Wednesday Oct 2

Our team started the day with breakfast at the hotel, then drove to the women and children center, after a short-worship song and a beautiful devotion, a prayer and job assignments for the day we were ready to start. Many refugee ladies and their young kids were waiting patiently outside the center with their bags of dirty laundry, and a hope of a safe place to sit, rest ,shower and have someone who can love on them.. We started with few planned activities- a home made colored play dough which the kids enjoyed a lot, it was such a joy to watch these little kiddos molding and cutting the play dough into multiple shapes and showing it off with a big smiles on their faces. The ladies were super excited to use the facial masks, many ladies sat down to crochet or drink tea with their face masks on, what... Continue Reading

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

We walk to another day of wonderful weather! We had an 8:15am start at the center with staff devotions and then assignments. Angela and two staff personnel manned the showers; Calling out the number for the next in line, handing a small cup of shampoo to each person, and pushing the button for 7 minutes of hot water. (Several pauses in this process needed to wait for water to heat.) Approximately 100 showers take today! Lana started out in the laundry room. If you came to the center today you would have opportunity to do 3 loads on Oct 21. Yup, appointments are 3 weeks out at this point for use of their 8 washing machines. Julie, Amy, and Laurie interacted with the women and children in a variety of ways. We made puzzles, colored, polished nails, cooed at babies, batted beach balls around and did crafts – Julie was…

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Lesvos September 2019 – Monday

Today was our first day serving at the All4Aid center, located near Camp Moria. The staff said that it wasn’t as busy as usual due to two fires that broke out the day before inside the camp, where nearly 13,000 refugees are currently living. The fires, which killed at least one person and triggered rioting, has created more tension and fear, causing the women to stay home. Those who came took showers, washed their laundry, sewed, mended clothing and just rested. Our team spent time painting their nails, coloring with the kids, playing games and whatever else we could do to make them feel comfortable and cared for. Due to overcrowding and growing tensions, we are not allowed to enter the camp, so our day ended a bit early (prior Calvary Church teams have helped serve meals inside the camp), giving us more time to spend together as a team…

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Lesvos September 2019 | Day One

Our awesome team leaving Gerald R Ford Airport at 11:30 am Friday. We are so blessed. From Grand Rapids to Newark to Athens to Lesvos ,all of the flights were on schedule without a hitch. Arrived at Hotel Glazio Asterio at 4 pm local time (9:00am our body time). This will be our home for the next week.   Local restaurant on the Aegean Sea drying octopus. Can you see Turkey in the distance?             Sunday morning worship at I58. So touching to worship with this international community! Scripture displayed in English, Farsi, Arabic and French!       Lunch with sisters from All4aid. Such Delightful Mediterranean weather and delightful company ! Here’s a bit of Greek culture… as we drove through narrow streets we followed this truck filled with live chicken. A couple flew out 😭 It’s 9:30 pm and our team sorting/ packing…

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