Deep Breaths: Weddings, Beach Parties, and Blackouts

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Weddings, Beach Parties, and Blackouts

Time for another update, quite possibly the last for awhile as things are going to be getting crazy around here over the course of the next few weeks. As most of you have probably heard by now, our second interview with the American Embassy went fine, and we recieved Leia's immigrant visa on June 15, which means we are free and clear to move back to the States in August. Obviously, this was a tremendous relief, and we are very appreciative to all of you who supported us with prayers and encouragement.

The day after our visa interview, we flew to Athens for the wedding of Leia's cousin Siana. It was my first time to attend a Greek Orthodox wedding, which was a fairly interesting religio-cultural experience, especially given all of my recent research on the history of Christianity. One interesting aspect of it is that you actually hurl rice at the couple during the course of the ceremony! The wedding reception was held at a top-flight hotel on a huge patio overlooking the sea. As you can see from the pics below, the scenery was just spectacular.

The following day, June 17, was our first wedding anniversary. In some ways it seems hard to believe that we've been together that long, but in other ways it seems like much longer. Anyway, we spent the majority of the day alone in Athens, strolled through a bustling open air flea market, walked around the foot of the Acropolis by moonlight, and had a delicious Greek meal at a taverna with tables on the sidewalk. All in all, it was a lovely way to celebrate our first of many wonderful years together.

Last night, we took the kids from our youth group to an interchurch beach party in Limassol. Since our big conference in March, the Protestant churches on the island have been periodically getting their youth groups together to do things, and this was the latest chance for us to continue promoting this spirit of unity. The kids played soccer and ultimate Frisbee, had a sand sculpture contest and a swimming relay race, we grilled hot dogs, and closed things out with moonlit worship on the beach. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and it was good for us to see that there will still be talented, loving people on the island to promote youth ministry after we've gone.

After we got home late last night and were just about ready for bed, disaster struck. First, the power went out on our entire street. Now temperatures this week have been in the 100's during the day, and the nights haven't been too cool either. So losing the air conditioning and fans is no picnic. To compound the problem, we have a plug-in mosquito repellent thing that, of course, also lost power, meaning we had to choose between closing the windows (and completely suffocating) or leaving them open and being eaten alive. And just to top things off, someone's car alarm was going off nearby for about 20 solid minutes, beginning about 15 minutes after the power went out. Talk about the perfect storm to ensure that there is NO WAY you're getting any sleep! Fortunately, the car alarm finally stopped, and at some point after we had finally started drifting off, the electricity was restored and the fan and mosquito repellent dispenser mercifully kicked back on.

So now our focus is on our upcoming youth camp and visit from the team from Lee University (who arrive a week from today). A week after they leave, we're having the bulk of our possessions packed up and shipped by a moving company, and slightly less than a month later, we're coming home! It still seems far away, and we definitely still have a lot of things to do and details to work out, but it's finally starting to feel like a reality. Keep us in your prayers, and we can't wait to see you all.

–John