Heder Mission Moments: Humanitarian Aid - visiting a member in Rhodes April 30, 2016

April 30th 2016

We just got home from spending our day with the missionaries - which are always the best days. We put together 750 hygiene kits with members and investigators, enjoyed a potluck lunch and then the missionaries with several investigators watched the last session of conference.

Easter is a very big deal here and it has been a month long celebration. The last few days the markets have been packed as they prepare for the Easter feasts. I chose not to take pictures of the whole skinned goats (head and eyes included) hanging on the wall at the butcher counter; not pretty, but very popular right now. They have several other traditions that include colored red eggs and round loaves of bread that have a whole colored egg cooked in the center. The pastry shops have chocolate bunnies up to three feet tall made with very fine chocolate. Yesterday the church bells rang from 8 am to 11 pm which was really quite delightful until by the end of the day Marie and I could sing the ring tones with perfect rhythm, Ha. We are going to attend the candlelight ceremony tonight at midnight with some of our neighbors. There have been fireworks going off all day long. Most of the stores are closed today and many return to their families home village so the traffic is light.

One other fun and unique event that happened this last week was that the Olympic torch for the 2016 Games in Rio was lit in Athens, kicking off a journey that will cross continents before ending in Brazil on Aug. 5. The event was in the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It holds 50,000 people and is made completely of marble. A Greek gymnast was the first of roughly 12,000 athletes who carried the torch through 83 cities and 500 towns on its journey to Athens from Mt. Olympia. This celebration in Athens marked 100 days until the games begin. We enjoyed the evening very much, after the torch lighting the Greeks and the Brazilians basically had a dance off. One group would preform and then the other. Both styles very different, the Greek with a more folk style and the Brazilian with heavy drum beats like a carnival, of course the energy and music were enjoyed by all. Then a really popular Greek singer came out in a fancy white suit and everyone went crazy and I asked Marie why she wasn't screaming. She laughed :)

We had an amazing time enjoying Austin's company here in Greece before he flew home to get ready for his wedding. Alinda is already there enjoying so many great senior moments with her friends. Marie and I start our journey in the morning, Yay!

Love,

LeeAnn

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Hello All,

While Austin, the Olympic flame and the Orthodox Easter season have all come, so have more refugees, more visits to relief organizations, transfers of Elders and Sisters, more training and renewed efforts for finding, teaching and baptizing. Today would normally have been our preparation day, but it was spent in another humanitarian project. A recent change in Greek governmental policy regarding the refugees has led to the creation of over 100 more permanent camps around the country to house refugees for 6-36 months while they await some permanent placement--or deportation to their country of origin. It's actually viewed as a positive move, since groups and individuals have been moved and unsettled between make-shift camps and compounds that were over-crowded and poorly run. These new camps will hopefully allow the people to settle into safe places, form a sense of community and govern themselves somewhat. The church is finding a more ready access in this new format and there are more opportunities for people to have a direct contact and impact.

Life is good and busy, and even though Lee's pics can make it seem like we're just going from one vista to another, the reality is that those moments are what we can catch between long stretches of intense days full of many good but exhausting things. There is a particular kind of exhilaration that comes when you're engaged in something wonderful, even when it takes every minute of the day. It's a good day.

Love you all, Bill.

Pictures: Austin in Delphi, visiting our member in Rhodes with a great sunset, the Olympic torch lighting ceremony, saying goodbye to a wonderful sister missionary on Mars Hill, Humanitarian project- 750 hygiene kits and Alinda at Prom with one of her best friends Alex that she has known since kindergarten.