Greece Already?

I managed to go to sleep around 1am on January 1st. Even though it was New Year’s Eve there wasn’t really anything exciting going on. But that’s besides the point. The point is that I managed to get some sleep. Even though I woke up four and a half hours later, I still got sleep. Which is better than last time. Anyway, I had packed pretty much everything the day before which is something that I normally do because I don’t have a habit of making myself stressed. But I woke up at 530 am and finished packing everything up. Then around 630 am the red trucks arrived and we all piled in with our bags. Wooooo! Even though one Sung Tou had bags in it and we were down to three to ride in there was like nobody in the one I got in. But then after a short nine minute ride later we arrived at the bus station. We then unloaded everything and waited for our bus. We waited about 10 minutes and then headed over to where the bus was waiting for us. We loaded everything in and believe it or not, but not all the bags fit in under the bus! So we had to load some of the bags in the actual bus. But it was double decker bus so there was some space. We were all on the bus and headed out around 740 am. I mostly just listened to music and looked out the window for the next six hours. And at one pm we stopped at a little bus stop thing( I don’t know what’s it’s called. Don’t come for me.) And we got some lunch. At first I didn’t want to have anything because the picky eater part of me was coming out and I didn’t feel like eating any new foods. But then I saw something that looked yummy and I got it. It was in fact very yummy and I was very happy that I got something to eat because I was hungry. It was rice with some butter chicken so it wasn’t completely strange food. Then we got on the bus and rode for another seven hours!! Since it got dark very early I was able to see the most beautiful sunset I ever saw. Of course I say that for any sunset I say but let’s not get off track here. It was sometime around nine pm that we arrived at the second bus station. I quickly ran to the bathroom because I hadn’t gone since I got on the bus.😳 But after that and we figured everything out we ran to catch our second bus to the airport. Originally we were going to have to walk to the airport with our big packs but that just wouldn’t work out so Brandon managed to book a bus to the airport! Even though we didn’t have to walk all the way to the airport we still have to walk five minutes to the bus. And even though five minute isn’t a lot it in fact is when you are lugging a 50 pound bag with a poorly placed strap on it. And I know what you’re thinking ( just drag it) but the problem with that is I don’t want to get holes in my bag. I may be living out of a 63 liter bag from 9 months but that doesn’t mean I need holes in my airporter. That thing has saved my life on multiple occasions. We got on the second bus and took a fifteen minute ride to the airport! It was really exciting and also very big. At first we were awkwardly just standing in the entrance but then went inside and were just standing there for a couple of minutes to figure everything out. So our flight didn’t leave until 10 the next morning and we got to the airport at 930 pm so we would have to have to find a place to put 34 people until 6 am the next morning when we could go through security. It was fairly easy finding a place to stay because the airport was so big. But I was one of the people who was willing to stay and watch the luggage while people got food. Thankfully it wasn’t like last time and some people came back quickly so I could get some food. I went with Alleah and we started exploring our options. We ran into Gretchen and Ava. Gretchen and I decided to explore more because she wanted Burger King. But after going I saw they didn’t have any ice cream cones so I got a roast beef samich from Subway and a refresher from Starbucks! It was so yummy! Most of the night the others were exploring the airport but I just kinda sat there reading, watching a movie and writing notes. But I did go to the bathroom once so I could brush my teeth because they felt absolutely nasty. But I decided to write three words of encouragement for each person with a Bible verse and I was doing that most of the night. By the time 6 am rolled around I was so exhausted but I since we were getting ready to go through security I decided to wait and try and sleep on the plane. We checked our bags in but as we were someone(not on our team) discovered that they didn’t have their passport so long story short for y’all they flew back to the US to get another passport. Anyway everybody else made it through and we headed to our gate. I was filled with so much adrenaline and energy I wasn’t tired anymore thankfully. Once we got to our gate no one was there yet so everybody just spread out and got something to eat. Of course there was a McDonald’s right next to our gate. Why wouldn’t it be. Anyway I decided to give the pancakes another try because I’m cool like that. 😂 Anyway I also decided I wanted orange juice so bad I was willing to pay four dollars for it! And it was mid but like whatever, you live laugh love four dollar orange juice sometimes I guess. After that I got to call my sister and we had a really good conversation. About what? I have no idea, I have the memory of a goldfish. Then I proceeded to go to a store and get some baby wipes because only God knows how dirty airplanes are. Then after buying some baby wipes I went to go cuddle with Ava and Gretchen and it made me so happy because I felt so loved and warm. Shortly after that we boarded the plane and we were actually pretty close to the front. And I’m just going to say this now but I think that Turkish Airlines is better than Qatar I only have like one reason but still. Although the blanket was better on Qatar one Turkish Airlines we got this cute little bag with lip balm, slippers, toothbrush, socks, and earbuds and I fell in love immediately with the lip balm. After settling in I wiped everything down with the baby wipes. I then put on a movie but quickly got very tired so I decided that I would just try and sleep for the flight since it would be a good idea to get some sleep since we still had a long time yet to travel. I did fall asleep in intervals again but it was really hard because the entire time there was a little girl kicking my seat. I considered asking her parents to ask her to stop but because I’m not a confrontational person I just let it be. Future me regretting it. I woke up a couple minutes after they served the first meal. A flight attendant then gave me water and asked if I wanted it but I declined. Also future me heavily regretting that decision. I then drank the water and went back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later very hungry but since there was nothing I could really do about it I decided to fall asleep again and wait for the second meal. I happened to wake up right before the second meal so I just put a movie on and waited. By the time it was time for food Reagan and Caleb were up. For the meal which I shall call dinner it was pasta( So good!) a salad, a brownie and this weird looking squash thing which I will admit to not touching or eating because I could. After that I proceeded to fall asleep again until about an hour until landing. I then proceeded to put on a show and just watching it. An hour later we landed in Istanbul, Turkey! It was so cool because we actually got to walk out onto the tarmac into a bus that took us to the airport. I was actually so happy the minute I stepped out onto the tarmac because it felt like the weather at home and there was a gorgeous sunset to meet us there. As soon as I got into the airport I felt like I was in a whole other place. The entire airport was so fancy and everybody looked so nice it was crazy. After some walking(a lot of walking since our gate was on the other side of the airport) we got to our gate. Everyone then left to use the bathroom and get some food. Sofia and I went to the Starbucks that was near our gate and I got a refresher and lemon cake that was really big. We then went back to the gate and I used the restroom and brushed my teeth which I really needed to do because my teeth felt so nasty. We didn’t have much time to hang out because like an hour later the plane was boarding and we were some of the first people boarding because our seats were near the back. But it was weird because our seats were all mixed up. But for a 50 minute flight it wasn’t that bad we even got a meal which I wasn’t expecting. We landed in Romania at 920 pm. We quickly got through customs and went to the baggage carousel to collect our stuff. From there was the sad goodbyes to everyone and our amazing leader Gretchen who we wouldn’t see for two months. I will admit that was pretty hard. But I got through it at that time pretty well. The teams went to their bus to Albania and since our bus didn’t leave for another 24 hours we caught some taxis to the hotel we were staying at in Bucharest. Once we got there the guy who owed the hotel was so nice he even gave us a free upgrade and an extra room and let us stay longer so we didn’t have to be so long at the airport. But with the taxis there is a funny story with the taxis. Since we all didn’t fit in one some of us got scammed by the taxi drivers and one of us payed 100 dollars for a 20 minute drive. In the moment it was a little stressful but looking back it’s kinda funny. But after having an amazing nights sleep on actual soft mattress’s we got up and got ready for a day out on Bucharest. I did decided to take my braids out a make a bun. But let me tell you that was one of the most perfect first try buns I had ever done and I was very proud of it. But after everyone was ready and we cleaned out the other two rooms we went out for brunch. We went to this really cute restaurant called Bread and Butter and I had some delicious lavender lemonade and a three decker sandwich?!?! I’m not kidding that thang was three fricking layers! I did eat all of it in one siting though because I was hungry. After that we explored the city more. While looking for something to do we found a beautiful church and a museum. But since the museum cost something some of us wanted to find something else to do but some of us also wanted to do the museum. So while about half of us went to go find something else to do. The other half went to explore the museum and then meet up with us later. We found another church and explored it for like ten minutes but after that we went to go find another thing to do. We found a really cute bookshop/coffee shop that we were in for a couple hours and it was so cute. I really wanted to get a book but I’m broke and couldn’t afford one but I did get some really good six dollar chocolate because it just looked good. After that and everyone meet up we went to go find a little convenience store to get snacks for the bus. The store we found was tiny but all of us crowed into it. After everyone bought a massive bottle of water and some snacks we discussed what to do next. It was about 430 pm around this time. Four of us wanted to go home and the other five wanted to explore so, the four of us that wanted to go home went home and then the other five got to explore the city until they had to be back at 530. Once everyone got back to the hotel we discussed what to do for dinner and also cleaned up and packed up our stuff. After a little while we agreed on pizza and Lucy had a very complicated call to order the pizzas. While Lucy and some others went to pick up the pizzas the rest of us finished packing up and brought our stuff to the lobby. The pizzas arrived around seven and so we chowed down on them and then headed to the airport where the bus would pick us up. We got there around 9pm so we didn’t have to wait forever for the bus to pick us up at 11. We found a place to sit for the next three hours and sat down and relaxed. There was a little convenience store in the airport so I bought some snacks to munch on while on the 12 hour bus ride. We really didn’t do much while waiting for the bus. Mostly just rested and watched movies. When it was close to the time the bus would arrive we hauled all our stuff to the bridge where the bus would arrive. The bus arrive promptly at 11 pm and we all boarded in the cold and rain. I slept on and off until about 430 am where I couldn’t really sleep anymore. I want to say that around one or two am everybody got woken up when we crossed the boarder to shower the boarder security our passports but we didn’t even have to get off the bus so that was nice. The rest of the eight hours on the bus I watched two movies, read a couple chapters of my book, looked at the scenery, and listen to music. Around 10:20 am we arrived at the Greece boarder to get a bathroom break and get some food. We didn’t have to show our passports which confused us but we later learned that some countries in Europe if you cross the boarder you don’t have to show your passport. After having that stop and everybody getting something to eat we boarded the bus and finally arrived in Thessaloniki at 12pm. We then met our host and he took us to our apartment. And finally after 84 hours of travel we arrived at our third country. See you next time!

Are we really already in our third country? It’s crazy to me that we are already over half way done with the race. I don’t know who has been keeping track of time. At first I thought I was but I don’t think I have, because when did this happen? I’ve been gone for almost five months?!? But pardon me I’m just ranting at this point so let me calm down and tell you what’s been going on.

The first week that we got here was really just adjusting to the weird time change, getting used to the climate change and figuring out our schedule. The first day we arrived it was like the most perfect weather outside and I had hope that it would be bearable weather for the time that we are here. I was so wrong and the sun went away and it started snowing. I was just a wee bit sad having been spoiled by 8 months of warm weather. But the sun would pop out here and there and those were really good days but it was mostly cloudy and cold. Apparently this is the coldest month of the year so, yeah. I do want to say that even though we are in the second biggest city of Greece there is graffiti everywhere. There is not a place( so far) that I have been to where I couldn’t see graffiti. But it’s definitely grown on me and even though I don’t notice it as much I still do a little. But I’ll save you the boring details of the first week and trying to figure everything out. Trying to settle, deal with emotions, figuring out the schedule, etc. So it was a lot of trial and error but we finally figure out our schedule from week to week. This made the whole situation a lot less stressful. Monday is the adventure day here in Greece. The first adventure day that we had was going to an underground museum. I didn’t go that day because I had a lot of things going on and if I went I think I would have just been overwhelmed. But this last Monday our team took a little walk down to the bay to visit something called the White Tower. It was a massive tower with multiple different rooms explaining the history of Thessaloniki and then at the top you could look out into the city of Greece. Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to a refugee center. We will go every Tuesday but we will only go on Thursday if there is nothing else we are doing that day. But what we do is we walk there. A lot of that happening here. We then help bag fruits and vegetables that will be given to the families and people that show up there. We also make the sandwiches that we serve for lunch. The first time I had the sandwiches I could barely eat it but these last couple of times they have been amazing. But the center is open from 12 to 3 and we usually get there at 10:10 am and get home around 4. So we are there to just make connections, help with little kids, and then serve food, coffee and tea to the refugees and just so them love, care, and compassion. Wednesday is a Bible study! Since there is so many of use we are divided into two groups and we each take turns every other week. So the group that isn’t at the Bible study will go evangelize/ just talk to people on the streets. Some days are worse than others but overall it is just good to get out of your comfort zone and talk to strangers. Friday is a little like Wednesday but instead of a Bible study we do a little prayer meeting. Then after that we go out and evangelize again until around 4 pm. Last Friday a lot of the girls were either sick or gone babysitting. So it was just Naty, Alleah, and I going out to evangelize. But even though that was not a very successful day, I feel like it was successful in another way. We went to the square and saw some people singing so we watched them for a while and then we went down to the bay and just sat there. And I just want to say that is one of the first times I had been truly happy in weeks. Saturday is Sabbath! Wooooooo! We love good rest and rejuvenation. Sunday is church day. We go to the Moses Coffee which doubles as the church. We help with Sunday school, the group that was at Bible study does to make it easier to keep track of. And after that we close up the shop and go home. And then these last two Sundays we’ve done some journaling, prayer, and worship for a couple hours. It has just been really nice to get time to write my thoughts down. But that has been our last two weeks in Greece. And sure sometimes it can get hard especially with no one smiling at you, depressing buildings and depressing weather. But among those bad days and hard times there are amazing, crazy times, beautiful days and laughs to be had. You just have to make sure that find those times and enjoy them to the fullest. Life is a crazy journey, even if you aren’t traveling around the world or doing anything that you consider fun. Consider this we were lucky enough that God gave us life so live every day to the fullest. Make mistakes but learn from them, dance in the rain, sing so loud your throat hurts, tell people you love them. This is your life, no one can live it for you, so enjoy it don’t take it for granted.

Something that has stuck with me is a personal Bible study that I did about mercy. Mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is one’s power to punish or harm. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” -Luke 6:36. God’s mercy is his active compassion toward His creation. In Christ we see the mercy of God demonstrated in all its lavishness. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy, for they have received mercy, for mercy they have received is without end. “God have mercy on me, a sinner…For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” -Luke 18:13-14 In view of God’s mercy, we must sacrifice our won bodily comfort and forgive as we have been forgiven.

Something that I would love prayer is strength when the weather is cold and it is hard to find joy. Also that all of us can have confidence and be bold when we go out and talk to people when we evangelize.

View of Thessaloniki   First gyro of Greece  sunset in Greece! The most elite of meals😋First bus ride of the long trip.