All three of our DTS outreach teams have arrived safely in Athens for YWAM United!
YWAM United is a joint outreach with multiple YWAM bases and churches to engage the refugee crisis. This year we have over 240 believers participating in worship, prayer, evangelism, and mercy ministry all with the aim of making God known in Athens, Greece! Our teams have arrived after spending 5 weeks in other nations in Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. They have already seen God move in miraculous ways and are excited to finish the last 3 weeks of their outreach alongside fellow our YWAM family!
Here are some updates from our students.
Arriving in Athens
“We arrived in Athens early Wednesday morning, and took most of the day to get situated in our new housing, unpack, and get the feel for the area. We also went for a prayer walk and did worship as a group. Over the next few days, we met up with the one of our [bases’] other teams for worship, intercession and evangelism times. All were very fruitful, and we even got to lead a man to the Lord!
As a whole, we were able to get a good feel for the area, get accustomed to the difference in culture and prepare for the YWAM United activities next week. The team is rested, re-energized and well-prepared for the weeks to come!”
Saying Goodbye and Saying Hello
“We’ve been making a lot of good connections with children the past two weeks. This week was our last week to work at Mosaico, a place where we can do child care with refugee children. We made some really good relationships there and it was hard to say goodbye. We met some boys in the park on Tuesday and we played a soccer game with them. We got their contact information and hopefully we’ll be playing with them again. We brought our coloring markers and paper to the city square yesterday near our apartment and we got to color with so many children and meet their mom’s or dad’s as well. We’re getting to know the people there and they’re getting to know us. We’re getting to pray for them and tell them about Jesus. God is good and He’s opening many doors for us here in Athens. Praise the Lord!”
Compassion of Jesus and Salvation!
“Jesus showed us the first day in Greece how much He’s moving! Josiah, Hannah, and I [Sarah] saw Jesus move in a mighty way. We were walking down the streets of Athens and I spotted a homeless man sitting down looking hopeless. Once I saw him, I ran to him with the expectation knowing that Jesus was gonna move big time. I sat down with Him in the middle of the sidewalk and started talking with him. I asked if he knew Jesus and he said he didn’t, so I got to share the gospel with him and what Jesus did for him. Tears started running down his face. I was convinced that Jesus immediately encountered him and he felt God’s love crash over him. I told him how much Jesus cares about him and I got to tell him a testimony about a time when I experienced loneliness. I felt like Jesus was never there for me, but in reality He has ALWAYS been there for me! Whenever I felt hopeless or lonely, Jesus was hurting with me. Once I felt His presence all over me, I felt completely at peace. I then asked the man if he wanted to ask Jesus in his heart and he said YES! Jesus never ceases to amaze the heck out of me. He loves that man so much that He sent us to go and tell him that. Jesus was chasing after him and we saw a salvation the first day!! Imagine what else Jesus is gonna do within our next three weeks here!”
Encouraging Persecuted Christians
“On Monday while we were doing street and worship evangelism in Victoria square, this guy walked past us playing worship music two times and would stop and stare at us. A few minutes later he came back and said hi to us and he said he could sense something different about us. I talked to him for about 30 minutes and he told me that he had seen “The Jesus movie” in Iran and after watching that movie, he believed in Jesus. For this reason, they wanted to kill him in Iran, so he ran to Greece. I talked to him more two days later, because He wanted more information about Jesus. I explained the gospel, the Trinity and I installed the bible app on his phone. The next time I met with him, he experienced healing in his neck when I prayed for him. I told him about the Holy Spirit and how it lives in us Christians. The last question he had for me was how he could be baptized because he had read about baptism and he wanted to be baptized. So we are going to baptize him on Sunday! Praise the Lord!”
Thank you for praying for our teams for wisdom and discernment as they release the kingdom and declare the good news of the Gospel in Athens!