As I sit here tonight eating my dinner (burned cheese toast, and don't yell at me about it Mom), I'm reflecting over my day, the past couple weeks and this journey the Lord has me on.  I know from friends who have gone on week long mission trips that in the end, it's really not about what you do for the people you're helping but rather what God wants to do in you.  I knew that coming into this, but it is only hitting me now in at a greater depth of His Spirit moving in me.

I remember back in early spring wanting badly to get out of town and see some new scenery.  Life wasn't much fun back then.  It was a rough stretch in my life, but as always, when we run to God, He grabs us and holds us close pouring out loving comfort.  Many years ago I'd decided that if I were ever single again, I'd want to go to the mission field, maybe an orphanage, to grieve and fall into God's comforting arms.  Well, I found myself single again and prayed about which missions field did I want to explore.  Very quickly He answered and it was Greece.  I was surprised.  I was glad it wasn't some place terribly hot and sticky (just being honest here) but I didn't know much about Greece.  I knew some history from biblical studies.  Everything fit into place and it clearly was the Lord's hand in sending me to Greece.  I was ready to go back then, almost begging them when could I come.  As it turned out, it wouldn't work until after the first of 2016.  So wait is what I did and in the mean time I began preparing my heart and soul for the journey ahead of me.  I booked my flight using my airline miles and enjoyed my time with my sons and friends.

Now here I am, it is February 12th, I arrived in Athens on February 1st, and I'm relaxing after a wonderful day of experiencing life in a thriving city full country-wide of amazingly wonderful Greek people.  Today was a blast!!  For some reason I was really tired and slept hard last night, waking up late and rolling into the mission headquarters at 10 a.m. It's almost 8:30 and I feel like I could crawl in bed with a good book (and will do so directly after I complete this). These people, this culture, is amazing! There is so much warmth and kindness in each Greek I've had interaction with.  The lady at the bakery, the mini mart owner, the women's clothing store owner...all of them have been so friendly and reminded me more of Italians than anything else I knew.  Now I know there is a feud between the two countries so I don't want to put anyone down; I simply want to say they are both full of wonderful people.

As has come to be my custom, I know which direction I'm to head when I leave my apartment front door, but after that there are numerous pathways to go to the office.  I'm technically only 3 blocks away, but many routes to choose.  I think I've become so dependent on my phone map that I haven't been paying attention to what's around me and have thus become lost each and every day at some point through out the day.  It's become the office joke when today my "boss" sent me on an errand and reminded me to take my phone.  I thought it was in case they needed to reach me, but he laughed and said "in case you get lost".  I laughed so hard!!  I'm usually an excellent navigator and I love maps, but I'd become technologically dependent and couldn't tell you where I was or how I got there without looking at my phone.

Getting lost wasn't fun, but I didn't panic because I had my phone.  Yet I realized today how much I've actually enjoyed exploring new routes.  The headquarters is in the middle of Lydias Street so I can get to it from either direction.  Today I ended up (not intentionally) coming from the opposite direction and as I did, I came across a new baker and a lady's clothing store.  There were some lovely things in the store window and so I went in and ended up purchasing a nice teal angle cropped cardigan.  It was like finding a treasure on my daily adventure.  Well for me each day has been an adventure because I've never known how I was going to get to the office, LOL!  Yes, I did just now use a text lingo in a letter.  I have 2 english teacher friends who would hopefully correct me.  I never was great at English; always did better with math and science. If I tried to diagram a sentence it would be like me trying to translate Greek to English.

I'm looking forward to the weekend because I'm going to go on one of those red tour buses that takes tourists to the more important spots and allows you to get on one and off, then get on another one when you want. I've been here almost 2 weeks and I have no idea how far away the acropolis is or in what direction.  Tuesday was fun when Steve, my sweet young landlord, took me to see where to get on the "metro" train and how to purchase a ticket.  This weekend we're supposed to take a ride on the metro and walk in a nice district he thinks I'll like.  This kid has a bright future in front of him because he has 1. ambition and 2. natural people skills.  I call him my personal concierge.  Honestly, I could call him at 3 a.m. and ask him to bring me nyquil and he would!  How's that for service?  His English is almost perfect and he is always looking to take care of things.  I've given him some of the things I saw as a business CPA of what factors brought success to people and what businesses failed and why.  I've given him the positive things I see in him that bring success; things from an American's perspective.  He seems to have appreciated the positive feedback, and it's all been true.

Tomorrow begins another adventure!  And my pillow is calling my name.  Until next time, God Bless!!  M