He is Risen !
This last Sunday was Easter in Greece, The Orthodox church has a slightly different calendar than elsewhere. In many Eastern Orthodox countries it is traditional to greet people on Easter Sunday with the phrase " He is Risen" to which the person you greet replies " Truly he is risen "
"I used it loads of times yesterday it was great. They also say Chronia Polla which is what you can say for any celebration and means many years, so I could go up to people in the street and say "Many Years! Christ is Risen!"and it's not weird, it was great haha"
General Conference
This week has been full of meetings and Conferences. On Sunday the members in Greece watched General Conference. The semiannual meetings broadcast from Salt Lake. They watch a week later than other countries to allow time for the talks to be translated into Greek.
"It was good, we watched conference at Halandri Chapel. We had showings in Greek, English and French. Elder Burton and I went into the Greek one (we were the only missionaries in there), and it was really good!"
Zone Conference
During the week the missionaries in Greece had Zone Conference which is a monthly meeting to train, inform and inspire the missionaries in there geographical area or Zone. As the Zone Leader this time Elder Teal had more involvement in preparing for and organising this meeting.
President and Sister Everitt (1st Counselor on the mission Presidency)
It was their last Zone Conference
The Greece Zone
How was Zone Conference?
"It was this week just passed, it was really good! We learnt a lot, and leadership council on Friday was really good as well
We talked about the Saviour's method of teaching and about things that Elder Bednar taught at the last Mission President Seminar. I'd send you my notes but they're in Greek!"
Other things from the week.
"I had a package and lovely letter from Julia Peel and a letter from you, that was together with a letter from the young women
It's been a really good week, we had 3 new investigators. two of them are now being taught by the sisters as they speak French, but we will be having scripture study with them at the chapel twice a week. The other we will be teaching, which is great! The two french speaking guys are from Cameroon and are so ready for the Gospel, it's amazing.
They were at general conference yesterday and loved it
This week I learnt how to say a few phrases in Walof, which is the language of Senegal! we taught the first two lessons with the French speaking guys (one of them speaks English), and I found that I could understand most of what they said and their questions, I just couldn't vocalise my responses without slipping into Greek! And it makes much more sense for the sisters to teach them anyway as both of them speak French fluently
My highlight was having B. and H. ( French Speaking investigators) at Gen Conf,
and them enjoying it so much!"
and them enjoying it so much!"
"Practicing our reaction when people don't want to take a pass-along card."
Some insights from Elder Teal's journal
"The lesson went really well, one of the best of my mission. H especially said that what we were talking about was especially for him, and he feels exactly the same as Joseph Smith did. They both accepted baptismal dates and committed to read and pray about The Book of Mormon. It was so great to teach people who had come to learn and were ready to accept and make changes in their lives. And it was so great to see it in their eyes when something clicked into place and they understood."
"We went out to the beach front to do some contacting. As we were walking along a jogger stopped and said Hi to us in English. It turned out he was a church member from Germany who hass just moved here for work. He served in the Alpine Germany mission 3/4 months ago, so knows the missionaries that I was in the MTC with which was strange. It's such a small world for the church in Europe, everyone knows someone who knows everyone!"
"We were close but a bit lost, so we started to ask people for directions. One man said he'd tell us what to do whenever we get lost - ask at the florists. He said they deliver flowers to the houses so always know the nearby streets. So, we asked and he was very happy to give us exact directions. I'm grateful for helpful florists."
"Elders Deighton and Clarke stayed with us last night and we had a lot of fun with them!"
"We went out to the beach front to do some contacting. As we were walking along a jogger stopped and said Hi to us in English. It turned out he was a church member from Germany who hass just moved here for work. He served in the Alpine Germany mission 3/4 months ago, so knows the missionaries that I was in the MTC with which was strange. It's such a small world for the church in Europe, everyone knows someone who knows everyone!"
"We were close but a bit lost, so we started to ask people for directions. One man said he'd tell us what to do whenever we get lost - ask at the florists. He said they deliver flowers to the houses so always know the nearby streets. So, we asked and he was very happy to give us exact directions. I'm grateful for helpful florists."
"Elders Deighton and Clarke stayed with us last night and we had a lot of fun with them!"
