Saturday, June 16, 2012

Greece Mission Trip Update


“God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns
over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.”  Ps 47:7-8

 

 
Athens at Twilight

Deb and I are thanking God for the support and prayers of our friends and family members as we prepare for a July mission trip to Greece with Hellenic Ministries. Prayer is vital! S.D. Gordon wrote, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."

The Bible distribution project in the northern provinces of Greece is approaching and we thought it would be good to give an update. We also provided a link at the end to a video about Operation Joshua that does a good job of connecting you to the Greek people and this ministry effort.


1. Travel Partner:  I'm praising God for answering prayer for a travel partner...Deb! We had originally ruled out Deb coming, thinking that the driving and walking involved with the Bible distribution would aggravate some pain problems, but neither of us felt at peace about passing up this opportunity to serve the Lord together. So, I adjusted my plans and we figured out different ways for Deb to volunteer her expertise.


Imitating the statue behind us...
in case you wondered!
2. Itinerary:  I'll depart July 12 with a team from Wheaton Bible Church in Chicago and arrive early to help assemble packets (Bibles, gospel tracts) and Deb will come July 20 for the last five days of Operation Joshua. The central campground from which the 300 or so volunteers will travel out to over 500 villages is close to the Biblical city of Neapolis, where Paul first landed on Greek soil in response to his Macedonian vision.

The Bible distribution runs July 17-25. When it ends, we'll take a break and visit an island and then head to Athens to connect with ReachGlobal missionaries Stefanos and Manon Mihalios for 4-5 days. Deb plans to volunteer her computer skills at the Greek Bible College where Stefanos teaches and I plan to participate in a Muslim refugee outreach. We fly back from Athens on August 3. 



3. Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for the Greek people during this time of economic, social and spiritual turmoil. Pray for wisdom for their leaders, and pray especially for souls to be drawn to Jesus Christ.
  • Pray for our own hearts to be open to whatever it is the Lord wants to do in us and through us.
  • For all the volunteers, pray for spiritual protection, servant hearts, unity, and a joyful witness.
  • Please pray for Jared, that God will touch his heart in a special way during an upcoming youth conference in New Orleans, and that he will experience the Lord's protection and blessing while staying with family friends until Deb and I return.

Thank you for being a part of our team!


Denny & Deb Hoyt



Operation Joshua 5 Video




2 comments:

  1. While this may be the first posted comment, it surely is only one of many wishes from your loving friends for great joy and safety in this adventure.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mike for your warm encouragement! I like your words: "loving friends," "great joy," "safety" and "adventure." If God gives us all that, as I believe He will, we will be greatly blessed.

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