Week 86

This weeks emails came on Tuesday not Monday, as the Athens zone had been on a trip to Mystras.

As well as fun its important to know the history and heritage of the people you serve amongst.

(Mystras or Mistras, also known as Myzithras in the Chronicle of the Morea, 

is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece)

On the way a picnic among the ancient olive trees 

"We had a really good zone trip yesterday, where we went to Mystras and Corinth. I'll send you some pictures. I've been to Corinth before as you know, but it was my first time at Mystras and I really liked it. It's an old town that has loads of churches and monasteries, and it is in a really beautiful location. I drove our car and we took Elder Deighton and Elder Tornar, and we had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed driving there and back through the Greek countryside. Mystras is way down near Sparta so we drove almost the whole length of the Peloponnese. Greece is such a beautiful country, and it would have been worth the journey just to drive there and straight back again enjoying the views!"

You should be able to scroll around the Google Map image below to see where they were.

 

 

 

Church this week

"Church was good! We didn't have any new friends there with us this week as M. has broken her foot, but we have a couple of new friends that we're excited about, as well as people that we've met through the service that we've been doing. The branch is so friendly here so it's really easy to bring people. We've also been meeting with some of the members to discuss the Europe Area plan, and we had a really nice visit with the R. family earlier in the week. They're from the Philippines and are such a sweet family. It makes such a big difference when the members are welcoming, but perhaps even more important is that the lessons that our friends attend and the talks that they hear invite the Spirit. The members here are all so sincere and so committed to the gospel. I think that with it being such a small branch that only the people who have a strong testimony and who are determined to live the Gospel keep coming, and so they're the ones that deliver fantastic lessons and talks."

"It was lovely! And  I'm so excited to bring you over and show you things, you'll absolutely love it! Greece is your dream holiday place, it has beautiful scenery, good food, and such friendly people. And you'll even have a tour guide who speaks the language and drives like a Greek! Haha I think it will take some adjustment to drive in England after my mission, and not just for which side of the road!"

Athens Zone Conference

Last week Elder Teal attended the Zone conference in Cyprus, 

this week it was Zone conference in Greece. 

This week we had over 60 pictures, too many to put them all on the blog, 

but if you click HERE you can see them all

Other News

Elder Teal LOVES old books, he took time to read Homers Illiad and Odyssey before his mission. We can only imagine how being shown these old books would have been for him.

"These are books that V. has in his collection. 

This one is a copy of Homer's Illiad in Ancient Greek."

These are books that V. has in his collection. 

This one is a copy of Homer's Illiad in Ancient Greek.

Final Thoughts

This coming Saturday Elder Teals big sister, our eldest daughter is getting married. It will be a little strange not having Elder Teal here, but it is a testament to his conviction that he knows he has a work to do where he is. Families can be together forever, so we are happy to let Greece keep him a little longer 

"I'll be thinking about you all too! I think it will be a little bit strange not to be there, but I'm happy that it's happening now! Make sure you take lots of pictures and videos to send to me on Monday! Elder Peel and I will both wear our wedding ties and send a picture over :)"

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 84

Lots happening in the Greece Athens Mission this week.
Not least Elder Peel and Elder teal deciding to turn up at the office as twins !!
(The glasses are not Elder Teals, just borrowed)

 

Mission Leadership Counsel 

"The meeting was good, it's always nice when we have meetings at the mission home, it's a really nice atmosphere. And we had the leaders from Cyprus and Thessaloniki on Skype too which was good!

We've been trying out a few new things with Facebook! We've not quite decided exactly what our protocol will be, but we're excited to see if we can reach a new audience with it. We also had a night when we went out with Elder Deighton and Elder Tornar and took pictures with people in the street, where they had written on our whiteboards what they believe about Jesus Christ. It was a really fun night and we met lots of great people! We're going to post the pictures to our Facebook page, and we've added a few of the people as friends on Facebook too!"

The picture project is now online as part of an album called 1000martyries HERE and the aim is to collect 1000 pictures, build bridges with other Christians and open opportunities to talk.

 

Elder Peel and Elder Teals whiteboard thoughts about Jesus.

Elder Teal has a new assignment as the "Social Media Web Developer" for Greece. He has been liaising with church headquarters and is now the admin for a new official LDS Facebook page. The plan is to get other missionaries online as quickly as possible, but they are currently ensuring all plans will be rolled out in accordance with General mission social media guidelines.
Click on the picture below to visit the new Facebook page. It will no doubt take a while to gain prominence. If you have friends that speak Greek or have Greek connections please share this page with them.

In other news

"It's been a great week, and the weather is amazing. The weather is so nice here, so bright and sunny! It would be nice to see some snow though, I like that too!"

"Today we're going to go into the centre of town so that I can get some photos printed and pick up a couple of bits and pieces. And I'm going to try and write you a letter this afternoon too. It might not be that long but I haven't written for ages and I want to do better with that!"

"We have a new friend who is keen to learn, and she really enjoyed church yesterday!" 

"In the evening we had an appointment at the home of a university professor who has had a good relationship with the church for a long time. He likes the church and wants to see it grow in Greece and wants to help us make that happen. We had a really good discussion with him and with his friend when he arrived, who has studied at Manchester university. They were both really nice guys and I think we will be able to work well with them to help the church grow here in Greece. "

Week 83

Not sure if these pictures were before or after last weeks baptism ?

"Week 83! That number is getting high!"

"It's been another great week, and a busy one! You can read all about it in my journal as to be honest off the top of my head I can't even remember what happened. And you'll be able to read about the confirmation too, it was really good. It was nice to be there in the Athens 1st branch, I have lots of friends there and it was good to see them all! That's one of the best things about us not having many areas, you don't just get to know people for a couple of months (maybe 6 if you're in the same area for a while), but you get to know them over 2 years and they become really good friends, who I'll miss when I go home!"

"We didn't have any new investigators this week, but we did have two lessons with M. and we have one planned with T. (we had a first lesson with him before Christmas) for tonight that we're looking forward to. We also have a few people that will hopefully become investigators soon, and we're excited about that!"

"Great that you got to go out to the temple, it's made me appreciate how blessed we are to have one so close whilst I've been out on my mission!"

"I think I'll Skype in May if you don't mind, since I think it will be good to space it out a little bit more and not talk to you now where we've talked recently and I don't have that much new stuff to tell you!" ( There was an option of English or American Mothers day) 

They skype call with Dr. James Holt (Uncle Jimmy) went really well yeah, and was very useful!" (the call was to discuss ways to help bring the church in Greece "Out of Obscurity")

Lunch - the Elders made stuffed peppers and play chess!

Study

Outside the apartment.

I think these pictures fall into the category of, I've not taken any pictures all week best take a couple to send home !

"The weather was perfect. Bright and sunny and not a cloud in the sky but not yet at the point where it's unbearably hot. I think I'll miss the weather here a lot when I'm home, because even in the summer when it was really hot I quite liked it."

"We had district meeting where Elder Peel and I were asked to share about how we'd seen the influence of the Holy Ghost in A as he learned about the Gospel. It was a really good district meeting."

"It is very satisfying to be able to teach and testify about basic truths like that God has a body and that He is a separate individual to Jesus Christ."

"In the evening we had a Skype call with Uncle Jimmy so that we could talk to him about public relations for the church and also about representing the church at universities and other academic venues. It was a very productive discussion and we learnt a lot from his experience."

"There is definitely a very real correlation between how often we bear our testimony and how happy and satisfied we feel as missionaries and how much we feel that we're fulfilling our purpose."

"The zone leaders had planned a service activity where we wore the Helping Hands bibs and tidied up all of the rubbish on Mars Hill. We were there for about an hour and half and we got a lot done. There were also a lot of people around so it was good to have people be interested in who we are and what we're doing. It was a really good activity and it was a lovely day, so with the views that you have up there there's no better place to do service. It also reminded us how lucky we are to be serving in such a beautiful place that is so steeped in history.

I'm grateful for the greater love that we develop as we serve."