We had an incredible opportunity to help out with a youth missions team in Thessaloniki, Greece. Almost every Greek person will claim to be a part of the Orthodox Church, although very few are actually devout. A pastor there shared with me that around 98% of Greeks claim to be Orthodox, but if he had to guess, maybe 2 or 3% actually practice it. Protestant Missionaries are not allowed to move into the country for religious reasons because of the strong Orthodox roots. There was a team of about 25 students who came from the States to do ministry there. We arrived on Tuesday night(July 21st). If I wasn't confident to drive a standard before, I certainly got my practice. I (Dustin) drove the 10 passenger van that we have on the field for the team that week. Thessaloniki is a city with narrow streets on steep hills. By the end of the week, I felt like I could do almost anything in a stick shift.
On Wednesday morning, we helped to drive the team to a small gypsy village to start a three day Vacation Bible School type outreach. There were dramas, testimonies, dancing, games, Scripture reading, face-painting, snacks and much more. The kids really enjoyed us being there for the three days we were there.
Thursday morning we continued with the ministry for the Roma (Gypsy) kids. That evening, we split up into teams of 4-5 and each went to a different Starbucks location in the city. The students had passed out flyers earlier that week that advertised conversational English practice. After a while, our group realized that we would not have any takers, so we decided to go out and approach people with a brief survey about their culture and church participation. After speaking to a couple of young people, both of whom were not faithful to church, Brittany and I began to get discouraged, as our conversations were not leading to any deeper discussion. We decided to approach one more person on the street. She was a girl from Spain who was visiting Greece. We asked her about her culture and whether or not she went to church. She immediately opened up to us about her spiritual search and her openness to God. We told her, "We probably will never see you again, but we need to tell you that God loves you and sent His Son, Jesus to die for your sins." We were able to have a brief conversation about our beliefs about Christianity and then she had to leave for Spain. We believe God put her in our path to direct her toward Him. Please pray for her that our short conversation would lead her to think more seriously about Jesus Christ.
The following night, we teamed up with a ministry in Greece called A21, that assists in fighting against human trafficking. Sadly, prostitution is legal in Greece, which makes it a huge market for human traffickers. Trafficking in many countries, especially in our area (Macedonia included) is not limited to women for prostitution. Children are often trafficked and forced to work or beg to make money for their owner. Elderly men and women, and the handicapped are targets as well for this terrible industry. We went around Thess and handed out sandwiches to over 300 people who were most likely victims of trafficking and also gave them a card that said "If you are being trafficked and want to get out, contact us" in five languages. We pray that this ministry would be effective in reaching people who are victims in this worldwide epidemic.
After the last afternoon with the Gypsy children, we prepared that night for a community outreach in a city park. We played games with kids in the park and setup for an outreach. We had several dramas, dancing and testimonies and had a large group of people gathered. We had a lot of fun interacting with the kids and showing them God's love. It was a great time.
We arrived home on Saturday, July 25th very tired, but excited about all that went on. Being with the youth from America reminded us why we love youth ministry and gave us a fresh vision to reach young people here.
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