To Athens

The conference came to a close on Friday night. During the final service, the youth group that I (jason) have been working with all week was performing for the adults. Afterward, the leader of our group, Mr. Larry McCallon who is about 70 yrs old, was recognized by the graduating seniors of the youth group. Mr Larry has been coming to every one of these conferences for 6 years to minister to these youth. Mr Larry loves the kids and the kids very obviously love Mr. Larry. During the service the seniors talked about what Mr. Larry meant to them while taking turns washing his feet. They felt that it was a Christ-like way recognize Mr Larry for his service. There was barely a dry eye in the building and Mr Larry needed a moment afterwards to get himself together. He is a great guy and it was very touching.

Saturday morning Kristin and I hugged goodbye to many of the children that we'd worked with that week before boarding our bus to Athens.

We spent saturday in Athens with a group from a church near Raleigh, NC. We enjoyed the temple to Zeus, a short trip to Starbucks, and a Greek grocery store in the afternoon. Then in the evening we met some of the missionaries to go to a different part of town for dinner. We had a great time with our friends Mickey and Shannon, who'd worked with the youth with me all week, and with the guys from the church's praise band. What a great group of people to hang out with.

Before dinner Kristin and I stopped in at the shop of Melissinos, the poet/sandalmaker of Athens. He's made sandals for many famous people including Jackie O and John Lennon. Now he's also made sandals for the famous Kiki. Not too bad at 25 euro per pair.

Dinner with the missionaries and volunteers was great, we enjoyed a traditional Greek meal with lots of salad and lots of grilled meats. After dinner which ended after 10:00pm, we headed home for bed. unfortunately, their idea of air conditioning is not what we consider it in the U.S. We had in on full blast and the temp probably never got under 85 degrees F. Hope tonight we sleep better tonight than last night.

This morning we met a missionary, Suzanne, for church. She took us to a Greek evangelical church. We walked in and they gave us headphones so that we could listen to the translator. It was interesting to sit in a church where the entire worship happend in Greek.

We've eaten lunch and are planning to visit the Acropolis this afternoon. But before heading up there, I think a swim in the rooftop pool and a nap is in order. Blog again soon! jason