"My eyes and my heart will always be there."

A quick little update -

We have festivals for the kids every night this week, and leave on Saturday for 7 or 8 days in Volos. There we will be staying either in a church or with host families and will be cleaning up the city, picking up trash, etc, as far as we know.

We spent last Friday and Saturday at Kalamos and got to sleep out there in the tents so we could stay and work both days. A fox or some other ferocious little animal found some wrapped up leftover food in our tent and we woke up to find the food and ziplock bag ripped to shreds and all over the place haha. Lesson learned.

This past Thursday, we had the New Life graduation party for the Nigerian girls, and it went really well! Thanks for all of your prayers. It was great to get to meet the girls and there were some really cute kids there to play with too.

Also, I feel that I should insert a personal note of humility here. In my previous post I had mentioned that we have been learning some Greek and picking up alot of words and phrases. That very same afternoon, a Greek woman and her little girl sat by me on the bus and began to try to converse with me in Greek and I had literally no idea what they were saying! It was both comical and frustrating. I just ended up smiling and saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand" and "Hello" haha. The little girl looked confused as to why I had the vocabulary of a two-year-old. It was a good pride check and also a good reminder of the importance of non-verbal communication. Even though we couldn't "understand" each other, we parted as friends.

I've had some really sweet time with the Lord lately, so thank Him for that if you think of it. I really do appreciate all of your prayers and realize that they make a big impact on this trip. Your involvement is an encouragement to me.

2 Chronicles 7:12-22 has been a random but amazing passage of Scripture for me lately. It reaffirms my worth in the Lord and also warns against idolatry in my heart and life. I especially love verse 16 (it's speaking of the Temple, but I believe it applies to believers as well) - "I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there."

Almighty God, the same as you were in the time of Solomon, thank You that your eyes are open and your ears are attentive to me! Who am I, that You would stoop so low, out of pure love? Thank You for choosing and consecrating me- for sealing me with Your Name, forever. I am Yours. Made for You. Destroy my idols, do not let me serve, embrace, or worship them. I want You. I am Your temple, created to serve You and wear Your Name. I love You and trust You.

Run Like A Vagabond

"Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" - Amos 5:24

journal entry, June 24
"...There is so much to this city that could not be seen or observed in one or even two weeks here. Going into the middle of our fourth week in Athens, I am humbled and overwhelmed to think what ten or twenty years in ministry here would reveal. It would be impossible for the average passer-by to discern that the young girl a few feet away from me waiting to cross the street is a prostitute had you not been to New Life earlier this morning and taken her tea and coffee. Too young to work in the brothels, she works illegally on the streets instead. Wearing white pants and a green shirt, her long, thick hair pulled back, she looks like any other young girl walking around the city. She couldn't be any older than sixteen. I wanted to kidnap her as well and just run far, far away with all of them. But to where? And from what? Sin and darkness envelop every corner of this world and infest the human heart. Only Your light brings Truth and Salvation and Freedom. I am so limited in what I can see from my finite vantage point - I can't even begin to imagine what You are doing or the great ways in which You are working for our good and for You glory. And yet, You give me these glimpses here and there of beauty and hope and encouragement to press on. The message of your Gospel is the most worthwhile gift to relay and spread, and to invest myself in. Teach me how to wear it on my face and weave it throughout my speech. Teach me adequate transparency that points only to You. Help me to "preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest [Your] cross be emptied of its power." You have already redeemed. You paid the debt. It's already been done. I don't have to be anyone's Savior, which is such a relief because I can't. You are the Savior. You alone. We are Yours."

Last night was our sixth night to hang out with the refugee and immigrant children, and it was noticeably different. They are finally beginning to trust us and recognize our consistency with them. For the first time ever, several of them ran up and hugged me, remembered my name (in Greek, Rachel is "Rahilli" - spelling?), and a few even picked me flowers. Also, the night was very conversational! For the first time since being here, I was able to communicate in complete sentences and understand more of the questions and responses. I loved it! We have learned and memorized at least 43 words and phrases in Greek, but the weird thing is that I haven't seen any of them written down - it's all been learned verbally rather than visually, so that's definitely been interesting and different. I'm really excited about the relationships we're building with these kids and their families and the opportunity for them to hear about First Church and have connections there once we have to leave.

Yesterday we also got to go grocery shopping and decorate and clean for the party that we're having tonight for three Nigerian girls that are graduating from the New Life program. One has completely rejected the life of prostitution, and the other two are still back-and-forth with it. They are bringing their friends to the party and I think it will be alot of fun. Apparently they love to dance so naturally I'm really excited about that :) Please pray for an amazing time of fellowship, and a time of love and hope. Pray that the Lord would bring them completely out of prostitution and graft them into freedom and life in Him. Pray that they would thrive and learn and grow, that the Lord would show them their beauty, tell them truth, and rip out lies - that He would become everything to them.

Our team is going through 1 Corinthians with Ron, which has lent itself to some really good discussions. Because of the unpredictability of schedules here, I'm having to learn to fight daily for time with the Lord instead of just having a more consistent agenda. That's life though, and the lack of discretionary time is revealing to me where my true priorities lie. Being around people 24/7 has tested my patience as well as my unselfishness, as I'm learning to surrender 'entitlements' even in the small things.

journal -
"You mold me and change me and break and fix and grow and establish and refine me - You are the potter, molding as you see fit (Jeremiah 18:1-7). Here my issues of trust and control are overturned in uncomfortable helplessness. Thank you for your infinite patience - this grace that defines You, around which I can't wrap even a corner of my mind. You are strong and loving. You are worth trusting. From the trivial things of everyday to the life-changing decisions, You have proven yourself faithful. I know You always will, and I'll never be able to say anything different."


So run like a vagabond, carry the flame
Run for the children and run for the slaves
Hold it up high with a message of faith
Don't ever stop moving on
Just run like a vagabond
-[Vagabond, Bethany Dillon]

the City No Longer Deserted

Dear Friends -

I apologize for not being able to keep up with each of you by email as much as I would like to - we have been veryy busy. No more restlessness though, so I guess it's been an answer to prayer haha. Please pray the Lord would grant us energy and rest despite the lack of much sleep or free time.

Some updates -

On Monday night we got to cook dinner for Argyris' family. It was hands down one of the best memories of the trip so far! So much joy. Because we were cooking for 15 people, buying groceries from a corner market and couldn't read any food labels, had to improvise measurements when converting units, and using a small kitchen in the Bible School with one tiny oven, etc, it took about 4 or 5 hours to even get everything prepared. Everyone on the team was involved and the random roadblocks we ran into - like finding maggots in the garlic right when we needed to cook with it - really unified us as we rushed around trying to make the night perfect for this amazing host family. We set up tables on the roof and brought an extension cord and lamps up there and me and Chelsea went and cut flowers from the neighbors (oops) to put in vases and we managed to get some music playing as well and the whole thing was just beautiful. They liked the "Southern style" feast and somehow the Lord just made everything turn out SO great even though it felt like a scramble pulling it all together. When Argyris and his family came up to the roof for dinner they were amazed and the youngest son, Erastos, exclaimed "You all are crazy!" It brought me so much joy to be able to serve them in this way and to enjoy fellowship that night on the roof with them and with my team. I can't fully express the whole scene to you, but it is a memory I will always treasure.

We have been putting on festivals every night lately for the Albanian and Romanian immigrant and refugee children, trying to raise awareness of the First Church community center and to develop relationships with the parents as well. Me and Mallory have been in charge of face painting the past two times and I'm pretty sure it's my new passion. It's helping me curb some of my frustrations with the language barrier. Being able to say little else to the kids besides "Hello" and "What's your name?" and "Color?" and "You're welcome," I love the one-on-one interaction and being able to pray specifically for each child as I paint hearts and stars and footballs on their arms and hands and faces. Holding their tiny palms to mine was oddly dramatic and emotional as I envisioned the potential years ahead for them and prayed those hands would be used to serve the Lord and to lead others - that those hearts would come to know Him and treasure Him and want Him more than anything else in the world.

An exerpt from my journal - June 18, 2009 -

Last night we spent the night in First Church and slept on the tile floor of the smaller sanctuary. This saved time not having to take the metro/bus home and back. It was awesome to get to sleep in downtown Athens, with the Parthenon literally across the street, listening to the traffic on the other side of the wall.

This morning we went to Nea Zoi (New Life) again. I went with Donna into at leat 8 different brothels, maybe more, I lost count. There are so many - the streets are literally just lined with them. All but one of the brothels we visited today had Romanian prostitutes in them - majority of which are probably victims of trafficking. Romania, and 2 or 3 of its villages, close to the Black Sea, appears to be the new target area of traffickers. Because of the language barrier, it was hard to communicate with the girls as much as last time - Donna didn't translate for me as much as Nichole had. There was one Romanian girl who knew a little English though, and we sat and talked with her and with the madam for probably a good 20 or 30 minutes. Ironic icons of Jesus were scattered along the walls, as well as other random trinkets and flowers and fragments of broken beauty. The girls always smoke and drink coffee between clients, so the brothels smell strongly of coffee, cigarette smoke, and cheap perfume. I'll remember vividly this girl as she spoke to me and to Donna, her dark and smudged lipliner widely outlining a beautiful, worldly smile, which creased the premature lines around the corners of her eyes and deepened those on her forhead to betray the emotional, physical, and psychological toll her life and occupation have already taken on her 28-year old body and heart. She sells herself, knowing she'll feel used. She makes herself look beautfiful, knowing she won't believe it. She could work in the taverna and make in a month less than a week of prostitution earns her. Money and stigma and hundreds of other factors prevent her from fleeing the darkness into the unknown. I could write pages and pages on this. God - please do something! Set them free! Bring Light and Truth and Salvation! Glorify Your Name in all the earth. And here in Athens. In Omonia. In this brothel. In this girl's heart.

"They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted." - Isaiah 62:12

I'll try to keep this short :)

Brothers and Sisters -

How do I even begin to envelop this past week with written words? It has been incredible. Thank you so much again for your prayers - there is so much need in this city. I still can't get over how blessed I am to be here in Athens, staying at the ONLY Bible College in all of Greece and sharing the building with amazing people from all over the world.

An odd mixture of bleak cynicism and passionate hope perpetuates the city. The older generation seems to be Eastern Orthodox by default and tradition; the younger wants nothing to do with God, the Church, or the State. And scattered here and there you find genuine and solid believers in Jesus Christ who cling to him with all their hearts. Statistically, they are said to make up less than 2.5% of Greece. But the ones I have met have so much faith that the Lord will continue to spread His Name throughout the country despite human opposition.

A couple nights ago we were able to go to a youth worship rally, which took place on the roof of a building within easy view of the Parthenon, one of the greatest images of pagan humanism. It was an incredible thing to be able to listen to familiar worship songs being sung in Greek and let them echo over the city.

Our work with the New Life ministries has also been a blessing. We're going back tomorrow and last week I was able to enter 2 different brothels and have conversations with the prostitutes and madams in each, with the help of a translator. New Life has an office that helps the girls find different occupations in the city and aids them in any way possible. I was really moved by what I saw there and want so much for these girls to know freedom, tangibly but most importantly spiritually. Please pray for them and for the ministry.

Last night, the pastor and his family invited our team over to their room and cooked us dinner. It was delicious - I'm still not tired of Greek salad :) I loved getting to talk with them and hearing their stories of God's faithfulness was really encouraging.

My team is still working together really well. Thank you for your prayers for that too!

I hope everything is great back home and would love to hear from you :) Feel free to email anytime - rachie008@hotmail.com.

Thanks for reading :) and for your encouragement and support. I'm so excited to see what's going to happen over these next couple months.

"Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob." -Isaish 49:26

Psalm 108:5

So here I am in Greece!

We're staying in the Greek Bible Institute, which is in Pikermi, a town which consists of probably no tourists, which is kind of nice. We take the bus and the metro into the heart of Athens prettymuch every day, which is about 45 minutes or an hour each way.

The pastors that are hosting us - Yotis and Argillis, have been very hospitable and encouraging. We got to go to First Church on Sunday for the service, which was in Greek but there was someone there translating for us in English. I'm starting to pick up a few Greek words, but wish I knew more!

The culture here is completely different from America, one aspect being that time is a very fluid concept and a rigid schedule is rare. At the same time, we have been busy non-stop, which is a blessing. There is always something to do and someone to meet, whether bonding with the team, playing basketball with the Greek kids on campus, or learning more about the lives of all the people who live together in this Bible Institute. The Greeks are very relational and love to talk. As Americans, we can tend to value things, and people, by what they can produce. Here, it feels like more value is placed on the person himself. When I was restless the first day or two after we arrived, and asking for tangible tasks to complete, such as washing the dishes even, the pastor told me "Your very presence here is itself an encouragement to us." It's interesting, and different. There is plenty to "do" now though, and on Saturdays we will be doing lots of manual labor to satisfy our American desires to satiate the check list. Hah.

Today we spent several hours in the Universtiy of Athens and surrounding area meeting students and just hanging out and talking about life with them. It's a great spot for talking about the Lord because most of them are open to dicussion. Being American seems to help in striking up conversation because they're interested in us and our lives and culture back home, and also in telling us about theirs. Even the schooling here is so different because the government pays for university tuition and book fees and everything, so prettymuch everyone goes to school for a long time and comes out with a rather devalued degree and not many job options. As far as religion, many are seem to be nominally or devoutly Orthodox, or at least their parents are, but several have broken away from the family tradition and believe in no God at all.

Yesterday we traveled into Omonia, a part of Athens where Nea Zoi - "New Life" - ministry operates, in a small apartment. This ministry reaches out to prostitutes and trafficked women in the city. We had orientation and I go back tomorrow morning at 8:30. I'm really excited to see how the Lord is working in the lives of the women I'll soon meet.

I really like my team and we have been getting along great. We seem to have so many different personalities and skill sets, and they mesh together really well.

The days are filled with so much, and every night I write in my journal with an overflowing heart. This city is so full of both beauty and brokenness. Please continue to pray for the Nea Zoi ministry, the university ministry, relationships with the Greeks and within the team, and for the churches we are partnering with here. Thank yall so much for all of your support! You really are a blessing and I'm so excited that you're part of this!

"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth." -Psalm 108:5