Cousins

Dad, Nathan and Cousin Spiros in Greece about to enjoy so yummy food (with amber-colored Coke?).

Nathan and Camille's Visit

We were thrilled to have Nathan and Camille come to visit us in Greece. We had a fun day with them sightseeing , shopping and eating souvlaki from the same place we first enjoyed it in Greece! We were so delighted to take them to meet some Androutsos cousins.

Lizard in the Office

Tonight Bob brought in a box from the patio to tape up to put in storage, out scampered the tiniest brown lizard you have ever seen. It would have been cute if it was outside. Bob hurried to catch the "poor little guy," but he was quickly lost in the computer cables around the desk. We moved many things to find him, but he seems to have disappeared for now. I hope not to find him on my pillow, in my makeup bag, or in the silverware drawer!

Androutsos Home

This is the family home in Tarsos, Greece where Grandpa Andros was born.

Mars Hill Testimony Meeting

One of the traditions of the Greece Athens mission is a testimony meeting on Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul spoke to the Athenians (Acts 17:22) for the departing elders and their companions. It is open to anyone, but this is where the missionaries start and end their mission by reading from Acts 17 and bearing their testimonies in Greek. Mars Hill is in the Acropolis and you can see the Parthenon in the background.

Week 18

Our time in Greece is quickly flying by. There is a bulletin board in the mission office showing the missionaries arranged by and their departure dates, and we are right there in the middle.

This week was full of our normal busy office duties and routines. Not particularly outstanding or terrible, but very busy. We spent time this week paying bills and working on tasks associated with this. Bob created a spread sheet to track all of the utility bills for each apartment and church building in the mission. He worked on setting up accounts for the elders to use to gas up their cars.

We had some guests at our apartment this week, which we both enjoy. We also went to the Larsen's home for dinner one evening. They are from the Ashburn stake and we are in the same branch here in Greece. We worked on some office tasks for a missionary in Hong Kong, involving communicating with people in Germany, Hong Kong and Greece. It makes the world seem very small.

In church, the Gospel Doctrine class is completely in Greek with no interpreters. There is an English class as well, but we are attending the class in Greek and enjoying this immersion in the Greek language. I read the lessons before the class in English and mark my Greek bible for the class. It is surprising how much we understand!

Thank you all for your prayers, letters, pictures, and other creative ways to involve us in your lives and help us feel connected to you! We feel so blessed by all you do.

Week 12

This has been an exciting week here. We have been learning to sing hymns in Greek. We are practicing I Am a Child of God and we sang The Spirit of God in church. The tunes are familiar, but it sounds quite different in Greek. We have finally gotten our apartment organized and are getting more familiar with the office duties. We spent some time recording mission expenses and receipts. We were able to help a woman who called the mission office. She was not a member of the church, but had a very favorable impression of the church. We are finding that even though we are not knocking on doors, we are able to help spread the gospel in other ways.

We were excited to meet a member of the Branch presidency who is from Tarsos the same place where Bob's grandfather was born and raised. We are planning to go visit the city on a p-day.

Later on in the week, the Halandri Branch was reorganized. This counselor from Tarsos was sustained as Branch President, and Bob was sustained as the first counselor. The second counselor is from Ashburn, Brother Larsen, who works at the embassy here. What are the chances?

We are looking forward to some exciting experiences as we continue to work here in Greece. Thank you all for your interest and prayers.

Week 10

We had a Zone Conference this week in our mission. This was our first and we weren't completely sure about our role in this. President Charles invited us to ride with him and the AP missionaries to the conference, stay for the morning part, and then return to open the mission office in the afternoon. We were happy to ride with him there, because we are still learning our way around Greece. We had a lovely Zone Conference, and Linda even said the opening prayer in Greek! Then we made it home easily on the Metro.

We were able to get a lot of work done in the office while everyone else was still at the conference. Because the office is in the living area of our apartment, we were able to get started on making our dinner in the afternoon. When evening came, we had an opportunity to share our meal with the mission president and his wife who were busy preparing to travel the next morning. We felt blessed to be ready to serve in this way.

We love our apartment. It is clean and has a nice kitchen. It has many windows so we can enjoy the roses in bloom by the windows and a lovely yard (with a gardener!). It is in a safe neighborhood. We find that with our mission work, we have a lot more time to be together. This is another aspect of our mission that we love. It is nice to work together on the missionary work here in Greece. We feel blessed to be a part of this great work!

Mission Week 9

This week we continue to learn the basics of the mission office. We have many responsibilities from transportation to office work. We keep track of financial expenses and with a little help, we finally figured out the German phone system in the office. Before this week we had the departing office couple here to help us out, but they are gone now so we are doing this on our own. There is a lot of work to do, and although we are not as efficient as we hope to become, it seems like we are slowly learning what we need to do. The most important thing we are learning is that, even though there is much we do not know, the Lord can use us to further His work here in Greece, despite our knowledge of the culture. That is a comforting thought.

Despite what you may see on the news of the unrest in Greece, we are well and safe here. We live in a suburb of Athens and it is away from the strikes and we feel safe here. The missionaries are instructed to avoid the demonstration areas, and because the locations of the strikes are announced, it is easy to stay away. So although the strikes may continue, we are doing fine in our duties in the mission office.

First weeks in Greece

Here are some pictures from our first weeks in Greece.

This is a group of missionaries gathering for a testimony meeting on Mars Hill where Paul spoke.

The Sister Missionaries

In front of the Acropolis

We arrived in Greece and are getting settled in our new home. The mission office is in the living area of the apartment where we live. We spent the first weeks trying to learn everything we could from Elder and Sister Smith, before they finished their mission. There is a lot to learn about our responsibilities and running the mission office. We are also figuring our way around here. We had the chance to attend a baptism and testimony meeting on Mars Hill. There is a lot to see here. We are loving our mission and we miss all of you!

Visas Arrived-Going to Greece!

After a few extra weeks in the MTC, we found out that our visas arrived and we are cleared to go to Greece! On Friday afternoon we were handed our passports and itineraries and we leave at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. We fly to JFK airport for a quick 45 minute layover and then on to Greece. We will be picked up at the airport by the mission president at 9:30 Sunday morning and will go straight to a Sacrament meeting!

I think with our extra language time here at the MTC will help us in case they want us to bear our testimonies in Greek. We can't do much, but we can do a simple testimony. We have come to love the spirit of the MTC. We included a picture of our Greek tutor Craig and the other missionaries who will go to Greece soon.

We are so excited. After worrying about how long we would be at the MTC, our time here has come to an abrupt end. This is an amazing place and we have loved it here. Now it's on to Greece!

MTC Life

In our assigned study room at the MTC.

After being in the MTC for our expected two weeks, we found out that we need to stay because we don't have our visas to go to Greece. So after we bid farewell to the other couples who entered the MTC with us, we stayed behind with more time for intensive language study. We have really enjoyed the MTC; we meet so many people who are excited to serve all over the world. We keep a busy schedule starting with exercise at 5:00 a.m. and ending at after 10:00 p.m. We are busy learning all the time, plus we have homework and study to do on our own time. One facet of MTC life that is very fascinating is the food preparation. They have all types of delicious foods to accommodate any food preferences. I have spent a lot of my life planning and preparing meals for large amounts of people, so this is part of the MTC that I have watched with great interest. However, the best thing about the MTC is the spirit that is here. We enjoy getting to know the couples and young missionaries. We enjoyed singing with them as we watched conference. The spirit here is wonderful. Of course, we will be excited to get to Greece, but we are enjoying our extra time in the MTC.

Week 1 - MTC

Officially walking through the doors to the MTC to start our mission!

This is right before going into the MTC. We were told to say our good-byes before driving up to the MTC, so that is what we were doing. This picture is with some of the grandkids.

Our home for the MTC - the Super 8 hotel in Provo!