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<\/p>\nFifteen hundred euros to escape from the only life you\u2019ve ever known, but even that life is mostly gone now, a blurry outline of a memory that is quickly fading, just as you have now mysteriously vanished from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan to set foot on the \u201cstone of light,\u201d Hellas, Greece. \u00a0This is not your home but you desperately search for a friendly soul, anyone who might offer asylum to a migrant, foreigner, alien, refugee, outcast. \u00a0A squat in an old abandoned school shelters some 300 wanderers, a charming activist, quietly powerful, and his youthful followers fighting back against hopelessness amidst the forgotten beakers in the chemistry lab. \u00a0A few blocks over, a truly hopeful scene penetrates the darkness; in a small, nondescript church tucked away behind green bars, a faithful, seasoned woman with a fiery spirit has said to the Lord, \u201cHere I am, send me.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is Thanksgiving Day, and six young women from the most privileged country in the world are not sitting around a table with family and friends, feasting on a spread of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. \u00a0At eleven o\u2019clock, young mothers, children, teenagers, men, and families begin to ring the bell at the Church of Christ in Athens, and these six Americans are about to realize how much they truly have to be thankful for. \u00a0Three months ago, one of those six would not have fully understood what the completely strange and unfamiliar looks like, and particularly, how frustrating a foreign land can be when you don\u2019t even know how to say \u201cplease.\u201d<\/p>\n
You cannot remain unchanged after a journey such as this. \u00a0God is constantly shaping and refining us to be more Christ-like ambassadors for His kingdom. \u00a0I am not the same person who left Dallas, and with God\u2019s grace, I have a new appreciation and understanding for engaging His global mission. \u00a0I used to be a somewhat ignorant American, but living abroad has changed me. \u00a0I am a work in progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fifteen hundred euros to escape from the only life you\u2019ve ever known, but even that life is mostly gone now, a blurry outline of a memory that is quickly fading, just as you have now mysteriously vanished from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan to set foot on the \u201cstone of light,\u201d Hellas, Greece. \u00a0This is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12548,"featured_media":4266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2017\/08\/Untitled4.jpg\")
But on November 24th<\/sup>, she could sympathize with the 17-year-old boy observing the dark, pretty Afghan girls learning their ABCs from the pale blond American. \u00a0He was afraid when she walked around the table to sit beside him, but after tedious repetition, was proud when he found that he too could pronounce every letter, including \u201cQ.\u201d \u00a0She had felt that same squeezing anxiety in her chest during that first stiff British literature class with Dr. Winn, but now found the English professor to be quite congenial and tender-hearted. \u00a0She could listen with mingled sadness and joy to the stories and dreams of Yussef and his friend from Iran, who both longed to secure passage to Canada after already spending a year and two months in Grecian limbo. \u00a0She too had experienced grief and gladness in countries far away from home. \u00a0And she could share in the fellowship and communion of the saints with her sister in Christ, Eleni, whose smiling eyes and servant heart reflect the love of our compassionate Savior. \u00a0She is now confident that in Oxford, Maastricht, Athens, and oth![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2017\/08\/Untitled3-240x179.jpg\")
er cities around the world, God is partnering with His people to bring His ministry of reconciliation to completion before the Final Day.<\/p>\n