It's Not Bad, It's Just Different!

The people at the Greek Bible Institute (GrBI) where we stay are amazing! They are always smiling, give credit to God in all things, and genuinely want to help in every way they can. Seriously, I haven't ever met so many people in one place who challenge me to be a better Christian. One of the American students, Courtney, has spent almost her whole week showing us around the bus station and metro, accompanying us into Athens, telling us encouraging stories, and just generally showing us the ropes. She, along with everyone else, has been incredibly welcoming from the moment we came. When we first arrived, it was during their graduation ceremony where everyone was wearing suits and dresses. However, our entire team was dressed in sweat pants and t-shirts and hadn't taken showers in two days. Despite this fact, we were embraced with warm hugs and loud, friendly greetings. Nobody looked down upon us or suggested that we change attire. Instead, they requested that we mingle among the students and join them for some Greek dancing that evening.

From that day until now we have experienced nothing but kindness from our hosts. They repeatedly tell us how much our presence is appreciated. It's funny because in America people are often valued by what they accomplish. Here, you are valued just because you are a person. They are much more relational creatures than we are. And when they ask "how are you?” they actually mean it!

Another interesting thing that goes along with this idea: Christians here are big on giving testimonies. We learned that the hard way. The other day in chapel, we were given an hours notice that someone in our group would be sharing their testimony in front of all the students - who we had barely met. Of course, all the girls were running around frantic trying to figure out who was going to be the one to do this. Thankfully, Thomas volunteered to swallow the bullet for us. We thought that the rest of us were off the hook, but we were sadly mistaken. Another one of us has been requested to give our testimony at church on Sunday (at least this time with some advanced warning). I have a feeling that this will be my fate as well. They love hearing testimonies because they truly care about who we are and what has brought us to our present point.

Oh - random point. Our team has been eating souvlakis almost everyday (sometimes more than once) because they are really inexpensive, easy to find, and convenient to eat on the run. The girls were excited because we thought that we were being really healthy. They are pitas filled with chicken, grilled onions and tomatoes, and tzatziki sauce. I don't why, but they just seemed so fresh. Well, when we were hanging out with university students doing research, we mentioned how much we loved the souvlakis and how we ate them all the time. One girl exclaimed, "oh no, you go home weighing 5 kilos more than when you come!" I think we may have to back off the souvlakis :(

Ok, onto today. We woke up early this morning to attend a three-hour Bible class with the Greek students called The History of the Christological Controversies. We were pumped because we were told we would learn all about the Greek Orthodoxy church from a well-known speaker who was visiting the class that day. Well, in the first five minutes all but one person on my team was completely lost. Between the 5th century history and religious jargon, my head was spinning. I guess you could say we were a little overly confident. Our team bailed after the first hour to have team prayer time.

We headed to the university around 2:00 to do evangelistic research, but when we arrived campus had been closed due to upcoming elections. So, we walked a few blocks to a large Greek Orthodox Church and toured the inside. It was adorned with religious pictures and icons, gold, candles, and more. I seriously felt like I would break something if I breathed the wrong way. We observed the other people and noticed that, when they entered the church, they always kissed these pictures of Christ displayed under glass. After a few minutes, we gathered outside the church and had one of the GrBI students give us a basic lesson on Greek Orthodoxy. It was very interesting and somewhat frightening as well, but that's another story for another day.

We then took the metro to the community center where we were serving that evening. The community centers are owned and operated by the evangelical church and were established to provide children with a place to come and hang out (and hopefully stay out of trouble). They have games, ping pong, Wii, computers and provide pizza and ice-cream for the kids. Their hope is that, by serving their community, they can be a witness for Christ and perhaps have a positive influence on the children.

It was a long day as we didn't get back home until after 11:30 - which is actually pretty normal. Like I said before, the typical day of a Greek looks much different than that of an American. Breakfast almost doesn't exist because most don't wake up until about 10:30ish. Lunch is at 2:00 in the afternoon followed by a long siesta. Dinner isn't until around 9:00 and most don't go to bed until well after midnight. Don’t ask me when they work. It's quite the adjustment, especially since we aren't able to take advantage of the afternoon siestas. But like we've learned to say in so many circumstances, "It's not bad, it's just different!"

Tomorrow we are sleeping in (yay) and then operating a festival that evening held by the community centers. Pray for lots of energy as it's always exhausting spending long periods of time with energetic children.