House Guests, Family Conference, Strikes and More School

Practically please pray for us:

To be able to learn the language well.

For the sale of our house. Yesterday we learned that the deal we had to sell our Wheaton house fell through, so it is back for sale again!

Real estate prices are sinking as well as the US dollar against the euro. Financially we are having to trust God more and more with things we cannot understand.

That we will continue to be open to the things God wants to teach us

It’s been busy these days in Greece. At the beginning of the month we hosted our first house guests, Carol Getz and Gary and Christy Bollier, all from our home church. They are also members of the HM board and were in Athens for an annual board meeting. HM combined the board meeting with the annual family conference this year so we all had the opportunity to get to know the board members and likewise for them to know us better.

It was an incredible week of busyness and fellowship. I was in charge of accommodations as the 60+ of us gathered at a hotel in Glyfada for a 5 day retreat. It was with such joy that we welcomed familiar faces from Wheaton and were able to spend time catching up on home. One night, we had an awesome candlelight dinner at our house with 8 of us from WBC. We weren’t intending for it to be lit by candlelight, but we lost power about 15 minutes before they got to our house. (Part of an ongoing strike by the power company. I think our power has been cut off at least 5 times in the last 10 days.) Our guests were gracious and we ate our cold food (it was ready two hours earlier) in a very intimate setting here around the kitchen table.

The family conference was a time to get together and for each of us missionaries to give a report about their life and ministry in 2007. For those of us new people, it was a great chance to learn about all the ministries that HM is involved with. There were long days sitting around the conference room soaking up the reports but we did have a break every afternoon so Mike and I took the opportunity to walk down to the beach and to enjoy the sun. Mike even took a dip in the sea on two occasions. It was quite cold but refreshing? (he said his chest hurt after the dip) for him.

We came back and hit life like crazy again. This time we had two new houseguests, the Bougas’ from South Africa. Mike has had to be Mr. Hospitality since I am in the city for language school three days a week. Mike is working on his Greek using the Rosetta Stone computer program and we are hoping to find him a tutor soon. Level 2 for me is quite difficult, I realize now how easy Level 1 was. It might be hard to imagine just how exhausting, both physically and mentally, language learning can be, but trust me, it requires a lot and we are grateful for the time HM is giving us now to study the language. Sometimes it is frustrating because we are so anxious to become more involved in ministry, but God is telling us “siga, siga, (slowly, slowly), first things first.” And so we wait, what else is new?!

Mike is off on the island of Patmos this week with the Bible school students doing a study of the books of Daniel and Revelation. Patmos is the island where John was exiled when he received the revelation from God (Rev 1:9). The trip was rather spur of the moment for Mike, they had a last minute cancellation and he took advantage of it. We are both so excited that he is having this opportunity to study the Word of God in this way. It does seem much better than the winter commute to Moody that I did!

A fun surprise: I spent the day today with another girl from Wheaton, Jennifer Fichera, who is here for 6 weeks for work. It was so fun to meet her and to spend the day talking of familiar things and people from back home and seeing some of the sights of Athens together.

Anyways, we are reminded again and again of God’s sovereignty as He is directing our lives. No day is predictable here; right now we are in the midst of a one week garbage strike (it’s piling up and it stinks) an ongoing power company strike (frequently losing power), and weekly general strikes where they close everything down including, banks, metro, buses etc. This makes it a little difficult getting around and knowing how and when to get to school and the office etc especially when we can’t understand the news in Greek! There is much we can’t figure out but we are always sure that this is where God wants us. He is doing a lot of uprooting in our lives but at the same time we know He is shaping and forming us anew so that He can use us here.

Big accomplishments this week!

The weeks just keep flying by here. I can’t believe it is March already. We had several big accomplishments this week.

On Wednesday Mike got our clothes dryer hooked up. I know most of you won’t understand this (because in my previous life I didn’t either) but Wednesday night after I got home from school and the office, I was able to do two loads of wash; washed, dried, folded and put away in 2 ½ hrs. This was incredible!! Normally this process would have taken about two days from start to finish. Anyways, we are thrilled with the dryer and received it just in time as we have house guests coming this week and were able to get all the bedding washed and dried in one day!!

On Friday, we had our last day of Level One Greek class. That also meant we had a test that day. As you can see from our certificates, we did pass the class (do they fail anyone when one pays for the class?!). We’ve survived the first level and have had 60 hours of class. It has been one of the roughest things Mike has ever done. I am more used to it since I went back to college in my 40s. Certainly a challenge to feel so inept (stupid) at this age! It is also embarrassing to try to use the language on the street and still be misunderstood. Sometimes we concentrate so much on what we want to ask/say that when the people respond to us in Greek we have no idea what they have said!! Did I mention that Level 2 Greek class begins tomorrow-March 3^rd!!

This week (Thur-Mon) HM is having a family conference at a hotel in Glyfada, Greece which is about 30 minutes from Athens. It is different this year because we have HM Board Members joining us from North America, Australia, South Africa and Greece! We are all excited to have this time together, especially the three new families who have joined HM this past year. The conference will include reports from each team member about their work here in 2007. We can’t wait to hear more and to learn more about how HM works.

Needless to say, we have also been quite busy this week trying to get ready for the conference. Before the conference, we are housing Carol Getz and Gary and Christie Bollier so we've had a lot to do to get our newly furnished house (1 month) ready for guests. Lots of boxes to get through and clean out! We think we are ready which is good since Carol arrives in a couple of hours and the Bolliers tomorrow.

Mike has been helping at the office with some renovation projects and I have been working on accommodations for the conference as well as having four days of school this week and a test!!

The days go by really quickly and we are thankful to have so much to keep us occupied with.

The weather this week has been lovely, most days in upper 50’s and a couple in the upper 60’s. We are enjoying the weather and are sorry for those of you stuck in cold and snow.

Thank you again for your love and support. We are always mindful that none of these accomplishments is done by ourselves. You are part of our busy lives and ministries here everyday as you partner with us to share Jesus here in this country.

Mourning for Kela

As we gathered at the HM office on Saturday for a group office clean up day, our fellow missionary, Lahela Hughes Tagaroulious, shared with us the tragic news that her 22 year old sister Kela had died the day before in a car accident in Seattle. We were/are stunned.

Mike and I got to know Kela from the time we spent here in Greece in 2006. We also spent time with her again this past Thanksgiving. She was here for a couple of weeks visiting Lahela and was the one who prepared Thanksgiving dinner for us since her sister was too ill with morning sickness to do any of the preparations. We marveled that one so young could cook up such a big feast and it was all delicious.

The Hughes family lives in Seattle Washington where their father, David, is the missions pastor at Antioch Church. They have been coming to Greece and sending teams to work with HM for years.

Please join with us in prayers for the grieving Hughes family. Parents David and Holly, siblings Lahela 26 (married to Bobis and 5 months pregnant), and brothers Keoni 20-studying at Moody, Kuni 17ish and Kepa 13ish. While we grieve with the family we do rejoice in the knowledge that Kela is now in heaven. She had made her peace with Jesus and had given her life to Him; accepting the free gift of salvation that He offers to those who believe on His name.

We are still reeling from this sad news and are even more aware than ever that the time is short. Death can come at any minute. Do you know where you will be one minute after you die? Will you live forever in heaven with God or will you be eternally separated from Him in hell? Have you been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus? It is in His name alone that we can enter the presence of God in heaven. It doesn’t matter how good you try to be or if you go to church, but whether or not you have chosen to follow the way Jesus prepared for you by His life, death and resurrection.

The time is now, the choice is yours. It is a free gift, but it must be received and opened by you individually. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

Snow Days!

You guys in Wheaton aren’t the only ones getting snow. While snow is a common winter occurrence in the Midwest, it’s not so usual here. The Greeks are having a great time playing out in the snow as it only happens like this every few years or so. The cold and snow began Sat. night and ended Monday morning. The buses haven’t been running, the airport closed and the marble streets of Athens so slick that we didn’t even bother trying to get our car out, especially without chains. We’ve been home all weekend; no church yesterday, no school today (hurray!). I’ve been busy cleaning out closets while Mike has been a little under the weather. He is achy all over so has enjoyed the day off school and out of the cold too.

You can see from the pictures we’ve had to be inventive to clear our stairs; we never thought to bring a shovel!
Check out the gorgeous snow covered mountains in the background.
Happy Winter!

The container arrived!

Sorry we have been so remiss on posting to this blog lately but we have been quite busy. Believe it or not, just when we were least expecting it, OUR CONTAINER ARRIVED!! Friday morning, Feb 1^st, we were just parking the car at school when we got a phone call telling us that our container would be at our house in a couple of hours. Mike was quite thrilled for an excuse to leave me at school and to take off for home. He made some frantic phone calls to round up some guys to help unload the 20’ container we shipped with all our household belongings from Wheaton on November 5, 2007. It was a beautiful sunny day and God provided plenty of help for us. The container was emptied in less than one hour!! Everything arrived in pretty good condition; nothing was broken, lost or stolen.

When I arrived home from school at 2pm that afternoon, the truck was gone already left and everything was already in the house. Many of our fellow missionaries and their children helped as well as students from the Bible school down the street from us. Our neighbors downstairs, who are here in Greece with HM for three months, were invaluable to us that day.

We have been enjoying sitting in comfortable familiar chairs, eating at a table and sleeping in our old bed (although it took a little getting used to!). Surprisingly, it was also a little sad to look around at our things because it reminded us of many great family times together. Another rite of passage from our life back home to our new life here in Greece sans children :(

We’ve been shopping again, trying to get settled before we have our first house guests in early March. There are many boxes left to unpack and pictures to hang but we are feeling quite settled and are so enjoying the comforts of home that we took for granted for so long until we were without them.

In the midst of all this chaos, we are still diligently pursuing language school. It is a challenge, but we find the people here respond so differently to us as we stutter to try to speak their language. We also are participating in HM ministries as often as possible, mostly with the refugees right now.

We are learning to watch and wait on God for the most basic things. It is surprising to be thanking God for helping me drive to IKEA by myself without getting lost! Our days are full and we are still amazed every day with God’s provision for us. It is a privilege to be serving here in His name.

Thank you for all your prayers for us. We rejoice with you in thanking God for His goodness to us.

Problem Free Living-A Fallacy?!

The following words from the devotional we’re reading, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, have been our inspiration this week. Written as coming from the mouth of Jesus:

Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life. Part of you is still hungering for the resolution of all difficulties. This is a false hope! As I told My disciples, in the world you will have trouble. Link your hope not to problem solving in this life but to the promise of an eternity of problem-free life in heaven. Instead of seeking perfection in this fallen world, pour your energy into seeking Me; the Perfect One.

It is possible to enjoy Me and glorify Me in the midst of adverse circumstances. In fact, My Light shines most brightly through believers who trust Me in the dark. That kind of trust is supernatural: a production of My indwelling Spirit. When things seem all wrong, trust Me anyway. I am much less interested in right circumstances than in right responses to whatever comes your way.

These words express much of what we are learning as we continue to transition from the life we knew in Wheaton to the life and service that God has called us to in Greece.

The week passed with more surprises:

They recalled the truckers’ strike all week, so we waited day by day to hear if our container would come and no word yet. It was painful to get back onto the air mattress and in our sleeping bags Monday night after thinking we would be sleeping in our own bed snuggled under our down comforter that night! An interesting side note: Friday they started ripping up the road that leads to our street. We are wondering how the container will get here if they do end the strike tomorrow!

Got another parking ticket Monday. That makes two in less than one week. We felt blessed this time that they didn’t take our plates, it was only a 40 euro fine again! One has to laugh and trust God’s sovereignty in these things because we are trying so hard to obey the law and yet we are still making so many errors!

Language school heated up this week, getting really hard really quickly. We are trying to keep our heads above water!

Thursday Johnathan said we were witness to a miracle as the lady at the visa place, took our money to apply for our visa here even though we are missing much of the necessary paperwork. We worked with a woman who spoke good English and was very nice to us. The visa we got in the US expires this Sat so we are so grateful that she started the process for us without our paperwork being complete. Much more to do in that area, for example, getting a certified copy of our marriage certificate, sending it to Springfield to be apostilled, get it here, translate it, take it to the US Embassy here in Greece to get an affidavit that we are still married and then turn it in. We need to do this for several other things too like insurance and our income. A complicated process for sure but we have been blessed by the kindness and cooperation of this woman so far. Thank you Lord.

Had a great little get away Friday night with the other HM wives. We spent the night at a local hotel and enjoyed a great time together getting to know each other better and sharing what God is doing in each of our lives. It was a lovely break at the end of another crazy week.

That’s all for now. We continue to be encouraged by your love and prayers as we seek to serve here for the name of Jesus. We see the needs all around us and are anxious to be able to communicate the hope we have in our hearts to others. For now, we try to do that without words!

Amelia Faith Bennett

We'd like to introduce you all to our newest grandchild. Amelia Faith Bennett was born May 14, 2007 in Guatemala and Missy and Paul met her for the first time at Christmas. They were able to travel to Guatemala and spend a week parenting her in a local hotel. They had an incredible time meeting and loving on their new child. They have a website that gives a lot of information about her if you are interested. It is http://coloradobennetts.aboutmybaby.com/. Please continue to pray for Amelia and her parents and for her to continue receiving loving care in her foster home. Please also pray that the paperwork will be completed soon and that they will be able to bring her home quickly. Yia yia and pappou (grandma and grandpa) can't wait to meet her.