September 17, 2006: Sunday
September 17, 2006: Sunday
What an eventful day! We all got up early in the morning and went to church. One of the Helping Hands workers, Susan (our short-team coordinator), attends a local English-speaking church, called the International Christian Fellowship, and she invited us to join her on Sunday.
The church was very unique and different than what we were used to with Southside Fellowship. It is on the seventh floor of a building. As soon as we entered the worship area and sat down, I was called upon for my computer assistance. They were having some trouble getting the computer to read the jump drive to load up the songs, and Susan spotted me from across the room and knew that I could help. I looked at the problem but was unfortunately unable to help since we lacked the proper drivers to install it. Not much I could do. I think I am going to bring my laptop next week though just in case. I have EasyWorship installed on it and it would make it a lot easier for them to use. We will see.
The service was great. The pastor spoke about the church’s core purpose and values, which our team found interesting simply because Southside Fellowship just finished a series on its’ core values. The overlying message was that God has a purpose and a plan for everything, which will always prevail over our own personal plans.
After the service, we were introduced to several local members during a fellowship time in another classroom. Everyone had drinks and cookies, and we just went around and met several people. The church really lives up to its’ name, International Christian Fellowship. We met many people from countries like Iran, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Slovakia, and even America. It was very interesting.
After church, we decided to tour the city a bit since we didn’t have anything scheduled until the evening. I didn’t have my camera with me, and we had already decided to stay out and not return to the guest house, so I missed the opportunity to take pictures. Skip and Jean brought a camera, Dave brought a camera, Kerry brought a camera, and Karen brought a camera, so we were bountifully suited with digital cameras to capture our escapades. Jean said that it would simply be “my day to have my picture taken” since I will be taking pictures the rest of the trip.
We ate lunch at an open café. I think they are called traverno’s or something like that. It was pretty good food. We all sat out and enjoyed the weather while eating our food. After lunch, we jumped on the tour bus to see some of the city. The bus would periodically stop and announce over the PA system what we were looking at, it would stay there about 30 seconds, and move on. It was a quick way to see a lot of the city. After riding around for a bit, we got off and went to the tourist police (yes, they are called the tourist police… doesn’t sound like a friendly name but they are) office to see about a possible island tour on our off-day tomorrow.
After arming ourselves with some information with which to make a decision, we got back on the bus, and rode to Omonia square. We got some ice cream at Ice Cream Mania (local Greek ice cream store). I got the “Green Apple Shorbet”… very tasty. After ice cream, we went back to the guest house to get ready for the Persian Christian Fellowship which meets Sunday nights at the Athens Refugee Center.
The fellowship service was very interesting. The entire service was spoken in Farsi, so we couldn’t understand hardly any of it. Cynthia and Kerry used to live in Cyprus, so they were somewhat familiar with the language, but the rest of us were not. It was very interesting though, to see us all participate in the worship time with clapping. Dave and I learned the chorus’s and tried to hum along as best as we could. Nadir gave a message out of John 4 about the woman at the well. Again, our group tried to follow along as best as we could, and it was very interesting to hear that story told in another language.
After the service, dinner was provided to those that attended. We served them their food and then we were invited to eat with them. I didn’t say much, but Dave and I talked with a few guys who could speak a little English. It was very frustrating for me, because (1) I’m not good with “small talk” and (2) Much less with people who don’t speak English.
Afterwards, we wiped down the tables, mopped the floors, cleaned up the children’s play area, mopped the floors, put up the dishes, and mopped the floors again. I mentioned the mopping so much because I watched several of us mop the same areas multiple times. I even mopped the areas I had already mopped previously after watching someone else mop them in between. That’s a lot of mopping.
After all was done, we went home. A very tiring day altogether, mainly from all of the walking. We debriefed as a team and shared some of the things we saw God do during the day.
Looking forward to tomorrow! It is our day off with nothing scheduled, so we might go visit one of the islands.
Joe
What an eventful day! We all got up early in the morning and went to church. One of the Helping Hands workers, Susan (our short-team coordinator), attends a local English-speaking church, called the International Christian Fellowship, and she invited us to join her on Sunday.
The church was very unique and different than what we were used to with Southside Fellowship. It is on the seventh floor of a building. As soon as we entered the worship area and sat down, I was called upon for my computer assistance. They were having some trouble getting the computer to read the jump drive to load up the songs, and Susan spotted me from across the room and knew that I could help. I looked at the problem but was unfortunately unable to help since we lacked the proper drivers to install it. Not much I could do. I think I am going to bring my laptop next week though just in case. I have EasyWorship installed on it and it would make it a lot easier for them to use. We will see.
The service was great. The pastor spoke about the church’s core purpose and values, which our team found interesting simply because Southside Fellowship just finished a series on its’ core values. The overlying message was that God has a purpose and a plan for everything, which will always prevail over our own personal plans.
After the service, we were introduced to several local members during a fellowship time in another classroom. Everyone had drinks and cookies, and we just went around and met several people. The church really lives up to its’ name, International Christian Fellowship. We met many people from countries like Iran, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Slovakia, and even America. It was very interesting.
After church, we decided to tour the city a bit since we didn’t have anything scheduled until the evening. I didn’t have my camera with me, and we had already decided to stay out and not return to the guest house, so I missed the opportunity to take pictures. Skip and Jean brought a camera, Dave brought a camera, Kerry brought a camera, and Karen brought a camera, so we were bountifully suited with digital cameras to capture our escapades. Jean said that it would simply be “my day to have my picture taken” since I will be taking pictures the rest of the trip.
We ate lunch at an open café. I think they are called traverno’s or something like that. It was pretty good food. We all sat out and enjoyed the weather while eating our food. After lunch, we jumped on the tour bus to see some of the city. The bus would periodically stop and announce over the PA system what we were looking at, it would stay there about 30 seconds, and move on. It was a quick way to see a lot of the city. After riding around for a bit, we got off and went to the tourist police (yes, they are called the tourist police… doesn’t sound like a friendly name but they are) office to see about a possible island tour on our off-day tomorrow.
After arming ourselves with some information with which to make a decision, we got back on the bus, and rode to Omonia square. We got some ice cream at Ice Cream Mania (local Greek ice cream store). I got the “Green Apple Shorbet”… very tasty. After ice cream, we went back to the guest house to get ready for the Persian Christian Fellowship which meets Sunday nights at the Athens Refugee Center.
The fellowship service was very interesting. The entire service was spoken in Farsi, so we couldn’t understand hardly any of it. Cynthia and Kerry used to live in Cyprus, so they were somewhat familiar with the language, but the rest of us were not. It was very interesting though, to see us all participate in the worship time with clapping. Dave and I learned the chorus’s and tried to hum along as best as we could. Nadir gave a message out of John 4 about the woman at the well. Again, our group tried to follow along as best as we could, and it was very interesting to hear that story told in another language.
After the service, dinner was provided to those that attended. We served them their food and then we were invited to eat with them. I didn’t say much, but Dave and I talked with a few guys who could speak a little English. It was very frustrating for me, because (1) I’m not good with “small talk” and (2) Much less with people who don’t speak English.
Afterwards, we wiped down the tables, mopped the floors, cleaned up the children’s play area, mopped the floors, put up the dishes, and mopped the floors again. I mentioned the mopping so much because I watched several of us mop the same areas multiple times. I even mopped the areas I had already mopped previously after watching someone else mop them in between. That’s a lot of mopping.
After all was done, we went home. A very tiring day altogether, mainly from all of the walking. We debriefed as a team and shared some of the things we saw God do during the day.
Looking forward to tomorrow! It is our day off with nothing scheduled, so we might go visit one of the islands.
Joe
posted by Joe at 11:44 PM
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