This will be the final post, and it is coming straight from Atlanta. Yes, we made it back safely. And, yes, the journey home was much smoother than the journey to Athens.
We had an incredible final day to end our week. The bus departed the hotel at 8:00am for Cenchrea and Corinth. In Cenchrea we walked on the ruins of an early church that stretched out into the water of the Agean Sea. From there, we went to the village right outside the site of Corinth to have lunch at a family run taverna. It was Carrie Springer's birthday, and so we sang to her and enjoyed some chocolate ice cream treats. After lunch, we toured the site of Corinth. We saw where Paul was dragged before Gallio by the Jews. We saw where the pagan temples would have been, and were the Jews and earyly Christians met in the synagogue. We took some time to read about Paul in Corinth from Acts 18, and to have a devotional as a group. From the city of Corinth we took the bus up the mountain to the site of Acro-Corinth. Unfortunately, upon our arrival at 3:00, they closed the gate. The government set special hours for this Friday, as it was Good Friday. Though disappointed, we still took advantage of the view of God's wonderous creation. You will see from the photos that we still had an amazing time.
After the 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel, and a short nap, we made our final trip to Everest for dinner. That evening we were blessed to take part in the Easter processional of the tomb of Christ in downtown Athens. The processional consisted of firemen, police, military, political officials, clergy, priests, the Archbishop of Greece, and thousands of people following with candels as well as watching from the sidelines. This is the day the death of Jesus is recognized. It was a festive, yet somber time.
We headed back to the hotel to finish packing and to get in 2 or 3 hours of sleep (although I think some just stayed up). We left the hotel at 2:00am for the airport for a smooth trip home.

Today the group went in two different directions again. The group that worked last night headed to the Plaka for souvenir shopping and a quick meal. The rest of the group went to the Cosmo Vision Center, a sports facility that serves the local churches and ministries. The group participated in various services around the center, such as: cleaning windows with water and newspapers, raking soccer fields, mending soccer goal nets, and painting. After an hour or two to rest, the entire group headed together to the church of Christ down the street for a special 'Good Thursday' worship service. At the multi-lingual service we heard a lesson about Jesus' final words on the cross, we sang in various languages, our trio sang, and finally four of us performed a skit for the congregation. Only two children were present, and the church presented small Easter gifts to them at the end of the service. After church services concluded, the group enjoyed fast food and gelato ice cream. Our final 'group bonding time' took place at the hotel. We went around the room sharing some of the most memorable experiences we have had this week. Matt challenged us with the question of 'how will what you've seen this week affect the way you live everyday, back home?', and the students responded by saying they hope it will make them more grateful for freedom of speech/religion and more willing to look for chances to serve and volunteer. Tomorrow we head to Corinth!

LINK TO MORE PHOTOS

Keep checking this...updates will be added.

Go to www.shutterfly.com - type in the username ngulley@greateratlantachristian.org and the password 'gulley' and enter the site.

There is only one album - Athens 2007 - and that's where you'll find our photos! Enjoy!

The group has just returned from a gorgeous camp called Porto Astro - which is located on a bay of the Aegean Sea, and tucked into some mountains. Porto Astro is a project of Hellenic Ministries - basically a Christian summer camp for Greek and other European children.
After a 4 hour bus ride on Tuesday morning, we arrived on a rocky beach and took a raft across the bay to the remote and beautiful campsite. There were sheep romping around within yards of us, a man spear-hunting fish off the coast, and several other things which reminded us we were not in Atlanta. After lunch and a powernap, we were delegated to several different responsibilities - preparing "the Blob" to be used in the summer, gathering firewood and burning wild brush, scrubbing and sanding and painting various structures, widening the existing sand volleyball court, and gathering stones off the mountainside for a future stone wall.
After a few hours of work, we headed in for dinner and then had some group bonding and reflection time by a bonfire. We sang and prayed together by the warmth of the bonfire and under a full moon. The students then had the chance to share some of the moments and people who have touched them the most this week.
We slept in camp-style bunks and trailers then woke up for a few more hours of work: the same tasks as yesterday, plus some fish-cleaning. We had a very quiet bus ride back to Athens - everyone was knocked out from the labor. It was a challenging but incredibly fulfilling experience for everyone.
Wednesday night, half the group headed to the Plaka for some shopping and cultural entertainment. The rest of the group went to The Samaritan, a center where refugees come for a free meal twice a week. The refugees were 80% Muslim, and many are homeless. The 10 people from the group who were there sang songs to them, gave a testimony, and then served them a meal. The half of the group that went to the Plaka for shopping will be trading off tomorrow - they will head to a sports facility while the ones who went to The Samaritan go to the Plaka.

Wow! What an amazing day! We started the day with a visit to an elderly home just north of Athens. We brought chocolates for them, they had sweets prepared for us. We sang for them, they sang for us. Ann, Michael, Sarah, and Louis performed a skit. James, Amy, and Kara sang as a trio. An elderly man, Spiro, sang a solo. Our team encouraged the people with words spoken from their hearts, and the elderly did the same for us. It was an incredibly moving time!
After the elderly home, we loaded on the bus and made the picturesque drive along the coast of the Aegean Sea to Cape Sounion. We were escorted by Dino and an excellent guide to visit the Temple of Poseidon. From there, we drove back to Athens to take part in the Love Meal at Evripidou. We put together gift bags with many of the items we brought from the States. The refugees were grateful and surprised they were each going to receive a gift bag. It was a great blessing. Our team sang two songs for the 250 refugees, performed a skit, and T.K. played a masterpiece on the piano that he composed himself. We helped with laundry, scrubbed bathrooms for the shower ministry, helped serve the meal, and set up the center for the next day. We heard a powerful testimony from an Iraqi man. I'm sure your kids (or the person you know on the trip) will tell you of his story. It is very powerful, and cuts to the heart!
(We will post pictures as we work through some of the challenges we're having with that.)
We will be without internet access tomorrow at the camp Porto Astro. God is doing some amazing things within our group already, and we ask that you continue to lift our team and our mission up in prayer.
Thank you! The Athens Team sends their love! Goodnight.

Yesterday we toured the city of Athens. We had an hour bus tour around the city and then we walked up to the acroplis to visit the Parthenon, Erectheion, and we read the from Acts 17 on Mars Hill overlooking the city of Athens. We thought it might rain, but praise God we had beautiful weather! We then headed down to Plaka, where the students enjoyed looking and shopping in downtown Athens. In the evening we joined a group of Russians at the Helping Hands center. There we were able to encourage them with songs of worship and their response was humbled us. We saw tears of joy as they looked at our group and remembered their children in Russia. They prayed that they would come to know God in the way our students have.

Today we had a full and eventful schedule - six worship services! Our day began at a Romanian church where our students led the children's class with skits and songs. At 11 o'clock we went to the Omonia Church of Christ to attend the Greek service; next was the Bulgarian service, then the Russian service and the International English service. To finish the day we joined a group of young Greek people in a time of prayer, worship, and small groups at the Evripidou center.

The Bulgarians were touched by our students and presented them with beautiful red roses, which is the flower of Bulgaria.

We want to let everyone know that we have arrived safely in Athens. There were several complications by the airlines, but we are all here now! We will have a great start to our trip tomorrow with an Athens city tour. We will post an update tomorrow with pictures!