'The chocolate is liked by me'...

I am now nearing the two month mark of life in Athens (4 days time). Each new day brings fresh challenges but equally fresh opportunities to trust God and learn more from what that day brings forth. So far I am beginning to feel more settled in my teaching job and I do have some really fantastic students. Yesterday one of my children (12yrs old I think) told me that he wasn't having a good day but he was looking forward to my lesson because they are fun. It is always a real pleasure to teach when those you are teaching are keen and enthusiastic (makes my job a lot easier!). However sadly, this is not always the case and I'm starting to see my job as a kind of learning facilitator. Enter my classroom and dare to think you are not going to learn! I might be annoying but you'll thank me in a years time. I would value your prayers as I will be giving my students some tests to see how they are doing (in some ways this will also show how I am doing) - please pray on that I continue to work well with each class and just do what I can to help them learn English.

It was another good time at the 'helping hands' ministry and I enjoyed talking with a younger boy today who is planning on going to Germany with his family next month. Give thanks that God is raising up Christians in Germany with a heart for refugees. It has been great to get to know some German volunteers who have come to Athens to serve with the ministry and it looks as though fruitful connections are being made. It still amazes how many times I meet people who have some connection with people I know in Oxford.

My local bakery of delights...

I will be helping with the feeding ministry at my church on Thursday and I'm particularly praying for a family from Syria who I'm getting to know a bit. It is hard to have deep conversations due to language barriers but please pray that as I show an interest in their lives, out of friendship might come an interest, on their part, about why I'm involved with the church. When talking with refugees it certainly reminds you how much we can take for granted. I think last week, after witnessing the younger brother of this family put on shoes that were far too small, I left realising just how much I should be thankful with what I already have. Sometimes maybe we're too quick to want the next thing and then the next thing.

Greek lessons are going well and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident when in conversations. Still a long way to go but the grammar is slowly making sense although I discovered recently that when saying 'I like' about something, the noun (thing that you are talking about) becomes the subject of the sentence so literally you are saying for example - 'the chocolate is liked by me' - which in English would be 'I like chocolate'. It's all Greek to me - literally! Still I was asked on the metro for directions by two people so must be starting to blend in some how. Still have my obvious British moments though!

In other news I am thankful for the purchase of an armchair and a small table for my living room. Everyday I walk past this shop on the way to work and so decided to go in and talk to the owner. He was very friendly and in the end after discussing what I wanted, gave me 20euros off the total price. I kind of wanted more but there is an economic crisis happening so it didn't seem fair to haggle too much. It should be ready in a weeks time to collect.

One more thing, please pray for a man who I met in a nearby off-licence. After helping me choose some wine we had a good conversation and ended talking about spiritual things. I said I would give him a book to read (which he clearly didn't want) however tonight (as promised) I stopped by on my way home to give him a copy of Luke's gospel. If you have a moment please pray that he would read it and by God's grace see the real Jesus. As the Bible says - faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. He now holds the word of Christ in his hands and so let's prayer that by God's power he comes to repentance and faith.