Follow ETBU in Greece

The ETBU Cross Country and Track & Field teams appreciate your continued prayers and support while they serve in Athens, Greece this week.  Monday's reflections come from Junior Mack Broussard from Hankamer, Texas, and Freshman Hope Shipp from Arlington, Texas.

Mack Broussard

"Today was a busy day full of successful efforts for the entire team. We started the day with an amazing time of gathering at the Street Lights headquarters, where one of our ISF leaders led us in an inspirational and reflective devotional. After that the team split up into three groups to begin our different mission efforts for today. With each group led by members of the Street Lights team, two teams went to a kindergarten and elementary school and the third stayed back at the headquarters to assist there.

The team at the kindergarten school spent the morning preparing the walls to be repainted by removing old plaster and replacing it with a new coat and sketching designs to be painted later in the day. With the walls already ready to paint, the team at the elementary school spent the morning painting and decorating the school for the upcoming spring semester. The team at the Street Lights headquarters, assisted in repainting, cleaning, and organizing the facility and prepared it for future activities.
After meeting together again at the Street Lights for a homemade lunch and some time to rest and recharge, each team returned to their respective location to complete what they had started that morning. When the projects were completed for the day, the teams met back up at the to play games, dance, fellowship and connect with the children and families of the community, at an indoor community gathering hosted by Street Lights. To finish off the day, the team gathered at a local restaurant for another traditional Greek style dinner and headed in for the night to rest up for another busy day tomorrow."
 
Hope Shipp

"We started off today with a devotional from Brian Doyle, who works with ISF and he talked about how in an eagle's nest, the mother bird pushes the baby bird out of the nest so the bird can learn how to fly. The baby bird is not strong enough to flap its wings to fly, but just as the bird is about to fall to the ground, the adult bird comes and sweeps the baby bird up and this process will repeat itself until eventually the bird is strong enough and can fly. This is just like what Jesus does for us. We may be heading towards the bottom, but God will always be there to catch us before we hit the ground. It does not matter how many times you may fail, God will always be right there every time to catch you. 

After the devotion, we split into groups and worked on different projects around the area. My group worked at Street Lights and we cleaned up all the Christmas decorations and then put up a hand rail. We then painted a room and cleaned the entire facility, while organizing all kinds of different stuff, such as clothes, shoes, and tools, and then we swept and moped the floors. 

Today was my favorite day because after lunch, I was able to stay at Street Lights and play with a lot of the children and were able to paint their faces and play several different games. There is one little boy who has grabbed my attention this week and when I look at him he just smiles and laughs.  I chase him around...and he just laughs, with one of the purest laughs I have ever heard. It gives me so much joy and I have a special place in my heart for little kids and to see their faces light up when you do something so simple like paint their face or make them laugh, it just melts my heart. 

I also really enjoyed getting to know my teammates. I was not too sure about coming on this trip because I didn't really know anyone but I'm so glad I came because I have not only got to know my teammates, but also met some really awesome new friends!  I have had a great time in Greece so far and I cannot wait to see all the other amazing things God has planned for us this week."