Lord's Day....

And many of our team members are sharing about their trip in various life groups. We would appreciate your prayer!

Charlotte....

Well, I spoke a bit too soon about getting on the bus at 3:15. The bus and driver that drove us around for our sight seeing and was ALWAYS punctual, never showed up. At 4 am, we called taxis for 21 people and their luggage!!!

Even in that though, the Lord really showed Himself strong. There was a young man from another mission team who had insomnia sitting in the hotel lobby while we were assembling and waiting for the bus. When we realized that the bus wasn't going to show, we all spent time in prayer while Chuck worked on figuring out what to do. Chuck then announced that we were going to have to get 7 taxis at 55 euro's apiece, and he couldn't guarantee that we would be reimbursed. Shortly after that announcement, the young man vanished. A few minutes later, he came back down, walked over to me and handed me 200 Euros. He said, "I heard about your dilemma, and wanted to help out." I attempted to hand the money back to him, but he said, "No, I really want to do this for you guys. God bless you!" And then he vanished back up the elevator.

Pretty much, after our arrival at the airport, we had smooth sailing for the rest of the trip. Our ETA at First Baptist is right about 5:15

Most of us are doing presentations in Sunday School first thing in the morning. Ummmm.... that wasn't the greatest timing :)

More pics

More ruins

Acropolis

Mars Hill

Most important stop of the day

Temple to Poseidon and Athena

And we're off!

3 am, and I'm sitting in the lobby awaiting the gathering of the team for our journey home. Our ETA in Charlotte is 5:10 pm on Saturday, FBS about 5:00pm. I will be asking everyone to write a little synopsis of the trip, and will attempt to post them along with pictures over the next few days, so stay tuned!

See y'all on the other side!

Pictures

Delphi Museum-- Charioteer statue and pieces of the horse..

Yes-- we are HOT!!!

Letter to follow . . (stone carving)

Letter

Figurines, 6th century BC

Statue to follow

Girl

Changing of the guard

Ancient Church-- the IC XC stands for Jesus Christ

Wednesday and Thursday

Thank you Nathan for posting about Meteora.

On Wednesday, we boarded the bus fairly early, and headed for the ancient ruins of Delphi. Some of us spent some time at the back of the bus, singing and reading Scripture. That was a blessing, and honestly, probably my favorite part of the day.

Upon arrival at Delphi, our wonderful guide, Voula, showed us some interesting sights. It was fascinating to hear the history of the place, and to see ruins from several centuries BC. The Museum was fascinating as well.

We arrived at our hotel in Athens, hot and tired. It is amazing how many people from the AGM are staying at our hotel.

This morning (Thursday) we headed out nice and early and took the metro to the presidential palace to watch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. After this we headed for the Acropolis, Parthenon, and Agora. We also visited Mars Hill, where Chuck read Acts 17:16-34 and Voula shared with us some interesting facts putting the passage into the perspective of that day.

The temps today were about 38 degrees Celsius. I am told that that translates to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, I am writing this in my hotel room, and I don't have Internet access up here so I can't verify. If how we felt, and the amount of water that we consumed with incredibly few bathroom breaks, was any indication... I would say it was @ 120 ;) I do know, however that that is most likely a bit of an exaggeration.

I have not yet successfully posted pictures, so I will email them to my sister, and we will hopefully get them posted soon.

More pics! :)