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)
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. "
