As I was mulling over this weekend (while checking Facebook in hope I wouldn't go to bed too early), I have decided to share just a few thoughts and events that have been going on. First, I warn you this might be long (we will see?). So:
Friday, we knocked out a Goodwill-type ministry with the 2nd Evangelical Church folding mounds of clothes and sorting them into winter, summer, mens, womens, etc etc. while the men moved some chairs to storage. We relaxed at the community center that afternoon, preparing our minds and our bodies for the final festival of the week that afternoon. We did a study on 1 Corinthians 1-6 (we are a little psyched still from the Corinth visit, so we are naturally trying to harness this energy for our betterment hah). The festival went off, just as the others had, without a hitch. We all bore the burden of the fish pond (read two blogs below for background info) so that Caroline may keep her sanity and we may also learn life lessons from these little anglers. I was actually extremely amused at the drama surrounding the fish pond, as these little kids are serious about the plastic fish! It almost seemed to represent all the different personalities you will encounter in life (the go getters, the drama queens, the behind the sceners, the unselfish helpers, the humble receivers, the little terrorist whose ploy is to take all the fish away so no kids can play...etc).
Anyways, a great thing happened. A man I had been talking to from Afgahnistan named Ahsad has been showing an extreme interest in who I am and what we are doing. We have been talking for about 3 days in a row now, and he was able to talk to Ron one on one (while I was at the fish pond...haha side joke I just had to throw in) and said he would be interested in joining us at the 1st Evangelical Church that Sunday! He did not show on Sunday, but we will see him again this week as we return for more festivals, and praise the Lord for seeds being planted in his heart!!! (A little background, Afghanistan is 100% Muslim...this guy is 20 years old....saw his father killed....has seen heat seeking missiles, bombs, grenades, etc blowing up all around him in his hometown...he is here looking for a better life and money to send home to support his family....amazing story to say the least). Continue to pray for Ahsad, and we can feel God tugging at his heart!
Saturday was a continuation of last Saturday's work at Kalamos, followed by an incredible dinner once again by Takis and his family in appreciation for our hard work. I will continue to Sunday:
We were told to prepare an entire evening service for the 1st Evangelical Church last night. We chose three songs to do: Isaiah 43, Come Thou Fount, and In Christ Alone. We had two testimonies by Chelsea and Caroline, followed by a small message from Ron. This went amazingly well!!! Chelsea's testimony was an incredibly moving story that had elderly women in tears at how God has had His hand on her through many struggles. I would embelish more, but we have a video so that you can hear her own words. Caroline followed this with her own testimony. She opened with, what I am feeling, is now our joint intro to our lives "My name is Caroline Weatherly, and I was born 21 years ago with another person." Followed by confusion and the clarity/punch-line of the joke: "No, this is not a metaphor....I have a twin brother Austen sitting right over there." (Sound familiar?) But through the next 10 minutes, she poured her heart out and really got me choked up. I was so proud of her opening up like that, and it really took me by surprise to say the least. It was a story of God's blessing on her life, her identity in all her successes, and her realization that her identity was never in those but in the God she loved. Even how through this trip, He is still showing her her new identity in Christ an how her idea of "self" continues to change.
FUN/AMAZING POINT: So....Come Thou Fount was in their hymnal book, so we asked them to sing along with us during praise. This might have been the most moving hymn I have ever sang. The beautiful flow with which the melodies of praises in Greek and English intertwined was truly something to have witnessed. The song that came to mind was Newsboys "He Reigns" where he talks about "every tribe, every nation" singing God's holy praise. Just the feeling of the Holy Spirit really sent chills up my spine, and really set the tone for the rest of the night (this was before the testimonies). Rachel really did a great job, also, on the piano bearing with us since we had limited time to practice. It truly was thrown together, and how beautifully it worked out couldn't have been our doing!
So Ron's message was cut short, but it really was inspiring as well. Me and Ron had talked the night before about "worry" and things surrounding it, and the verse in Matthew 6:34 about not worrying about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. We had talked about how that so many times, we excuse our worries of today claiming these as "relevant". However, its not saying to not worry about tomorrow but worry about today...it is commanding us to not worry about tomorrow but praise God for today. So many times, the menial tasks we seek to accomplish get in our way of praising the Lord and to put the worries in perspective. If we just took the time to praise the Lord before we set out on our multi-tasking missions, how much blessings and comfort would we receive in place of all the worry and frustrations? Just something to think about. We then closed with "In Christ Alone" (a personal favorite!) which really just closed the night on a great note.
Needless to say, the multitude flocked to our group afterwards to pinch cheeks, give Greek kisses, and tell us "God Bless" in broken English. The pastor told us how amazing it was to see a vulnerability in Christ, as these people kept a stern exterior regarding their spiritual beliefs. The people here also see Americans as "got it together" people who live fairytale lives. To see a brokeness and genuine reliance on Christ truly touched their hearts.
I know this is getting long, and my mother just got on Facebook chat (Hallelujah!) so I must run! I hope that all of you can be encouraged by what is going on here, and pray that we are representing our body of believers back and our God with every action people see here. Please keep Ahsad in your prayers as well.
In Him,
Austen Weatherly
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