The Blessing of A Long Journey Home!!!

This past Friday a small group of us went to visit a summer camp that is run by the churches; and as usual for the summer we were accompanied by a boy from the community center. It is unbelievable the relationship that we have formed with this young man and the joy he brings to our lives. I have began to find out that the more he spends time with us the more I like and respect him.

This particular day was a breakthrough and an answer to so many of my prayers. You see after we left the camp we all went for a walk along the coast. It was a great time of just talking, laughing, and skipping rocks on the water. But it was the ride home that brought joy to my heart. Two of the boys live in the same place while the boy and I live in another. So they dropped us off at the train station and we continued our long journey home. In order to get home we have to take the train and the metro and it takes about 45 minutes. During this time in a combination of Greek and English for the first time in two years he began to tell me about his family and stories from his life. It is the first time I have had meaningful conservation with not only him but with any of the kids from the center. I have not been able to communicate with them and have been praying for this moment for a very long time now. So praise God for the construction and incredibly slow speed of the green line.

An Afternoon With Two Young Kids....

Last Thursday, like every other Thursday, I was returning home from Greek lessons at about 1:00. As I came around the corner I hear my name being yelled. I look up and find my neighbor, who is also a kid from the community center, leaning over his balcony waving at me. He was so happy to see me and asked if I wanted to come over to his house. Of course I went and spent about an hour talking with him, his little sister, and his mother. After this time had passed he wanted to come to my house and visit there so both of the kids came up for about two hours. During this time it was such a great joy for me as I had them both in my house. They played many games on my computer and had some ice cream. We played baseball in the house, which is probably not a good example by me but we had a great time none the less.

The best part of our time together was when the young boy figured out that he could type on my computer in Greek. He asked me if he would type something and of course I told him yes. I have this little children's book that is in Greek (for me to read of course) and he wanted to type what it said. So here is what we did. I would read the book while he would type what I was saying. Two things were happening here. He was learning how to spell and to use his accents correctly while I was learning to read better. When I would make a mistake in my pronunciation he would correct me.

God can use anything to build a relationship with the people around you.

Beautiful Young Girls

It has been a beautiful week and a half spending every afternoon with the kids I love. The joy and excitement that radiates from their faces when they see us coming over the hill with our hands full of festival things or a bag full of balls brings me to complete rest in Christ. One day is not over and they are already asking when we will be back.

Yesterday we were down at the square with another day of soccer tournaments for the boys when many of the girls came to me asking when we would have another festival. Now this may seem like just a simple question to the every day reader but for me it was a break through I have been waiting to see in this neighborhood. Our community center is made up of about 40 boys and maybe 5 girls; and that may not change anytime soon but for the girls to come asking to spend time with us is a work of God.

So yesterday since it was another tournament the girls began to come in and watch the boys play. Again you may think that this is normal and would happen naturally but for this neighborhood that has not been the case. If the boys are on the court playing then the girls just stay in the square, but they are beginning to feel comfortable around us and have began to spend time also. Just yesterday one of the girls came to get me and asked if I wanted to sit with them; and of course I very willingly went. Now our topic of conservation was not my first choice but to be sitting with those girls and having conservation in Greek was a turning point in what God is doing here.

Prayer in how to reach the girls in this neighborhood and the wisdom to follow God in that is a request I have.

First Day of Intensive Greek

Today was my first day of my intensive Greek lessons. It was a very easy day because I am in the beginners class and I am not a beginner. We went over things that I already knew but it was so good to just be in there hearing to teacher speak in Greek.

Before I signed up for the classes we decided that I would take the beginners class because I am now taking it in a group setting which I have not done before and also because I need the experience with conservation. In my private lessons we did not have much conservation; so this class is great because the teacher speaks only in Greek.

More to come in the next days. It will get harder each day so continue to pray for this process in my life. It will make a huge difference in the ministry here when I am able to communicate better.

Back From Northern Greece

I am now back from Northern Greece and I am happy to tell you that I made it. There were for sure some definite hard times but they were needed. I was able to meet some new people and also get to know some others better. God is good!!!

We did many things on this trip and I was able to see more parts of this beautiful country. God has sure created a majestic country here. You have rolling hills scattered with fields of green, mountains covered with trees, islands full of tiny little shops and a friendly atmosphere, cities full of buildings along side ancient ruins, and a group of people who love time with one another.

I am beginning to love this country and the people here but on this trip it was shown vividly to me the importance of learning this language. When I have hard days or when things frustrate me I can always bring it back to the language. Everything is more difficult when you can not understand what people are saying and how to respond back to them.

I just registered for a summer course today that will be for the month of June. It is every day for three hours, so it is an intensive course. I start on Wednesday. Please pray that I will continue to learn this language and that I will be bolder in speaking it. This for me is the hardest part. Even when I know what to say it is hard for me to have to courage to say it.

Thank you for all your prayers for this weekend and all the days to come. :)

Love... Courtney

A Weekend For Adventure...

Today I am preparing to travel with the church to a conference in Northern Greece. I have many emotions going on in me right now and although it may sound silly I am a bit nervous. I am not even sure who is going on the trip but I know that it is a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know the people of the church better. Many of the people will be in their upper twenties and lower thirties (I think) so they will be about my age. We will do many things, none of which I am sure of. I just found out where we were going this week. But God knows best and he has opened the doors for me to go so I want to make the best of it.

There was a deadline for signing up and since I was not planning on going I missed this date. I had a friend who asked me to go and when we talked to the person in charge he said that the trip was full. The next week he called back and let me know that there was a cancellation and I would be able to go if I still wanted. Open doors are always good but how you walk through them can make all the difference. Please pray for me this weekend as I will embark on another journey here in Greece.

I must remind you the reasons I get nervous about these trips and that is because I do not know the people very well yet and am not completely comfortable around them, and it is all in Greek. Even though the group this time will know English everything is done in Greek. So it is always a long tiring time away.

Always An Interesting Day Here In Greece

Today it was time to get many things settled with my apartment... meeting the real landlord, telling him things that need to be fixed, and finding out how to pay my bills.

So let me first start with the meeting my actual landlord. You see my landlord lives in Switzerland and I have only meet his brother who is the one who I really have to talk with when things go wrong. But since the real landlord was in town he wanted to meet me and see how things were going. He come to the house today along with another team member to translate for me; but the interesting part is this. They both speak Greek and German so they were talking in German and then they would explain to me in Greek. It was a little hard to concentrate when they were switching between both language and none of them being my first language. But we got through it all.

Next I wanted to know about my bills. For example where to locate them and where to pay them. They told me that they were going to leave the water and the electricity in the previous name as it has been in that name for some time now. They said that it was a bigger problem to change the name than to just leave it. So I have to look for one name for the electricity and another for the water. Also with the water there are three people in this building with the same name on the bill so then you have to look for the number on it. No for America this will be a huge shock. This is how it works.... the mail lady puts all the mail for the whole building on the desk at the front door, everyone sorts through all the mail to find theirs. Well when you have three people with the same name on a bill but with different numbers then you have to open it to see the number; if it is the wrong number you leave it and open until you find the correct one.

Also here in Greece you have to pay an additional charge for the person who cleans the building. So you get that bill under your door and you just go down and pay this one lady. Well that one lady, my landlord, my teammate, and I were all downstairs trying to figure out what bills were mine and which were not. I am not sure but I think we finally have it all sorted out, but even with that when I opened up by bill after they finally all left I can not understand it. It of course is all in Greek and for some reason, that I am not sure of, it have -31.98 euros. I am sure if I could understand the bill I would know why this is but unfortunately I do not. Once I figure out all of this then I have to find the place to pay the bills... Oh the joys of it all...

Finally the things that need to be fixed. The cold water in the bathroom sink has not been working since I have moved in here and when I went to show him of course the water came flowing right out that nothing was ever wrong. So I go to the next problem. In my bedroom I have a door that goes to the balcony and with the door is a blind. This blind has a rope that you pull to open the blind and when I first moved it in come off the tracks. Well it came off completely; it is not even connected to the rope anymore. He told me he was going to call me tonight to arrange someone to fix it but to communicate in Greek especially over the phone is very difficult. Next thing I know my phone rings and it is a friend who helped me get the apartment. They always call him when they need things and then he calls me; and then the poor guy has to call them back and then me back again. So he is in the process of the many phone calls now.

I hope you are seeing a glimpse of the importance of the language in everyday very simple matters. It is critical that I learn this language not only to minister but to make it in everyday life. Normally when I am having a rough day or things just are not happening as planned it is because there is a hindrance with the language.