Week 10 Athens

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, HIM declare I unto you." Acts 17:22-23

Almost two millennia ago the the apostle Paul visited Athens and  from the top of Mars Hill, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. This week Elder Teal and the rest of the Greece Athens Mission met together on Mars hill and held a Testimony Meeting with each other. For those that don't know..

 “A testimony of the gospel is a personal witness borne to our souls by the Holy Ghost that certain facts of eternal significance are true and that we know them to be true. Such facts include the nature of the Godhead and our relationship to its three members, the effectiveness of the Atonement, and the reality of the Restoration.” —Dallin H. Oaks

Each of the group from the MTC stood and shared their testimony in Greek to the other missionaries. Of course their was also plenty of photo opportunities ! (Clicking on any blog picture will enlarge it)

Where He is staying...

Elder Teals companion, Elder Fletcher has been quite ill with a viral stomach bug which put him in hospital for a night or two. So Elder Teal got to move between a couple of flats during the initial days in Athens, also temporarily being with different missionaries.

The apartment in Acropoli is one of the highest in Athens so has some amazing views...

 

 

But with Elder Fletcher out of Hospital the two of them were dropped of at the apartment they will be living in for the next 12 weeks. A place called Sepolia. By all accounts its not a very affluent area of Athens but full of friendly people and convenient for the Metro (Underground) The chapel is about 30 minutes away via public transport. Once there, the Branch has about 10 regular members plus visitors and missionaries.

"You can really see the Gospel in action. In a branch this small the only thing keeping the members here is their faith and testimonies, you can really see how committed they are to following Jesus Christ. There was a man baptised not long ago, so I had the privilege to be in the circle when he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday. I also lead the music in Priesthood, I learnt how to conduct whilst I was in the MTC so they'll probably get me to do it every week in Sacrament now. " 

The apartment in Sepolia, Room to Study, cook, exercise and sleep (there's a bathroom too)

 

 

There are more pictures in our online album HERE 

Welcome to Greece

Tuesday was a busy day for the MTC group, it was fly to Greece day !!

Nine weeks of general missionary and language training are now over and its time to go serve the people of Greece.

Our day started with an email at 4.02am

"Hi! It's so early!

We're on our way out now, just thought I'd send you a quick email to let you know we're leaving. I had a busy night of packing and managed to get just about under the weight limit with both suitcases!

I've been made Transport Leader, which means I need to make sure everyone arrives safely. It's a big responsibility, but hopefully everyone will pull together and make my job easy.

I'm not going to ring from the airport, I need to make sure everyone is where they should be and we wont have much time in the airport as it is. Sorry! I should be able to email from Greece when I get there.

Ahhhhhh!

Lots of love,
Elder Teal"


At 5.24am we had a text with photographs from Janet Fletcher a friend that lives 10 mins from us. The Fletcher's son has been home from the Athens Mission for a short time recovering from a shoulder injury. They were at the airport to put him on his return to mission flight,with the rest of the MTC group.

The 6.00am flight from Manchester to London was followed by one from London to Athens. We tracked these flights on an iPad !! So we know he got there safely !

At 14.26pm we got to see some tiny pictures of the group in a training meeting in Athens. Courtesy of a senior missionary Elder Howels via the Mission Families Facebook page.

At about 7.00pm we had a phone call from Elder Teal to tell us he was "Safe Happy and excited" Mum was out at church Dad was walking the dogs !! So Elder Teals big sister answered the phone. Dad sprinted home after a call from the girls piano teacher that was at our house and mum got to talk via a mobile held next to the hose phone.

He also told us that he had been assigned to serve in the City of Athens area for the next 12 weeks. Missionaries serve for "transfer periods", In Greece these periods are 12 weeks long. 

For the first transfer period missionaries receive additional, in the field training from a seasoned companion they are assigned to serve with. Missionaries are always in pairs and will go everywhere together. This group from the MTC has effectively doubled the number serving in the Greece Athens Mission so all existing missionaries have been assigned to train a newbie. (New missionaries are refered to as "greenies") 

Elder Teals trainer is ... Elder Fletcher ! See above !!

It seemed strange for us as parents to go to bed one night with a trainee missionary 40 minutes up the road at the Preston MTC. Then go to bed the next night, with a missionary out in Greece....