Where have you been?
Well. A little bit of everywhere.
Before I begin, I want to thank you for your prayers andsupport. My last prayer requests were focused on financial provision and travelsafety. All our outreach fees were paid for not only my team, but other teamsas well. Our team also made it safely to every destination we had. Praise God!! Thank you for your constant prayers. They made a big difference.
In my last update, I told you I was traveling to Greece and Jordan. A lot has happened since then. So let’s hop into it. We will attack this thing in two blogs. For your sake and mine, I think it would be best. Let’s talk about my first destination: the beautiful country know as Greece.
Our first month was spent in the lovely Athens, Greece in a little area called Kypseli. Something that I love about Kypseli is that there are so many people who live here (about 50,000) and, yet, it is so peaceful. Greeks and immigrants are combined in this small area, leaving potential room for conflict and sparks to ignite. Instead, you can find kids playing football/soccer on the streets, old men gathering to play boardgames in the square, and people grabbing coffees and hanging out.
One of my first experiences in Kypseli has stuck with me ever since. One of my teammates and I were waiting in line to withdraw money from the ATM. This little girl showed up and started asking people in line for money. I didn’t have any money yet, but I was planning on buying her some foodonce I had some. I tried asking her name and how old she was, but there was alanguage barrier. A Greek woman behind us saw the situation and helped us translate. She was so moved by our action of trying to talk to this little girl, she left her spot in line (which was a big deal because the line was very large) to go buy the girl some food from a bakery next to us. It was so amazing to watch that unfold. When I finally got my money, the little girl had gotten her food and left. The woman also left. It just goes to show how caring people can be if you give them a chance.
My team was mainly focused on a youth café called The Hive. Here, refugee children and Greek children could come and hang out. Most of our days were spent playing with the kids, teaching them English, and really just connecting with them. Before we came, I had started learning a bit of Arabic. It was definitely not the easiest language to learn. When we arrived, I was quick to learn that there were more Afghani refugees and they spoke Farsi. In case you don’t know, Farsi and Arabic are different. So while we taught English, they taught us Farsi. It was actually quite fun for both sides. This exchange really helped us become more familiar with the kids.
At one point, our team had become very familiar with one refugee family in particular. As an entire team, we had fallen in love with their kids and were quickly introduced to the rest of their family. In fact, they invited us over for a meal. We had a beautiful time interacting with the family. Another team member and I actually stayed at their house eating, dancing, and sharing stories for about a total of 5 hours. I can honestly say I was physically and emotionally full. They treated us as if we were just an extended part of their family even though I had met some of them for the first time. Even though they were Muslims and we were Christians, we had a great time enjoying each other’s company. We didn’t have to talk about Jesus in order to show the love of God to them. Spending time with them, eating their food, engaging in their culture were examples on how we shared Jesus’ love with them.
Around this time, the refugee crisis became more and more real to me. A few years ago, it was pretty big on the news. Everyone was constantly talking about it; especially when it came to American politics. News reports constantly buzzed about the millions of people who had to flee for their lives. Eventually the news channels stopped talking about it as much. People started caring less and less. However, the problem is still here. It’s just been pushed aside.
Spending time with families like this made it become more than just a number or a statistic. These were real people with real lives that had drastically changed. I talked with many different children from places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan. Many of them have lost their parents and families, friends, and homes. It was no longer a general story that I heard every once ina while on the news. It was a living human being sitting a couple feet away from me.
One time, some of us painted the walls in one of the buildings that was being used for refugees. The refugees that lived there weretrying to make a nice community center so that they could bring some hope intothe building. We were able to connect with them and help out as much as wecould. As I was painting, I was able to have a couple conversations with the people who lived in the building. One little girl stood out to me the most. She seemed like a very bright, talented girl. I had asked her if she went to school that day, but she replied saying she wasn’t able to attend school at all. She went further on to tell me that she lived with her father, but was separated from her mother, brother and sister, who were in another country. I used this opportunity to encourage her and speak life into her. It seemed kind of new for her, but she took my words all the same.
There are plenty of more stories like this. Stories that can’t help but affect the heart. It can be easy to feel hopeless about the refugee crisis. I’ll be honest and say I did at one point. It is so much bigger than my 17-year-old self. However, despite the seemingly bleak situation, the goodness of God is shining in incredible ways. He is constantly raising up people to face the challenge and they are not just coming from people visiting Greece. Hope is emerging from the people of Greece. The staff who work at The Hive are perfect examples of how Greeks are stepping up and out to impact their community for the better. Even the refugees are making a light out of their darkness. No one person can fix this. Together, with the love and power of God, every single one of us can make a difference in this world.
Blessings,