Greece :: Beautiful Country, Full of History

I went on the most amazing trip to Greece.  The focus was to explore the spiritual climate of the country, the issue of sex slavery (Greece is a huge hub for this) and to serve at a groundbreaking women's conference.

This trip knocked my socks off in so many ways.  We had three main phases of the trip, one being touring.  We went to Athens, Thessaloniki, Corinth, Mt. Olympus and a cute little seaside town in Greece as well as a village, town and the capital in Bulgaria.  This was my first time to Europe, and I absolutely loved it!  I definitely could have stayed longer if Andrew had been there with me of course.   :)


Little tidbit I learned while in Corinth:

Historically, the Greeks are very immoral people.  The generational iniquity is so obvious.

I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected - even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. - Deuteronomy 5:9

The culture of Greece is very sexual.  While we were there the mayor of Thessaloniki was elected on two main principals, one of them being that pornography would be free on television.  Seventy percent of men in Greece pay for sex.  Parents or grandparents take boys 12 and 13 years old to brothels to introduce them into manhood.  Their culture oozes immorality.  We learned that the Corinthians in Biblical times were the most immoral of the immoral.  Their level of sin was so revolting that other Greeks were appalled by them.  Our tour guide even said to be called a "Corinthian" was like a slap in the face to a Greek.  This has sparked an interest in studying 1st and 2nd Corinthians with different eyes now that I understand the context in which it was written.

We'll talk more about all of that later, but for now here are a few pictures from some of the places we visited.

Ancient Corinth where Paul walked and told people about Jesus

Beautiful little seaside town

Many people buy vacation homes in this little town... I can't imagine why!

The Acropolis in Athens.  If you look closely you can see two people way down there.  Paul preached here.

The Parthenon in Athens

Homes in a very poor village in Bulgaria.  Thousands of sex slaves come from villages like these. 

We saw many elderly people but no young people in the small village.  I guess they move to the bigger towns for a better future...?

This is the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia.  Bulgaria is one of the poorest countries in Easter Europe.  To them Greeks are wealthy.

A church in Sofia

Mount Olympus in Greece.  It was absolutely breathtaking. 

Mount Olympus

Vacation homes on Mount Olympus

Check out that view!

Thessaloniki, Greece at night

A statue of Alexander the Great in Thessaloniki.  Check out the sky!  We were right on the water of the Aegean Sea.