Sunday at Church

What a wonderful day of ministry we had! Today is Sunday so we went to church.  When we got there Vasalia asked us to sing a worship song in Greek. We all laughed and said ok! Since most of the people here speak a little English there was a translator, for us and for them.  Pastor Ryan called us up to the stage and we did our best to sing in Greek. Adam sounds fluent already, so he did great.  Some people said “Well, you tried.” We laughed. Ryan taught an awesome sermon on provision and trusting the Lord, either with the little that he has given you, or the abundance He has given you.  Pastor George, the pastor of the church, came up afterwards and spoke to the congregation saying that he and Ryan never discussed what Ryan would be speaking on and that he forgot to pass the offering basket around. The sermon was what the congregation needed to hear. Everyone seemed to receive it very well!!

At times we laughed because Ryan would say “slang” terms in his sermon like “hit the nail on the head”, or “out of left field’ and the translator didn’t know how to interpret that so she would look at him confused and say “what?” haha!!

Afterwards we talked with some of the youth and went to lunch with the pastor and his wife.  They took us out to an authentic restaurant.

Later tonight we went back to the church and Pastor Ryan spoke another sermon.  Mike, Nate, Lisa and I (Ronalee) had an amazing opportunity to share our testimony of the trials we went through to get to Greece and how the Lord is faithful and we are here!! We had an incredible time of ministry where we got to lay hands on the people that came forward and speak prophetically over their lives.  Dominique was inclined to pray over a woman who she felt something was preventing her to be serving in ministry. Afterwards, the woman approached Dominique and said that she had stomach problems for a few years and when she prayed over her she felt a warm feeling go through her body and tingling in her stomach and her pain was gone!  Praise God for a miraculous healing through this woman so she can do far more than what was preventing her from her full abilities!!!

Tomorrow youth camp begins!!!! We may not have access to internet while we are at camp, so the blog might not be updated.

Praying over David's neck

Playing Catch Phrase

Acropolis

Wow. Today was absolutely incredible! Looking back at the photos I am amazed at what we were able to do.

Today was Acropolis day.  We didn’t have a tour guide so we went to the brand new museum to learn all about it. Reading about all of the artifacts was fascinating. To think that over 2000 years ago all of these statues and pillars etc. are still here.  We made our way up the hill, up all the stairs in the blazing heat with our parasols and reached the top where Nate taught us about Athena’s temple and the Parthenon.  The view was stunning!! We learned that the Acropolis was built for the gods and was a place to worship them.  It was built on such a high place so they could see their enemies coming at them.  Among many many other facts, we learned that in the 1940’s Hitler ordered that the Greek flag was to be taken down. The Grecian man that was watching over the flag wrapped himself in the Greek flag and plummeted over the cliff with it.

The BEST part of this visit to Acropolis was Mars Hill! We climbed the slippery stairs up to the top and sat with our Bibles reading about what Paul preached to the Athenians.  Pastor Ryan helped us envision the marketplace on the hill and what the people must have been thinking about this new way of worship, and Christ.

Acts 17:22-30

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

 ²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[c]
 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

We prayed over the city of Athens. We lifted them up, praying against strict religion and for a freedom to worship Christ with all that they are, for the youth, and the generations to come.

Later in the afternoon, after we returned to the hotel and freshened up (it gets hot and sticky in the metro, sometimes we take 2 showers a day) we walked over to the church and helped clean the church with the youth and Vasalia. We went into the youth room and prayed and worshipped the Lord together, in Greek, and in English.  After we equipped and united our hearts, we took a trip in the city. With a few guitars, tambourine and our voices, we sang fun uplifting worship songs while some of the youth spoke to people about Christ. Their boldness is incredible. It’s so neat to see such young people with such a special gift that they want to share with the world.  4 people came to know Christ!!!!

We all got to know each other and are very excited about the camp next week!! Tomorrow is church where Pastor Ryan will speak.

We love you all and thank you for taking this journey with us and praying for us! We feel your prayers, truly!

Anastacia and Vasalia

 Praying in the hotel lobby

 Awesome art in the metro station