Week 96 Elder Teal Greece and Cyprus

"Our trip to Cyprus was good, we had good training and a really good exchange with the zone leaders there. It was strange weather whilst we were there, it was quite warm but during the training there was a thunderstorm outside! It had finished by the time we came to leave though, and the second day was nice weather. It was really good to see my friends in Larnaca and catch up with them. And yeah I think I'll be freezing when I come home!"

 

"H. was out of Athens this week so we've not been able to meet up with him, hopefully we will be able to this week. M. was in the Ukraine as well, so between those two being out of town and us being in Cyprus for a couple of days, we only had one lesson this week with A, but it was a good one.

The ZLs in Cyprus are Elder Szvoboda and Elder Scheltinga, I was with Elder Scheltinga and we had a really good exchange"

"Mission life is good! This week on Friday we have a specialised training here in Athens like the one we just did in Cyprus. We have them about once a month in each of Athens, Cyprus and Thessaloniki, apart from when we have zone conference which is one every 3 months usually."

"I miss the scenery of Uppermill and Greenfield and around there, I'm glad I'm from such a beautiful part of the country"

"I forgot to tell you, I did some family history work last week, and found some more details for names on the Teal line (Jonathon Teal who was born in 1758 for example). It has the option there to request more ordinances now, so if you have a look you'll see!"

"Cyprus : In the evening we went to see someone who wasn't in so I suggested to Elder Scheltinga that we would door knock the whole building before going home. At the last door we met a lady from Russia who said we could come back for a lesson. On the way home I was so happy to be door knocking in Larnaca again and seeing results. It's so strange that it was my previous area! I'm grateful for friendly, accepting people" 

"I've started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning again during personal study on a program that will have me finish on the day that I leave the mission. I thought finishing the Book of Mormon on the plane on the way home would be a nice way to end my mission, so that's what I plan on doing." 

"We went to the Praksis warehouse where we would be doing service. We were putting together clothes and shoes for people who had just come in from a shipwrecked boat and only had the clothes they were wearing. We had specific people to gather things for by gender and age. It's good to be able to help so directly and to know that there are people like "boy aged 8"  and others who now have clothes because we were able to put things together for them. I talked to another of the volunteers whilst we were there and invited her to the service project we will have at church next Friday." 

Week 89

There can't be too many missions in the world that drive on different sides of the road, depending on which Zone you are in! The Greece Athens Mission's two Zones are Cyprus and Greece. Cypriots drive on the left, Greeks drive on the right!

This Week Elder Teal and Elder Mead flew to Cyprus for a training meeting.

The plan was to go on Thursday but Greek the air traffic controllers were on strike.

"It's been a great week! Our flight on Thursday was cancelled! We found out on Wednesday morning and quickly changed the flights, so we left Wednesday afternoon instead! It was a bit hectic but we got there with no problems. And yeah it's getting much warmer now, we're back to wearing short-sleeve shirts, I've missed it! I think I'm definitely going to miss the sun when I get home, especially as I'll be coming from a Greek July!"

General Conference

"We watched the general women's session and the Saturday morning session, and they were both good. I especially liked the talk about the hymn Be Though Humble (Elder Snow) , and Elder Stevenson's talk about how a car needs keys. Also I liked the talk about how we have to forgive (Elder Duncan), and that doesn't mean that the person who wronged us will have no consequences. It made me think about the repentance process and how if we don't forgive people straight away, it's like we're putting ourselves in the Saviour's position like it's up to us to decide, when really it's not!"

"It was also strange to watch all of the talks in Greek and to have absolutely no problem understanding, like watching in English. I've watched General Conference in Greek every time whilst I've been in the mission, and it's been great to see my progress with the language every 6 months."

"I haven't seen Elder Kearon's talk no, which session is it in? We won't see the Sunday afternoon session in church until the end of April, so I'll probably watch it in the office before then."

We had specifically asked Elder Teal if he had seen this conference talk as he met Elder Kearon when he visited Athens, along with Elder Ballard, to see first hand the refugee crisis. 
(That was way back in week 69) 
The talk speaks of Elder Kearon's experience on the island of Lesbos

In other news

"We received an email from President Heder about absentee voting, as he had received directions from higher up telling him to encourage missionaries to take part in postal ballots if they can. I know there's a couple of votes coming up, including the EU referendum? I was hoping you'd be able to have a look at it for me and register me if possible? And then you'll need to send me some information about the things that I can vote for so that I can make a decision. 
Sorry to put you to the trouble!"

"And we won't get new missionaries now until my group leaves, so we might be a bit down on numbers for a while again! I know my release date is July 28th, but I don't have any info about flights yet "

"Elder Mead and I are doing great. It's been good to have three companions in the same area as I've got to see different ways of doing the same job, and it's kept me from settling in to the routine of doing things in a certain way just because that's the way we did it before." 

Pictures

"With (the former) Elder Johansson visiting the office"

"In the Jacobsens' car on the way to Limassol, Cyprus"

Realising on Pday that he hadn't taken many pictures to send home, 
Elder Teal asked Elder Mead to take pictures on their journey to Lidl !!

snippets from this weeks journals

"Elder Mead and I designed posters for the Restoration and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that match the one we made for the Plan of Salvation." 

"I caught up on my journal and started the new one. It was strange to realise that less than half of this book will be used during my mission and the rest will be when I'm home and in university."

"On the plane I was sat with a nice old man and we had a pleasant chat during which he offered me some of his wine which I politely declined. At the end I gave him a pamphlet which he gratefully accepted." 

"President Jacobsen did really good training for his last time as they will go home next week. He has a great knowledge of the scriptures. I'm sure that the last training he gave will stay with the missionaries for a long time, as he spoke powerfully about about the importance of prayer and fasting." 

"In the evening we went to Panayiotis's and Georgia's house for dinner and Pavlos was there with us. It was nice as always to be in their company, they really are some of my best friends." 

Week 85 Athens and Cyprus

Elder Peel, Elder Teal and The Heders flew to Cyprus for Zone Conference this week. 

We have totally lost track of how many times Elder Teal has flown on his mission now, its 30+

Sister Heder and Alinda are always up for a Selfie !

 The Cyprus Zone, President and Sister Heder 

"Cyprus was really good! We had a great time over there and it was so good to see everyone!"

Presenting Training

Visiting Cyprus was also a good opportunity to meet up with old friends. 

Both Elder Teal and Elder Peel have served there.

 

 

"At Panayiotis's home we had a meal with him and Georgia and the food was really good as usual.  It was also really nice to catch up with them and talk about the changes that have taken place since I was last here. 

As we walked home it seemed strange to think about all of the months that I spent in the area and to remember all of the good times with Elder Dixon. I miss serving here in Larnaca, it was one of the best periods of my mission and although I love the area I'm in now it will always have a special place in my heart. And it's strange to think that it was my previous area as it feels like such a long time ago." 

"View over Nicosia from the plane. The lights on the hill are the Turkish flag that they have on the other side of the border in Northern Cyprus."

Back in Athens for Sunday Meetings

"Church was good too, although unfortunately we didn't have any new friends there yesterday. 

A.. is doing a great job of inviting all of his family and friends, and a couple have taken him up on the offer.  He talks about the church to literally every single person he speaks to, he's such a good missionary! We had a meeting with him last night and we left so happy, it's amazing to see how much he knows now and how much he loves learning more. He's halfway through the Doctrine and Covenants and is really loving what he's learning, and has such good understanding. We gave him the book Our Heritage which I think he will really enjoy, and I'm excited to talk to him about it. And things are going great with his work, It's so good to see that we are fulfilling our purpose as missionaries, and to see people like him and P. who have changed so much and who are so much happier now."

"The Facebook page is doing great and growing fast, we just hope that we can maintain the growth! I think a lot of the people that have liked it so far are church members already, but it's a good start and we need to have the strong foundation before we can start seeing lots of new opportunities to teach from it! And it's good for members here to have something that they can refer friends to, it provides them a very easy way to do missionary work!"

"Today was the last day for me to take my eye drops as its now been 2 months since the surgery, so now I'm officially out of treatment! I have another appointment in April as a final check up and then I will be done." 

"Our district meeting was really good. It was about revelation through prayer. Elder Peel and I had a role play where we taught Elder Petchey about prayer and right at the beginning he asked if we used The Lords Prayer in our church. We then showed him how we use it as a model for our prayers by going through and talking about the parts." 

"We had a meeting with the university professor again and he and another friend with him. We discussed the possibilities of the church in Greece and their university working together on a variety of ventures and it was a good meeting." 

"It started to rain and there was thunder and lightning and it was absolutely pouring down. When you see the lightning storms here, it's easy to understand why the people used to believe in a God of thunder and lightning." 

I learnt the Greek word for dragonfly. 

I've really enjoyed looking for types of Christ since you sent me the email about Zoram, and I think there are so many in first Nephi! I really like where it says about Lehi dwelling in a tent in the valley of Lemuel. I think in part it represents Christ's condescension to live in a mortal body (which he was way above) with Lehi's living in a tent (a rich man in poor circumstances), but also "in the valley of Lemuel" which Lehi named to represent obedience to the commandments, which is the way in which Jesus lived his life.

"yes that is a carrot"

We had lots of pictures this week, many with companionship's in the Cyprus zone. 

Click here to see more

Week 78 Athens

"We were in Cyprus from Thursday to Sunday, in Larnaca and we also went to Nicosia a couple of times. It was a really good trip, we got a lot done and it was so nice to see everyone over there, both missionaries and members.

It was a lot of fun! We had really good exchanges with the ZLs over there, and also had some really good training both from the broadcast that we watched and from training that we delivered ourselves together with the ZLs and the Heders"

"So we went to the eye clinic this afternoon, and it was all good news. I had some scans and then saw the doctor, and it turns out that the cross-linking worked extremely well, and I'll never have to worry about the condition regressing or my cornea getting any worse in the future. So that's good!

Yeah I drove last night and I'm driving today, so I think I'll be driving from now on which is good, although we don't really use the car that much anymore.

And with regard to my vision, my right eye is now at 20/25 or 8 out of 10, which is up from 6 out of 10, and my left eye has gone from 4 to 6 and both are still improving. The image that I see is still a little blurry which is from the epithelium not having fully healed yet, which the doctor said will slowly improve over the next couple of months. But he said I won't have to wear glasses, and that I'm seeing really well for the early stage I'm at. I have another appointment in 2 weeks where they'll check my eye pressure, as the drops I'm taking can raise eye pressure in some people, and then a second appointment halfway through April which is pretty much the end. 

But yeah, the problem is solved, and everything went great!"

Service Project

At the beginning of the week, the missionaries in Athens got together to put together 800 hygiene packs for Syrian Refugees in the city.

In other news we received this picture saying it was getting cold in the apartment now, but don't feel too sorry for them its probably like a typical English summers day !

Elder Peel looking for something !

World Wide Broadcast

On Wednesday the missionary department of the church broadcast a training meeting for the 85,000 missionaries around the globe. I was fortunate enough because of my current assignment, to be able to watch the broadcast with my home Zone of missionaries (Ashton, England) It was nice to know I was watching the same thing at the same time as Elder Teal. I took a lot of notes which I emailed to him and he returned the favour by sending me his notes. 

We had a lot more pictures this week, if you would like to see more click 

HERE

Week 73

"It's been a good week! As you saw we were over in Cyprus for a couple of days for the zone conference over there. We got to see Panayiotis, as well as Robin and Edward, which was really nice. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Pavlos."

"The zone conference was really good, probably the best one I've been to since I started in the mission. We had training from Sister Heder, from Elder Peel and me, and from President Heder. We also had some really funny role-plays where Elder Peel and I were investigators with ridiculous questions, and the missionaries had to teach us the first lesson. Each companionship took a small section of the lesson and each had to get back to the topic as we tried to get it as off-topic as possible. It was a lot of fun."

"We had a Christmas Concert here in Athens which was great, we sang carols and had readings from the scriptures. Starting on Christmas Eve we will have a full week of Christmas activities with the missionaries, and we're really excited for it! It's taking a lot of preparation, but I think it will be worth it."

"I had an email from Sister Mckenna where she's sitting in my old room! It was nice to hear from her, I'm glad she's doing well! And I think she would actually die laughing if she was here with Elder Peel and me as assistants!" (Sister Mckenna stayed at our home on a whistle stop visit to the Preston Temple from Ireland)

"Please tell people thank you for the money, I'm sure that will be more than enough for some nice sunglasses."   Elder Teal is buying a good pair of UV sunglasses to protect his eyes after his operation

"At zone conference Elder Peel and I gave our training. We talked about faith and prayer and how we can seek and ask for our righteous desires and have them granted. We also talked about how we have to be specific with our prayers and with our faith."

We think Elder Teal and Elder Peel make a lovely couple :)

"In Cyprus, it was good to see Panayiotis and Georgia and catch up with how things are going in Larnaca. I also saw Robin and Edward at institute who are both doing really well and it was good to see them. I've missed being in Larnaca!"

"In Priesthood at church, we had a lesson about stakes. It was the best lesson I've ever been in about stakes taught by a man who's never stepped foot in one. It made me realise that I took a lot of the organisation of the church for granted when I was at home."

"We had a really good lesson with A where we talked about the Book of Mormon and about how it has importance in our lives. Elder Peel and I teach really well together and we were able to ask lots of questions that helped him to realise what he needs to do to get to where he wants to be. It was the first time I've quoted Yoda in a lesson as when he said he'll try to come to church next week, I said 'do or do not, there is no try' He got the reference and we laughed." 

Not really sure what these two pictures of Elder Teal and Peel are all about, it just said "a couple of us inspecting the broken window at the chapel" we can only assume they were organising a replacement?

"We also have a service project this evening, all of the missionaries will be coming to the old people's home next to the mission office and we will sing some carols and do readings from the Bible for them!"

In an email I asked about a specific missionary rule, and the missions policy on it, to which I got this quite profound reply.

"... that's why it's so important that we don't make rules! And also, if someone asks if they are or are not allowed to do something, for months now (since I was zone leader in Cyprus), I've never told them they can or can't do it, I've just referred them to the section in the handbook and told them to make a decision. There's a reason that the handbook is given to every missionary and not just to leaders. I think a big part of serving a mission should be learning to be accountable to yourself and to the Lord without having leaders checking your every move."

Finally a caption competition !!