Hit the streets this morning and stayed until a bit before 4 p.m. We were in a busy public square which included a bus stop and many cafes. There were non-stop waves of people all day long. A very good percentage took gospel tracts, many stopped to read the scripture signs. We had a number of lengthy conversations in English and Lilian tried to have a few in Greek.
We decided to go ahead and do all we wanted to do in as public a place as possible and see what response there might be from the authorities. There was none. Praise the Lord. Four police officers, two Greek Orthodox priests and two nuns passed by without comment.
As to the multitudes: The older people were most opposed to the tracts, and several shouted in our faces “Heretic!” (the word for anyone who is not Greek Orthodox) and a few tore up the tracts in front of us and said something unpleasant. Those are the times you are happy not to know the language. The younger people more often took tracts. The conversations mostly had to do with variations on the same theme – “Why are you giving me this? I was baptized as a baby and need nothing more than my G.O. membership.” The non-Greeks with whom we conversed all had some form of good works they were counting on to save them.
In other words, witnessing on the street in Thessalonica was like witnessing on the street in Orlando, Buffalo, Sacramento, Virginia Beach, New York, Daytona Beach. One Bible, one human race, one gospel, one way!
By the way, it was about 80 degrees, no humidity, clear skies. Perfect.
This evening we were all encouraged by the arrival of Brother Angelo.
Grocery Shopping
Brother Brent, Brother James witnessing downtown Thessalonica
