Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Home base

Well folks, we are finally here in Athens. Our luggage is unpacked, our heads are on pillows, we can relax! After 38 hours of travelling yesterday (and the day before) we arrived in Athens at the "Hospitality Village" (see: www.operationgideon.org for details), where we will be living until August 16th. After that we will head to our Island, Evia, for 10 days, then back here by Aug 27th.

That's right folks, I said 38 hours of travelling! Please pray that we would not be embittered by this long journey, but that it would strip away the North American comfort zone we have all built up for ourselves. So often I believe this comfort zone stops us from serving God more whole-heartedly and I pray that this layer be stripped away from all of us on the team.

For some it was a gruelling trip. Our trip to Athens really started the day we went into Rome. Our train was delayed coming home and we got the dead last train home to Latina station around 12:30AM. No one got to sleep before 2AM. Then the next day we were up at 7 to load the van with 12 people and all our luggage!!! What a feat! I have a video of the whole thing so pray I can post it. After we loaded all of us in we drove 5 hours from Latina, Italy to Bari, Italy (with minor complaints) where our ferry was leaving for Greece. We hopped on the ferry at 8PM with our deck seats (that means we were sleeping outside) and enjoyed a wonderful taste of Italian culture for 16 hours, until 12 noon the next day. I didn't get any pictures, but take my word that Billy Ray Cyrus is making a comeback in Italy! I saw at least 15 guys with his haircut - no joking! Almost everyone on the ferry looked like this:

except for less clothes :) WEll, more on that later.

Currently it is 9AM and we are just getting up (some of us) for breakfast. There are many many stories for us to share, and many emails to get caught up on so please be patient as we get settled. We have internet and phone access so hopefully everyone can call/email soon.

As for pictures, we are going to try and load a few so you can see real pictures that we have taken. Also with some luck we may be able to get a few videos online.

Thank you for your prayers and comments. It really inspires us as we plod along! More soon!

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