Missionary Work in Greece

There is a sister from Utah that got sick on her cruise and landed in a hospital in Athens.  The young missionaries went with us to visit her.  You have to have a nose job done before visiting to test for Covid and then there is only one hour that you can visit one at a time.  After the visit, we went in search of lunch and found the Hong Kong.  It was a nice change from Gyros. 

For New Year's Eve, we met at the church and watched videos submitted by the missionaries in our mission.  It lasted 2 hours.  These young missionaries are very creative.  We had gone on a short hike early in the day and we were pretty tired as we walked home after all the videos.  

Hiking up the hill named Faskomilya to have a picnic on New Year's Eve. 

There was one bench but the view was spectacular. 

One of the missionaries  spied this tortoise on the hill. 

The view on the way down the hill from our picnic.

 

The Greeks love their cats.  A woman put out a can of food and they came like magic from everywhere. 

We had a family that came to Greece for a vacation instead of giving presents for Christmas.  We walked them to the metro after church on Sunday to help them find their way back to the hotel.  They invited us to dinner on their last night in Greece.  I thought how fun that we can still eat outside in Greece at night.  I thought I got the food in the picture.  Whaaa.  It was so fun to sit and visit with their family and learn more about their adventures.  They had a wonderful view of the heart of Athens from their hotel. 

Christmas in Athens

This Christmas was very different for us than ever before.  There was no tree, no presents, and only parties with the branch and missionaries.  We didn't go to any concerts, plays, Mo Tab or take goodies to the neighbors.  We did get an interesting dish from our neighbor below us.  It had boiled chestnuts.  Definitely Greek.  We had no snow and beautiful weather ( true hardship) and we worked on Humanitarian projects. It was okay.  I felt a little sad that I didn't do more for the young missionaries because I could tell it wasn't a Christmas they were used to either.  We all took it in stride and thought about how nice it was to be a missionary in Greece.  We feel very blessed to have this opportunity.  We ring in 2023 with hope and anticipation of good things to happen in Greece!