Hello from Porto Astro! I have been having such a great time here in Greece these last (almost) 2 weeks now. I had originally planned to leave on Sunday to get back to work, but have decided to stay through to the end of the trip instead. 🙂 Yesterday, after some off-the-cuff prompting from Kristin, I decided to investigate the possibility of staying…and the Lord (through Georgette) worked it all out and made it possible! Before we left Chicago, I was bummed about not being able to stay with the team until the end of Leadership camp. Each day that passed, I was feeling more and more disappointed that I would be missing the end of camp, the team sight-seeing day in Athens, and especially the team debrief time at the end. The debrief time was the thing I was most sad about missing. Hearing how God worked in the lives of each of our team members is one of my favorite things about serving on a mission team.

Anyway…today was another great day of camp. It was 105 and we played outside all day. The campers had great attitudes as they learned more about leadership and what makes a good leader. The activity that followed was that they had to build a boat as a team, and race it out to the swimming barge and back. Each team had an identical pile of supplies (a pallet, duct tape, cardboard, garbage bag, etc.) and had to construct something that would carry one person. I was in charge of the “junk yard”, which held extra supplies they could come and shop for. The boats held up surprisingly well and everyone had so much fun cheering on their teams as they raced. Some sank or broke apart rather quickly, but their teammates cheered them on as they swam holding onto random pieces of their boat. Afterwards, each team discussed how they did as a team, who stepped up as leaders, what they did well, and what they could have done differently.

There are so many things to say and details to share, but it’s 11:45 pm right now and the large generator turns off at midnight, which means all the electricity on the property turns off. (Thankfully, last night and tonight they are keeping the small generator running so that the fans in the cabins can stay on through the night.)

Please pray for energy, some of us are dragging from the heat and all the activity. We have 2 more full days of camp for which we need to stay engaged and energized! Also, pray for some good conversations and relationships to be built with our new Egyptian friends. It is so fun to watch these relationships develop over such a short period of time.

I’m so thankful to be here, to be able to stay through to the end, and to see our team serving the Lord with such joy, perseverance (in the heat), and intentionality! Thank you for your prayers and financial support!

Sharon