Heder Mission Moments: Mary's children get baptized

This week the sweetest event and gift was the baptism of Mary's young adult children. Mary is from North Africa and her children speak with her in their native language at home. She understands Greek but doesn't speak it like they do. She was just beaming on Friday as she sat with her children. Earlier in the hall she had shared her happiness with me and told me how wonderful it was that her family could be together forever and that the things that she taught them would carry on past this life.

She is a single mom but has amazing faith to put her life in the Lords hands. She told me that one of the reason she knew this church was true was that it required something from her. "By small and simple things, great things shall come to pass" It is very rare to get 4 new members baptized in one day. This could be a record for the mission--at least for a while. The missionaries were so excited about it, and it was the sister missionaries that had taught them. Our sister missionaries are amazing. They are getting referrals quite often and teaching all the time. The Elders just shake their heads sometimes and say, "what are they doing that we are not?"

Marie had a school assignment for her Spanish class to make these sugar skulls for a class party. I went to a couple of stores to try and find cream of tartar. Sometimes they really want to understand you and help. This very enthusiastic worker held her finger up to indicate, "Ahhh, I know what you need." Then she took me on a chase through the store and then finally stopped and handed me a can of cherry pie filling and happily exclaimed, "this is creamy and tart" I smiled, took the can and said thank you. I laughed about that one all the way home. Bill and I have been helping Marie decorate her skulls with bright colors. You gotta love school projects.

Our pomegranate tree has about 15 pomegranates on it and we have been eating them, so fun. I also bought some fruit at the farmers market that is the size of a bell pepper and has a smooth skin and is orange and it tastes like a peach-cantaloupe combo. They told me the name in Greek but I have never seen this fruit before. It was very good. Bill suspects that it is the same fruit that Adam was tempted with.

I also bought some oranges at the farmers market today and they are amazing. Brooks, I don't even know it the oranges you had in Florida could be this good. Wow, yum! I have also been looking for normal orange pumpkins but I have not seen many. They are light tan/orange and look more like a squash (probably is a squash) and it cost me 4 Euro for one small pumpkin. In a country that grows every fruit and vegetable you can imagine, why would they not have pumpkins?

Alinda went with her humanities class to Delphi last weekend and had a great time. She said it was amazing and can't wait to take us back. Her friends now know that she does not drink and so they look out for her. At the end of one dinner meals the waiter, as is often the case, brought out shots of ouzo (hard whisky). She said that at least 3 friends spoke up and told the waiter before she even had to say anything, "this girl, she does not drink. You can not give her one." One of the boys also always seems to come to Alinda to confess his wrong doings of drinking our smoking to much.

Yesterday was Greek Oxi ("oh hee") day! It means "no" and is in remembrance of when the Greeks finally said "no" to their Turkish occupying forces, starting the war for independence. So the girls were out of school and we went to the local parade to see what it was all about. It was mostly the Greek students marching for their schools and also a big group of Greek Scouts which was cool to see here.

Love to you all,

LeeAnn

Just two nights ago, while Athens was still crawling out of a torrential downpour that had caused flooding in some neighborhoods on the outskirts, members began to gather at the Halandri chapel for the baptism of four youth (the oldest a daughter, age 21) of a wonderful woman who was baptized just a month ago. As I sat in the service, feelings and impressions were powerful. I watched as our three sister missionaries in Athens sang a hymn. The sisters had taught these four youth who were being baptized. With daughters of my own present who aspire to serve missions, I tend watch my sister missionaries with keen interest. I’m interested in their experiences and their response to difficult circumstances. I saw three young ladies from three different European countries. One left law school in Spain to come on her mission. She stood in the middle, only recently transferred into this trio of Sisters. I noticed her shoes and nylons (it’s now cool enough that the sisters will consider wearing tights) were wet and a little speckled from walking to the chapel from the metro station. Another is from England; a delightful and mischievous university graduate and licensed speech pathologist--which is ironic because she Greek with such a strong English accent that I can tell, just from listening to the other sisters in the mission, which ones have been her companion. Her face is almost always graced with a smile that makes you wonder what she is up to. The other member of the trio is sweet young lady from France nearing the end of her mission service. She has been part of more baptisms than most the missionaries in the mission.

Like a number of my missionaries, she speaks multiple languages, and that skill, combined with the ability to genuinely care for people, has brought her great success. I noticed her shoes were also wet, and the bottom fringe of her skirt slightly speckled with dirty rain water. All the sisters' ankles carry small scars from mosquitoes. Battle scars for brave, impressive young women who go out and do the work.

I watched and listened while these wonderful missionaries sang. My daughter Alinda played the piano. I was hoping that the miracle of such a classic moment wasn’t lost on her. She is seeing first hand the life; the often-wet, unpredictable and joyous life of a good missionary sister. I concluded the service by speaking to the newly-baptized members and the congregation in Greek, asking them to be a family of believers who would love and protect and serve one another.

Love,

Bill O. Heder

Greece Athens Mission