We started the day with breakfast and then traveled to downtown Thessaloniki. On the way, Sablanca and Jillian led us in a devotional on “Love always protects.”
We spent 3 hours at the Refugee Care Center, a ministry of the Greek Evangelical Church, helping prepare and then serve lunch. Some students served food, others took care of children, and others were encouraged to fellowship with the refugees by sitting and eating with them. This was a challenge because it required them to try and bridge cultural and language barriers (with the help of Google translate). All-in-all, around 100 adults and 30 children came through our doors from many different countries: Gambia, Somalia, Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and others. Most have left everything behind and are seeking asylum in Greece or passage to another country in Europe. (FYI, we were not permitted to take pictures of the refugees’ faces, so we have limited pics of this service).
An amazing, clearly God-orchestrated encounter was that the director of the Refugee Care Center, Kostas, was a graduate student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School WITH David! They hadn’t seen each other in 20 years and now they unexpectedly met again at a ministry in downtown Thessaloniki! God is doing amazing things for the Kingdom!
In the evening, we headed back into Thessaloniki for dinner at the Kitchen Bar. This was fine dining, right on the shoreline of the Thessaloniki Gulf! The views and the food were incredible! A nice shoreline walk back to the bus ended a great evening! It was a great way to celebrate the end of our trip!