Blog post brought to you by Graeme
Our first week on outreach has been very eventful. We have already had so many fun adventures and are still looking forward to many more. We have seen God move in some different ways and it has been so exciting.
Our first few days this week were spent
traveling. We flew from Guatemala City, Guatemala to San Salvador, El
Salvador. We spent an hour in the airport then flew to Madrid, Spain, a 9
hour flight. From there we flew to Barcelona, Spain and spent the night
in a hostel not too far from the airport. The next morning we flew to
Athens, Greece and then after a long layover we flew to the island of
Lesvos, where we will be spending the next month.
After all that travel the adventure had just began. We landed at around 9PM and after collecting all of our luggage we found the two 9-passenger vans we rented. Bruce was one driver, and Tyler, our only other person who is allowed to drive took the other van. Bruce’s van had most of the people and Tyler’s van had a few people and all of the luggage (Bruce may have had it that way because of Tyler’s lack of stick-shift experience). Bruce’s van led the way on the hour long journey from the city of Mytilene, to the town of Molyvos where our hotel is.
The road winds through the mountains, with narrow roads and hairpin turns, but Tyler was able to keep up with Bruce. After a few wrong turns and missed exits Tyler’s van realized they were running low on gas. Maybe it was the extra baggage, or maybe it was just getting out of first gear, but the gas light was on and Tyler’s van was in serious danger of running out of gas. After backtracking for a few minutes because of a wrong turn, despite all the prayers, Tyler’s van finally gave out. It could go no further. The van was in the middle of the road and it needed to be moved. Memo, Chloe, Alyssa and Marissa answered the call and pushed the car safely to the side of the road while Graeme watched on, supervising from the beach .
At this point it was about one o’clock in the morning. The students did what any DTS group would do; they got in a circle and thanked Jesus for having them run out of gas in front of a beautiful beach under the stars. Then they began a worship session. It wasn’t long until Bruce showed up with the other van and after taking the girls to the hotel, he came back with gas to take the boys to the hotel.
The next day was mostly spent resting and catching up on sleep. We were given orientation and told how we were expected to act in the refugee camp, as representatives of YWAM, Eurorelief (the organization we are working under) and Jesus Christ.
Our first shift we pulled was an overnight shift, 12AM-8AM. When we showed up we learned that there had just been a riot. The volunteers working the shift before us had been evacuated after the tent they were working in had rocks thrown through it. There had been a fight and one of the guys ran into the tent seeking medical attention. Unfortunately, he was under hot pursuit and many men broke down the door, while other angry men threw rocks in after him. There was an altercation that occurred inside the tent as well, but all the volunteers were led safely out.
By the time we arrived, tensions were lower and people were calming down. A few minor fights broke out throughout the night but nothing too serious. That night most of us worked in the family compound, playing with kids and talking to people who were still awake. Some of us guys worked in the info tent, where we try to meet people’s needs by fixing their tents or handing out supplies such as diapers to mothers, razors to the men, and other miscellaneous needs.
During the day we do a variety of tasks. We put
tents together, we take clothe orders and deliver the orders that we
have taken. There are lots of clothes that we try to give out, but
everyone at the camp has certain things they need and keeping up with
demand is impossible. We are looking into more efficient ways to hand
out clothing to those in need.
A few of us had an encounter with some Muslim ladies who needed clothes. We brought them clothes for their families and they were so thankful. None of them spoke English but we managed to communicate for a while with laughing and smiling and broken English and Arabic. We had been praying for someone who could translate so that we could share more about ourselves and understand what they were telling us. Pretty soon, a friend of theirs showed up and she could speak great English. We got to stay a lot longer and have fun with the families. We have been back again and each time the family is happy to see us. Please pray that we will be good witnesses and be given wise words to share Christ with these families.
We would like to thank you for praying for us. We arrived safely in Greece and are so confident that this is where the Lord wants us. Many of us are battling sickness and we can We feel fatigue kicking in. Please continue to pray for the health of our team and for divine encounters from the Lord. We would love the opportunity to witness to families and see people come to Christ.
Our first week on outreach has been very eventful. We have already had so many fun adventures and are still looking forward to many more. We have seen God move in some different ways and it has been so exciting.
Our first few days this week were spent
traveling. We flew from Guatemala City, Guatemala to San Salvador, El
Salvador. We spent an hour in the airport then flew to Madrid, Spain, a 9
hour flight. From there we flew to Barcelona, Spain and spent the night
in a hostel not too far from the airport. The next morning we flew to
Athens, Greece and then after a long layover we flew to the island of
Lesvos, where we will be spending the next month.After all that travel the adventure had just began. We landed at around 9PM and after collecting all of our luggage we found the two 9-passenger vans we rented. Bruce was one driver, and Tyler, our only other person who is allowed to drive took the other van. Bruce’s van had most of the people and Tyler’s van had a few people and all of the luggage (Bruce may have had it that way because of Tyler’s lack of stick-shift experience). Bruce’s van led the way on the hour long journey from the city of Mytilene, to the town of Molyvos where our hotel is.
The road winds through the mountains, with narrow roads and hairpin turns, but Tyler was able to keep up with Bruce. After a few wrong turns and missed exits Tyler’s van realized they were running low on gas. Maybe it was the extra baggage, or maybe it was just getting out of first gear, but the gas light was on and Tyler’s van was in serious danger of running out of gas. After backtracking for a few minutes because of a wrong turn, despite all the prayers, Tyler’s van finally gave out. It could go no further. The van was in the middle of the road and it needed to be moved. Memo, Chloe, Alyssa and Marissa answered the call and pushed the car safely to the side of the road while Graeme watched on, supervising from the beach .
At this point it was about one o’clock in the morning. The students did what any DTS group would do; they got in a circle and thanked Jesus for having them run out of gas in front of a beautiful beach under the stars. Then they began a worship session. It wasn’t long until Bruce showed up with the other van and after taking the girls to the hotel, he came back with gas to take the boys to the hotel.
The next day was mostly spent resting and catching up on sleep. We were given orientation and told how we were expected to act in the refugee camp, as representatives of YWAM, Eurorelief (the organization we are working under) and Jesus Christ.
Our first shift we pulled was an overnight shift, 12AM-8AM. When we showed up we learned that there had just been a riot. The volunteers working the shift before us had been evacuated after the tent they were working in had rocks thrown through it. There had been a fight and one of the guys ran into the tent seeking medical attention. Unfortunately, he was under hot pursuit and many men broke down the door, while other angry men threw rocks in after him. There was an altercation that occurred inside the tent as well, but all the volunteers were led safely out.
By the time we arrived, tensions were lower and people were calming down. A few minor fights broke out throughout the night but nothing too serious. That night most of us worked in the family compound, playing with kids and talking to people who were still awake. Some of us guys worked in the info tent, where we try to meet people’s needs by fixing their tents or handing out supplies such as diapers to mothers, razors to the men, and other miscellaneous needs.
A few of us had an encounter with some Muslim ladies who needed clothes. We brought them clothes for their families and they were so thankful. None of them spoke English but we managed to communicate for a while with laughing and smiling and broken English and Arabic. We had been praying for someone who could translate so that we could share more about ourselves and understand what they were telling us. Pretty soon, a friend of theirs showed up and she could speak great English. We got to stay a lot longer and have fun with the families. We have been back again and each time the family is happy to see us. Please pray that we will be good witnesses and be given wise words to share Christ with these families.
We would like to thank you for praying for us. We arrived safely in Greece and are so confident that this is where the Lord wants us. Many of us are battling sickness and we can We feel fatigue kicking in. Please continue to pray for the health of our team and for divine encounters from the Lord. We would love the opportunity to witness to families and see people come to Christ.
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