Final Wrapup

 I am finally able to get to a good wifi connection so am able to do a final wrap of our time serving in Greece.  Our team of 23 did a super job.  The days were long (9 AM to 7 PM each day) and hot (95-107), but they persevered with smiles on their faces and love for the children. The kids really bonded with our team many times asking us to have a meal with them and their family.  On our final day we did a program for the parents.  The kids told about the Bible story they covered each day and sang several of the songs they learned.  As usual the parents loved seeing their kids praising God in this way.  Also on our final day we gave away all 1000 pounds of the supplies we took with us.  This is always a highlight for the parents as they get to stock up on a wide variety of games, crafts, and toys. 

The day after the closing program was a clean up day for our team in the morning and in the afternoon we had the opportunity to tour the ancient ruins of Corinth.  Again, like in Athens in was humbling as a Christian to walk where the Apostle Paul walked and where he was tried before Gallio.

Thank you for following our ministry on this blog site.  We pray you were encouraged.

Corinth bema tribunal mentioned  in Acts 18:12-17

Corinth Acropolis, 8 times the size of Athens Acropolis

Giving away all of our supplies

Kids showing what they learned all week

Love Rocks one of our craft projects.  They were sent out all over Central Asia

The amazing Sunset Greece Team

Melissa, Gail, Allie, Mike, Gail, Delores, Steve

Monday and Tuesday update

We have been experiencing significant internet issues the last couple of days here at our hotel so I am way behind on the updates.  The system is so slow I am unable to add pictures at this time.  Will try again later to add them.

It’s Monday morning in Greece.  As usual our team met at 7:15 AM for devotions, testimony, and planning for the day.  At 8 we had breakfast and then at 8:45 we were in our rooms ready to receive the kids.  During our devotions on Sunday, Chip McWilliams from the Oklahoma City team shared about perseverance.  It was a timely topic as we are in our next to the last day of our ministry and our personal batteries are running low.  Some of our team has been battling colds and took some time off yesterday, but all are back in

Oklahoma Team’s tour of Corinth on Saturday

I will try and add pictures and information on this tour.  The Portland team will be touring Corinth on Wednesday.

Sunday’s ministry time and that of today (Monday) is much the same.  The elementary children continued to learn new songs and heard new stories about God’s power to provide, to comfort, heal, forgive, and to love us forever. The children also began practicing the songs they are going to sing in front of their parents during the closing program Tuesday evening. The babies, toddlers, and pre-school children continued to play with toys, hear stories, watch Veggie Tales, and take naps.

Tuesday Final day with the kids

We had our final team devotion and testimony sharing time this morning.  We spent quite a bit of time going over todays schedule as there are a lot of little details to pay attention to.  One big event in the lives of the families here is that today at 3 PM we will place all of the supplies that we brought with us and let the families take whatever they can use.  Anything that is left we will give to a local church.  Parents are blessed by this "give away" and they are already anticipating it.  It takes a lot of preparation to make it run smoothly.  Then at 4:45 PM we take the kids into the main meeting room for the program they have prepared for their parents. Emotions are quite high today as we know we will be saying good bye to these precious children. I am already being asked if we will be back in two years.

Saturday Was Tour Day

Mars Hill

Portland Team members on Mars Hill with Acropolis in background

Saturday was tour day for the entire conference.  All 300 of us had the opportunity to tour either Athens or Corinth.  However many families chose to stay at the hotel and enjoy family time around the pool.  The Portland, Philadelphia, and Denver members of our children’s ministry team went to Athens;  the Oklahoma City team members toured Corinth.  The most common comment I heard after the tours was how amazing it was to walk where the Apostle Paul walked over 2000 years ago.  We also marveled at the ingenuity of the construction methods that allowed them to build these enormous, complicated and beautiful structures on top of large hills.

Parthenon

Denver and Philadelphia team on Mars Hill

 

It's Friday

It's already Friday. Our second of five full days with our kids.  Our days now have a routine flow to them.  It is so encouraging to see the kids running down the halls to get to our programs.  One of the parents told me today what a blessing our team is to them to allow them to attend the various conference offerings.  We stress flexibility with our teams and this afternoon was a good example. The conference scheduled a women's tea, because of the schedule it necessitated our team to take a short lunch and they all volunteered to do it.

"Kid Vid" Station

Everest Prayer Station

Afternoon Movie (Frozen!)

Fun Experiment

Thursday Update

Our theme this week is EVEREST.
It's Thursday June 23 and most of the families have arrived at the conference.  We now have all of our 50+ children ages birth to 10 years old.  Some of the younger ones are taking a little settling in time as they are not used to being away from mom and dad.  It is really fun to see the children that we had as babies 6 years ago and see how they have grown.  All of our classes are now in full swing from 9 AM to 7PM with 90 minutes off for lunch.  For our elementary children the morning is a VBS style program with lots of music and a variety of stations that they rotate through with their group.  The afternoons are less structured and they can choose to go swimming, do crafts, play games etc.  For the younger kids it is playing with toys, hearing stories, and naps!

Thursday Morning Play Time

Learning To Share

Sherpa Sue Looking For Her Climbing Team

Kids Learning Their About How They Are going

To Climb Mount Everest This Week

In the afternoons the kids get to choose among a number of activities...crafts, games, videos, or swimming.

Wednesday Update

The intermittent and slow internet here in our hotel is making it a challenge to keep up with our blog updates.  So I get up early or stay up late trying to getting a faster internet speed.  Keep checking in it is an encouragement to us when we see connections and comments.

Wednesday morning we completed our room set ups and practiced our songs.  We had some free time in the afternoon.  We get our first time with the kids from 5PM to 7 PM when their parents have their first group meeting and worship time. Our team is doing great. Everyone is well and enjoying our time together.  It is warm (hot) but we are hanging in there.

Learning The Songs And Motions

Team Training Time

Team Building Activity

It's Tuesday in Greece

Team Training

It is Tuesday June 21and we began our morning with a wonderful breakfast.  We are enjoying a wide variety of foods.

The whole team of 24 strong

Aspen and McKenna hurrying to breakfast

It's just after noon near Corinth Greece.  Our team has had a full morning of training.  Gail Hildenbrand started the morning training with "SURF" training that we borrowed with permission from Forward Edge International.  "SURF" stands for Servanthood, Unity, Respect, and  Flexibility. We talk with our team about each one of these topics and how we can best live them out within our team and in the larger environment with the children we will be ministering too.  Then Gail Tait shared with the team the concepts of "Love Languages For Children".  As we observe the children in our groups and try to discern what their "Love Language" might be, it can help us to better understand how to encourage and support them.  Finally, we passed out puzzle pieces and had each or our 24 team members put their initials on the back of the piece they chose.  One of the puzzle pieces also had God written on the back of it.  Then the team began to put the puzzle together adding their own piece to the mix.  This exercise helps the team to see how important each individual is in the creation of a healthy, functioning team while we also rely on God's direction and support.

Janet Watts shared with the team some ideas on how to share Christ with children.

The team is working very well together.  So well, that they had some free time this afternoon.

Putting The Puzzle Together

Some Of The Oklahoma City Team

Tomorrow, Wednesday is our final day of room setup and preparations.  We get the children at 5 PM for a get acquainted time and then start the full children's program Thursday morning.

Some Of The Team at Breakfast

As I write this entry it is 5 PM Monday afternoon near Corinth Greece:

One half of our Greece short term team arrived in Athens on Sunday morning and traveled to the hotel site around 2:30 PM after a 90 minute drive.  The other half of the team made it to the hotel at 9:30 PM Sunday evening.  We got them immediately to dinner and then got them all checked into their rooms.

Monday morning we all had breakfast together and then had our first full team sharing and planning/training session. In the afternoon we divided up into our respective age group assignments and began to unpack and sort the 1300 pounds of supplies we brought with us.  Everyone’s spirits are high and eager to spend time with the children beginning Wednesday evening.

The conference attendees are beginning to arrive and it is fun seeing families we have gotten to know over the 6 years most of us having been doing this ministry.  Some of the babies we held in 2010 are now in first or second grade.

We are getting lots of exercise as our rooms, the dining room and our meeting rooms are spread around a terraced hillside.  Lots of steps. 

I will try and get some pictures on the next entry.  Thanks for your prayers!

The weather is very warm (read hot) with a little bit of haze over the ocean.

Greece 2016 Final Preparations

The Greece Team is in final preparations for its June 18 departure to Corinth, Greece.  The team of seven from Sunset will be joined by sixteen others from Denver, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia. and Finland.  Our final training session will be on Sunday June 12.  Gail Hildenbrand, our team logistical leader is busy procuring and packing the supplies that we will need.

The focus of our team is to provide a five day VBS type program for fifty children ages birth through ten years. The program runs from 9 AM to 7 PM each day.  This affords the children's parents to be free during the day to attend seminars, counseling, laptop repair and worship services and have some free time.  This is the fourth time Sunset has provided this ministry.

Melissa Chee, Gail Tait, Allie Hillier, Mike Hildenbrand, Gail Hildenbrand, Delores Dunn, Steve Dunn

We hope you will following us regularly on this blog.  We would love to see comments too.  We appreciate you being part of our team in this way.

Clockwise from the top left, Randy Fischer, Joy Fischer, Rose Morgan ,Lisa McGee, Cora Hughes, Judy Webb, Teddy Webb, Dennis Mcgee, Chip Williams, Cindy Williams

Aspen Petersen, Janet Watts, Mckenna Semin

Sissi Rajala

Stephanie Watts