friday in athens & saturday homeward bound!

we made it to athens with several of us still feeling sick, but on the upward slope--we were recovering, bit by bit. when we got to where the other teams were staying (there were a total of seven ruf groups who went to greece this same week--five were in athens, we were in corfu, and another team in volos; but we all convened in athens on friday). the greek evangelical church in athens has several hundred members, which was definitely a change for us, after working with a church of about 20 members and 40 who regularly attend. the church building is across the street from the ruins of zeus's temple (literally right across the street). behind the church is the acropolis. it's amazing.

we arrived at the church in time for lunch. i still was not feeling well, and though our group was going to tour the acropolis, i did not have the energy to walk the mile up and back. so i took a nap : ) one of the women graciously took me up to a couch where i could sleep more comfortably (see photo to the left)--it was at the very top of the church and there were two windows: out the front i could see all of the ruins of the temple of zeus (photo to the right), and out the back i could see the acropolis. so, as i intermittently fell in and out of sleep i would look out to the acropolis, smile and close my eyes once more.

(everyone enjoyed the acropolis and alex was dear to take pictures--they all joked probably not as many as i would take, but he tried : ) )

around five o'clock, we left the church to go to where we would sleep. the baylor girls' group was quarantined--which was really funny, and actually allowed us to get some sleep, which we were all thankful for--and had a bathroom to ourselves, another plus as we just wanted to shower in hot water and didn't have to wait that long for the bathroom : )

we had to be on the bus saturday morning at 3:30am to make it in time for our 6am flight from athens to amsterdam. we then flew from amsterdam to minneapolis, where we were so thankful to be "home" (or at least in the states). alex and i got to visit with his best friend who is from minneapolis (who was his best man in our wedding), which was wonderful. several hours later we flew to dfw and made our way back to waco late saturday night. the return flights were on time and fairly smooth--we all made it safely!

overall, we had a wonderful time of mutual encouragement. i am thankful that we were with such an intimate church family and that they were encouraged by our desire to see the work of Christ in their town. they were excited that we came. we were excited to be there. we were both sad to leave.

thank you so much for your prayers and support. we were encouraged to know there were so many praying for us while we were there.