Last Zone Conference

 The count down has begun and every thing seems to be our last whatever.  We had a wonderful zone conference and mission tour.  It is always so nice when all of Greece is able to come together and we can see those missionaries that we haven't seen for a while.  We had Elder Alliaud and his wife come for the tour.  It was wonderful to spend time learning from them.  

The mission got three new Greek missionaries from the England MTC.  That is a big deal since we are such a small mission. When they arrive, we go to Mars Hill for a testimony meeting.  That is where Paul preached to the Athenians.  The new missionaries share their thoughts in Greek.  It is amazing how well they are able to speak Greek in such a short time. 

Mars Hill, new missionaries and the Acropolis in the background

 

Elder and Sister Nelson, our mission leaders and their daughter

I always laugh when I see all the suitcases the missionaries have to haul around for the transfer.  It is a lot of logistics to get everyone where they need to go and big slumber parties with mattresses on the floor, etc.  After one night of everyone in their sleeping arrangements for zone conference, we found that more blankets would be appreciated.  Some apartments are too hot and some too cold.  We ate at a Greek restaurant with Elder and Sister Alliaud.  It was nice and we had the place to ourselves.  Most Greeks don't think about lunch until late afternoon and then they eat dinner about 9 p.m.  It is so counterintuitive to how we have lived in the states.  

We were very blessed to have missionaries stay with us.  This is breakfast time.  They slept on the floor on mattresses in the living room.  I had to smile when I got a call from one of the Elders that stayed with us returned to Cyprus and showed me his apartment on face time.  He asked how he could arrange his apartment to make it more homey like ours.  We love these missionaries.  I was very proud of one Elder while staying with us, saw how to make bread.  He showed me a picture of his beautiful loaf that he made after learning how I made mine.  

Greek Missionaries serving in Athens, Crete, Cyprus, and Thessaloniki

They announced that the missionaries would be singing in Sacrament meeting.  They sang in Greek. Wha. I gave up on learning Greek.  I can't even tell if someone is speaking Greek.  Totally failure and one of the missionaries told me that I wasn't rolling my "r's" when I said Kalamera which is good morning.  The one thing I can say with confidence was busted. 

Making gingersnaps

This is the last night before the Elders headed to Cyprus.  Elder Paez likes gingersnaps enough that he ate the brunt ones but then we made a batch together so that he can make his own because this is probably the last time I will see him.  Zone Conference was a great uplift and faith promoting time.  We loved having the missionaries stay with us and will remember how much we loved connecting with them.