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!!