Kavala! It felt like real Greece, with windy roads and houses built in random places all over the place, and it was so hilly! Elder West had a fun time trying to drive around, and Elder Lyttel and I went on foot a lot of the time
(click any image on the page to enlarge)
We didn't find the less active members in Kavala, all the houses we went to were abandoned, it was weird! We found one former investigator who was no longer interested, but we had a good lessons in the evening with G. and M.!
We're not really sure why Kavala was closed, it's a bit of a mystery! I guess the membership just dwindled, but it's strange because on all the old teaching records from there the last lesson was the missionaries going round to say bye and the people being really sad. It's two hours in the car from Thess, almost directly East along the sea
We had an address for G. The story with him is strange, he's been used as a fellowshipper in the past with investigators in Kavala, and in our records President Charles (previous Miss. Pres.) described him as a "great friend to the church". He's good friends with Hugh Nibbly and knows loads of church figures like 70s and Apostles. He has read the Book of Mormon loads of times and loves studying Temple doctrine. He says that a restoration was needed of Christ's church. and he's pretty sure that this is it, he's particularly a fan of church organisation. To be honest we don't really know why he's not already a member, we hope to give him a baptismal date next time we see him!
More in Kavala, and a (blurry) picture of the people we met there. G. on the right has been investigating the church for years, and has over 200 books on Mormon theology in his library (he studies theology and has a PhD in some sort of medicinal field), and his friend M. is on the left (next to me), who is devoutly Greek Orthodox but still joined in our discussion. After the lesson they took us all out for a meal in a Greek Taverna, it was delicious!
If anyone in Kavala joined the church..It will be a really long way yeah, they'd probably be able to come maybe once a month, and we could take sacrament to them once every month or something, but we don't really know how it would work! But nothing is impossibly for the Lord!
We stopped at a lay-by to eat and there were loads of stray dogs, some of them looked quite ill though, so it was a bit sad. We gave them bits of our sandwiches.
Branch Activity night
Pics from the branch activity, it was so much fun! I heard you got some pics from Sister West as well! Of course I won the marshmallow competition, and Brother Todi was so funny doing limbo, they had to hold it so low!
Thessaloniki Water Front
Some pictures from the beachfront this morning, we were passing time until Elder Lyttel's appointment at the hospital. He had to get a check up x-ray from a bike accident he had in Cyprus (everything came up fine)
A few more, and me in my new shirt that I bought last P-Day. We are in normal clothes because sometimes people smoke in the internet cafe and we dont want our suits to smell of smoke.
Haha it is, I need another haircut! it's κοματίριο (komatirio), and I think that's how it's spelled in greek but I'm not 100% sure :P
Food
Brother Todi and the food he cooked for us,
Elder Lyttle cooking what looked like baby food, and him after a mishap with his chair.
Highlight
The highlight was probably G. coming to church and the great lesson
we had afterwards, he just seems so ready! It was him that came to us at the
whiteboard last week and said he wanted to meet up with us to talk about the
Book of Mormon (which he already had), and he asked if we have somewhere we
meet on Sundays.
It's been a great week, we got a lot done and had 9 lessons altogether! (5 with investigators, 3 with members and 1 with a less active member)
A scripture President Freestone asked us to study this week is John 6:6 6-67, and it's very thought-provoking
Love Elder Teal
Dads note...
This week we have tried a different format, of not including the questions we asked, just a compilation of different sections of emails sent to various family members. You may have noticed we haven't included the full name of those the companionship are teaching. This is out of respect to their privacy and also as it is general advice given to missionary blogs.
We continue to be amazed at the work Elder Lyttle and Teal are doing, we cant image a companionships area being so big ! It is great for us to know they are both happy in their work.
A scripture President Freestone asked us to study this week is John 6:6 6-67, and it's very thought-provoking
Love Elder Teal
Dads note...
This week we have tried a different format, of not including the questions we asked, just a compilation of different sections of emails sent to various family members. You may have noticed we haven't included the full name of those the companionship are teaching. This is out of respect to their privacy and also as it is general advice given to missionary blogs.
We continue to be amazed at the work Elder Lyttle and Teal are doing, we cant image a companionships area being so big ! It is great for us to know they are both happy in their work.
