Week 64 Zone P-day visit

The Athens Missionaries went on a Zone trip with President and Sister Heder on P-day

Not sure what Elder Teal and Elder Peel are up to in this picture,

 but perhaps the bit of artistic licence below may cast some light on it ? 

Then it got even sillier !

The Temple of Apollo, Corinth

More info HERE

"It's been a good week!

We didn't have any lessons this week unfortunately, but we did have the chance to get out quite a lot to do door knocking. We were in quite a rich area so it's different to the areas I've served in in the past, and we knocked the doors of some really big fancy houses. Unfortunately we didn't get into any of the houses, but we'll keep trying!

This weekend we'll be going to Cyprus which will be fun, We'll be going to Paphos to do training there and we'll be at the branch there on Sunday. It will be my first time to go to Paphos, so I'm quite looking forward to it. We're also planning to visit Panayiotis and Pavlos whilst we're there, so that will be good too.

And we'll probably get up to Thessaloniki next month for training there, which I'm excited about too!

I really enjoyed our trip yesterday, it was a lot of fun to be out with all of the missionaries! And I'm really sorry but in all of the rushing I forgot to take pictures of my journal entries! I'll have to send you two sets next week, sorry about that! But I did write a letter today, so that should be there soon."

So we didn't get much written content this week, but are grateful to Sister Heder for taking so many pictures and then emailing them to all the missionaries to forward home !

As always clicking on any picture will make it bigger. 

 

Palamidi (Παλαμήδι) is a fortress to the east of the Acronauplia in the town of Nafplio in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. More info Here 

The training shoes with Missionary attire was a sensible move to tackle the 1000 steps at Nafplio, 

In the Book of Acts Chapter 18 vs 12-16 it refers to the Judgement Seat at Corinth. A raised stone platform had been built from which Gallio would sit atop and pass Judgement. Paul was brought before him here

'And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:

But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; 

for I will be no judge of such matters.

And he drave them from the judgment seat.'

Above: Standing on the Judgment Seat platform:  

The sign bḗma (from bainō, "to step, ascend") – properly, a platform to which someone walked up to receive judgment

Below: Sitting on the Judgement seat 

Driving

We also received a picture of Elder Teal driving from Elder Peels parents

(A scary thought for us parents, wrong side of the road for him)

Looks a little scary for Elder Peel too !

In Other News 

This Week the Missionaries and Members in Athens were involved in a Humanitarian Aid Activity organised by Elder and Sister Perry. Hygiene kits for refugees moving through Greece. Thanks to Alinda Heder for sharing these pictures to the Facebook Group
Missionary Families and Friends Of The Greece Athens Mission.

When haircuts go wrong....

"I took one of the guards off to change it, then went into the other room to do something. When I came back I forgot that I'd taken the guard off, and took the clipper to the side of my head on a zero. At first I thought, hmm that's cutting a lot, and then I realised"

Every Missionary has a least one "bad" haircut ?!

Week 63 Nafplio Corinth and Mars Hill

This week Elder Klestrup and Elder Teal have been among other things, assisting President and Sister Heder to host  a visiting General Authority of the church. Elder Hamula , who serves as member of the First quorum of the Seventy and was accompanied by his wife and Brother Neilson the Assistant Church Historian. Their visit was part of a tour of church history sites.

Their tour took in Nafplio a coastal town to the south of Corinth, Corinth and Mars Hill. 

As Elder Teal pointed out in his emails, church history predates Joseph Smith. The group visited places the apostle Paul had been

"We were the first stop on a Church History Tour, which are conducted by representatives from the Church History Department twice a year, about the time of General Conference. They'll also be going to Turkey and Albania"

Nafplio

 

  

 

 

 

 Corinth

 

 

Mars Hill

 

There were far too many pictures to include all of them this week. More can be found HERE

Yesterday the saints in Greece and Cyprus watched last last weeks General Conference broadcast

"It was really strange to watch conference and have it be my own voice for some of the talks. You know how when you hear your voice recorded and you don't think it sounds like you? Try it when you're speaking a different language! I kept kind of forgetting it was me talking and then realising again, it was so weird. 

We watched the two Sunday sessions, and I'll read the rest in the conference issue of the Ensign if you'll be able to send it to me? We'll get the Liahona here for the apartment but I'd like to have my own copy."

Other News

"We're at the minute coming up with Standards of Excellence which we will set for the mission, and goals that will stretch us and raise our faith. We'll discuss it in MLC (mission leadership council) on Wednesday"

"Unfortunately we didn't have any lessons this week, between a small teaching pool and having very little time, we weren't able to schedule any lessons."

 There is always time to share the gospel though as this journal extract shows...

"We got up early to get ready but we were running a bit late to meet President and Sister Heder. We went to get fuel for the van and it turned out that it was perfect that we were a bit late as the woman that was working there had met missionaries before and was keen to learn more so gave me her phone number in the 30 seconds it took me to pay for the fuel. It was a great reminder that when you're on the Lords errand and doing your best, you'll always be in the right place at the right time." 

We asked Elder Teal to share his reasons for serving a mission, his reply 

"I think my reasons for serving a mission have developed and gotten deeper as I've been serving. Before, I knew it was my priesthood duty and it was something I really wanted to do, but as I've been here it's become something I'm doing because of my love for the Lord and Heavenly Father. I've realised the happiness and comfort that comes from knowledge of the gospel (and I mean the actual gospel, faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end, not the general use of the word), and of the Plan of Salvation, are things that most people simply don't have in their lives. I do have them, and I want other people to as well. I've also seen people change their lives for the better, and it's the most fulfilling and meaningful thing I've ever done by far."

Week 62 - Behind the scenes at General Conference - Athens

This past weekend was the Semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twice a year the leaders of the Church broadcasts a weekend of talks from its conference centre in Salt Lake. The speakers are assigned from the First Presidency, The quorum of the 12 Apostles and the quorums of Seventies. It is a global event with members around the world watching in buildings via satellite or streamed live on the internet.

All the talks this conference were given in English and then translated for various countries. Here is a look behind the scenes of how this happens for the members in Greece and Cyprus.

The talks given at conference are written and submitted by the assigned speakers in advance, these are then distributed to translating committees around the world. By the time conference starts the translations are done and typed up in the required languages. 

For this conference Elder Teal and Elder Peel were assigned to assist and voice some of the translated talks. This involves reading/recording the Greek translation while the talk is being presented live. If the speaker deviates slightly the reader has to translate on the fly. So it involves reading in Greek, listening in English and speaking a combination of what is read and heard, all live, in one hit.

"It's been a strange but great weekend, I was with Elder Peel and we did the interpretations for general conference! We were up from 6 in the evening until 1 in the morning doing it, on Saturday and Sunday! We did it live as they were talking in the States, so that's why it had to be so late at night. We did it together with the Branch Presidency from the Greek branch here in Athens, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I also did two prayers, which aren't written and you just have to translate live, so that was fun too."

"It was also interesting because we knew that the three apostles would be called before they were, as in the list of speakers it just said (New) three times in a row. We didn't know the names, but we knew we would have all 3. So after the names were announced they sent us the talks and then really late on the Saturday the translation team got to work translating them for the next day."

"We were there at the Branch Presidents house, and we had the machine where you can hear the talk in English and have to talk into a mic which records the Greek. So we couldn't hear the talks that we ourselves weren't doing the interpretation for, so we didn't really follow the conference properly. It was just Elder Peel and I, we did several each and I also did 2 prayers, and he 1. I did the opening prayers for Sunday AM and closing prayer Saturday AM.

It was a lot of fun, before the conference started you could hear the checks and things, and someone from Salt Lake spoke through the machine asking if the Greek team are doing okay, so I spoke to him and we had a quick chat. It was really interesting to be "behind the scenes"of General Conference, and to get a glimpse of how it all works."

"We will watch it next weekend here in Halandri all together."

Above a talk voiced by Elder Teal.
As parents it is very strange to recognise our sons voice but not understand his words.

All other Greek translations of conference can be found HERE

In other news

"It's been a good week, we had a lesson with a lady for the first time, and Elder Klestrup had a lesson with Elder Scheltinga (Elder Peel's companion) on Saturday with E, the lady from last week.

Yes we have transfers this week, and also a visit from Elder Hamula who is a 70 and is something to do with church history. He's coming to have a meeting with all of the members and another with the missionaries. We will taxi him around a couple of times, and we will also visit a few historical sites with him which will be fun, like Korinth and Nafplio!"

"Elder Klestrup and I get on really well and have a lot of fun together, he's great. he also has done really well to make me feel welcome from the beginning, and not at all like I've come late to a party and he has to show me what to do, we were just equal companions right from the start."

"Yep! Two late nights in a row, and yesterday we were at church for about 8 hours with the two branches and tithing afterwards. And it was also fast Sunday, so we didn't have much energy at all."

Driving - another skill that needed dusting off this week

"Yeah it was fun! I really enjoyed it, and didn't have any problems at all. Driving an automatic car is so easy. I also drove on the motorway and I am getting used to driving on the other (right) side of the road! "

Week 61 Athens

Although transfers are not quite upon us, as mentioned in our last blog Elder Teal has moved early to take the place of Elder Leppard as an Assistant to the Mission President. He is now serving in Athens with Elder Klestrup.

"I'm great! I've settled in to the really really nice apartment we have here (it used to be for a senior couple, it's so nice), and things are great! It was a usual trip, the 18th flight of my mission! But yeah it was fine

Like I said, I'm settling in well and really enjoying it. We're in a very nice area, it's a much richer area than the center of Athens, and is the most Greek speaking of any of the areas I've served in as there aren't too many people from other countries. The branch is really nice, and I very much enjoyed the lessons we had at church yesterday. I also did the translation which I always enjoy doing! I'd never attended on a Sunday before, but it's the same building as the mission office and is also where we have zone conferences here in Greece, as well as lots of other meetings and things for missionaries. Also the baptismal font for Athens is here!

The area we live in is Cholargos (Hol-ar-gos) and the branch is Halandri" 
(Cholargos red pin on map below)

General Conference?

"We won't watch it live as the translation won't be finished until the next week, and we'll have the two languages together then. And probably french as well I'd imagine. It's not actually translating that the missionaries do, we already have the talks in Greek and read them synchronously with the recording, like a dubbing over. And then as people sometimes change their wording you have to be ready to translate on the fly. I don't know yet if I'll be helping, but I'd like to!

There are members that are on the translating team for the church, including President Karamboulas and his wife here in Halandri."

 

"My 2nd suitcase was at the office, but now it's at our apartment. Yesterday I wore the pair of black pinstripe trousers I brought with me at the start of my mission for the first time, as they'd always been in there. They're really nice!

I got the new USB with music eventually, thanks for that! It has on it the soundtrack from Moses again instead of Joseph haha! The other stuff is really good though, especially that first song "I Will Rise"

"I've not done any driving yet as I haven't signed something yet, I'll probably be able to do that today. I watched all of the driver safety videos though which was fun.

We have discussions with the President about the general running of the mission, transfers and things like that, and also take care of a few things in the office when they need doing. And then whatever President needs us to do, we assist with!

We have one lady that we're teaching at the minute, and I've only been there for one of her two lessons as the first one was with Elder Leppard. She wasn't able to be at church yesterday but is really nice and seems promising! And yeah it's been great to catch up with everyone, we had an activity with Athens 2 where we played football on Saturday, and all of the missionaries were there! I got to see Elder Peel and we had a laugh together."

Our thanks this week to Alinda, President Heders daughter, who sent us the pictures. 

They were taken on Mars Hill when they all went a final time with Elder Leppard.

Elder Klestrup Elder Leppard (going home) Elder Teal

"The Jacobsens wanted to take us out for dinner for my last week here (Larnaca). President Jacobsen wanted to See if anyone would actually eat mushy peas. I did and made him try them as well and he was pleasantly surprised. It was a really nice meal and very English down to the Southern accent of the woman who worked there. Although she spoke Greek she was definitely English. "

"I said goodbye to E. He's such a nice guy and although he can't communicate it he just radiates simple happiness and love. "

"We had goodbyes with everyone at Panayiotis's home and it was sad to say goodbye at least for a while. I'm going to miss them all a lot but I'm so glad that I was here for this period which has been so pivotal for their future in the church and by extension for the future of the church in Cyprus. "