Hill, and finally my last goodbye to Eleni who has been one of my best and most loyal friends this year.

Please pray that I will appreciate and thank the Lord for everything as I walk through Athens for the last time (hopefully not forever). I truly have so much to be thankful for and have been blessed more than I could ever know by this amazing year. God is so good!

Thanks for all your prayers and I will be sending out my last update letter soon...and some more blogs about transition in the USA...crazy!

Yia Sas from Greece!!

Xronia Polla (to Me)!!

I have to admit that I usually have pretty high expectations for my birthday. Because its in the summer I have had the opportunity to celebrate this day on many family vacations and in all parts of the world, including New York, Hawaii, Branson (better than it sounds) and Hong Kong...haha :) Needless to say, this one had a lot to live up to. Despite these expectations, this might have been one of the absolute best birthdays yet! It actually ended up being a 3 day celebration, beginning on Thursday and ending on the real day itself, Saturday the 13th.

Thursday night started off the festivities with a "Texas Party" at our Steki. Marta and I had been wanting to plan a Texas night, but it never happened. But now with 35 Texans in Athens, one was bound to take place. The highlight of this was having Tom (a summer proj student) teach all the guys to two-step and seeing some of them paired with my Greek friends. It was such a cross-cultural night, with some Greek dancing thrown in...so memorable!

Our scheduled trip to Corinth was supposed to be a relaxing day of reading under a tree while everyone climbed the high fortress in the ancient city (i've done it twice already), a great meal at Nikos, and a few hours WATCHING people bungy jump at the Corinth Canal. Little did I know I would be a jumper as well. YES, I BUNGY JUMPED!! As a release form was thrust into my hands, I was told that people had pitched in to pay for my jump...for my birthday. Oh Gosh. I was in shock. Shaking. Silent. Heart beating a million miles per second. Could I really jump 300 feet in the Corinth Canal?? Well, yes, I could and I did!! Seriously one of the most phenomenal experiences of my life. I highly recommend it ;) Thanks everyone for that amazing gift!!

My 23rd birthday itself started with a morning pancake breakfast at the Apels. Then Jonah Apel (age 7) took me on a date to get ice cream and play Skip-Bo ;) His dad is teaching him well!! I fit in some shopping, and then watched a movie and ate cake with our team at the Apels that night.

I could not have asked for a better day...or days. Thanks to everyone who made this day so special! It was great to feel so loved while so far from friends and family at home. My 23rd year was a year I will never forget!

and it begins...

SUMMER PROJECT 2009 has arrived!! We had 38 people arrive in Athens last night to begin their 5 weeks of ministry on the college campuses in the city. It was pretty overwhelming to get onto the charter bus from the airport with almost 40 extra people than when we arrived. I officially felt like I was part of a tour group in a city I lived for 9 months. The next few days will consist of touring them around Athens, introducing them to the campuses and beginning training for ministry. As busy and tiring as the days ahead will be, I am also excited to see that God has brought SO many people to be witnesses for His name in Athens. I can't wait to see what new relationships will start and to see how God is going to use these students to proclaim the Gospel to the college students of Greece! I think big things will happen this summer!

Things to pray for:
-Great community and relationships in and between the 2 teams that are here (one from Grace Bible Church in College Station and one from Crusade).
-For encouraging experiences on campus for these students...that God will lead them to Greeks He has already prepared for them to meet.
-That this summer will really get the "Agape Greece" name out on campus and that Greeks will know why our organizations exists and will begin to get involved!
-For Greek students to hear and understand the Gospel and will commit their lives to Christ and follow Him for a lifetime!

Thanks for your prayers and I'll be sure to update more on the excitement and adventures of this summer!

My time in HPA (aka USA) and since...

Well, again it's been awhile since my last update, and lots has happened in the past few weeks. During the second week of our break I had the opportunity to go home for my friend Lindsay's wedding! I have known Lindsay since we were 3 years old and it was so great to be there for her special day. She looked absolutely stunning and I am so happy that she has found someone so great to spend her life with. She looked incredibly happy! I stole this pic from her photog's facebook, but isn't it wonderful?

During my time home I also got to see my amazing friends in College Station and Austin, and got two special visits from Courtney in Houston and Margaret in San Antonio! I don't think I realized how much I had missed the relationships I have at home until I got to see them all again after so long. Its just so great to feel known and to be able to converse so easily! (without language barriers!!) The time was so refreshing and I am so blessed to have that little slice of home in my year here.(I was so glad to go to Blue Baker AND Fritella...two great CS staples!)

Since being back everything has been in full swing. I met up with my Greek friends who I hadn't seen in over 2 or 3 weeks since Easter. Some of my friends still seem very interested in spiritual things and I am going deeper in my friendships with them. Other girls have been harder to get in touch with and don't seem as interested in Agape or spiritual things at all. So just pray that God will draw them to himself or for new contacts who want to experience God in their lives!

Spring in Greece is not complete without a trip to an island, so I managed to fit that into my schedule as well. Our friend, Erin, who is stinting in Spain came for a weekend and and visited the beautiful island of Paros. I feel like I stand in awe of God's amazing every time I see a Greek island. They are ablsolutely breathtaking. We soaked up some rays, admired the white-washed walls, and just did nothing for 2 days on the beach. It was perfect.

(We got teeny tiny ice cream cones that were delicious)

Some prayer requests are:
-That preparation for the Summer Project goes well...they arrive on the 27th of May.
-For the health of our team in the next week as things start getting really busy.
-For my friends Carolina and Eleni who have the most spiritual interest of any of the girls I know...that God would really reaveal himself to them and increast their faith!

Thanks so much...I appreciate all who read this!!

Χριστός Ανέστη!

...He is Risen! One of my favorite things about being in Greece right now is that I get to celebrate Easter twice. As you know, Easter for the Protestant and Catholic church was last weekend and Easter for the Orthodox church is tomorrow! We have had this week off and all of the students have left Athens to celebrate the holiday with their families. I have truly enjoyed celebrating Christ's resurrection this week and for some reason it feels more real this year than ever before. I have been reading through the Gospels over the past few months and continue to be incredibly thankful for Christ's sacrifice. This time of year has given us many opportunities to share the Gospel with our friends and I pray that conversations about Christ's live and death will continue even after the 2 week holiday.

Some fun events of the Easter weeks were...

Attending the Son Rise service on Philipapou Hill, overlooking the Acropolis, was incredible. The service was composed of Evangelical churches from around Athens, including Germans, Koreans, and Indonesians. It was morning service I will never forget!

That same day my friend Meridith came to Athens as a stop on her world cruise!! It was great to show her around the city, introduce her to Greek food, attempt to find Nutella, and meet a man who had never seen a credit card before :) I loved spending the day with her!

For two days I got to go home with my friend Eleni again. I love her family and they are always so welcoming to me. Sadly my Greek had not improved since the last time I visited, but we had some really great conversations in English! She opened up to me about her doubts about God's existence and said she really just wants to know what she beleives. Please pray that I will have the words to say and that God will reveal himself to her!

Tonight we are going to the Orthodox church and attending the Easter service. This starts at 11 and ends a little around midnight. Please pray that tonight the life, death and resurrection of Christ will have new meaning and importance.

Thanks for your prayers and I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter too!

Freely You gave it all for us surrendered your life upon that cross great is the love poured out for all this is our God... ~Hillsong

Marvelous Meteora!

A couple of weeks ago Amy J kindly offered her car and driving services to Marta and I for the 3 of us to take a road trip to Meteora, a city about 4 hours north of Athens. This is a place I had been wanting to see for awhile after hearing how beautiful it is from others who had gone. I have to say though that no pictures or descriptions could describe how absolutely breathtaking the landscape actually was. Formations of rock stretch like towers to the sky with old, stone monestaries and nunnaries built on the tops as if trying to reach toward God himself.

Here are just a few pictures, that sadly don't do the place justice, for you to get a small glimpse of this amazing place:

(Marta overlooking one of the monasteries)

Longhorns in Athens

This past week we had another Vision Trip come to Athens! This team was from UT in Austin and it was great to talk about my wonderful hometown with people who live there (even if they were longhorns...). God did so much here this week and I just wanted so share some of the stories and encouraging things that happened.

-One day on campus I met a group of 3 girls and 1 guy with another women on staff. We approached this group, asked about their finals, and began to tell them about our program. We asked them what they thought of God and what is was like living in a place with such a strong Orthodox culture. The guy spoke up saying he was not Orthodox, but Protestant, and attends an Evangelical church. All the girls looked at him like he was crazy saying "really? we had no idea." They have all been friends for a year and a half. I pray this will open the door for him to share about his belief in God with these non-believing girls and that they will have discussions of faith more often.

-This week the UT students said they were so encouraged by how easy it was to start conversations with Greeks. It gave them confidence to be more intentional on the UT campus and to have the boldness to approach non-believers and to share their faith more openly with their friends.

-We had the opportunity to meet lots of international students this week and volunteer with a ministry to serve food to refugees. It made me realize that our ministry here does not only affect Greeks, but people around the world. Greece is such an international city and I believe God is going to use these students to truly reach the world for Christ!

It was so great to have a new, fresh group of students in the city. Pray that we will be able to follow up with the Greek students that were met this week. Also, that the trip will have a lasting impact in the lives of every UT student that came...and that they will be more bold in sharing their faith on campus in Austin.

Thanks and Gig'em :)

(hook'em and gig'em in Corinth)

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations."
(Psalm 67:1-2)

Spring Fever!

Again, sorry for the lack of updates on my blog recently...I need to get better at this...

The past few weeks have been a little slow in our ministry because the students were in their final exams. They pretty much don't study EVER during the year and then read 2000 pages of material in the 2 weeks before and during their tests. Needless to say, its kinda hard to get in touch with them. Finally, however, they are done and things are starting to pick up!!

Some of the highlights of the past couple weeks were...

-Going to a "Carnival" party with my friend Eleni and sporting a fabulous green wig (top pic)
-Seeing "Slumdog Millionaire" with our team and 3 Greeks (LOVED it...except for the fact that the subtitles for the parts spoken in Hindi were in Greek...so that was a language lesson)
-Getting an 83 on my Intermediate Greek final exam
-Continuing to volunteer with a ministry that serves dinner to refugees on Monday nights
-Getting to tell friends I'm praying for their finals...it's amazing how much that means to them
-Watching the final of the "The Bachelor" and getting caught up in all the drama as usual :)
-Spending a day by the ocean with the Lord admiring His beautiful creation and the crystal clear waters off the coast.
-Picnicking and joining the Greeks in flying kites near the Acropolis for "Clean Monday"...the day before they fast for lent (pictured in the middle).
-Some of us going to coffee with 3 guys met during the summer project and having great conversations about the Lord. One is really searching and one is really interested in coming to our Bible study.
-Taking a day trip to the ancient Epidavros theatre (pictured at the bottom)
-Starting a Bible study in our office and having my friend Carolina come!! (HUGE praise report!!)
-Booking tickets to Cairo, Egypt for our next visa trip!

That about sums it up for now. I will fill you in on what is to come this week. We do have a Vision Trip coming tonight from UT and they will be here until next Saturday. Pray that God will use them on these campus to spread the word about "Agape Greece" and share the gospel with interested students.

Thanks so much for your prayers as always...and I'm having Texas withdrawls like CRAZY!!

I ate bunny...

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go home with my friend Eleni. She lives in Halketha, about an hour from Athens. She invited me to go with her a couple weeks ago and I had no idea what to expect when I arrived. It was definitely the most "Greek" experience I have had since arriving here, and probably the most fun!

Eleni and her cousins are involved in Scouts (like boy scouts and girl scouts, but co-ed) and are leaders for a group of students. I got to be involved in their program Saturday and then went to a Carnival dance for all the scouts and their parents that night. Carnival is pretty much the same as Mardi Gras, but with Halloween costumes. About two days before we left I was told we were going to be "pigs in sacks"...haha. Apparently something to do with a Greek saying, but I still had no idea what it really meant. I learned two different Greek dances and we spent the entire night, eating and dancing until 2 am!

Sunday we went to her aunt and uncle's house for a typical "Sunday Lunch." The amount of food at this lunch was more than any Thanksgiving meal I have ever had. They had a huge BBQ that they filled with pork, lamb, chicken and sausage...along with pasta, salad, spinich pastries, and the crowning course...bunny. I told them they should just say "rabbit" so I didn't think I was eating some cute, fluffy, easter bunny...but the name stuck. The meal ended with a serving of chocolate mouse for everyone AND a cake.

The weekend was wonderful, but the hightlight was probally sitting on the couch with her Grandmother who speaks NO english, and having her ask me about my views on Barak Obabma and George Bush...haha. Just imagine.

I defintiley have a better understanding of Greek culture after last weekend and hope to go back again! Here are some pics form the Carnival party:

sowing seed

In the past couple months (since Christmas) I have seen God move here in Athens more than any other time since I have arrived. I had heard how hard the soil was in Greece, but didn't fully understand until I came here and began to talk to these students. It seemed that in the first months I was here students did not have much interest in spiritual things, but I have slowly seen my friends open up and have a desire to know more about Christ. It has reminded me of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."

Sometimes my words fall on the deaf ears, and sometimes they fall on shallow hearts, but every once in awhile they fall on the rich, deep soil of people who desire to know God in a personal way. I am so thankful of the rich soil in my life right now. God is tilling the ground and planting seeds that I pray will produce a crop that multiplies far beyond what I can sow.

Please pray for four girls in particular: Ioanna, Christina, Carolina and Eleni. They have all expressed interest in Christ and I know God is pursuing their hearts. He is the divine sower and I am grateful he uses me to plant seeds.

...

Other requests:
-I am going to Eleni's hometown with her this weekend...pray for great conversation, deepened relationship and opportunites to talk about Christ.
-Pray against spiritual warfare: As we are seeing fruit, the devil is doing all he can to thwart our plans.
-Pray for our friends as they take finals...that God would bring them peace on comfort.

Thank you all so much!

I'm going to Spain!!

At exactly 6:40am tomorrow morning I am going to our Mid-Year conference in Nerja, Spain! This is a conference for all the STINTers in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. I will be there for one week attending talks, sharing stories of what God is doing in this area of the world, and enjoying sunshine and the beach!

Please pray for safe and uncomplicated travel, for encouragement and relaxation for everyone attending, and that we will receive new ideas to better our ministry in Athens!

In other news...

We had another party at our Steki on Friday night and had 17 students attend! An all-time record! We played games, ate snacks, enjoyed each other's company, and tried to talk about God whenever possible, if the time arose. It is fun to see the students we have met meet and talk with one another. They are starting their own friendships that we pray will grow into a ministry of Christian believers in God's timing. Please pray for continued fellowship!

Also, last week our team took a trip up to Kalavrata, a city rumored to have snow AND skiing. We all had our doubts. Snow in Greece?? Really? Well, we were gladly proved very wrong and spent a day enjoying the beauty of snow-covered mountains. Here are some pics to distort any preconceived notions you might have had about sunny, sandy Greece...

This one I just added to comemorate the first visit to my favorite store and home-away-from-from for three years of my life. I went shopping with Paul and Catherine on the first day of "Sale Season" and this was our first stop...I just had to take a picture :)

answered prayers!

This is our first week back after the holidays and I was surprised how much I missed my Greek friends and how ready I was to get back on campus. We have been praying that our friends would be available to meet this week and that they would initiate with us. This week both those prayers have been beyond answered!

Friday night I invited Carolina to watch a movie at my apartment. We watched "Get Smart"...really funny actually...and then talked a little afterward. She took a "More Than a Carpenter" book to read last month and I asked her if it had been read. She said it hadn't, but that she hadn't forgotten. She is reading a philosophy book right now and said "While I'm reading philosophy, might as well read religion too." Hopefully we will get to discuss the book soon!

Then Sunday I got a text message FROM Eleni. She just arrived back in Athens and asked ME to get coffee with her that day. We walked to a little cafe in the neighborhood and talked for a little over an hour. She is so interested in our "program" and asked me what website to go to so she could register and join...haha. She is such a blessing to me right now and I think is the most like me. She reminds me of a friend I would have in the States...another provision from the Lord.

Today I went to lunch with Ioanna. She is super intelligent and motivated to do something with her life. She wants to study abroad, travel, and one day work for the UN. I have never had a spiritual conversation with her, but today God directed our conversation perfectly. She believes in God and thinks it's important to believe in a higher power. She also said, "No one has ever told me what it means to be Christian" I was SO excited!! I was able to share the Gospel with her (although sadly not very well I think), but we are going to meet up again and go through a "Knowing God Personally" book in Greek to help with the language barrier.

Both Eleni and Ioanna want to get together to read and discuss the Bible! Yet another answer to our prayers.

Pray for:
-A game night we are having on Friday for all our friends-all three girls said they want to come!
-That God would protect the interest all these girls have in Him.
-For open schedules and opportunities for follow-up meetings.
-That God would continue to open opportunities to share the Gospel and meet with ALL our friends.

Thanks so much for your prayers...I am seeing their effects first hand!

hello. goodbye.

These two words have been the essence of the past month of my life. While so fun, this time has been the busiest of the entire year (as you have probably noticed from lack of blog updates) Just to give you an idea, here is an outline of events during this time:

Dec. 12: Hello to the GBC Vision Trip
Dec. 21: Goodbye GBC Vision Trip
Dec. 22: Hello family!
Dec. 30: Goodbye family L
Dec. 31: Goodbye 2008
Jan. 1: Hello 2009
Jan. 1: Hello Nottingham, England
Jan. 5: Goodbye Nottingham, England

I would love to update in detail of every event, but will just give you some highlights and pictures of each one. So this might be a little long, but you can now get caught up on my life if you so desire. It’s been fun, crazy, new, emotional, exhausting, and exciting!

Vision Trip

As mentioned in my last post, a group from Grace Bible Church joined our ministry here for 10 days. These people could not have been more of a blessing to me during that time. They were all so eager to share the Gospel and equally as eager to prayer walk the campus when students shut down the schools. Although they did not get to meet as many students as they were probably expecting, they had the best attitudes and saw Christ in every situation. I loved their company, their genuine desire to follow the Lord, their passion for the Gospel, and their fun personalities. I seriously cried when they left. It was such a fun, joyful week!

Merry Family Christmas

I was so blessed to have my entire family come and visit me in Athens for Christmas! They arrived 3 days before Christmas and stayed for 8 days. We stayed in a wonderful little flat in the center of the city, close to all the Christmas festivities. We enjoyed the Christmas tree, a carousal ride, Santas smoking cigarettes, miniature ponies, and clowns…kind of a weird mix between Christmas and a crazy carnival. We did have an enjoyable Chistmas meal, brunch at the Apel’s house, a trip to the Acropolis, and plenty of Greek food! It was so wonderful to show them my world and enjoy the holidays as a family. I already miss them so much!!

New Years

New Years day was spent at the McGuffy’s house and was a bittersweet celebration. While we had a great time, it was also the last time our entire team was together in one place (the Huddleston’s are moving to Russia in a couple weeks). We at wonderful food, played games, and did a gift exchange! The Greeks open their gifts on New Years day, so we followed the tradition. I received a wonderful icing spreader and cake decorator from Paul...so I can perfect my cake making skills!!

I still cannot believe it is 2009!! I feel like the years have gone by so fast. Was I not just graduating high school in 2004?? I think God has been showing me how fleeting our lives truly are and how little time we have to do His work here on Earth. I am so blessed to be doing it though!

Fireseeds Conference

Three weeks ago Andrew and I found out we would be attending the “Fireseeds” conference in Nottingham, England! This was a conference put on by Agape (the European Campus Crusade) and held for college students and recent graduates. We attended the conference with 2 Greek students from Thessaloniki, Sophia and Kimon. The conference centered around encouraging students to bring the Gospel to the nations. The best part was hearing of Sophia and Kimon’s desires to go on mission trip and share God’s world with others. This is exactly what we are praying for in the lives of Greek students. One day we hope to be sending groups of Greeks to the world with the Gospel of Christ!

There was also a GREAT band that played called “Bluetree.” Definitely worth checking out if you’re interested!

~~~

So there it is! My past 3 weeks in a nutshell. My New Years resolution is to update my blog more often…so get ready! Talk to you again soon!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3)