Christmas Love Meals 2009

Christmas is a special time of year for us at HM. The whole team joins together to prepare an unforgettable day for the refugees and the homeless of Athens and this year was no exception.

Preparations began weeks before as we contemplated what gifts would best suit our guests; sleeping bags, coats, blankets, and food bags. Then the week before Christmas we were blessed to be able to purchase a new convection oven so that we would be able to cook our chicken dinner on site, instead of cooking offsite and needing to transport pans of hot chicken and potatoes across the busy city of Athens.

The hall was decorated, the gifts were wrapped and on Saturday Dec 19th we hosted a meal at 2pm for about 200 homeless Greek people and just hours later at 7pm we served dinner to over 350 Afghan men, women and children. The hall was bursting at it seams, and we even fed an overflow crowd in the balcony! And one last time, on Monday Dec 21st, we fed over 200 Muslim refugee men.

What a joy it was to share the gift of Jesus’ birth with so many. At each meal, Bob Hill, a Christian illusionist, presented the clear message of the gospel in an entertaining series of tricks on the stage. Christmas songs were sung, a warm meal and treats were served, and gifts were handed out to all. What a privilege to serve Jesus in this way. We think that the servers were blessed more than the recipients!

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Fathers, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14. Glory to God in the Highest!

We are ungovernable!

I passed this painted on the wall of the University of Athens last week on my way to class. It clearly reflects the mindset of Greek youth. This graffiti was commemorating the anniversary of the riots that broke out in Athens last year at this time during which one 15 year old boy was shot and killed. A new government is in office this year and they have chosen not to let the students break bank windows, burn cars and garbage dumpsters and keep the university locked up. Needless to say, this has made the past weeks much more peaceful and easier to do business in the center.

Please keep praying for the Greek young people, they are really without hope. They don't have hope in the educational system, the government, the church, or in their ability to provide for families in the future.

Please pray for God to pour out His Spirit and draw this generation of "ungovernable" young people to Himself through Jesus Christ!

Another Blessing – Surgery for Mike in Greece

It’s hard to believe it’s been a week already but last Monday Mike had hernia surgery. I am pretty sure this was the scariest thing I’ve faced here but God, as usual, took great care of us!

Mike is recovering and in good spirits. The pain he was in before surgery was much worse than the post-op surgery so he is relieved.

We are so grateful for God’s protection and provision for us in this situation. Here are just a few of the ways that God blessed us throughout this process:
• By providing an excellent English speaking doctor and staff
• By providing a Greek friend to sit with me while Mike was in surgery
• By providing nice roommates
• Being able to share with the doctors about the work we are doing here
• By being prayed for by so many around the world

And an encouragement from Mike…
I had a cool thing happen the night I stayed in the hospital. The head nurse working the 3 to 11pm shift came in and asked me if I was staying more than one night. I told her no, that I would be leaving the next day and she said no, that she would ask the doctor if I could stay longer. I asked her why and she said that I had made her year by being such a gentle man and by being so nice to everyone. Then she asked me if Peggy was my girlfriend or my wife. I told her that she was my wife of 30 years and she said she couldn't believe how nice we were to each other and how much we cared for each other.

All this is to say is that we don't know who is watching us and how I am encouraged that we can be sharing with others without us even knowing it. Being a Christian is 24/7 so stay strong!

Thank you all so much for praying!

Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating!

We celebrated a different sort of Thanksgiving with lasagna and chocolate cake and it was great. A good time to reflect again on God and His goodness to us all. Then for the first time in three years, we put up a Christmas tree and decorations. We "borrowed" our friends' kids for the day and they were a great help and inspiration to us! We are trying to learn new ways to celebrate the holidays! No turkey, no football games, no black Friday, but we are thankful none the less! Looking forward to remembering more of God's goodness to us in the coming advent season. Siga, siga (slowly, slowly) we are learning contentedness comes from our relationship with Jesus rather than from our circumstances.

Two Years in Greece!

Nov 7th marked the two year anniversary of our arrival in Greece. It is hard to believe that two years have flown by. Some who study missions say that the two year mark brings with it a sort of lull in enthusiasm for the job and I must agree. There are so many times when I wonder what God was thinking by calling us here. As one used to only one hometown and people group, sometimes I am still overwhelmed by our surroundings here. It continues to be a struggle to keep God's perspective on things and to live each day fully for Him instead of longing for the past or dreaming of the future!

We were recently encouraged by these words from the Jesus Calling devotional:
I am working My ways in you: the divine Artist creating loveliness within your being. My main work is to clear out debris and clutter, making room for My Spirit to take full possession. Collaborate with Me in this effort by being willing to let go of anything I choose to take away. I know what you need, and I have promised to provide all of that-abundantly!

Your sense of security must not rest in your possessions or in things going your way. I am training you to depend on Me alone, finding fulfillment in My Presence. This entails being satisfied with much or with little, accepting either as My will for the moment. Instead of grasping and controlling, you are learning to release and receive. Cultivate this receptive stance by trusting Me in every situation.

We are living these words right now. Striving to learn all God has to teach us; to shed the comfortable for the uncomfortable, to surrender more fully to Him and to His ways and to learn to lean more fully on Him and not on our understanding.

Highlights:
knowing how to get from one place to another
relationships, conversations we have had with encouraging Greeks
opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ to the needy here

Continual struggles:
learning to speak Greek
missing the kids and grandkids and family back home

Thank you all so much for your faithful partnership with us. We so appreciate you all!

Peggy turns 50!

Still recovering from an incredible two/three weeks with the girls and their families as they were here in Greece to celebrate Peggy turning 50. Michele and Jeremy and Mia (10 months) were here for three weeks and Missy and Paul and Hannah (6) and Amelia (2) for two weeks. It was so great to all be together and to get to know all three of these granddaughters whom we had only met once before at the end of last year. We went sight seeing, saw all the HM properties, but spent most of the time at the beach. The weather was fantastic and we all enjoyed hanging out in the water and the sand.
We are so blessed to have had this chance to spend time with family.

Rome and Greece with Mom and Dad

At the end of a crazy busy summer, we were so excited that Peggy's parents were able to come visit us in Greece. We met them first in Rome for 5 days and then they returned with us to Greece for 10 days. It was their first trip to both Rome and to Greece, and Dad says it their last, but we hope not!

We had a great time seeing all the sights in Rome in the 90+ heat and humidity. Mom and Dad ( at 78 and 81) were troopers as we toured the Vatican, the Colosseum, and many other attractions in Rome. The double decker bus was a fun way to see the whole city but didn't offer much in the way of shade or air conditioning! The only bummer to the trip was that Dad got his wallet stolen the one day that we rode the Metro :(

We all arrived back in Greece and spent a wonderful 10 days resting and showing Mom and Dad a little of our life here. Many of our ministries were closed for vacation but they were able to see the places where we work and meet a few of our co-workers. We played a lot of cards, saw the Acropolis and other tourist sights, and just really enjoyed each other's company!

I think after all they experienced abroad, they are pretty content with their life in America and were happy to return there!

Fires in Pikermi

Yesterday started with a rude awakening when our landlord called us at 5:45 am and told us to prepare to evacuate. We looked out our balcony and the sky was red around us with fires. I was struggling to figure out what to bring, what to leave, what would burn etc. A frantic call to Missy and Paul (whose house burned to the ground a few years ago) for any advice. Not sure it helped, Mis said bring everything and Mike was wanting me to just pack a few things and get out!

We finally got everything packed up and I had learned on facebook that some friends of ours had been evacuated down to the bible school so I drove over there to get more info. It is so hard to watch the news with your town listed on it and not know what they are saying about it. The people at the bible school were a big help and assured me that things would probably be ok here from what they heard on the news. One family had left their house on the mountain at 3 am and had just come back from observing it, and praise the Lord, they said it looked like the fire just jumped their house. All was black around them, but their house was in tack. The mop on the balcony was melted and there was a turtle burrowed into the ground but the house and the propane tank outside it were both fine.

Today, we thought the worst was past but when we got up this morning the skies were full of smoke again and the fires were closer than yesterday. We "evacuated" twice down to the bible school and were so grateful for friends there who could communicate to us in English what was happening. Today the winds have been very strong and shifting. The fires came very close to the bible school and our house, within 4 blocks we think.

Thank goodness, we think the worst is over. The planes seem to have put out the fires by us and we are taking a deep breath.

We will be in touch later. We thank God that we are safe and are concerned for so many others that are not.

Thanks so much for all your prayers. Please keep praying for this country.

Camps are over, back to civilization

All the camps at Porto Astro are done for the season and we can hardly believe it. How could summer have come and gone so quickly? Hope you enjoy these pictures, the young adult camp, clean up and saying good bye to friends. We are back home now and trying to recover from a non-stop summer. We have two weeks to tie up loose ends from the summer before we go to meet my parents in Rome for five days and then they will come and join us here in Greece for a week. We can't wait. Please pray for us as we try to process all that God has done this summer and all that He has in store for us in the future!

Teen Camp "Party in the House"

Not only have exciting things happened this month with the Operation Joshua outreach... but also young hearts have come to know the Lord out at HM's campsite property during the 10 day long TEEN sports camp.

Be encouraged by this powerful story...

During the worship time on the second to last night of camp, a dual "call" forward was given. The speaker asked for those who wanted to commit their lives to Christ for the first time to stand up and come forward and for those who already knew Christ as their Savior but wanted to take the step of completely surrendering and dedicating their whole lives to Christ to come forward also. The response was immediate and comprehensive as within seconds nearly the entire camp of 60+ young Greeks stood to walk to the front! Δόξα στο Θεό!!

Thank you for praying for the Greek young people! The Lord is definitely answering prayer. Please continue to pray for those starting a new relationship with the Lord and for the others who are seeking to grow closer to their Savior. Pray for them to have the eyes and ears to sense the Lord's call on their lives, and the strength and courage to obey Him. Finally, please don't forget to pray for the hearts of the three or more teens who didn't stand up and commit themselves to one side or the other that night. Pray that the Lord will continue to pursue them and draw them closer to Himself, using the experience they have had at camp as a memorable landmark on their journey to come to know their loving Savior.

1 Cor 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

Operation Joshua 2 Completed!

This year we passed out almost 44,000 New Testaments in the Messinia area of the Peloponnese,Greece over a period of 6 days. We had about 120 volunteers from 11 countries represented. God's Word makes quite a stir as we made the front page of the local newspaper, "Proselytism in Plastic Bags." Not everyone was thrilled to receive the gift we gave out but we are encouraged as we know that God's Word does not return void. Is 55:11.

Family Refugee Camp

10 Afghan families comprised our family refugee camp this year. We all had an incredible time. These are the faces of the people who captured our hearts as we strove to share the love of Christ with them in very practical ways all week. They were overwhelmed and commented on the difference they noticed in us. Glory to God!

Mens Refugee Camp

We hosted a refugee camp for the men who have been coming to the love meals and to our discussion times on Thursdays. It was an awesome time to share some fun with the guys and to just love on them. We had many great conversations with them about Jesus.

Retreat for Muslim men this week

The temperature has risen here and so has the pace of ministry.
Ready or not, the summer camps begin this week!

Please pray for us...

This week we host 20 refugee men for a three day retreat at the property.
They are all Muslims.
Please pray that God will be working in their hearts to draw them to himself.
Pray that the love of Christ will shine through our lives to them.
For understanding of the gospel of John as it is shared this week with the men.
That Jesus will make Himself know as God.
For safety, logistics, etc.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

30 years of marriage!!

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will beome one flesh.

It's hard to believe that Mike and I celebrated thirty years of marriage this week! How would a 19 and 22 yr old have been able to even guess where they would end up 30 yrs later?

We are so grateful for the gift that marriage is. Grateful to both sets of parents who modeled love and faithfulness in marriage to us.

We spent the day at the office with staff meetings and then found a steakhouse (quite rare here in Greece) for dinner. We waited to go to eat till 8 pm but still were almost the only people in the restaurant!

One interesting thing, a new friend asked me, what was it that used to get on my nerves about my husband in the earlier days, and I couldn't remember a thing! Does God erase our memories as we grow older in marriage together or just use the early struggles to bind us so closely together? Either way, I am so grateful for my dear husband and his incredible love and friendship over all these years!

A word of encouragement for other marriages: keep on working at it, it is the best, an incredible gift from God and a lasting heritage to our children.

Mike is at the shipyard

Every three years or so the Morning Star is taken out of the sea and brought to the shipyard to be overhauled. This year Mike has been joining the team working on repairing the boat. It is stripped down, sanded, sanded and more sanded. Rust is removed, holes patched, rotted wood repaired and then it gets its new coat of paint and it ready to be launched back in the sea again.

Please pray for energy and safety for all the workers there. Pray for all that is needed to make the repairs complete to come in, including parts, finances etc.

This boat is a big tool that HM uses to take the gospel to the islands and surrounding countries of Greece. To read more, see our new HM website wwww.hellenicministries.com or on Facebook become a fan of Morning Star Santa Cruz.

Greek Easter and Mike's Birthday

Mike and I celebrated Greek Easter with a co-worker and her family down in a village in the Peloponnesos. It was such a treat to be received so warmly by this family and to enjoy an authentic cultural experience with them. Goat and octopus were served for dinner, fireworks and miniature hot air balloons were released on Sat. midnight, and Greek music and dancing in the square on Sunday! Additionally, we celebrated Mike's 52nd birthday there on Easter Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together and realize it's hospitality like this that causes so many to love Greece.

HM Family Conference a Success!

Mid April found almost all of the HM team gathered up at Porto Astro for a four-day annual conference. This was the first time we hosted this event out at the property and a great time was had by all.

God graced us with mild weather so that we were all able to remain warm enough in our unheated cabins and trailers. It rained a little a couple of the days, but nothing too drastic to keep us (abt 100 of us) inside all day.

A team of adults and high schoolers from Prairie Christian Academy in Canada came and blessed us by cooking, providing camp maintenance and childcare so we were able to enjoy our time together.

The days were filled with personal quiet times, study of Philippians led by guest speaker Jacques Teeuwen, ministry reports, corporate worship times, brainstorming sessions and fun game times together. We all came away refreshed and energized to begin the busy summer season of ministry.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. Ps 33:16-17. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Neh 8:10.

HM Family Conference April 12 - April 16 2009

Hi Friends,
Happy Easter to you all. While you will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, our HM family will be gathering out at Porto Astro for our annual family conference. Please pray for us, there will be 100 of us out at the camp this week!

Please pray:
for good weather; there are no heaters in the cabins and trailers, and 22 children to keep busy inside if it rains!
for Peggy as she is co-coordinating this conference. for her to be flexible and gracious in all the details of the conference.
for us all to be able to have great time with the Lord and His Word.
for team bonding.
for it to be a great time for the team from Canada who will be cooking and providing child care for us.
for safety.

We will celebrate Easter here in Greece next weekend on Mike's birthday, April 19th.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Work Day at Porto Astro

We had a great work day Friday at Porto Astro preparing for our upcoming family conference. Thanks so much to all of you who were able to make it. The place looked much better after our visit!

Adventures with Scott and Emily

We were so excited to host our first family visitors, Scott and Emily Fedyski (Peggy's nephew and his wife) last week. They came to spend a week with us, checking out Greece and HM. We had a blast. We showed them everything we could think of in just a few days here. In fact, Mike did such a great job as a tour guide they thought maybe he could do that for a job if missions didn't work out for him! Probably our most memorable time was in Corinth when we did not pay attention to the signs and got ourselves locked in at the ancient castle!! We were so thankful for the friendly hospitable Greeks who called for help for us and the lady with the key who came and let us out!

Scott and Emily joined us at working at our weekly love meals and for a work day out at the property on Friday. They were stuck cleaning the bathrooms and did a great job getting those things in shape!

They were able to make a short overnight trip to Nafplio by themselves mid week as well, so it wasn't just all work and no play.

We had some awesome Rook games while they were here, although Peggy and Scott never won a match :( Sorry Scott, my first time playing and I was terrible! I guess you were learning perseverance huh?

Now they are off, and we are back to work. Family conference begins in a week and Peggy is helping coordinate it, so there is lots to do. Please pray for all the last minute details that need to come together this week and for good weather. We don't have any heaters at the property which could make sleeping challenging for all!

The Most Important Thing in Life?

In a recent Greek language class, I was asked to answer a question written in our book. "What do you think is the most important thing in life?"

It was my chance to answer first, in Greek, of course. I told the class in my very fundamental Greek that I thought one's relationship with God was the most important thing in life. Others answered love or understanding one self.

As we got up to go to break, my teacher said he respects people who think God is important but that he just found it really hard to believe that there is really a God who loves him. I said really, to me it makes everything make sense. It was an interesting conversation around the table and was quite eye-opening to hear other peoples' views about God.

Another conversation from my class this week was one man who said he didn't want to have kids because he is so discouraged with humankind in general.

Gosh, I am no longer in Wheaton anymore and I pray that I can be an effective tool in sharing with others in my class the love of God that I know and that gives my life purpose.

An Ancient Theater

We called up some friends, jumped in the car and took about a two hour road trip down to Epidavros yesterday. It was fun just to get out of Athens and check out more of this country. It also was fun to take new friends with us. This ancient theater is supposed to have been built back in the last quarter of the fourth century B.C. It was awesome and you will be glad to know that I did NOT get out in the middle and sing as several other people did. The acoustics were incredible and you could hear a coin dropped in the middle stage all the way up at the top of the theater. An incredible architectural feat, mind boggling to imagine how it was done back in the day.

Eye Opening!

Last week we volunteered with another Christian organization that ministers to prostitutes and trafficked girls on the streets of Athens. We went out of the street from 11pm till 1:30 am. I am still reeling from the experience. We went to their office and were educated about what we would see and do and then we split into teams and went out. Four of the girls on our team were on one side of the street and Mike and I and another team member were across the street. Our job was to pray and to keep our eyes open for trouble and to be ready to step in and protect our teammates if any threatening situation arose.

It was incredibly sad to watch these young girls, mostly from Nigeria or Algeria, who were scantily clad standing on the side of the road, yelling at the cars that drove by slowly to stop and pick them up. Some of them chased after the cars, banging on the driver’s windows for them to stop and take them in. Some were joined by customers and then walked together across the street into a hotel. They have “work quotas” to achieve each night.

We were informed that the girls were observing that night we all victims of trafficking. In other words, someone brought them into this county illegally and is making money off of their forced prostitution. It is a very complex situation, tied into organized crime and apparently very prevalent here in Greece. Most of the victims of trafficking are not aware that the job that they are offered is selling their bodies in prostitution. But once they get here, they are without legal papers and see no way out of the situation. The girls are often kept under lock and key together in a house and the trafficker maintains control over them by threatening their families with voodoo curses.

Our teammates approached the girls and offered them tea and tried to initiate conversations with them. They also handed out cards with contact information on it about the organization. This other Christian organization goes out on the streets three times a week and makes frequent contact with the girls. Their goal is to help the girls however they can and to share the love of Christ with them.

Please pray for this organization, for the girls on the streets, and for the destruction of the sex trade here in Greece.

Another Family Reunited

Recently, Hamza, the other Albanian who has been living and working at Porto Astro for the last seven years, was granted permission to bring his wife and sons to live with him here in Greece. This is the last of the refugees who are employed by HM to have his family reunited! We rejoice to see Hamza’s, Aurturo’s and Akbar’s families living together again after so many painful years of separation.

Hamza brought his wife Maria and his two sons, Elton, 14, and Zudi, 12, home to Greece in mid February. They join Aurturo and his wife and son who also live out at the property. It was with incredible joy that we saw this family reunited. Some of the HMers have dreamed of this day for many, many years. In fact, this was another dream of the late Costas Macris; for Hamza and Aurturo to be able to bring their families to Greece.

Please pray for Maria and the boys in this transition period. They left behind life in a two-story house in a big city with lots of relatives near by to begin living in trailers on a remote location without most of the conveniences of a city. The boys will also have to integrate into the Greek school system. Elton was the top student in his class in Albania and will miss the stimulus of school until they are able to get the paperwork sorted out and the boys in school, hopefully by the fall. Additionally, in their 16-year marriage, Hamza and Maria have never lived together for longer than a short period of time.

So amidst the joys of reunion there will also be challenges. Please remember to keep them in your prayers. For now, we are rejoicing in God’s goodness in bringing this family together again.

Aurturo's family's house at Porto Astro

After living and working on the property for ten years, Aurturo finally got all the red tape cleared and was able to bring his wife and son from Albania to live with him in Greece last year. Costas Macris had promised him that if he were ever able to get permission to bring his family here, he would provide a house for them. So now, 10 years down the road, and after the passing of Costas, Aurturo and his family are moving into their own little house at Porto Astro. Mike worked along with some of the other men on the team to help convert this little place from a storage room to a house! How fun to be part of this project.

Just two days ago, the other Albanian man who lives and works at the property, brought his wife and two sons to live here too. I guess we know what Mike will be doing next!

It's a blessing and privilege to be part of this work and to see what God is doing in the lives of these men and their families.

Rioting and Openness to Spiritual Things

The month of December was marked as one of anarchy and rioting in Greece. While many things were destroyed in the capitol city of Athens, our HM staff and our buildings were protected from harm.

Johnathan summarizes:
If you've been following the news, you will know that Athens has been wrapped up in flames! Store after store, banks, supermarkets and anything that breathed capitalism with a capital 'C' was pillaged and burned...not only in Athens but across Greece, Istanbul, Spain, Italy and France among other places! A 15 yr old teenager was accidentally shot by police. Young Alexandros was among the anarchists who refused to stop hurling obscenities and threatened police with rocks and Molotov cocktail bombs that were literally raining on the streets of Athens. Over 1,000 garbage bins were burned, 400 shops ransacked, 100's of cars charcoaled, 100 arrested, 70 wounded, two police men imprisoned, one boy killed...a nation divided!

Will it be a Christmas of Hope? Where there is no desperation, pain or loss, there is no need for hope! So, yes, it is a season where we will celebrate and proclaim HOPE.

Has our ministry been affected by the rioting and the fires?

We had to cancel one Worship Event in December due to the rioting and burning in the streets directly below our meeting hall but the Christmas Love Meal was served! The poor and the refugees managed to make it through the disrupted city center to our downtown hall for the Love Meal on Monday, December 15th. As Bruce McAtee was preaching the gospel before serving the food, large flames and debris were seen outside of the 7th floor from the burning on the street below. The tear gas was so bad, that even through the closed windows, eyes were stinging. Bruce was able to calm calmed the frightened people and assured them that they would be okay. He continued with the program as usual.

Man on Fire – As our staff was helping some of the elderly to the bus station after the meal, Liza and Elias saw a man up ahead of them whose jacket had caught on fire as he brushed by a burning garbage bin. Elias ran and helped the man get his coat off just in the nick of time. The man's hand was slightly burned, but his life was spared. No sooner had they saved the man from his flaming jacket than two strangers ran up, grabbed the blazing jacket and searched the pockets for something to steal! Again, Elias ran after the two strangers on behalf of the old man who was on fire. This describes the spirit of unruliness in the streets of Athens.


…for such a time as this…Esther 4:14

These troubled times have produced an openness in the people here to listen to the words of the gospel like never before reports one young Greek police officer, Yiannis, who is a friend of the ministry.

As Yiannis was working out in the gym in December, he believes he received a message directly from God. He got up from the equipment, grabbed a pen and paper and recorded what he had heard. He was inspired to create the postcard shown below:

The Greek words say, (rough translation by Peggy):
In whom do you stand/lean on? In the government? In the minister? In the holy mountain? In the monk? In the police force? In the special guard?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Jesus Christ, the only one who keeps his word.

He had 800 of these cards printed and at present has handed out over 600 of them. He sent them to many government officials, including the President and the Prime Minister of Greece, with a hand written note on the back. He also passed them out amongst all his colleagues on the police force and to rioters and others he encountered in the streets.

Yiannis tells us that he has never experienced such a time of sensitivity and willingness to listen to the hope of the gospel as in these days.

Please pray with us that God will continue to inspire many other Greek believers to speak the truth and to move in the hearts of others to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Greek language progress

We began language school again this week and Mike is having a good time. Exact quote, "it is even fun!" We are thrilled. He has a new teacher who speaks only Greek in class which he thinks is good because it helps him keep mind focused in Greek. She is enthusiastic and is trying many different methods of communicating with their class of 6 students which Mike finds helpful. This is truly an answer to prayer because he had such a bad experience last time he attended class.

Peggy's teacher, on the other hand, is not as challenging and it will be harder for her as he is "too easy." He communicates a lot in English and doesn't give any homework. Way too easy since she does much better with pressure. Please pray that she will continue to work hard on her own.

We really believe that we need to be able to want to communicate with Greeks in their heart language in order to share Jesus with them. Please keep praying for us and we will keep trying.




ONE FUN LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE:

While I (Peggy) was out for an early morning walk by our house, I was approached by a Greek taxi driver. As I saw him slowing and rolling down his window, I began to recite in my head the Greek words to say, I don't speak Greek, so that I would be prepared to tell him. Before I could speak, he asked me for directions and sure enough I understood what he was asking and miracle of all (those who know I am so directionally challenged) I knew the place. So instead of telling him that I didn't speak Greek I was able to give him directions!!! The truth is though, that the place he was asking about was right across the street as well as the only restaurant on the country back roads where I walk! So I pointed and said, Δουκατο, ειναι εδω. It's right here. OK, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that they will be hiring me as a GPS consultant (now or ever) but I did walk away smiling thinking, I just gave a Greek taxi driver directions-wow that was really cool and it encouraged me to keep pressing on!!