my heart; still in Greece.

i left my heart in Greece.

and i know that may sound dramatic, but i honestly feel like my heart is still in Greece.

is this normal? 

when i went to Mexico on a missions trip, i didn't leave my heart there. i left a teeny piece of it with my "3 crazy monkeys", (Karla, Yaneth, and Emily), but i don't think i left my whole heart there.

i fell in love with Greece and her people. i miss the sunsets, the generosity shown by Greeks, the gelato and gyros (haha), and yes...i even miss the public transportation and the 98* weather every day! i would even go back in August 2013, just to be back in Greece (and i said i never wanted to go back to Greece in August, it was too hot).

when i said that Thessaloniki became my home, i really mean that it became my home.
i miss it so much!
i would seriously hop on the next plane to Thessaloniki if i had the money.

ahh, i know God has called me to be home in Maryland for this season...
but my heart wants to be home.
i want to be in Greece.
this is so hard.
i didn't know i would miss Greece this much.

i didn't even WANT to go to Greece at first, but now i can't stop thinking about going back!

my Thessaloniki home, i'll be back for my heart someday soon.

sunset at the White Tower, looking towards the port.
Thessaloniki, Greece. <3

where do i belong?

home felt like a vague memory. something that was years ago. i had been "ripped out" of my home in Maryland and "planted" in YWAM Kona for three months.
ripped out of the "YWAM bubble" and planted in Thessaloniki, Greece for three months. then i was ripped out of Greece (where i fell in love with the people) and re-planted in Kona.
then ripped out of the YWAM environment and transported back "home" to Maryland.

it had me questioning if i even knew what home was. where did i really belong? in worship, we sang the song "where i belong", but even though i knew i belonged in the Lord's presence, i didn't feel like it mattered. there were times when i would cry my eyes out before the Lord because i didn't feel like i belonged anywhere. people told me that everywhere was home because the Lord was there, but i still struggled.

what is home? where do i belong? 

on outreach, a friend gave me a note that said, "i saw the word "sweet" then a picture of "homes" so maybe you'll find where you belong & feel at home soon."  

and she wrote Psalm 27 on the note, which says in verse 4, "one thing i ask of the Lord, this is what i seek: that i may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple."

and in verses 7-8, "Hear my voice when i call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. my heart says of You, "seek His face!" Your face, Lord, i will seek."

so even though i am back in Maryland, missing Greece terribly, and don't know exactly where i belong, i will seek the Lord's face. i will gaze upon His beauty and it will be more than enough for my soul. 

on rescheduled flights, having a traveling buddy, and coming home after 6 months.

home.
i'm home.
it feel quite weird to say.
i arrived back on the East coast on Saturday at 4:40pm. (i landed in Pennsylvania and got back to Maryland around 6pm.)

i had quite the experience with American Airlines and their delayed/cancelled flights (and them screwing up my schedule twice in two days). i was quite frustrated/exhausted, but so happy to get home, even if it was a day later than i had originally planned.

here's what happened:

my flight from Kona to LA was delayed for 3 hours on Thursday night (take-off was midnight instead of 9pm) and i was going to miss my other two flights.
when i found this out, i was exhausted, emotional, missing my friends who already left, dealing with a headache and stuffy nose...and hungry. a bad combination, for sure. i was a mess.
when i found out the new flight time, i immediately texted David (we were scheduled to be on the same flight from Kona to LA), and told him our flight was delayed. (our flight schedules after the flight to LA were completely different, but we live only 2 hours away from each other and my parents knew that i was emotional and exhausted. they said they could pick me up from Harrisburg airport instead of Baltimore if David was able to get me on the same flights as him. they wanted me to travel home with someone.)

i thought i should get something to eat because my empty stomach was making me even more emotional (i missed breakfast to say goodbye to friends), so i went down to the lunch line and ran into David. i don't even remember what i said about the delayed flight, but i probably sounded ridiculous.
 David, being the amazing man he is, looked at me, told me to calm down, prayed with me, and told me he was going to miss his other flights too. he said he would call the airline right away and get it figured out.

true to his word, he went to a table, set down his lunch, and called American Airlines.
he was on the phone for close to 30 minutes.

goodness, i don't know what i would've done without him.

after 30 minutes of trying to get the schedule straightened out, David got us on the same flights home, but we wouldn't be flying out until Friday evening (instead of Thursday), and we'd get home late Saturday afternoon (instead of Friday). at that point, i didn't even care. i'd get home eventually. i just wanted to be home before church on Sunday. :)

i texted my mom and let her know that i'd be flying the whole way home with David and we'd be flying to Harrisburg airport, but we wouldn't be leaving Hawaii until the next day.

cue the start of one of the longest days ever. i was ready to leave on Thursday, but couldn't until Friday. it meant another day of tearful goodbyes, hot Hawaii weather, sun (i left my sunscreen in Athens...oops), and being bored out of my mind. (it probably wasn't as bad as i'm making it sound, but whatever.)

then suddenly it was Friday evening, and Christine, Molly, David and i were on our way to Kona airport, and we were finally on our way home!

i said this so many times, but i don't know what i would've done without David! he was such a blessing...and my mom was very grateful that he "rescued the damsel in distress". haha. :) i was just happy to go home and have someone to travel with.

so i arrived in Harrisburg with David on Saturday afternoon, and i was super excited to finally be back in the same time zone as my family. :) they picked me up at the airport, got my luggage, and took me to Chick-Fil-A (per my request...it had been over 6 months since i've had delicious Chick-Fil-A chicken strips and sweet tea. i was craving CFA something fierce). then we came home!

driving back the farm lane towards our house was such a weird feeling. suddenly, it hit me. i was home. i wasn't with my PhotogenX family anymore. i was with my blood family. a wave of sadness hit me as i realized that i may never see some of my PhotogenX family members again, but it was quickly overtaken with the excitement of my siblings and parents at my being home after six months. YWAM didn't prepare me for all the thoughts and feelings racing through my head and heart. re-adjusting to home is going to be hard, but i'm not alone. the Lord will give me strength. His joy will be my strength.

back in kona.

hey y'all! it's been quite a few weeks since i've posted. so sorry about that. my life has been terribly crazy the past month and a half.

after two months of life in Thessaloniki, i left my Thessaloniki home to go to Athens for 10 days. i felt like i was leaving my heart in Thessaloniki. and i did. those people mean more to me than i could describe. i love that place so much and will definitely be going back someday.

after a 6 hour train ride to get there, we spent 10 days (at a hotel with Air Conditioning!) in Athens. it was quite a different environment from Thessaloniki. we rode the metro/train everywhere. made friends. and watched God work everything out.

i stood on Mars Hill, where Paul preached the sermon to the Athenians.

i went to Corinth one day. it was beautiful.

(this is me at Corinth.)

the trip back to hawaii was quite the ordeal. it all started when someone checked our itinerary, and found that our flight left on September 12th, NOT the 11th (we had spent the last 2 months thinking we were leaving on the 11th). SO, our hotel was only booked until the 11th. and we gave all our money away on the 10th, because we weren't going to need it anymore. and we had already packed. i was so ready to head back to Kona.

so we found out that our flight was on the 12th...we had no money for food, and no hotel (Jesus provided for the hotel, we were able to keep one of the rooms for an extra 40-ish euro when it should've been about 500 euro). we moved all our stuff into the one room, and had about 24 hours before we were going to the airport. i spent the day listening to music and watching movies. it was the longest day ever.

we had to check out of the hotel at midnight, so a bus picked us up and took us to the airport to wait for our 6am flight. around 3:30am, we went to check in. we got in line and a lady came up to us and told us our flight from Athens to Frankfurt had been delayed for 6 hours. take-off wasn't until noon (that meant we would miss our other two connecting flights, from Frankfurt to LA and from LA to Kona). Campbell and Jillian went over to the service desk, came and told us that we were having to spend the night in Frankfurt, Germany. then fly from Frankfurt to LA.

we spent 12 hours in Athens airport (thank goodness they had wi-fi), and finally got to Frankfurt. before we landed, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. all passengers going to Kona, Hawaii had been rebooked. instead of spending the night in Frankfurt, we would be immediately flying to Washington DC, from DC to San Francisco, then to Kona. i was so happy we weren't spending the night in Frankfurt.

our other flights went smoothly, and we got through customs in DC. when we got to San Fran, we wanted to surprise teams Egypt and Uganda because we were going to be on the same flight as them. :) we went up the escalator, heard someone scream "GREECEEEEE", and a mob of them rushed over to us. it was the best surprise ever. so much hugging and happy squeals.

the 9 hour layover in San Francisco flew by and we arrived back in Hawaii on thursday (the 13th) at 11:30am. after a horrible time with checking and rechecking our luggage, we were so happy to find that it arrived with us. :)

it feels so good to be back on campus. i need to blog photos from Corinth and Athens, but my body got sick so i would rest. graduation is on wednesday. i fly home this thursday and arrive on friday. i'm pretty sure i'll have more time to blog when i get home. :)

ancient ruins {Philippi}

we went out of Thessaloniki to Northern Greece (super close to Turkey) last week.
we were working with a ministry called Operation Joshua (from Hellenic Ministries), distributing Greek and Turkish Bibles to the villages in Alexandroupoli.
on the way there, we decided to stop in Philippi.
we were able to get into the historical area for free (normally there's a fee), but we couldn't stay long.


on our way back to Thessaloniki, we stopped again.
again, the man let us into the historical site for free.
it was epic. :)


i read Philippians and it took on more meaning.
to walk where Paul walked and to read what he wrote to the Philippians, the people that LIVED there. 
it was so cool.
i wish you could have been there. :)

Team Greece! :D

marble statue heads...creepy, huh?

she's seen better days...

where Paul was imprisoned.

(wide view of the prison)

gypsies in greece.

the excitement built as i rode the bus towards the gypsy camp.

not sure of what to expect, i was nervous as well.

i got off the bus and looked down a long dirt road.

we loaded into a car and drove down the bumpy dirt road towards the camp.

as we piled out of the car, an overwhelming smell entered my nose.

i was instantly reminded of the time i went to Mexico a few years ago.

 

the houses were made of random tin and stuff that the gypsies dug out of the trash.

the whole camp was full of trash, but the gypsies don't see it as trashy.
it's normal for them.


the kids were welcoming, full of smiles, and hungry for love and attention.

this is George.
i posted about him before.
when we got to the gypsy camp, he looked like he does in the photo above.
after holding him, giving him a kiss on the cheek, and goofing off with him, he looked like he does in the photo below. :)

it's amazing how showing someone love can change them. :)


i really wish i could take him home with me.

in the gypsy camps, kids get married around age 13

and by the time they're 19, most have two to three kids already.

we talked to a 19-year-old father of two.

he said it's kids raising kids.

gypsies have the lowest status out of everyone in Greece.

even the beggars on the streets are "higher class" than the gypsies.
my heart broke when i saw two little girls peeking out of a house.

all i could think about was how they have no hope.

they'll be stuck there for the rest of their lives.

the kids were very welcoming and receptive.

after i got over the initial shock, i had the best time playing with them.

they were so happy, but i knew they had a hard life.

i just wanted to take them all home with me
and give them the love that they don't get from their teen parents.

can i bring you home with me?

i spent the morning at the gypsy camp yesterday.
the camp feels a lot like a third world country, even though it's in Greece.

it's always fun going there and i adore the kids so much.

this is me and George (i can't say his real name, but it's the Greek/Gypsy equivalent of George, so that's what i call him). 

he is the sweetest kid ever. i want to pack him up in my suitcase and bring him home with me because i love him so much! :)

yesterday, he was content to just let me hold him. <3 

i asked him if i could bring him home with me, but he doesn't speak English, so he didn't know what i said...i just told him to say "naí" (yes). he didn't listen though. haha. ;)


the best part was when i saw a bumble bee (wasp), and taught him to say bumble bee in English. it was the cutest thing ever! and he taught me to say it in both Greek (μέλισσα -pronounced mélissa) and the Gypsy dialect (which i don't remember). i can't wait to go back and see him again!