So today is the day! I finally come home.... well almost. I leave today yes, but I am staying in london overnight and then flying at 10:30 AM tomorrow morning and will get back in the states at about 2-2:30ish. CRAZY, but let me tell you the wait is killing me. having a flight at nighttime is DEFINITELY not a bright idea. Because when the other interns leave at different times and you are left alone, you get kinda bored. Right now I am waiting in the airport and don't leave til 9:10.... my flight was suppose to leave at 7:10 which will get me into london probably around 11:30 pm or so. Which now resorts me to buying time until my flight.... here is what I've found... As you can see waiting does me no good. BUT as for Greece I will miss you. I will miss all the wonderful people I got to work with, and most importantly I will miss every Refugee that touched this little heart of mine. I'll continue to pray for each of them. Please pray for the team. There will be lots of people leaving to raise support and get their paper work taken care of, so they will be short of hands which is no bueno. And pray for my roommates; Tiffany and Jessie, with the next steps of their lives as for me. Hello adventure here I come. Thank you so much for staying in tune with this blog and supporting me with not only your contributions, but also your prayers! Thank you thank you thank you. God truly did bless this time while I was here. So thanks again! May God bless you today and days to come!
OH pray for safe travels today and tomorrow for me :) THANKS
The final week is here. Actually the last 4 days is here. We have done 3 of the 5 parties. Two more left. And it is getting hard to say goodbye. Tuesday was probably the hardest. The women from the Shower Day, came with all of their families. This was the first time I saw everyone in their family, and it didn't make it any easier. Tears were shed, hugs were given, and kisses on the cheek and thanks for blessing each others lives were exchanged. I am going to miss them all. Which makes these last couple days SO hard. As much as I have looked forward to coming home, at the same time I haven't looked forward. What makes this hard is knowing what the next step might be, I know there is something big I am going to do but after that, what is next. And knowing I might never see these people again until the final days makes it even more sad. But at the same time, I will look at the pictures I have taken, I will recall the times I have experienced, and I will have a joyous time going down memory lane. I love these people with all my heart, and I bet you would too. The Christmas party includes, Family pictures! (with a fire place backdrop) and A christmas tree, a Program(which includes singing, puppets, and a sermon type thing), food, and presents. Such a joyous occasion seeing their eyes light up, allowing fellowship, and having them all together for once. Such a beautiful picture. As time gets closer, and goodbyes come my way I have to reflect on this trip. Have i changed any, and if so in what areas.
I believe I have changed, but unfortunately I can't pinpoint the areas for you at this moment. God has shown me lots, has allowed me to experience different sides of ministry, has allowed me to give everything my all, and has allowed me to see pain. What it means to be a humble servant is on the eyes of the beholder. But all I can say is that I have been truly blessed and feel honored to have been picked to come. Now too look forward to culture shock. I wonder how bad it will be, I guess i'll just have to trust the Lord to get me through it. No worries :) ANYWAYS Today we are having a family over for some presents, pizza, soda, and fellowship. Tomorrow is my last English class :( and a christmas party. Saturday is the last time with the team and Last Christmas party. Sunday is packing and cleaning of the apartment. And Monday I will be on my way back Fly to London at 7:30 PM next morning fly at 10:30 AM and reach the Lonestar state! It is coming faster than expected
Thanks for the prayers! Keep them coming for strength and for safety! Love you guys :)
So Yesterday was the CHRISTMAS PARTYfor the kids. AND ONLY the kids. It was such an awesome experience. There were 4 stations the RED, BLUE, YELLOW, and GREEN teams could go to: 1.) The Craft station: which included a Nativity scene with stickers you could put on. (The kids LOVED the stickers). 2.) The Cookie Station: where they were able to decorate cookies. WHICH my girls saved for later :) 3.) The Game station: Where they had to knock down the snowman (made out of boxes) with little balls. It had a tin hat and everything :) (AND I MADE IT which made it super cool ;) ) 4.) The Toy Village: Where the kids were able to pick out their own toys.
The party went better than expected about 40 kids showed up from ages 7-12 boys and girls. We had fun times. Myrna who is on our team dressed up as an elf, and told the Christmas story in a way they could relate too. I know the kids had a great time. You could see it in their eyes. And what the neatest thing about it was that the parents weren't there at all, and our whole team got involved. Which was the coolest thing to see. WE sang a song that was called He Is The Light, and by the end of the day ( and after the 1,000th time we sang it the kids LOVED it and knew it word by word. There was even a little girl that said a little poem TWICE that said something like " Jesus was born to die for all our sins, 3 days later he rose again, and he is still alive today." SO neat. The coolest part was the toy village. Not only did they get to get 1 toy but they were able to get 2 big ones and 1 little one, and by the end of the day they were able to have 2 more. SO COOL. What I realized though, is that the women are more stressful than the kids to me. They are the ones that are pushy, and these kids have gotten to a point that they actually listen. The women don't. And they can be really hateful at times. I dunno I guess I am just drawn to the kids more so.
One thing that was the sweetest thing was one of the little girls that was in my group when she came up to me she said "Caroling Caroling (since they can't say callie for some reason it sounds like carorling lol)" but yeah she shuffled around her bag and pulled out this little ring. I thought she was just showing it to me but instead she wanted to give it to me. So i tried to let her keep it but she was persistent, and gave it too me anyways. The little girl has only come a few times, and she gave me her ring. I am going to miss these kids so much. I have tried to put off the thinking that I am about to leave and that I'll might never get to see them. BUT it's really hard. On monday it will be 1 week until I leave. Today is my last shower day. And I have to say goodbye. I think that is the hardest thing for me is saying goodbye. I mean I am coming back to the life I use to, the life of leisure, the life of materialistic things. And leaving everything I have become so accustomed to. I am sad. And as I said the other day. If I was Mary Poppins I would just stuff all these people into my bag, and try to help them find a good life. Sigh I must be off I have to go get ready for my last showers day :( It's not going to get any easier from here on out. Better start with the sadness now. But in the midst of that I must MUST must make every moment count. EVERY moment.
I forgot to mention this little incident that happened this day. It was a Thursday, and we were doing women shower. I decided to help out Donna in the kitchen this day. She was cooking lentil soup (which is DELICIOUS BTW). As it was coming to a close ( well the cooking) Donna realized that she forgot to get Yogurt, so she asked if I would join her to go to the market real quick ( it was about a block away). So we trucked along talked about little things here and there, and as we were about to turn on the street to get back to the ARC she got a phone call from Christy.
Little do you know, the ARC is stationed in Omonia. Omonia is NOT the safest place to be at all. AT ALL at all. And although the police are on the corners, doesn't make it anymore safe than you would think. Unlike the police in America, the Greek police just stir up trouble. Lets just say its "every man for himself".
ANYWAYS after the little summary of Omonia .... So Christy called and Donna freaked out, and was asking so where do I go where do I go. At this time I am clueless but I realize something isn't right. so we decided to try to go the back way and not turn on that street and go through this little market on the next block. She was telling me that Christy told her that a mob (YES A MOB) was heading our way so we booked it. As we were about to turn on our street a man stopped us and said, "what are you doing don't go that way you will get hurt you have to find another way." Donna responded," BUT our place is LITERATELY right around the corner." So he was like OK and made sure we got around the corner alright. When we were about to turn into the entry way we noticed this HUGE gate was locked. We panicked and tried to get in. NOT only did we still have food on the stove, but we had to get into where it was safe. So we attempted to go around the corner and try to get in the back way. as we were coming around the corner a group of people started running our way, and we ran into this little hospital. I DIDN"T feel safe even though I was in a barred room I didn't feel safe so we got out got to the other gate. It was lock and to our rescue was our team leader he let us in and we went upstairs. I went on the balcony to see what was going on. THE WHOLE STREET WAS FILLED WITH REFUGEE MEN. up to where we were. they started chanting something in farsi, and started turning over trashcans, beating random people, and setting the trashcans on fire. before that they were beating on the buses and flipped a car.
I wondered what got them to that point. What pushed them to that limit. ALL i know is that God was watching over me. He has this whole time. Was I a little afraid? Yeah, but I knew God was going to take care of me. His story for my life isn't over yet. Which makes me excited for the future. Has there ever been a time that you just knew God was watching over you? Yes it may not be as drastic as mine, but if you just open your eyes you might just see the little blessings he throws your way.
I just thought I would let you in on a little thing that happened not too long ago.I can't believe I forgot to tell you guys! Sorry about that :/ ANYWAYS tomorrow is the KIDS CHRISTMAS PARTY and I am SUPER excited Super super SUPER excited may the Lord bless our time tomorrow and may the kids just truly get to experience a little bit of happiness for once. :) til next time have a marvelous day!!
This trip is coming to an end. An end extremely fast. And I am super sad. Not only have I realized how much I am going to miss the people here, but I am also going to miss my team. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways. He has taught me what it truly means to be humble, to appreciate what I have, not to judge right away, and taught me little truths in the midst of my time here. One of the questions on our debriefing slip is "How have you been changed from you time here?" How have I been changed.... you know what? honestly I do not know. I can't pin point the change. I know it has happened. I can feel it. But to say exactly what that change is... its very hard to say. I want to apologize to each of you for the lack of updates I have done on my time here. I have had SOME time but not alot, and I should have put that time into blogging to you. BUT here is a little update. The next two weeks (my last two weeks) will include LOTS and LOTS of stuff. We will have several Christmas parties not only just for the kids, but also for families, singles, and others. This is going to be such an awesome experience! I am a leader for one of the groups at the childrens team GO RED TEAM! I am super stoked! I helped make the christmas decorations! This is what is around the invitation that I spent some time. I am so excited about this party. About 50 new kids will get to come. We will have a couple different stations! 2 Crafts, a game station, and a present station! The kids are going to get to pick out their own gifts. We will also have music, and a puppet show, and they will get to have chicken nuggets and french fries. I am super stoked! This will be so great for the kids. We gave out the tickets at a shoe give away that we had. We had size 25-34 for the kids with 400 shoes that we were able to give away in 3 different colors. Red, Blue, and Black. I think that was such a neat experience for me. Getting to take the shoes that didn't fit the kids and place a new pair that fit them perfectly, and see that little smile brightened my trip so much. It reminded me of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Even though protested saying that they should do it. He did it. He did it to show how much he loved them. In the same way God allowed us to do the same. Maybe I didnt get to wash their feet, but I gave them some shoes that could last a long time just for them. sooooooo cool.
I am sad. My last post didn't come up. Deseh a girl from my english class sang for me and jessie one day, and I wanted you guys to hear her beautiful voice. It made chills roll up my spin and gave me goose bumps. AND she was sick that day! God gave her such beautiful voice. I will work on getting up don't you worry your little head :). WELL I must be off! Me and my roommate Tiffany are going to Monestraki to shop for her family. I may get a little something myself. So tahtahfornow.
This is it. This is the time to make each moment count. And you know what? I will. I will do everything with a 100% attitude! May the Lord bless you today and bless you for the prayers you have sent my way this whole time. Thank you for all your support! I love you guys.
Saturday morning at 11:30 am me and my roommate Jessie embarked on an adventure of a lifetime, yes Greece is but we were able to get a plane ticket with the money we saved on our own and by a round trip ticket to Rome. Only 2 days to spend there we were determined to see all we have heard about and wanted to see and more. We had yummy pizza right when we got off the plane, saw the Vatican/ sistine chappel/ sorta st. Peters, the fountain de trevi, Spanish steps, parthaon, ate at a yummy little resturant where I had the best lasagna I have ever had in my entire life, gelato yummy yummy gelato, saw the colossium, ceasars palace, the roman bathes, and exploring exploring exploring. This trip has been eventful, relaxing, breathtaking an more. All I can say is if you ever get a chance to experience Rome do it! It is totally worth every penny well I must go have a blessed day :)
The life of a refugee right now is what you might be looking at, at this moment. One might be living on the streets one, one might be sharing an apartment with 20-30 people (a small apartment), one may be sleeping in the park/under cars/in a box, you name it. As I have talked to you before in letting you know why the refugees have come to Greece, hopefully you will see what the refugees are dealing with right now.
These people come to Greece to find hope, get away from violence, get away from threats, or just to leave. These people come here thinking that once they come everything will be just peachy! But once they walk that 48 hr trip they are sadly mistaken. There is a video that I recently watched that broke my heart. It's called A battle for Attica Square. Attica Square is a little park inside the little portion of Attiki. Refugees would fill this park and finally the people of Athens residing in this area got Angry. Here is the video (it's about 20 mins long, but this is what is happening as we speak)
The people of Athens are hardening their hearts to these people, yes people might say"Well they are coming into their country so you can't really blame them". My response to that is ,"Well they are still human." Since that video was filmed, the violence has gotten worse. Now not only are they beating the men, but they are beating the women. Not only that now that the men are trying to go get food for their families, the people are waiting for the men to leave and are BEATING the children and women. Seriously who does that?! There is such a need right now that can be so hard for us that are serving, because unfortunately we can't stop the violence, and we can't give all that they need because we don't have the means for it.
Yesterday as I was at Team Fellowship, and I heard from a few teammates something that recently happened possibly 2 days ago. In the newspaper it read that there was a a fire in a Mosque in Attiki. Not only was this disheartening it gets worse.... as there was a fire, they blocked off the windows and doors trapping in about 40 people, and the police that were standing there did NOTHING. When a man went to try to help he was stabbed and blamed saying that he tried to stab a cop.
What is this world coming to. I mean I know there is evil, but when you are just murdering someone because of what they believe its awful. So you want to know what the refugees are dealing with? They are dealing with fear. Complete and utter fear. But even though their is fear there is hope. As I have gotten to know some of the women They still have their dreams of succeeding. One girl named Dessie wants to be a lawyer for her people. One girl wants to be a Engineer. One little boy wants to be a Doctor. And you know what. I believe at some point they will be able to do it.
God is doing so many great things, but this was just a little view into the life of what a refugee has to deal with, what we as a team have to deal with while they are dealing with their trauma, and what to be praying for. Sorry for my little rant, but I felt you might want to know not only what is going on in my head, but what is going on during this time.
Even though there is so much sad things going on, in the midst of all this, the refugees find a little glimpse of happiness, a little glimpse of rest and a little glimpse of safety when they walk into the doors of Helping Hands.
Keep the safety of the team and the refugees in your prayers please, AND thank you :)
