Soo soo close…

Well the rest of the Greece team and I are exhausted. We have had one huge wild ride on this trip home we are currently sitting at 26 hours in the airport/plane. And we still have 2 more flights, so just over 8 more hours all together. And we were suppose to be home 4 hours ago. Anyways, If you want to hear our crazy airport experience your going to have to ask us in person trying to type it all out here might take me a while.

The last week in Greece went by too quickly. We flew out to Thessaloniki on Wednesday, we were suppose to leave at 6:30 AM, our van didn’t show up so we didn’t make it to the airport on time and missed our first flight, we got on the next one. In other words all the original flights we booked before this trip, we were on none of them. We have had awful luck but just a few more hours! We arrived and went straight to our first tour spot, then we toured around Thessaloniki and looked at a few spot around the hotel since we happened to be right in the middle of several things. The next day we got up and drove almost two hours to Phillipi we toured around a lot a saw several different things. After we got back to Thessaloniki we walked the East wall the was still up and standing tall.

Honestly this trip has been amazing!! Even with all the crazy flight situations. Now I don’t think any of us will fly or anything but we all had pretty good spirits through everything. We are ready to be back in Kansas, but we also already want to be back in Greece!!

– Sarah

No Free Gelato Yet!

Hello once again! It’s has now been over a week since we made it to Greece! We have had one exciting adventure. After our first week of service with Helping Hands, Ken, the missionary from Greece, took us and a few others to Corinth. We saw many different things. We didn’t walk as much as we did the first tourist day but we definitely made up for it. Our first stop of the day was at the Corinth Canal. We were able to walk across a bridge to the middle and look down the canal. Afterwards we went to the end of the canal and were able to walk on an actual Roman road, where slaves were once forced to pull the cargo on and across to the other end of the canal. After this we hiked up to Acrocorinth, where we were able to gaze upon the marvelous Greek costal view. After climbing down the Acrocorinth we went to a restaurant and had some amazing souvlaki (you’ll have to look it up). We drove to ancient Corinth and walked in the footsteps of Paul. We were able to look at several statues and old jars that were found while digging in this area. Also we were able to actually stand on a Roman theater stage in Corinth. At the end of our trip before heading home we stopped at Cenchreae, a first century church, where Paul got his hair cut before heading back to Jerusalem. Acts 19. During this entire time of walking/hiking it was said that if I, Sarah, fell at any point I would buy everyone Gelato. The bet is still going on today. (It’s Cianna’s opinion that it is only hours until we will celebrate Sarah falling with gelato-we wait longingly).

Sunday we were able to go to the 2nd Christian Church (which is actually the name) and we were able to wear headphones where they translated the sermon to English. On the way home we dropped Brad off at Helping hands to play bored games with some of the refugees that got together. The girls and Ryan continued home and Mwerearissa and Cianna played card games, I took a nap after not feeling well for several days, and Ryan was able to catch up on some emails. When Brad was done we went back to the acropolis and shopped around a little more and then found somewhere to eat. We also found a McDonald’s!! Brad wasn’t too excited but the rest of us enjoyed some fries! On the way home from the metro I tripped and was falling until a old man popped out of nowhere and stopped my fall. He was very scared while the rest of us where laughing about how they close to getting Gelato.

So far this has been an amazing journey. The rest of this week we will actually be serving elsewhere besides helping hands which you will hear more about later!!

See y’all later!!

Sarah

Finally made it!!

After three days of planes being delayed, drones flying around, and cancelled airplanes we finally made it to Greece, only a day late! For the first few days it has taken us a little bit to finally realize that we are actually here. 

The first day we were here throughout the day we went to helping hands. We were able to help set up, make baby bags, serve tea and biscuits, help clean up, and just be in fellowship with the people we are serving with. I think during those four hours are actually serving the refugees helped us realize that we are in another country with English as not the common language. Speaking with the people of Greece we found was actually not that hard since they are slowing bringing English into the no We weren’t able to speak with very many refugees but smiles and nod were enough to communicate usually. Marissa and Cianna got to play with babies, Brad played basketball and soccer with the boys, and I was able to sing a few songs with the director and serve tea and biscuits. After all the refugees left we got together with all the other workers and volunteers and got to talk about how we saw God throughout the day. Hearing the stories of the other people, who could actually speak their language, was amazing, hearing some of their stories and how they were able to connect with them was very interesting to hear. There were few refugees who could speak a little English but it was mainly, “bathroom” and “hold my baby.” 

Saturday was our first tourist day, and honestly for the first few hours I was just in shock. 26,000 steps, and 13.5 miles later we saw around 10 different places. I have seen several of these places in books and read about them in Greek Mythology (which I love), and it was crazy to see it all in person and be able to actually see all the details. Just a few of the places we went were;

the Panathenic Stadium 

Acropolis and Slopes

Ancient Agora

Mars Hill 

A restored Stoa of Attalus 

Seeing the place where Acts 17 happened was a lot to take in. Mars Hill also gave you an amazing view of the city, but to top that was Acropolis, and to top this the view from Philopappu Monument was the best. We were able to actually see the ocean from here and several miles of Athens, and we were able to get a look at the entire Acropolis monument. Although we saw so many things we are excited to see even more in the next few weeks.

This is just the beginning to a whole new experience, and if it just gets better from here we are in for an amazing adventure, severing God, fellowshipping with others and all together building the Kingdom of God. 

Until next time,

Sarah Easterwood