Can you can help me?

March 12, 2010

I recently discovered that a great way of learning Greek is by watching movies with the Greek subtitles on… So, about once a week I’m trying to get a few friends over to my flat so we can watch a movie with subtitles.

So far we’ve watched Hook, Gladiator and 300.

However, I don’t really own many with these and am rapidly exhausting my friends’ supplies. If anyone has DVDs with Greek subtitles/language and would like to lend them to me until the summer, I would be very grateful! Please let me know.

Leave a Comment » | Greece, IFES, Life in Greece, update | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

Weird weather

March 8, 2010

So the past few days has been very weird weatherwise. The thermometer has gone up and down again, rains and winds have come and gone. And today, I woke up, and saw this. The sky was yellow with sand!

Here’s the view from the top of my supervisor’s house. And I’ve done nothing with the colours-this is exactly how it looked.

Yellow skies over Athens

6 Comments | Greece, IFES, Life in Greece | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

Is this for real?!

March 3, 2010

Ok, so today was a day of many revelations down at the Filosofiki  modern Greek department.

It turns out one of my Greek teachers is an actor with the Greek national theatre. And teaches on the side.

And as part of our lesson, we were listening to a pop song from the 70s,  which, it turns out, was written by one of the other language teachers in our department. Who, it would also appear teaches on the side.

So, why not come to Greece? Here you can mingle with the rich and the famous!

Here’s the song from Eleni.

5 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

School trip to Delphi

February 28, 2010

My class!

On Saturday, I went for a day trip to Delphi with my class. Delphi is the site of the ancient Greek Oracle and a temple complex to Apollos and Dionosis. It’s in the mountains and a three hour coach journey away from Athens. Apart from being a great opportunity to get out of the City and have some fun with class mates, it was fascinating to see what idols looked like in Old Testament times.

I’m currently reading a book about idolatry called Counterfeit Gods and it’s really interesting to compare what I saw in the museum at Delphi with the twenty first century idols of love, power and money.

The gold head covering from an idol

Leave a Comment » | Greece, Life in Greece, update | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

A sign of things to come?

February 10, 2010

I don’t know much about Greece, and I know even less about economics. And I certainly don’t want to get political here.

But I do wonder if we might start seeing a lot more of this as the Greeks tell their government “δεν πληρώνω” (“I won’t pay”).

The BBC have a good slideshow of what happened today in Athens. Basically, all the public sector workers striked after being told they would face pay freezes and that the retirement age will increase from 61 to 65 as Greece attempts to cut it’s huge debts.

This strike didn’t affect me at all really.

But if they increase in frequency, life in Athens could grind to a halt: universities might regularly close if the lecturers strike, public transport might not run if drivers strike, trash will pile up because it won’t be collected and hospitals and clinics could close if health workers refuse to work.

1 Comment | Greece, Life in Greece | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

A quick sketch of the needs and opportunities in student ministry in the Hellenic world

February 10, 2010

An interesting post from my team leader, Jonathan Clark. Anyone interested?

We’ve just been talking with our friends and team mates Joel and Bekah, and did a quick sketch of the needs and opportunities in student ministry in the Hellenic world. I thought I’d jot it down before bed.

Let’s imagine that we had in our house this evening five people or couples or families who were:

1. Willing to set aside 5-10+ years
2. Up for learning a notoriously tricky language (especially for anglophones)
3. Flexible enough to learn the ropes of life and work among Greeks
4. Committed to Christ and his gospel word
5. Keen to proclaim him among students (most of whom don’t want to listen) and disciple the small number of those who already know him

then we’d hire a big van and drive from Athens to Patras to Ioannina to Thessaloniki to Volos and back to Athens, leaving one in each place with the remit to get stuck in for the long haul. We’d also put one on the plane to Cyprus.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

The reality is that, even if we did make God’s plans for him, we don’t have any of those people at the moment, either Greek or non-Greek. In 10 years time we hope to have some Greeks but perhaps in rather fewer years we might have some non-Greeks (ξένοι) and so I thought I’d put this up here, to begin actively floating that boat…among those who might read this…perhaps this little thought might enter your minds, or the minds of faithful people you have influence over…perhaps…

Leave a Comment » | Greece, IFES | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

“He doesn’t even lift his little finger!”

February 6, 2010

I should just say that if you’re squeamish, you probably shouldn’t read this!

On Thursday evening, whilst trying to do some washing up, I managed to practically split my little finger on my right hand in two when a glass broke in the washing up basin! It’s been the most impressive cut I think I’ve ever had – almost down to the bone, almost the whole length of my finger and literally pumping out blood! I wasn’t even squeamish when I saw this (and usually I am!) in fact, I was seriously impressed by the scale of it!

I didn’t realise at the time (by the grace of God, I had kicked straight into super-adrenaline action mode and knew straight away that I needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible) but blood was spraying out across the kitchen and the washing up water started turning red! My housemate Andrew had a big surprise when he walked in after Joel (other housemate who was an absolute legend in the whole situation, taking me to hospital and phoning up friends to figure out what to do!) and I legged it to get a taxi to the hospital.

Andrew and Christy were also absolute stars because they cleaned up all the blood before preparing for a Bible study that was due to happen in just under an hour after the incident! I’ve attached a few photos of drops of blood across our floor, and we keep on seeing more! It’s all quite exciting really!

So for the next two days or so, I’ve got to keep my little finger completely still – which means no writing, no shopping, no running, and certainly no Athenian public transport (which is always really packed – don’t want to bash it!) And for the next couple of weeks I’ve got to take it easy on the little finger…

Through this situation, I’ve learnt two things about God: he is good and he is in control.

God is really generous! Ever thought just how lucky it is that he is so generous? The healthcare system here is free for EU citizens, it’s also really quick, and the doctors did a great job in sewing me back up. I was back home just two hours after slashing my finger having been given five stitches, enough antibiotics for four days, a tetnus shot and an opportunity to learn some new Greek vocabulary!

Medicine is a wonderful gift that God’s given us! It’s the complete opposite of what we actually deserve for ignoring him – he not only postpones punishment for our rebellion against him, he also gives us wonderful gifts like medicine to make our lives easier and more comfortable.

God is really sovereign! This wasn’t some accident that fell outside of his control. He completely decided this should happen – and he did it that he might be glorified through it, and that it might be for my good. But how can being sliced in half do that?

I’m not going to try and second guess God’s reasons for doing this, but there are quite a few things I can’t do now, which means I can at the very least spend more time in prayer, Bible study and reading (something I had been praying earlier on in the week for motivation and space to do!) So for the next couple of days, I’ve decided to spend more time in prayer, Bible study, reading  and relaxing – things I’m reluctant to do because I’m such a busybody.

I’d really appreciate prayer that I’d use my freed up time wisely and that I make use of this extra opportunity for Bible reading and prayer, and obviously for my hand to heal up quickly! Please also join me in praising God for his generous gifts of medicine, doctors and hospitals and that he was really looking out for me through the whole situation.


And on a final note-please don’t worry about me being out here! My friends out here are taking good really good care of me: feeding me, making cups of tea, stocking me up on ibuprofen etc! They’re a great bunch – thanks guys!

2 Comments | Greece, IFES, Life in Greece, update | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

Distracted.

February 3, 2010

God Is the Gospel I often get distracted by doctrine. Don’t get me wrong. I love doctrine. I love reading theologolical books and marvelling at the great doctrines of Christianity.

But the best and final gift of the gospel is, very simply and very profoundly, that Jesus brings us to God so that we might have a relationship with him. The ultimate gift is not that we are saved from hell, nor that we will be in heaven for eternity, nor that we are justified, nor that we are forgiven.

Doctrine is great, and I really mean that, if it helps us to marvel at the lengths God has gone to in order to bring us to himself. And from now on, I will endeavour to remember the ultimate purpose of it:

Christ also suffered once for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18

John Piper’s book God Is the Gospel is (amongst other things) a great reminder to not to get distracted from this ultimate end of the gospel.

Justification, heaven, forgiveness are not the ultimate good news of the gospel. Relationship with God is. And it’s a relationship that is everlasting in its length, ever deepening in its intimacy and ever increasing in its joyfulness. Now that’s something to get distracted by.

Leave a Comment » | books | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

10 ways to encourage someone sharing the good news of Jesus in a different culture

January 18, 2010

I was in two minds as to whether or not to post a link to this.

Basically, I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I think you’re not supporting me well enough!  In fact, I am really grateful for the emails, messages, Skype calls, parcels and letters you guys have sent to me to encourage me in my work out here! Please do keep them coming.

But I decided to post this, because although I currently don’t feel discouraged at all, it is good for you all to know a few more ideas for how you can support and encourage me (and other people you know sharing the good news of Jesus in different cultures.)

Athens in the smog...

Leave a Comment » | Greece, IFES, Life in Greece, update | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

It’s all Greek to me…

January 11, 2010

So I thought I’d share some of the more embarassing moments from my adventure in speaking Greek.

The first tale of woe:

Me: θέλω ένα αυτό. (“I want one of those.” Pointing to a bagel-type-thing at one of the stalls selling bready things in Monastiraki)

Lady: Ένα αυτό; (“One of these?” the middle aged lady replies, pointing to what I had pointed at.)

Me: Ναι, πόσο χρόνον; (“Yes. How old are you?” FAIL! How embarassing – I had meant to ask how much they were. Cue much embarassment, me handing over the money and leaving veeeeery quickly.)

Second tale of woe:

In a class discussion we were split up into pairs and after discussing it, we had to describe what our partner did the other day.  I confidently step up to the mark to tell the class that, yesterday,  my partner (a girl) had woken up, then went back home (!), then had a shave…. And the whole class broke into laughter… I had no idea what I’d just said.

When people started miming shaving faces at me, I was like “arrgghhh” and then the teacher asked what I meant when she’d not slept at home… Rather than answer I readied the spade to dig a massive hole to crawl into and die of embarassment. How embarassing.

Third tale of woe:

Teacher: Τι θα κάνεις μέτα στο μαθήμα; (“What will you do after the lesson?”)

Me: Θα ξυπνήσω… (“I will wake up”)

Teacher: Θα ξυπνήσεις;!;! Κοιμάσαι τώρα;! (As hysterics break out across the class, the teacher, crying with laughter asks, “You will wake up!?!?! Are you asleep now?!”)

Me: Ναι…  (Still oblivious to everything, and seriously wondering what I’d just said, I simply reply the worst thing to a not-even-misunderstood question, “Yes”. Where’s that massive hole under my desk for me to crawl into when I need it?!

So there we go. The moral of all these stories is that identity is not in our language abilities!

If we’re Christian, who cares whether we look stooopid in class or when speaking a foreign language or even when we mess up big times in slightly more normal ways? Our identity is in Jesus – and the one whose opinion really matters (God) looks at us and sees Jesus. God doesn’t see my stooopid language failures or our many other failures, he sees Jesus’ perfect obedience in everything!

So next time I screw up at Greek (and believe you me, there will certainly be many worse times than these!) I can smile and laugh with everyone, realising that it doesn’t matter what they think of me!

Το  πρώτο περιπετειώδες θλίψης

4 Comments | Greece, IFES, Life in Greece, update | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by opentoesandals

« Previous Entries