Greece!! Where to even begin? We spent six weeks in Thessaloniki, Greece, it was such an incredible blessing. Our squad was hosted by Hope for Greece, a mission run by the church of Romania. They partnered with Moses' Coffee, which is a local coffee shop turned small chapel. We accomplished so so much doing street evangelism, coffee meet ups, and outreach game nights. We hosted pizza parties, worship events, and filmed 45 sermons. We made so many connections and there was so much kingdom and personal growth.

Each day, ministry started at 2pm, we attended an hour of discipleship training and then were sent out for 6 hours of street evangelism. It was definitely a difficult ministry for me to get used to. I struggled at first with the boldness to even go up a talk to strangers. Then it felt awkward to bring up the gospel in casual small talk. Another mental huddle was developing a sensitivity to the Spirit and God's voice. Feelings of frustration, disobedience, disappointment, and incompetence were all intertwined with each conversation, or missed opportunity. The first few weeks were long and hard, but then it switched. God changed my heart.

The gospel isn't a 2 minute infomercial. The gospel isn't a spiel to try and convince a faceless person to buy what your selling. The gospel is running across the street to compliment a girls back tattoo, only to discover she is hosting her cousin who just moved to Greece to escape his abusive family. The gospel is sitting across from a heartbroken girl the day before she leaves for police school crying with her over her psycho-exboyfriend. The gospel is spending hours trading philosophical ideologies with a man who thinks he has life all-figured out. The gospel is asking questions about german politics and redefining a humans innate drive to do good, challenging her to ask God if He's real. The gospel is giving a barista your bible hoping you can be the proof she needs that God cares. The gospel is hard theological discussions sparked from a free calendar. The gospel is the person sitting across from you, the gospel is choosing to love them and desiring to know who God made them to be. The gospel is Jesus, His character, His children and His sacrifice.

We are all made in God's image. The biggest turning point in my ministry was realizing Jesus is the foundation everything is built on. I don't have to look for ways to change the topic toward Jesus, I just have to intentionalize pointing Him out, because he is already there. Each person has an innate longing for the gospel, humans are made to worship God, we are made to be in companionship with the Father and desire Christ-like mercy. In every persons story is the search for redemption, peace, forgiveness, love, and ultimately Christ.

The Lord did a work in Thessaloniki, Greece and in my heart. Street evangelism still isn't my strongest suit, but it is something I have grown in immensely.

Off to Prague, Czechia!!