Our trip to Athens, Greece (23rd-28th. March 2016)

We wanted to spend Easter in a different way this year! An Easter we will never forget, and where Jesus as the only Saviour, has become even more alive in such surroundings. For five days, a team of 8 people from Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia and Germany had the privilege in cooperation with Mission-Net, to explore the refugee situation around Athens, Greece, and get to know the service of the Hellenic Ministries (HM, www.hellenicministries.org) serving among the most needy in word and deed. Day 5 and conclusion: Seen despair is followed by hope in Jesus We finished off driving to Porto Astro on Easter Sunday, north of Greece, where HM has some fantastic camp grounds. In the summer they host holiday camps for about 100 members of refugee families each time and with this, provide a restoration week for many traumatized children and family members. Bible studies in various languages are offered on site as well.  The centre is run by former refugees from Albania. We left Greece inspired and broken at the same time. What we have seen, heard and felt will accompany us for many weeks to come. Our compassion for the needy has grown. Each of us participants, thinks about personal future steps on how to get more involved locally and also at the borders, how we can stay connected on these issues and encourage fellow Christians to get involved. Just because refugees are settling into our cities does not mean the job is finished. Some of us had taken Persian Bibles and the chips for mobile phones back home and we were able to give it to our refugee friends who have met Jesus recently on European soil. We were truly blessed to hang out with some of the amazing and inspirational people of HM who give their all to share God among the refugees. God is not finished yet! HM has demonstrated to us that to face a crisis you need to be prepared, willing to react, be creative in finding solutions and above all, seek God and his wisdom, his love for the needy. Seeing that one Greek organisation with so many different ministries, can have such an impact on the society, has been so inspiring for us. Costas Macris, the founder, went against the tide and preached to many and really lived Christ. His organisation follows his footsteps. And so should we!