One HUGE privilege and blessing of being a Grace Church missionary is the bi-annual missionary conference. This past June, the conference was in Greece and this blog post is my attempt to convey what a great time we had. I tried to condense my pictures but there are still quite a few. I also am not going to tell you about every thing that we saw nor every place we went to; I was not one of those taking notes! If you would like more of a play-by-play of where we went, including very detailed notes, you may visit the wonderful Natalie Rehurek's blog for such posts. Also, several of these pictures were taken by Rich Hall and Matt Floreen; you will definitely be able to tell which ones are professionally taken! But I hope you will get the flavor of our trip and how much of a blessing it was to go...
Both boys enjoyed the 2 planes that we took to get there. Thankfully our travel time was fairly short, about 6 hours, but some people flew over 24 to join the conference!
This was our first sight upon landing in Greece! As the wheels touched the ground, it hit me that I was soon going to see friends I'd not seen for at least a year and some for 2 years. Before we even got out of the terminal, we were seeing fellow missionaries who literally traveled from all over the world. It was one big reunion that felt a little like heaven will one day. O happy day!
After grabbing lunch and a little over an hour drive, we arrived at the hotel where we would stay for the next 10 days. And we saw amazing people in blue! Grace sent a STM team to serve us missionaries at the conference. They were such a highlight of the trip. Not only did they take fantastic care of our kids, but they were such a joy every day to see their smiling faces. We are so thankful for all those STMers who came to Greece!!
Every morning after breakfast, we would walk the boys to their classes for the day. And they could not wait to see their friends and teachers. They had fun at the beach, did crafts, sang songs, learned about Jesus, and so much more. It was such a blessing to have our kids SO well cared for and loved!!
Once we dropped our kids off, the adults boarded buses for a daily tour. We had 2 days where we stayed at the hotel but the rest of the days we had guided tours. Some days we were in the bus for an hour or so and other days we had longer bus trips; we stayed overnight even because one trip was so far away. These bus rides were some of my favorite parts of the trip. They were so fun! Everyone switched and rotated seats for maximum fellowship and it was a sweet time to catch up with people I'd not seen in so long. Knowing my children were having fun back at the hotel really allowed me to relax and have some much needed rest and fellowship.
And every day we picked up these yummy sack lunches! Matt was kind enough to capture this memory for all of us. We will never forget our daily sandwich and juice box!
The large group of all the missionaries was divided into a few tours with guides. The guides were helpful and ours was even a believer. It was really neat to open the Scriptures and read about the place we were standing. Kind of made the New Testament come alive! Gus especially enjoyed the history and architectural facts our guide explained to us. I did too, but I also really benefited from amazing conversations with ladies who serve all over the world.
One adjustment for me was the heat. It was pretty hot and humid in Greece but thankfully I brought my fan with me, which I used a lot those first few days as I adjusted to those extra high temps. Our city in Spain does not have very high temperatures in the Summer so we have quickly forgotten what it's like to be super hot temps. It was fascinating for me to talk with other women who live in countries where it is hot year round; like near or below the equator. Some people make large physical sacrifices to serve their country for the Lord and it was such an example to me.
One of the highlights was our trip to Philippi. We all gathered in a ampitheatre on Lydia's river and Todd Dick, missionary in Croatia, read the book of Philippians. Philippians is my favorite book of the Bible and I will never read it without thinking of this scene.
It was very refreshing to catch up with missionaries around the world. We are so thankful for our time spent in many conversations that were encouraging and such a blessing to both Gus and I. Many hours were spent on the bus and in the tours laughing, crying, and ministering to each other. We are so thankful for friends who serve the Lord around the world and were such an example and encouragement to us.
As I mentioned above, I did not take notes of every place we went to, nor what we saw at every place. But I have a few pictures of places we went to, and, in no particular order, here are some of my favorites...
Our last guided tour was to the city of Athens and it was one of my favorite days. Not only did we go to Mars Hill and the Parthenon, but we also had so much fun walking the streets of Athens! We had coffee and helado, bought silly souvenirs, and really enjoyed one of our remaining days in Greece!
Here is Gus and I with the Parthenon in the background...
And this is the view from the top of Mars Hill, over the city of Athens. Breathtaking.
Another huge highlight for me was on Mars Hill. Again, all of us gathered on the spot where Paul preached his famous sermon in Acts and Mr Willians, missionary to India, read that sermon. Absolutely wonderful memory and such a encouraging moment for me. I think many people were in tears by the end, myself included.
Climbing the steps to the Parthenon; it was quite the trek!
Parthenon!!
View from the top of the Parthenon Hill
Olympic Stadium
On our second to last day in Greece, everyone boarded a huge boat to tour 2 different islands. Even though many were seasick, myself included, it was one of my favorite memories of the trip! We had fun wandering ancient streets and snacking on island food!
And then, before we knew it, the conference was over! On the last night, we had an ice cream social outside and tearfully said goodbye to everyone that we would see in 2 more years! It was such a great trip and we were impacted in more ways than I think we even realized at the time! I am soo thankful to be a GCC missionary and for our time in Greece. Enjoy these last photos, not taken by me, of our hotel on that last night.
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