mountain escape...

I had the chance to vacate the city for a few days last wk and escape to a small village sandwiched between the sea on one side and Mt. Olympus on the other. A perfect scenario really. Greece is beautiful just outside of Athens! ;)

We have a new team member! Annette hails from Australia and plans to be with Nea Zoi for two years. She has already started jumping headfirst into relationships with the women she's met on Outreach. Today she is meeting with two girls from Nigeria to start lessons in English reading/writing. These girls speak English but didn't have the chance to go to school. So, although we don't have experience teaching, we figured we could start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.....

Please pray for these sweet girls, Kelly & Kora. Kelly came to Athens to do this work...but she "didn't know it'd be like this." She does it to support her 4 younger siblings and Mom at home, as there is no work in Nigeria. She also signed over the deeds to her family's house when she came. She will supposedly get it back when she pays off her €50,000 debt to her trafficker. (...because a plane ticket from Nigeria costs €50,000 ??!??!???! ) But, since she can't read, what did she really sign?? As so many of the girls do, Kora has a similar story.

Please pray for wisdom for Annette today and pray that this is a start of friendship that God can use to lend hope, mercy, options and new opportunities.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free...." Gal 5

update from sweltering Greece...

Most of the Nea Zoi staff at a Team Retreat last month.

Good reports keep coming in about the 'escapee' from last month. She seems to be adjusting well in the shelter and they are working on getting her legal papers so she can travel home to Romania.

In other news, last week I met with 2 girls that want new jobs. One is not working on the streets anymore and the other girl is still there until she can find something else. While it's encouraging to meet girls that are asking for new work, it's so frustrating for me to not be able to hand them something on a silver platter! I've read of organizations in other countries (such as Cambodia) that can give the girls sewing positions or domestic house-cleaning jobs. Sadly, we can't do that in Athens....we don't have jobs to offer and the economy is crummy in general. But we are glad to come along side them as they search....network with them, sit with them while they make phone calls, help them read the Greek newspaper ads. Hopefully our encouragement and support is a wee bit helpful!

But I would love to see a Greek businessperson (someone who would know how to jump thru all the Greek bureaucracy hoops!) want to open a coffee shop to employ a couple of our girls. He/she would have to view it as "mission" because the girls have tough backgrounds and varied levels of experience or qualifications....they may work one wk and then not show up the next! But I love the idea of business as mission. Hmmm, I'll have to pray about that more intentionally/specifically...

In the meantime, please pray for ideas, faithfulness and wisdom as we work with these girls. And for open doors to new life...

ps...if you are reading this today/Thursday, I'm headed to our 12:00-2:00am outreach! Please shoot a prayer! Thanks!