"The Eagle has landed"

We have landed in Minnesota, after 2 1/2 weeks we're on American soil! :-)

It's been a long day of traveling. We were picked up at our hotel at 7:00 am(midnight ML time) by our new "special friend" Marcello. We left Rome at 10:30 am, Amsterdam at 5:00 pm, and arrived in Minneapolis at 7:00 pm. Now we just need to drive home, and jump in to bed. :-)

While I "have the blog", I want to take this moment to say "Thank you!" to God for all that He's done and continues to do to draw people to Him; both here and around the world, and for using us to help advance His kingdom.

I also want to say "Thank you!" to a number of you who have helped to make this trip possible. 

~ to our church leadership that understands the importance of "missions" in our church.

~ to our church family that has supported us through both prayer and finances.

~ to our family members back home that have had to sacrifice so much to "fill in all the gaps" while we're away.

     We love you all, and are deeply grateful.

Sincerely,

Mike Nelson

On behalf of our whole team,

Daniel Nelson

Matt Crowell

Josh Stoesz

Bruce Swanson

Brittany Swanson

Bailey Swanson

Weekend in Rome!

By Bruce

 

 

On Friday we got to Rome around 11.am. An exhilarating taxi ride with "Marcello" was in store for us . What a treat it was to have such a personality driving us to the hotel. Marcello was a stereotypical Italian GQ dude . He spoke very broken Englisha with a blitz of hand motions during the drive, and topped it all off with a bigga ola smila that was very welcoming. This dude could win any nascar race driving his van. Over half of the time we are weaving in and out of traffic, he was facing backward speaking and motioning to us. (what a great time for prayer) About 30 minutes later we arrived safely and invigorated by the first of two once in a lifetime trips; both from and back to the airport. Our very capable and always on top of "special price for a special friend" Mike had negotiated a deal to good to be true. 30% off the first trip and 60% off the return.

 

After a few moments of checking in, a time of settling was in store for the team. Once settled, a period of exploration was next. Always on call Mike "the  negotiator" was scoring a bus pass deal for the team which was both a savings and very convenient. The area we stayed at was literally grand central station. A central bus terminal and train station were only one block away. ([people everywhere!) Both Saturday and Sunday were spent wandering and touring, and of course the girls got some shopping done.(imagine that!) The sun was shining both days and with great joy, the open air upper deck of the bus was used. What an amazing finale to an incredible trip of meeting new refugee believers from Iran and serving and laughing with them, to unwinding in Rome.

Thursday

Our Thursday in Corinth by Brittany

 

Today we headed off to visit the ancient city of Corinth and visited  some of the very places Paul was at in the Bible. It was amazing to see and understand some of the things he wrote about in 1 & 2 Corinthians. We had a Christian tour guide named Costas who was very informative and brought a lot of things to life. We saw and learned many things that we will hopefully have a chance to share with all of you at some point!

 

 

 

Our group at the site of the Bema seats

 

We spent most of the day at the ancient Corinth and even made it up to the castle! It overlooked the whole city! 

 

 

We went back to the center for our going way party in Farzad's apartment and it was very sad. Or at least it was for Bailey and I. Everybody else managed to keep dry eyes. There was food, a time of sharing, a birthday cake for Farzad's daughter and dancing. Iranian dancing is something to behold. Usually its just the guys doing there own interesting thing, but Bailey and I  actually got to be part of it this time as well.  It was really quite something.

We took group pictures and then left. Leaving was truly heartbreaking as we had become friends with the guys over the 2 weeks. But even more than that, I think it was hard because we have no idea where they are all going to end up or how things end for them in this life on earth. They have no passports and no country to call their own. Their futures look wildly different then anything we can imagine. But we can keep in contact with some of them and we can pray for all of them.

One thing Farzad said after we said our goodbyes and sang together in mixed languages, is that this is what heaven must be like. And that is the only thing that made leaving easier. Is that knowing that we will see those guys again.

 

 

Just a note. We do have many pictures of the group working and just hanging with the men at the center. But because we do not know all the background and stories of them we are not putting them online for their safety. We will have them at the presentation on the Sunday our team is sharing.

 

 

 

 

Other things.....

The picture Daniel, Bailey and I painted in the kids room!

 

 

Monday

Sorry! We missed Monday! Thank you for bearing with us all as we attempt to keep this blog updated!

Moped Monday!!!!!

    Today was our day off from work! We took a ferry from the Athen port to Aegina an island of the coast of Athens on the Aegina sea. There our team split up into a couple groups. My dad and I both rented mopeds and josh rented a 4-wheeler, we rode around the island and saw a massive old church and some really awesome ancient ruins that were very well intact!!! Than we went down to this small old, almost all abandoned beach town, and ate at a small cafe where there were six older guys competing in a backgammon tournament!! From there we drove back to the port area on the island than drove along the coast beautiful coast!!!! There we met up with the Swansons and all 6 of us drove around. After a while Josh went back to the port, and the rest of us went back up to the old roman ruins to take more pictures. We took the ferry back to Athens than ate at a small cafe to end the night!! Thanks for all your prayers while we are on this trip!!

~Daniel~

Wednesday portrayal

From Matt

As we near the end there is anxiousness to get as much time to be with everyone at the center. It feels like we just got here in Athens and wish this was just the beginning. Throughout the whole day I really felt God's presence. We finished the walls and the painting in the basement. Brittany, Bailey, and Daniel painted a beautiful mural for the kids as the basement is their place to play during the service for the adults. The kids are full of energy and at times hard to handle. But, some of them really love the word of God and they do anything they can to remember it. Some wrote on their hand and others asked for a Bible which they had to hide so that it would not be taken from them later. The big difference today was prayer. Many at the center have physical ailments and praise God that some of them felt better. Also I observed some women praying before the service. There were a lot more people at the service than the last two times. More people that can hear the gospel. The fellowship we shared together after the service was great. There was so much love, and joy, and peace. We were a big family united by Christ Jesus. We ended the night in prayer and there was   great joy, and peace, and love. Thank you to everyone for the prayers that have been lifted up to a great God. It makes a difference.

Tuesday

Tuesday by Bruce

Today was national independence day for Greece. Almost all of the shops were closed today for the holiday. The exceptions were predominantly albanian run coffee shops. The coffee shops that were op.en were full of greek orthodox parishiners. The normal breakfast time is somewhere near 8 oclock which may seem a little late but considering most nights we don't get back to the room between 10 and midnight it is early enough. Today after breakfast the bible study with David and the refugees was about the leper. I never really understood how much peace, love, patience, and faith in general he must had to be able to worship God under such a stressfull situation (having leprosy a virtual death warrant). But yet came to Jesus on bended knee, asking if it be His will to heal him. It would have been so easy and maybe even easy because of our natural sinful nature. (atleast with mine). Jesus then replied that "it is My will" the man was then healed after being touched by Jesus. Wow, what a demeanor this man had!
After finishing bible study the work day began, finishing framing up doors and sheet rocking and a variety of painting in different areas. To really appreciate the challenge of framing a door here you must know that the only plum lines in the building are the one's we made. It is not uncommon to have a variance of 1.5 inches from top to bottom. The walls are bowed and there is no lumber to use. A generally 2 by 2 u shaped channel is what is used for studs. We must drill into the concrete walls to secure our base for framing. One of the other challenges is not having a functional consistent leveling tool, so when in greece build your own make shift plum line.(thank you Jesus for gravity!) All in all good progress seems to be being made .Maybe not by U.S. standards but under the baseline of a "slippery " schedule, meaning: the schedule is subject to change at any given moment. We are in fact getting things done.
Getting back to our bible study, it was a very timely topic. (Go God ! ) Thinking about the hardships of the refugees, even the leper had bigger problems than they do! They are people without a country or papers, but the leper was destined for a painful miserable life. Now there is something to think about the next time "my life" is so hard.
This has been an amazing oppurtunity to show God's love to group of guys that have fled there country, and most who have been jailed and or shot! (that is a whole new level of bad day!) The appreciation of our sincere caring for them and accepting them (and being accepted) as fellow brothers in Christ has been an incredible experience. . We look very much forward to sharing the experience as best we can after returning.

Sunday March 23rd

This morning we were "off" because they're church service is in the evening and we'll be working at that. So some started preparing the noon(2 pm) meal, some rested, and some went exploring downtown. Today is an "American Meal" because they wanted us to share some of our American culture with them.  Fortunately we have Chef Bruce on this trip! :-) With him at the helm, we made Pot Roast with carrots, and potatoes.  After lunch we cleaned up and then set things up for tonight's service. Some of us stayed at the center and played Backgammon with the refugees living there.  Backgammon by the way is their national game, and everywhere you go you see people playing it. Around 6pm people started showing up for the church service. that is our signal to head to our "stations". Some of us are upstairs helping with the adult service, and some are in the basement working with the kids. After the service, EVERYONE gets fed, which is quite an undertaking. When they are all fed and have left for the night, we clean up again, and set the table again, but this time for us(all the people that help with the nights activities - usually there are about 30-40 of us). After all of that was done we celebrated Kim's birthday(great Europe Missions representative) with cake and much singing. It's been another full day here in Athens!
> ~ Josh