The Past Week

Last Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed the company of a multitude of kids (probably 100+!) at a Festival we put on downtown in Athens. We did face painting, stilt racing, limbo, balloon animals, etc. for the local immigrant children with GREAT success. I taught a group of up and coming John Elways to throw the football, and it really caught on. My arm was blown by the end of the day, as all types of kids wanted to learn how to throw a spiral like we did (or more like Caroline did haha). The rest of the group really got in touch with a ton of various kids who knew small bits of English, and we were encouraged as they told us they'd like to come to the community center the next week.
I am going to skip ahead to our work this week (since I think Caroline wants to split the blog up on what we are telling, so keep in touch for her side of things). We continued doing research for Tim in regards to his church planting. We printed out a Google Maps satellite image of the area he is considering planting the church, and walked all the streets plotting down what kinds of businesses were there, what sorts of people, etc. That afternoon, we went back to our respected areas and "interviewed" the people who worked there. We asked them how long they worked there & if they liked working there, If they lived there and how long/like or dislike, etc. and finished up with a question regarding church planting and what who it take for them to seriously consider going inside. It got a wave of mixed results...some genuine interest in the thought, some negative responses, a ton of indifference, and other random ideas. People are very open to talk we have noticed though, even about religious matters.
We also visited the University of Athens, once again, yet this time it was open with a few students to talk to. We went around asking various groups of students two questions Tim chose. These were aimed at directing them to the idea of Jesus Christ: 1) What kind of leader do we need, 2) What kind of community to we need to achieve the life we desire. We recorded their responses and hoped for and open door of couriosity. Me and Thomas had a very favorable conversation with one group of guys, and even got to share the Gospel in a very serious discussion! We had to say goodbye since we were late to meet the group, but got their names and intend to Facebook them.
Caroline will tell you more about the Neo Zoi missions we did, but it was extremely eye opening as saddening to see the people here.
FUN POINT: The local director of the school here, Argyris Petrou, invited us to eat dinner with he and his family Monday night. IT WAS RIDICULOUS. They prepared pork chops and potatoes, with traditional Greek salads (Cucumbers, Peppers, Onions, and Tomatoes covered in Olive Oil and Vinegar and a mound of Feta cheese on top) and also this Feta casserole-type dish. I was blown away!! We had this amazing dessert (kind of like a spicy cake with this special type of ice cream made from butter fat? maybe I'm close...). Anyways, this also created an amazing opportunity to hear their life story and all the ways God was worked in their lives. This will have to be another blog, as it is incredibly lengthy, yet incredibly moving.
This week was filled with pretty menial tasks, yet important steps in establishing a foothold in the community. We were greatly encouraged by conversations that were held, and anxious to see what the next month and a half holds for us!