Kalamos and Home

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but the last two weeks in Greece were a frenzy of activities. We got back from Volos and had about five days. We went to church, washed clothes, had dinner at Dona and Sergio's, handed out some flyers for First Church to various hotels, and met with Opal a little bit. Opal, one of MTW's coordinators, came through for a few days in order to help us start thinking about leaving Greece. It was really helpful because none of us had really wanted to start thinking about LEAVING, but we needed to in order to start processing things. It was good to see her.

Our last week we spent at teen camp at Kalamos. Each of the people on my team slept in a different cabin in order to form relationships with the teens.

(EVERYBODY)

We organized the games in the evenings, put on some skits and gave testimonies, and generally just hung out at camp with the teens. It was really hard but really good. It was hard because it was our last week in Greece, so it was difficult to focus sometimes. Not because we wanted to leave, but simply because we knew our time was winding down.

("Who is He?" Part of the theme at Kalamos)

It was really good though because we formed a lot of relationships with the kids and got to see Kalamos at work. We enjoyed facilitating the games and speaking whenever they wanted us to speak at worship.

That's a quick recap of what happened over the past two weeks. On one of our last nights there, after we had returned from Kalamos, some of the leaders from Kalamos took us dancing. Alex, Tolis, and Yannis drove us out to an old Disco place and we ended the summer in a blur of dancing. It was awesome to spend the time with both friends from home and friends from Greece. It was really beautiful.

Since I've returned home, I've had really mixed emotions. I really want to be back in Greece, but I know it's time for me to be home. God blessed us so much this summer.

He taught me so many things. He taught me the value of relationships and community through my team and the Greeks. He also taught me how God calls us to missions both at home and abroad. After the first week talking to University students in Athens, I realized that I could talk to University students in Oklahoma. God calls us all to ministry, wherever we are. The Psalm that I kept rereading over the summer was Psalm 103:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Psalmist calls for us to bless the Lord with ALL that is within us. Our whole being is to be consumed with blessing the Lord. I want to feel this way, and I feel like I got a taste of it this summer. This was MTW's first attempt at an internship in Greece, so we were sort of the guinea pig interns. God is so good and he blessed our "guinea pig" mission in Greece in so many ways. To God be the glory!