Just finished our last full week in Greece!!! This past week was a ROLLER COASTER.
Monday instead of having our adventure day, we went to the camp to help Kristos and Philip rearrange and clean the main hall. The previous weeks, the ceiling has been the main project, so everything was obviously very dirty. Almost our whole team was there helping today, so we got done much faster than we thought. It looked pretty awesome afterwards ehehehe.
On Tuesday, Jaylynn and I headed to Moses while the other girls went to the refugee center. Our main task today was making sugar free and gluten free muffins. During the process of making those, there was a woman who had her birthday at the shop and made this beautiful cake. She was so sweet and offered Jaylynn and I a slice which was ABSOLUTE HEAT. (Antonis did end up throwing the rest away because he doesn’t like sugar lol 😭).
Wednesday, JJ and I also went to the women’s Bible study for the last time. We had such a sweet time, and I’m so thankful for Viki for translating while also offering her wisdom.
Thursday ended up being our last day at the refugee center. Most of the team was able to come and help, whether that was in the kitchen, on drinks, with the kids, or just around being available for different tasks. On our way home, we walked with a Greek woman from the center named Fofo, who on her way to the bus stop, uses extra bread from the center to feed the pigeons. She is SO cute. Our American friends (Justin, Katie, and their kids) invited us over to eat a bunch of different Greek food. We hung out with Josiah and Adelaide, ate an AMAZING dinner, and played Fish Bowl with the whole family! We got to experience their bedtime routine which is actually fire. Before bed, Justin and Katie have their kids read a story in the Bible, say something they were grateful for from that day, then sing two songs. When it was Josiah’s turn to say what he was thankful for, he went, “I’m thankful for the World Race girls.” AWE. It took a pretty long time to get home because of the buses being all crazy, but that definitely didn’t dim the awesome time we had with their family.
Last day at the Refugee Center
Dinner with Justin and Katie’s fam
Friday morning, we had the last prayer meeting with Antonis and Viki. We went out for ATL one more time, where we went down to the bay to get lunch at Mono Gyro, then we split off to talk to people. I sat with Kat and JJ to listen to a violinist named Ava for a while. I asked her a few questions, but I wish I waited longer to talk more deeply with her because she was so sweet. Afterwards, we walked to H&M, got ice cream and headed home. In my eyes, the last couple weeks of ATL have not been super “successful” when it comes to speaking to people, which at points I’ve beaten myself up for. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not about striving, but being available to the Lord. I do want Guatemala to be full of talking to people though :). Jaylynn and I had a fun adventure in the evening getting our eyelashes lifted looolll. She met an employee at the 4All named Sally, she complimented her eyelashes, and Sally told her about her friend Christina who does lash-lifts for 20€. JJ got her info and booked an appointment for both of us, and here we are. We walked 15 minutes to Christina’s apartment, where she just had a setup in her living room. JJ got hers done first. Sally ended up coming over to Christina’s apartment, so I just talked to her and Christina’s boyfriend Kristos while Jaylynn was in the process. I got mine done, then we finished by watching traditional Greek dances on Youtube LOL. I had to pay with card, so we walked down the street with Christina and Sally to Kristos’s market (Hóla) and they just pulled the payment up on the card reader for me. When we got home, Lucy shared at team time what our ministry is going to look like in Guatemala!
Lash lifts in a random appartment
I had this pancake mix for a couple weeks, so Saturday morning I made pancakes for the team. For lunch, we went to a cute little Greek restaurant to eat with the women’s Bible study group! There was sooooo much good food, and talking with a few of those women for the last time was precious. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. Liv was feeling pretty sick all morning, but it got way worse at lunch. She ended up throwing up at the restaurant, so I went home with her, thinking I get to start my sabbath for real because I hadn’t really rested all week. Then I started feeling super sick and threw up, then Naty went down. It was us three that night feeling so gross. We were all so sad because the last church service was the next day and we didn’t want to miss it. I was praying so hard for our health. It was rough.
Sunday morning we all three woke up feeling good! We all got to go to church PRAISE GOD!!! My body was feeling pretty achy and I was exhausted, but I’m so happy I could go. We took pictures with our Greek family, said our goodbyes, and went home. We started the cleaning/packing process that afternoon, then had team time over dinner. Lucy and Jaylynn helped lead me through an inner healing which was fire. I’ve felt pretty blocked spiritually, so this helped in identifying and actually voicing what’s been going through my head.
Last week of home-cooked meals
It’s absolutely insane that we’re at the end of ministry in Greece (we still have a quick fun trip to Athens). Antonis’s last message to us was talking about the metaphorical mountain that we’re climbing during this trip. We could’ve reached our peak of everything back in Malaysia, here, or we could still be chugging up the mountain trying to get to the point where we’ve given our all, and we’re ready to come down. Subconsciously I feel like my peak has been here. Here I’ve chosen to really lock in and get out of my comfort zone. I feel like I have been bold and grown as I wanted to coming from Thailand. There are a lot of things I’ve also identified that I thought I overcame, but God still has a lot of work to do in me, which I recognize is a lifelong thing. There’s a little less than three months left in the Race, and I do not want to lock out at this point. God will give me abounding energy for the final stretch as I lean on Him, but I do have to be so intentional with it. Before I officially leave I want to process everything that happened here cause HOLY two months was a lot.
This point next week, I’ll be in Guatemala which is mind-blowing!! I’m so excited.
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