valentine's day party

Last Sunday we invited our Greek girlfriends to a party to honor them and our friendship. We weren’t sure that anyone would show up because those who weren’t studying for finals (yes, they go on forever here) were celebrating Karnaval (like Mardi Gras) in Patras. The Lord brought three friends to join us, three girls named Ana.

We had a great time! We played games, decorated cupcakes, and talked about what real love is. Girls shared their ideal love stories (Pride and Prejudice, Twilight) and we talked about how God’s love for us runs far deeper and has far more substance. He loves us securely and sacrificially. He enables us to truly love.

Please pray for Ana, Ana, and Ana to understand and accept God’s love for them.

Please pray for our students to desire spiritual growth as they begin their next semester next week.

between semesters

Hi friends!

After the flurry of activity in December, January is more of a transition time. Students are preparing for their semiannual exams so they’re busy and not able to spend time with us. In the mean time, we’re praying, planning, and preparing for the next semester—spiritually, logistically, relationally.

Would you pray with me…

That Greek students would be drawn to Christ in this time of stress. That God would use us to encourage and help them.

They’re all at different spots. Here are a few situations:

-Giannis told me last week that he’s very concerned about people in Haiti and that he wants to go and help them if he can.

-Yolanda desperately wants to come to Bible study and we’re not starting them again until the middle of February,

-Alex just had his appendix out—in the middle of finals preparation.

-Carolina is distracted by a boyfriend, old patterns, and studying and she’s difficult to connect with.

-Eleni says she’s trying to figure out her purpose in life.

-Likourgos is leaving to study in the Netherlands and Nadia has left to study in France for the semester,

-Ana understands the Gospel but isn’t sure she has the faith to trust in Jesus.

For our team to be refreshed, encouraged, and emboldened to walk with God in faith this spring.

A couple of details about us:

-We’ve added a team member—Christy, who’s my roommate and good friend already and who has GREAT ideas about ministry. Pray for a smooth transition.

-Our four stinters are asking the Lord what He’d like for them to do after their stint. Pray that He will lead them closer to Himself and give them clarity in the process.

Thanks so much for praying!

I’m grateful for you!

a week of good gifts!

"Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?"
Revelation 15




The Lord has worked in marvelous ways in the last ten days through our Christmas trip! 22 people from the U.S. joined us, giving tremendous lift as we reached out to people here with Christ's love.

During our five days on campus, we made dozens of new friends. More than that, God opened doors for us to talk about how He redeems us and gives us life. Greek friends repeatedly elaborated that they want to join us for more discussion about following Christ in daily life.

On Friday over 60 of us celebrated Christ's birth at our office. God brought new friends and old ones, who easily mixed with one another. We played games, chatted, ate festive foods (some of which were provided by Greek friends), and enjoyed a rousing white elephant gift exchange. Our time culminated with a reading of the Christmas story, emphasizing that He is Immanuel-- "God with us."

We had the honor of helping to serve meals to hundreds of homeless people and refugees from the Middle East. More exciting than that, we loved being part of extending Jesus as the bread of life to them. We may well be the first people to share the gospel with them because Greece is the first stop on the border out of the Muslim world. To hear more, click on http://sharing.theflip.com/session/d37bf8144a6fa7c62411132e9402b70a/video/8169236.

Our team also spent some devotional time studying the journeys of Paul in Athens and Corinth as we visited the sites where God moved mightily 2000 years ago to bring His message to this part of the world. He used the visits to give life to His Word in our hearts.

Please pray...
-That the Lord would remind our Greek friends of the things we shared with them on campus this week. Ask Him to lead them to follow Him.

-That God would lead the poor and the refugees to find true life in Him this Christmas.

-That God would continue to refresh our entire team (those who remain here and those who joined us last week) and that He would multiply the faith, hope, and love He's expanded in our hearts this week.

the Christmas team has arrived!

Eighteen friends from the United States have joined us for the week! (And four more come tomorrow!)

We've spent two days on campus and have had great conversations with new Greek friends. We've talked about all kinds of things with them and we have plans to spend more time with them later this week. I'm encouraged that we're building so many new friendships! Please pray that God would continue to build trust and guide these friendships to be long-term friendships that lead us all closer to Him.

Last night we helped serve a "Love Meal" to refugees from the Middle East with another ministry. I so enjoyed serving alongside this group of old and new friends. We'll get to serve them again this weekend for the Christmas meal. Please pray that God would fill us with His Spirit and give us strength to continue to reach out to college students and to refugees this week with His love. Ask Him to make His love evident to them.

a great thanksgiving!

Our friends filled our "Steki" (the greek word for hang out) on Thanksgiving for a full, fun evening. Over thirty of our friends joined us-- our biggest crowd ever!

We all wrote things we're thankful for on some windows we have stacked in the Steki.


We made paper hand turkeys. We read a passage from the book of John in English and Greek. We prayed. We ate turkey and mashed potatoes, vegetables, and pumpkin pie.


My friend, Eleni (below left), brought her boyfriend and said repeatedly, "we like your company!"



After dinner some Greek friends played traditional music for us.



We enjoyed a rich evening with our friends and their friends! I think God is drawing together a group of Greeks around us. Many of them are joining us in exploring who Jesus is. At our Monday Bible discussion following Thanksgiving eight Greeks joined us-- outnumbering the Americans!

Please pray that God continues to lead us all toward abundant life in Him.

Thanks Giving

It’s crazy to me that it’s the week of Thanksgiving. The skies are blue and it’s in the 60’s. It feels more like September to me. I AM excited about celebrating this week, though.

I want to share a few recent conversations in which Greeks have responded with a new level of understanding about spiritual things. . . for which I’m very thankful:

ü Christos, a very unique theology student. He believes in God. He wants to get a PhD in Old Testament and teach university students. He’s very interested in spiritual things. When we asked him what keeps students from interest in spiritual things, Christos said “The Devil. He distracts us with so many other things. He doesn’t want us to know God.” Christos has begun to join us to talk about knowing God personally.

ü Nadia, a friend that we met last year in the sandwich line, heard that Ashley is considering ministering to the poor in Cambodia sometime in her future. We asked her if she thought Greeks would be interested in joining her. Nadia said, “No, I don’t think so. We’re too self-centered. We like our comfortable lives. But, I admire you for even thinking the thought of going.”

ü Our short-term team took Carolina and Ana with them on a trip to Istanbul last weekend. Everyone had rich spiritual conversations. My favorite thing I heard was that Carolina said, “So, I’m learning that everyone sins. We all sin. All the time.” She’s beginning to see the need for Christ.

There are more stories to share. I’ll save them for later. The Lord is working mightily.

I want to ask you to pray for something. We’re inviting all our friends to join us for a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night. It’s been fun to see our friends excited to come and to see them inviting their friends to join us. Would you pray. . .

ü That God would enable Greek students to come. That He would remove obstacles. That He would keep things from keeping Greeks from coming.

ü That students would see how graciously God has blessed us—the reason we have a day for thanksgiving.

ü That students would identify themselves with our group and our desire to follow Christ at a new level. Pray that more would begin coming to Bible discussions and Bible studies on a regular basis.

I’m thankful for YOU!

Texas Hold 'Em

Our team consists largely of Texans and, for some reason, our Greek friends are fascinated by the game "Texas Hold 'Em," so we gave them an opportunity to play last Friday night. The evening provided 25 of us with lots of fun and some really good deep conversations about life and about the Lord.