Yasas!!!

Hi everyone! Greece is so amazing! I am sorry I have not been updating…we do not have much Internet access here.

I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. God has been so faithful here!!!! Since I last wrote, we have hosted a kid’s camp (ages 8-12) and a Teen’s camp at Porto astro.

Porto astro is an amazingly special place. God moves here in incredible ways. At teen camp this past week god brought ten teenagers into his kingdom. There were also 30 teens that came forward and said they felt they call to missions! This is unheard of in Greece, with close to 20,000 people for every missionary here. It is a very forgotten land. The prayer here has been that the Greek’s would rise up in their own country and spread god’s word. Praise the lord that this is coming to pass!!!

We had a baptism in the sea, and 8 people were baptized. It was so incredible to see god’s spirit move in so many powerful ways.

Throughout the teen camp I was working with a girl with cerebral palsy. At first it was very challenging, and I was not sure I could do it. Through prayer and god’s grace we worked together and learned from each other. She has an amazing spirit. She is 18 and this was her first time away from home. She wanted to go home and the beginning of the week, and by the end of camp she was telling us she wanted to come back next year. It was incredible to watch her transformation. As the others leaders and I worked with her she began to smile more and open up. The other campers accepted her as well. All the glory to god!

My team and I are headed up to operation Joshua tomorrow. This operation is set up to hand out Greek bibles to everyone in Greece. We have 60,000 bibles’ to hand out, which is quite an undertaking. We will be splitting up in teams and covering many different villages around Sparta!

All the Money for the bible’s is raised by Hellenic ministries. We have been in prayer for the bible’s and god has provided! My friend Kirsten gave $300 towards the bible’s and prayed that it would be made into $30,000 dollars, and it was!!!!!! God is so very good!!!!!

Please continue to be in prayer for operation Joshua and the people of Greece. Your prayers are being heard!

With grace and peace and much love!

anika

Yasas Everyone

Yasas (Greek for Hello)

Signomi (Greek for I’m sorry) that I have not written resently. The internet here at camp is pretty sketchy. I was the camp nurse for our refugee camp. It was a challenging and rewarding experience. I never thought that I would be nursing in Greece, but God’s plans always outreach our expectations. There were many scrapes, headaches, toothaches, and cuts, yet through it all God has been so faithful and I have been able to show love to all of these people.

Love is an incredible thing, I think it might be the most amazing thing God created. I watched the refugee men, women, and children all week, and noticed one thing predominately: love. Their culture may be different than ours, yet there is the same longing to be loved that is all of us. Love is Jesus, and through the course of the week we found that four women said they had Jesus in their heart! Praise the Lord.

The women impressed me so much. Some have up to seven kids, and have gone through unimaginable horrors, and yet they press on with a smile on their face. They enjoyed camp so much. It was almost as if you could see their bondage being lified off of them thoughout the week.

The women did a lot of activities thoughout camp, but I think my favorite to watch was their time on the waterfront. For many of these women it was their first time swimming. They would jump in full garb, and giggle like little girls. They would throw themselves on the leaders of the camp, so that they could swim in the deeper water. They also loved boating and tubing. They would have the biggest smiles on their faces as they bounced up and down in the water.

God has truly blessed my fellowship with the other leaders at camp. We have all become friends = ) There are people from all ove the world, and it's incredible to get to know them and hear there stories. Oh, and I adore Greek food, by the way = ) Greek food here is nothing like Greek food in America...it is a million times better = )

God is truly working here in Greece. Thank you all for all of your thoughts and prayers. I feel truly blessed to have so many amazing people behind me.

Love to you all!!

Anika

Oh, P.S.: Make sure to check out my pictures on facebook!

Greece Baby!!!

I made it! After about 15 hours of traveling I am here and it is so beautiful here!

I will be headed out to start work at the camp tomorrow and I am so excited. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

I will update this as much as possible as I go along. I miss everyone so much!!!! I am doing great!!

Love to you all!

Anika

The start of living out of a suitcase

Hi everyone!

So, like the title said, I am living out of a suitcase now...and I am enjoying every minute of it!

I am at orientation and I am loving it! I am learning so much about God, who He is, and His plan for the nations.

I will be leaving for Greece at the end of the week = ) Please continue to pray for team unity and for the people of Greece!

I feel so very blessed to be going on this trip and I am so thankful for all of you supporting me. Love you all!

Many blessings, Anika

7 days!!!

Hi everyone!

In 7 more days I will be leaving for my training in Florida, and from there my team and I will leave for Greece! I am so excited! I know God is going to work in amazing and unexpected ways on this trip and I can't wait to see what He has in store.

I will be updating this blog as much as possible, with everything that is going on with my team and our time in Greece. Please continue to be in prayer for team unity and for all the people God knows we will meet in Greece. Please pray for peace and safety for our travels.

I am so thankful for all of you! I know I couldn't do this without you.

Blessings!

Anika