Last Minute Trip to Athens

So a few weeks ago, Rusty and I were going about our business when we heard a buzz from the phone in our apt...someone was downstairs wanting to come in and since we weren't expecting anyone, I just assumed it was a repair or delivery man pressing random apt buttons until he got let in (that happens pretty frequently). But when Rusty answered the phone, it was a lady speaking English with an British accent, so we pressed the button to let her in and up came two missionaries!

As I have mentioned before, most people in Lamia have never even heard of the Mormon church, so having missionaries show up to our apt was a pretty exciting thing for us. It was Brother and Sister Manning, who were on their way from Athens to Thessaloniki to speak in church the next day. Our Mormon friends in Athens let them know we were in Lamia (Thanks Jess!) and somehow they found us, without having our address or phone number, which was especially surprising, considering that we can't even mail things directly to us- we have to use the address of the cafe we live above because our apartments do not have an address number. 

They let us know Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was coming to speak in Athens the following weekend. We weren't sure if we would be able to go- actually Rusty knew he wouldn't be able to make it because he had a game in Syros, an island, that weekend, and I kept going back and forth about traveling down there by myself. 

The day before Elder Christofferson was speaking in Athens, we were out to lunch with our friends and they told us they would be leaving to Athens in a couple hours, so my dilemma was over! I could just ride with them! I rushed home and quickly got ready. Two hours may seem like plenty of time to get ready, but I am not as spontaneous as I would like to be, so for me it was a little stressful haha. I felt so unprepared...Good thing I have had months to plan my trip to Italy, the itinerary I typed up is really gonna come in handy ;) But anyways, I said goodbye to Rusty who was leaving to Syros the next day, and drove down to Athens with my friend Eleni, her boyfriend Vasilis, and one of their friends who is from Athens, but is going to school here in Lamia. 

For the first part of the trip I stayed at Eleni's parent's house. The day after we arrived, Eleni and I went with Vasilis and his brother Dimitris to the center of Athens.  We visited a small museum of tools and then went to a cafe, where we sat on the roof, which over looked the countless white buildings of Athens, and part of the Parthenon. During the couple days I stayed with Eleni, we hung out at her house, went out to eat, and took her dog, Bob, on a walk a few times. For one of the walks, we drove up a nearby mountain, went on a short hike, and got to see another great view- all the way out to the harbor.

The next evening, Eleni and Vasilis dropped me off at the church. Luckily, I had a card from the Mannings that had the address of the church and a small map. I don't think I have ever been as excited to see a church building. Surprisingly, I recognized a lot of people there. Many people had come down from Thessaloniki- the only ward we have been to here. Considering Thessaloniki is about five hours from Athens, it made me feel guilty for thinking two and a half hours was a lot to travel. 

Church Selfie...but how cool is the church sign in Greek?

Of course Elder Christofferson's talk was amazing. He told us that the last time an apostle had come to Greece was in 1985, almost 30 years ago! I feel so blessed that I was able to be here in Greece while he came to visit and speak, and I even got to meet him and his wife after the conference was over. It was such a special experience and is something I will always remember.

On Saturday night, I stayed at the Wilcox's- who we met through the church- and Facebook, of course. I love how, through the church,  you can move somewhere- even across the world, and you just automatically have connections. Back in September, when we first arrived in Greece, my mom sent me the contact information for the ward leaders in Athens. I e-mailed one of them- Josh, to see if there were any wards closer to Lamia. His wife Jess and I became friends on Facebook and started messaging back and forth. Randomly, Rusty and I ran into their family near the Parthenon when we visited Athens back in November. I recognized them just through Facebook pictures haha. It was great we could finally meet them in person. 

This past weekend, they were nice enough to let me stay at their house. It was so nice to be staying at a family's home, especially who were American, and they have the cutest daughters. It reminded me of home and made me even more excited for getting back to see my family, which by the way, will be in a couple weeks! We should be back around April 25th!

Sunday morning, we went to church. I gave the closing prayer in Sacrament. I'm glad that Rusty and I have both been able to participate in church while we've been out here (he blessed the Sacrament in Thessaloniki). I guess it's not surprising though since the wards are so small here, but still, I am happy we had the opportunity. Sunday night, Rusty's team was coming into Athens from Syros. They didn't get in til about 10:30pm, but I decided to wait for him, so we could ride back to Lamia together. Luckily, Jess was nice enough to drop me off at the train station so late. Throughout the weekend it was a little difficult to communicate with Rusty because I didn't have wifi at Eleni's house and we only have one Greek phone, so Rusty would have to borrow a teammates phone to call me, so we were especially happy to be reunited. We took the midnight train back to Lamia and finally made it home at about 3am!

Oh and Lamia lost to Syros in five sets, but Rusty had his best game of the season- 21 points! (2 blocks, 2 aces, and 17 kills, hitting 77%) woot, woot!