People!

I really love seeing new places (though Lesvos seems quite familiar now as I have spent many weeks of my life here since 2017), but the people are what really refreshes my soul. I wish I could show photos of the refugees, but the UN and the Greek government definitely frown on that. But here are some photos of volunteers and Greek people we have met on this trip. Stories are in the captions of the photos.

Our team had a special treat last night. Gina (who owns the hotel we are staying in) and her friend, Mercini (who owns the Olivewood House where we love to shop) made us a lovely Greek meal. Their hospitality is truly fantastic! Both these women are Greek Orthodox, but they seem serious about their faith (for many here, it seems to be just cultural and not a true belief). We had a great time, and it is true that the Greeks just keep putting more and more on your plate. You cannot say “no”. You must eat! And then you must eat more! We also found out that Mercini swims each morning in the Aegean. Even in the winter. No wetsuit. No kidding. 

We attended Oasis church on Sunday. It is a church started by I58, a Mennonite organization. Read Isaiah 58 to find out about their heart. It is a very vibrant congregation. We loved the worship and teaching there. There are at least 100, and most are 20-30. Some Greeks come as well as some refugees.

This is a group of EuroRelief volunteers planning their next task. Notice we all wear red vests and have walkie-talkies. New arrivals are registered by EuroRelief (we keep all the data for the Greek government). There are always a number on call to be at the camp within 20 minutes to greet and help those who have just arrived at camp. They arrive by boat from Turkey. Quite a few don’t make it. Melanie met a woman whose little baby drowned on the way just a little over a week ago.

There are about 70 EuroRelief folks here on the island. They meet for a meal, worship and devotion once/week, and we got to attend Tuesday night. This is such a great group of people. Most are from the Netherlands, Germany or the USA, but anyone can apply to volunteer here for EuroRelief. There is a LOT of support for the volunteers here which is really necessary to prevent burnout from the constant demands of the jobs at camp. For two weeks, it’s not too bad for us, but I can see how it could wear you down quickly.

This is Kathleen from Germany. Yesterday, when she and I were doing a bed count, we met an Afghan refugee who is teaching mathematics, German, and music to young refugees. Here he is asking Kathleen to check some of his German.  We were invited in for tea and heard a lot of his story. The Taliban killed his father and his first wife. He’s been in Greece for over four years, and he lived in the old camp - Moria (there are just a few left at this camp who were in Moria). He encouraged refugees to protest their condition, and for this reason, he was not allowed by the police to leave camp for two years. He is free to leave now (not leave the island with papers, but just to come and go out the gate as the rest of the refugees). His second wife and three daughters are now in Germany and he hopes to join them soon. In the meantime, he has made his Isobox into a classroom. He is definitely an educator at heart. He also told us he was not a Muslim anymore because of the way they treat women. He said he is now Christian. 

This lady is the artist behind all this pottery. We would have bought more if we didn’t just have carry-on bags.

 

Rainbow

This morning there was a huge rainbow over camp! This sort of describes how we are doing. There has been a lot of rain, but always the promises of God are shining through!

Slow Down to Serve

Working in a refugee camp with EuroRelief involves LOTS of walking. We are logging 15K to 25K steps a day! Interestingly, most of the longer term volunteers have bikes (pictured here). But they only use them to get to and fro from camp. At camp, we do everything on foot.

Why? Because we are trying to value people over tasks. As you walk, you can more easily stop to talk. EuroRelief delivers messages (mostly in the form of written tickets for things like asylum interviews, doctor appointments, coupons for the clothing or hygiene store, etc) on foot every day - sometimes going to a tent or isobox several times a day trying to find the residents home. Sometimes you are invited in for tea, and that’s always a special treat.

Pray for us for stamina each day. We are all doing quite well. But tomorrow and most of next week we are expecting rain ALL DAY. It is also supposed to be a high of 50 F. Help us do our work heartily, as unto the Lord.

 

First Day at Camp

Yesterday we arrived on Lesvos (an island in Greece that is just 4 miles from Turkey, so really on the border between the east and the west). Today we began our work with EuroRelief at the Mourovouni Camp (which simply means “Black Mountain” in Greek - the name the area where the camp is has been called for years).

Right now there are approximately 1700 refugees in the camp (who are more correctly called POCs - persons of concern - because they are not truly refugees until they are processed and given that status). 44% are from Afghanistan, and currently most of the rest are from Sudan, Yemen, and Eritrea.

I saw a lot that encouraged me. Compared to the conditions in Moria (the camp we served in 2019 that burned down in 2020), Mourovouni is so much cleaner and organized (there were also up to 20K people in Moria). There are also things like classes for children, a shop class where the POCs teach skills like woodworking, auto mechanics,etc, a social hall for women and another for men, and even a playground.

Everyone lives in isoboxes or in framed tents (which we found out are designed by IKEA).

We jumped right in today and helped with a variety of tasks (more about that on another day). The highlight of my day was having tea and cookies with some girls from Eritrea.

I will be able to show limited photos. They will let us take some with discretion but none of refugees. EuroRelief does have some approved photos to share which I may use from time to time. The ones in this post are all my own.

Our team getting ready to walk to camp

At the end of day one

View of camp from the hill

So great to see a playground!

Lunch is made every day for the volunteers by two ladies - either one from Sierra Leone or Haiti (I couldn’t believe there were Haitian refugees here. They must have quite an interesting path). Anyway, we pay for these meals which lets the ladies legally earn money. This meal was better than it looked. It was Cassava Leaf Stew - the national dish of Sierra Leone. I loved it!

Flags at half mast due to a train wreck in Greece

The harbor at Panagouida.  Panagouida is our home for the next two weeks. 

Afternoon in Windsor

I’m so excited to be headed back to Greece to work with refugees on Lesvos.  Our team was supposed to meet in Athens and spend a day there before flying to Mytiline.  But God had other plans for us.  We arrived at Heathrow in London at about 8 am with a little over an hour to connect to Athens.  We kept trying to find our connecting gate on the list of flights, only to discover that our flight had been removed from the list.  While trying to find the right line to find out what was going on, I accidentally left my carryon near where I emptied my water bottle to go through security.  By the time I realized I had left it, security had already called the bomb squad.  I was not allowed to touch my bag until they brought a team to scan it.  

It turned out there were no other flights until 10 pm.  This meant hanging out all day at the airport OR leaving the airport to have a look around.  I texted Terry, and he told me right away "Make lemonade!"

Melanie had never been anywhere in England, so the two of us opted to stash our bags at the airport and leave for an afternoon in Windsor.  It was so fun!  We loved the "Long Walk" at Windsor, having afternoon tea, and we even got to hang out with the locals and paparazzi to photo the prime minister and the head of the EU leaving a "secret meeting" on Brexit.  I guess it's not secret anymore!  

We did not get to see Athens (except for the airport) on this trip - but I will always remember this fun afternoon with Melanie!

And we made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare!

Zero to Thirty - That Went by Fast!

In February, we went to Richmond to celebrate Rebecca's 30th birthday.  How did this happen?  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital - not sure at all we knew what we were doing!  Now she is grown up with kids of her own.  Here are some photos from our fun weekend.

We've both changed quite a bit

Throwback caramel cake

Piper's First Hike

We took Piper on her first camping trip and hike this weekend.  We took a 9-mile hike in Cumberland Gap to White Rocks/Sand Cave.  Had most of the trail to ourselves, and fun was had by all!

She got the zoomies in here!

She had a healthy fear of the edge

Christmas 2022 and Year-End Review

 

Back Row L to R: Noah, Nathan
Middle Row:  Rebecca, Joseph, Susan, Terry, Caleb, Meredith
Front Row:  grandkids, Piper

Once again there is no Christmas letter.  Maybe I will just dispense with the apologies and say this is life!  We were blessed to have all our kids and grandkids with us for several days at Christmas!

2022 was a great year for us.  We are both just plugging along at our jobs.  Terry is doing house flipping and rental property development, and lately he has been working on (1) getting our downstairs ready to rent as a 2BR apartment and (2) converting a Sprinter van camper, perhaps one of many as houses are getting a little harder to come by.  I am still doing reading therapy with dyslexic kids (I'm currently working with nine who all come to our house several times a week).  

Being self-employed definitely has its advantages.  We love being able to just drop everything and go when we want to.  This year we went to March Madness, made an awesome three-week camping trip out west (see the highlights here and here), made visits to see our kids in Richmond and Tampa, and I even got to go on a last-minute mission trip to Prague in September.  

The highlight of the year for me was a week-long family reunion with my sisters!  

Ann made all our t-shirts.  We are organized by families.  Carol and I have some catching up to do.

This would have been our Christmas photo if I had managed to get out a letter

The kids are doing great.  Starting with the youngest first, Noah is finishing up college at Lee University.  Caleb is finishing up an accounting degree from the University of Arkansas (online), and Meredith has been doing travel nursing in Florida.  Nathan is still at UT Med Center working in the trauma ICU, though lately he has been on medical leave to recover from shoulder surgery.  Both Nathan and Caleb & Meredith bought houses this year in the same Knoxville neighborhood!  We are excited to have at least half of our kids close by.  Rebecca and Joseph are still in Richmond.  It's hard having our grandkids so far away, but we communicate often, and I have started doing a regular FaceTime story-time with them.  Rebecca and Joseph plan to come back to our area eventually, so there is hope!

I'll close with some more photos from Christmas (Knoxville)/New Year's (in Arkansas).

Seaman extended family get-together on Christmas Day

So I'm the hat-making Gran!

New Year's Eve hike with my sisters