The Coolest Thing Ever

Pretty much living in Greece is the coolest thing ever. We have only been here a month and we have seen so much and the things we are going to do this year are really exciting. Perhaps I'll write more about each thing we've done and what I've learned but here is the overview. First we joined the Area Directors for an 8 hour tour of Philippi which is just under 2 hours from where we live. We saw the ancient city and walked on the same ground Paul walked on, we saw the prison he was kept in and a place that once held 50 toilets (impressive). We saw Lydia's pool there and the Lion of Amphipolis which Paul passed as he made his way from Philippi to Thessaloniki. We spent Thanksgiving with our new best friends in Athens (the Wislockys) and walked saw the Acropolis with the ever famous Parthenon which was the center of the Greek world for so many years, we stepped foot on Mars Hill, and saw the ancient theater. The next day we spent in Corinth and though it was rainy we had the best time ever. The sophistication of the ancient Greeks is simply astounding to think that some places today are not even as advanced as they were thousands of years ago. There was a huge mountain above Corinth which is where the temple of Aphrodite was were the pagans would go to "worship". There is the remains of a pretty impressive fortress there today and we could have easily spent a whole day climbing around up there. It was sort of steep and scary with the boys but perhaps we'll have a chance to trek around with some college kids some day. On our way back to Thess from Athens we stopped at Delphi which in the religion of the Greek gods was the place where god was closest to man and used to speak in very mystical/demonic ways through an oracle. The ruins there were pretty amazing and the view of the mountains surrounding it was breathtaking. We didn't have time to go through some of the shops but they looked so neat, perhaps we'll get to stay over night sometime. Driving all over Greece has been a trip too, I can't believe that people used to walk these roads. I really didn't know how mountainous the terrain is and some of the effort that people put towards their pagan religion is mind boggling especially considering some Christians find it too big of a chore to make it to church. Anyways I have had many eye opening God moments that perhaps I'll share later. Next, we will spend a day in Katerini and visit Mt. Olympus, everyday is an adventure learning the lay of the land.