Final Summer Days at Porto Astro

The summer is winding down and we are only just a skeletal crew here at Porto Astro. All the campers are gone, the short term summer helpers, the clean up crew and other staff friends. We can really tell that summer is coming to an end. Mike and I are spending our last week here at the property. Mike is busy with lots of construction jobs to do and I spend my day in the office trying to balance all the finances from the summer. Many of our HM team, along with some Greek friends and others from around the world are in China now serving with missionaries there. Please be praying for them.

We leave at the end of next week for our first trip home to the States. We can only imagine how it's changed/we've changed in the last 9 months since we have been gone. We are looking forward to being there, God willing, when our grandson, Griffin arrives. He is expected Aug 30th. We can't wait.

That's all for now. Thank you so much for all your love and support that keeps us going over here.

For God's glory alone, Mike and Peggy

Operation Joshua

Pre Operation Joshua Days

Another day here in Greece, another camp site! Wow, I never thought we would grow up to be such campers. In fact, the younger people here tell us this is something that we should have started when we were young and by now we should have graduated to a RV or something!

We are in the Peleponese, the western land mass of Greece where there was a lot of fire damage last summer and also earthquake damage this Spring, to begin the first year of Operation Joshua. This is HM's attempt to take the land of Greece with the Word of God. In five years, we are hoping to pass out New Testaments to every house in every village of the mainland of Greece.

We have a skeletal crew here on site and the excitement is building as we anticipate what God will do through the distribution of His Word. Already we have shared a New Testament with the owner of the camp ground and she says that this is the first time that she has ever read it.

Our plan is to pass out 40,000 New Testaments in this part of the Peleponese, Ilia from the 23rd to the 29th of July. We are anticipating about 80 people to help us get this job done. For now, we are under a big tent that friends from Thessaloniki generously lent us and we are packing up the bibles into bags. Assembly line work does get quite monotonous day after day and I am glad I never had a factory job!!

Camp days at Porto Astro

Camp days are busy and sometimes it reminds me a lot of the movie “Groundhog Day!” Same thing, just another day, if it were not for the neat interactions with people each day it would be hard to tell one day from the next. The days are full and fulfilling. We have breakfast, a time of prayer and daily quiet time with God and then we are off to start the day. Some are helping with the campers, presently we have about 70 at the camp, some are directing work teams about 40 people, many are preparing the delicious meals we have each day, and then there are the other chores such as cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes, taking care of the finances, the arrivals and departures, boats, waterfront activities etc. As you can tell there is much to do here and we are enjoying serving here at Porto Astro. The weather is hot and the water sparse so we bathe and cool off in the sea. Here are just a few glimpses of life here at camp.

Refugee camp was awesome!

We hosted for the first time a refugee family camp here at Porto Astro June 15th to the 18th. Being a pilot program, we had no real idea of what to expect but God knew exactly what He had in mind for this time and it went really well. We hosted ten families, almost 40 people, about 30 kids!! The pictures really tell the story best but is was a great time. The families were able to spend time together away from the city in a restful place together and we were able to love and serve them with the love of Christ. They were all Muslim families so it was a unique opportunity to minister to them. We ran programs for the children, ladies and men where we clearly presented the reason for our hope in Jesus as the Messiah. We did crafts, made bracelets, did rock climbing, swimming, had a magic show, ate and laughed and talked together a lot. They were some long discussions and one family has even been to church the last couple of weeks. Our new friends were sad to leave and said this was the best time ever for them. They had trouble putting into words the gratitude they felt for this incredible fun family time here at Porto Astro. Thank you all so much for your prayers and financial support that made this camp possible. We were all so blessed to be a part of this.

Refugee camp, prayer vigil, camp prep and more…

The speed has picked up for us here in Greece and summer and a very busy workload is here.

Mike has been spending most of the weeks at the property trying to get it ready for the summer. He has been building screens, cutting bunk beds to fit the cabins, installing shelves, boat repairs etc. The list is endless and he is busily working away there. It is good to have real work to do after so much time in language school but challenging as there is not a FE Wheaton or Home Depot nearby (in all of Greece!)

Next week he begins the process of rebuilding the 21 ’ x 24’ barge that we use to transport all big items across the bay to the camp. It will require new stainless steel corners (delayed already at the shop), foam blocks and treated 2” x 14” wood planks across the top. This will be especially challenging because we will need the barge to bring all the cooking pots and pans, dishes etc from the downtown hall to use at camp this summer. There is never a dull moment around here!

This weekend is full, heading up to help another Christian organization open their camp Saturday morning, going to a wedding in Athens at 5:30 and then to a HM all night prayer vigil Saturday night. Sunday evening we have our last worship event of the year down at the hall.

Peggy is working on summer finances as well as organizing a first ever camp for refugee families out at the property. We were hoping for about 40 people and 120 signed up!! They are all fairly new to Greece, Farsi speaking Muslims from Afghanistan. We are dealing with everything new with this camp and the challenges are countless, from being able to leave their government sponsored hotel, to Muslim women who don’t swim or wear bathing suits, to having 50 refugee children at a sea-side camp with parents who are not diligent in watching them!! Although there are many unanswered questions, we see God at work in big ways such as providing 6 former Muslim Christians who speak Farsi and will help us at the camp. One of these men, who doesn’t live in a house because he can’t afford the rent, is taking three days off work just to be there to love these people with the love of Christ.

Please keep us all in your prayers, big plans ahead, lots to do, but mostly we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!

Pre-summer in Greece!

The daily temperatures have increased and so have our schedules. Our formal language learning is over for the summer (we start again in the Fall) and now we have both begun summer responsibilities with HM.

Mike spent three days this week out at the property, Porto Astro, HM’s seaside camp. This is a very rustic camp that you get to by boat and which runs without running water or electricity. He spent his time this week installing bunk beds and making screen windows for the 10 cabins we have there. One of the Albanians who lives on the property cooks for the workers so he is well fed there!

I spent this week reacquainting myself with the refugee community that we serve. I am helping run our first International Family Camp June 15^th to the 18^th. This is an opportunity for refugee families to get away from the city and to enjoy relaxed time together. It also gives them a chance to be surrounded and served by Christians. We planned for about 40 people and already have 120 people signed up!! We explained to the people that this was a very rustic place, not kid friendly-especially for little kids-of which we have 15 children aged 8months to 5 yrs. registered. The people were not discouraged. They said they had come from conditions much worse and they are looking forward to this respite. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do! We are overwhelmed but are trusting God that He will provide all we need.

We also had the privilege of attending the wedding of Anthi and Haris last night. Anthi is one of the Greek girls who has worked with HM for at least 15 yrs. It was a beautiful God honoring ceremony that started at 8:30 last night and we arrived back home at 4am this morning. One more piece of cultural adaption for us!

HM has many programs planned for this summer including distributing 40,000 Bibles to Greek villages, hosting 5 different sports camps at the property, and sending teams of Greeks to China in August. If any of you would like to partner specifically with us towards one of these projects, you can make a donation through the HM US office, PO Box 726, Wheaton, IL 60189. 1.800.469.8972. info@hmnet.org.gr

Please pray for us and for the entire HM team as we begin the busy summer schedule. Pray for us to be people of spiritual integrity most of all. That we will love the Lord and serve Him in all we do in ways that bring glory to His name. Thank you.