Project Thessalonica

Day 7
Monday, April 15 10:40am

Our time with the Lord and three loads of laundry washed and hung on the balcony came and went, so we were off to the Logan’s to get back into the city for letter boxing.

The best part about letter boxing in the city is finding a whole bunch of boxes on the out side of the apartment building door to put the gospel in but no wait, the best part is finding the apartment door open and going in and and seeing all those empty boxes and getting the glorious gospel in them and right quick:) Fun too!

The streets in Thessaloniki are crazy as there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the lay out of it. Not sure if there are any streets parallel to each other either. A source of frustration for Br. Logan!! Elisabeth and I came across a couple of gypsies going through the trash. We think they were from Albania; I gave them each the gospel of John and they seemed grateful but I think they were asking for the gospel in Albanian. David and LauraM wanted to give the gospel to a young man but he thought they were Jehovah’s Witness. David could not convince him that they weren’t J.Ws. until he said, “Jehovah’s Witness, patowie, patowie, patowie (a.k.a. spitting on the ground three times) The young man stopped, turned around, smiled and took the gospel. Hey, you have to do, what you have to do, to get the job done!! At one point when finishing a section, we were all to meet at a specific corner and when Elisabeth and I arrived we found Br. Logan witnessing to Stella, a Greek lady. She had never heard the gospel like that before and was in disbelief at how much God loved her. Angelo went and shared his testimony with Stella and Paul, her co-worker.(he was just sitting on his motorcycle listening) It was so exciting to watch as we just stood around trying not to look like foreigners 🙂 Elisabeth offered an older gentleman a gospel of John but he gave it back and that is when Angelo came over to speak with him and he did take the gospel from Angleo. You can’t help but take the gospel from Angelo, he is so sincere and it is obvious he cares for the lost soul and I think a lot people see that in him and so they take what he is offering and prayerfully they will one day accept what Jesus is offering. We see Br. Logan coming over and we bow our heads as he prays for Stella. I notice she is still there after prayer and I ask if I can take a photo which she is more than happy to oblige. We all introduce ourselves, shake hands and begin to go on our way when she asks for some books to hand out at the businesses her and Paul go to. So Br. Logan gives her what is left of a box and she says, “do I have to say anything?” Br. Logan says, “just say, “Dorean.” Which means free. WOW! She says she will come to church on Wednesday so let’s pray that the Lord will clear the path for her to come.
With the exciting times also come frustrations such as; seeing all those wonderful letter boxes through the window but not being able to get at them, hearing “Get out of our country” and “We don’t want that garbage.”
So thankful for the Logan Family, Br. Angelo, Pastor Knox and all the various teams for their faithfulness, day after day, month after month and the thrill of one day seeing the fruit of it all when we get to Heaven.

2:00pm
Time for lunch. It is about to rain so we head home for some stamping but first stop, gyros at Angelo’s favourite gyro place. We are not far from the bakery and so we stop so I can get a photo of the bakery lady; the one who disliked Angelo so much at the beginning but we all see how her heart has softened towards him and one day, it will soften to Jesus. Angelo is asking her permission but she says no, her husband will divorce her if he sees her in a photo with Angelo:) Whether she is teasing or not, I don’t know but I say, “Please” as sweetly as I can and she says o.k. but with her co-worker, Anastashia. Wonderful! I thank her, buy a round of cookies for everyone and a frappe for me and we are off to the house.

6:10pm
Just finished stamping the inside of 1800 gospels of John. Two teams to open the Book then slide to partner, partner stamp then slide to the packer. Open, slide, stamp then pack. 7 minutes for a box of 300. Having Pastor Knox preach while we were stamping made it more enjoyable…convicting… alter kneeling!? Philippians 1 and we didn’t get to hear the whole message:(
After 4 more boxes I am ready to come and do my report then get some shut eye.

Day 6
Sunday, April 14 10:00am

My farmer’s tan is coming along nicely, still a little pink and tender tho!
We said our good-byes to Kyaday before Angelo & David took him to the airport for his flight to England.
Off to church service for 11:30am and on the way to church at 10:45am Corinna calls to say, “don’t start without me, I’m just getting on the bus now” How is encouraging is that. So neat that she has a hunger to know the truth and doesn’t want to miss any of it. Br. Logan even changed the time for Wednesday Bible Study from 7:00 to 7:30pm so she wouldn’t miss any of it. She is a real sweet lady.

11:30am
Br. Logan preached on Rev. 4 and touched on the rainbow round about the throne, the four and twenty elders, lightnings thunderings and voices coming out of the throne, the beasts and that they rest not day and night saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come.” Then one of my favourite verses, “Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” It was good message, you’ll all have to get the tape! 🙂 Br. Logan also used the white board for his illustrations so it was then that I noticed how Br. Logan and Pastor Carlson’s artistic talent was very much the same. They must have gone to the same Art School.
Some questions were asked by the folks and one I remember in particular, “if we see only half a rainbow here, is the other half on the other side of the earth?” Anyway, there was fellowship afterward and although we don’t know each others language, it was still nice just to be near them knowing they love the Lord and you just like being around people who love The Saviour. There was refreshments also and food and fellowship always seem to go together.

I keep calling Angelo Luigi because he reminds me so much of this missionary to China. Similar testimonies and a great love and fire for the Lord. They even look kind of the same.

1:00pm
After service we headed to the food court at the Cosmos Mall and then home to rest, rest and have more rest. During this quiet time I read I & II Thessalonians and just picturing how it was then. Re-reading specifically what Paul had to say to them and what God is saying to me.
The past week has been so busy that I looked forward to this day of rest so that we could do it all again beginning tomorrow.
Looking forward to letter boxing and the plan is after lunch to hit the streets with the gospel of John.

We are all enjoying each others company and Angelo has truly been such a blessing. Taking us to places he has been to many times before but acts like it has been his first. I hadn’t realized he did not climb the mountain before so that was special that he climbed it with us; just so he could take our photos. So nice!

Day 5
Saturday, April 13, 10:15am

After a relaxing time with the Lord and getting ready for the day, we are off to Philippi but our first stop is for Bougatsa (correct spelling:) and coffee. I know God is a God of second chance so I decide to give Greece a second chance at coffee. This time I tried an eight oz. cup to find the standard one oz. of mud on the bottom. Oh well that is it. Starbucks has my euro.

1:00pm
The speed limit to Philippi is 130km but Br. Angelo drove a gentlemanly 110km. The scenery is so beautiful here. The rolling hills, lakes, cows, goats and sheep. We saw a shepherd crossing the bridge with his sheep and it reminded me of Pastor Carlson’s Sunday night messages on Psalm 23 and how we have such an awesome Shepard who cares so much for us.
Just walking around the coliseum, old ruins, Prison St. Paul, underground church, bathhouse & WC we just so much wanted to know what it was really like; just trying to picture the past and how they lived. Entering the prison that Paul apparently spent time in… it’s hard to explain. Elisabeth and I sang a song that maybe Paul sang, Rejoice in the Lord alway! but did he sing that? did I take that moment as serious as I maybe should have. I think back to this afternoon (it is now almost midnight as I type my report) and realized I did not take time to meditate on what it would have been like if I was imprisoned for my faith like Paul was. How blessed I am to live in a country and not be persecuted for my faith. To live in a country where I have the liberty to tell others about Jesus and what He has done for them and that the Lord allow me to come to Thessaloniki and share the gospel. God is so good to me.

Br. Angelo being the ever host with the most took us up that mountain Emoji that God has given me Emoji and it was quite the climb. I think we began at about 3:00pm so although it was warm, there was a breeze. I needed to bring up the rear just in case someone fell, I could help them…and I’ll just leave it at that. We made it to the fort and what a view. So beautiful and the pictures just do not do the view justice.

5:20pm +24C
We went to Lydia’s shrine and where she was baptized. It is a beautiful spot, great for resting after a brisk mountain climb. I noticed in the photos that Elisabeth and David look as fresh as ever and you’d never know they did anything but relaxed all day. Laura and I look… tired? Anyway, Br. Angelo spoke with a boy named Angelo and gave him a tract. The boy came by where we were sitting and kind of just hung around and then finally spoke to Br. Angelo and asked, “Where are you from and what are you doing?” Br. Angelo spoke with him about the Lord and asked him if he wanted a Bible and that God will speak to him if he will let Him. So little Angelo got his Bible and was looking through it when we left.

8:30pm
We walk into Br. Angelo’s favourite pizza place and greeted Kyaday (incorrect spelling:) but I am torn between eating and wanting to go to bed. Apparently eating is more important than my beauty sleep:) It was so good, I had the Super pizza but I still am in love with Angilina’s pizza in Snow Lake. There is nothing like it. Sorry Greece! After finishing our pizza at 9:40pm we decide to rush over to the pastry shop for ice cream. We all pile into the small car with Elisabeth, me, Laura M and David in the back. Elisabeth politely asks us to all move over so she could have more room! She is so sweet and funny and we don’t move! We arrive 1 minute passed 10:00pm but the lady has graciously stayed opened for us. She is a real neat lady and I think she has taken to Br. Angelo. It would not surprise me if he wins her heart to the Lord. That would be so exciting! It was a great time and the desire to sleep is set aside as we are really enjoying each others company.

We are home now and I’ve spent 2 hours getting this report ready so…

Day 4
Friday, April 12, 9pm

10:22am
Its been wonderful to have more time than usual with the Lord in the mornings. Elisabeth and I have been closing and opening our days together with prayer and just giving the day and the Greeks over to the Lord. I am surely appreciating someone to pray with.

11:30am
Got to the square and set up the scripture sign got our gospels of John and prayed. Then we sang some hymns and Br. Logan quoted some scripture. The man that started the riot a few weeks ago was there but he did not have the support that he did then. He was yelling, trying to show Ben and David an awful magazine and trying to get the crowd riled up (Reminded me so much of Matt. 27:20) but many of the men that were there were pushing him away and closing his magazine. Br. Logan told us to just ignore him and not give him the attention he was wanting and Praise God this man, full of the devil backed away and quieted down. Both teams went up and down the street, went by the bus stop to hand out the gospel with a little pretzel tasting on the side. Elisabeth was smiling and trying to converse with a young lady her age. The lady was trying to tell her something in Greek and in frustration she told Elisabeth in broken English, “just go to your home!” Elisabeth just continued to smile and hand out the gospel. Well by and by we handed out almost 1000 gospels of John, then once 2:00pm came we prayed and parted ways. The Logans went to have family time while Br. Angelo took the teams to eat. The restaurant had a co-op washroom which we ladies did not realize until we saw two doors with lady’s heads and two doors with men’s heads. Thankfully we were the only ones in there. After lunch we spent an hour handing out the rest of gospels (approx. 200) then headed to The Ancient Forum of Thessaloniki. At this time the temp. has risen to +21 and the sun is beating down. (We are all quite pink and a little tender.)

On the way home we “needed” to stop at Starbucks for coffee. The one I had the night before at a local restaurant was a 2oz. cup with 1 oz. of mud. What a rip off so I did not want to take any chances today and Angelo was very accommodating and drove to get some real coffee 🙂
Bought some huge, huge strawberries, four litres for 5Euro (.76 euro for every $ so 5x.76=$3.80) Wow, they were good eating on the way home.
The devil had an awesome opportunity to send us to our Heavenly home this evening. A van was going to miss his turn off to Philippi so he thought he would cut us off just before and it got pretty exciting in the car but our Guardian Angelo did a fine job of yelling and asking for God’s help. Serving the Lord is always an adventure and is never boring. Br. Angelo said a few cm. we would have clipped him, he would have swerved into the guard rail and then bounced back onto us. We never saw it coming. How amazing is God’s love and protection!!

Day Three
Wednesday, 1:15am

Well here I am, wee hours of the morning, having a drink of coke and testing the rumour that Greece’s chocolate is to die for; well the chocolate covered cherry is good but this rumour needs further investigating.

With this quiet time I am able to reflect on the last two days and prepare for the next nine days with prayer and to also brush up on my sign language. We are going to the square for 10:30am which I believe is the hub of this city.

There are so many dogs and cats hanging/laying around and roaming the streets. We’ve been told to be aware of the dogs as they may bark and/or bite us. If out walking then we are to carry a big stick and when out delivering the gospel, then use what ever you can grab. As you can imagine at one point I will encounter one of these brutes and I do, the same day. I was coming out from an apt. building when from behind the vehicle a big black dog starts to bark at me and coming towards me. My first reaction is I scream and then think “I don’t want to use my new Canadian Navy back pack to beat the dog” but as God would have it, my scream stopped the dog’s barking and from coming any nearer so we both go merrily on our way although I do keep the dog in my peripheral vision and walk around every laying dog I come across.

11:11pm
What a day. After going back to bed at 4am I was up by 9am and ready for street preaching, sign holding and passing out the gospel of John by 10:30am. The morning was nice and fresh but by the time we hit the “Plataya” at 11:30am it was warming up. I found this morning to be quiet and that although many refused the gospel, they were respectful enough. Just had their noses in the air and ignored us. The older men were more friendly and few would stop and talk. While the singing, preaching and verses being said, I would sign hoping maybe someone would come forward but not today; maybe another day. Seista begins at 2:00pm so with a hand full of tracts left from approx. 1200, we were wiped.

Exhausted but not that exhausted we went through the markets, tried the Bagosta, had the gypsies try to charm us out of our money 🙂 and waked, shopped and ate for 6 hours!! My legs were rebelling everytime I had to exit the vehicle. Angelo was every inch the host; taking care of our site seeing needs, hunger needs, and souvenir needs. We toured the wall/fortress which is the highest point in Thessaloniki, the White Tower by the Aegean Sea and saw Alexander the Great in mid-restoration; restoration ceased about five years ago due to no money. Yet, the streets were full of people eating and drinking with the streets also full of vehicles driving to places to go eat and drink!? Which by the way, we did stop at Star Bucks for a coffee break and while resting everyone tooks turns giving their testimony of salvation. What a wonderful time. Angelo said that anyone could put their testimony on eternity.org.au and read other testimonies as well. Angelo’s is on there and I recommend for anyone to read his. What a blessing.
While walking along the Aegean Sea, I had made eye contact with two ladies and said Yasas (hello). They began to speak so I called Angelo and he began to witness to them. They were J.W.’s who were not interested in the gospel. They kept the tract tho and it was no coincidence that of all the people we passed, it was those two ladies that wanted to speak.
By the time 8pm rolled around it was time to go; the weather had become a cool +20C so with that we headed back to the house for food, some fellowship and bed 🙂

Tomorrow is the square for more preaching, street signing and passing out the gospel.

—————–

4:04pm
Wed. April 10

At 7:15am the click of the breaker, to heat the water tank for showers, began our day, somewhat. Knowing we weren’t leaving until 10:30am to letter box made getting out of bed s l o w. 🙂
Had a great sleep with few snoring interruptions.
The house we are staying in is wonderful; a balcony out of every room to enjoy the beautiful weather, marble staircase, awesome water pressure and an excellent bed to sleep in.
No bars on the windows like Zambia but metal blinds that are opened and closed from the inside.
While having my time with the Lord and Tim Horton; I began to think on Br. Angelo’s testimony that he shared with us last night. WOW! Has God ever been good to him in taking him from what he lived. You can feel Br. Angelo’s love and gratefulness to the Lord for what He has done for him.
After a quick breakfast we were off to Br. Logan’s for boxes of John. We were all excited to see what the day would bring.

By 10:50am, Elisabeth and I were off with Br. Logan to letter box in the lower income apartments while Br. Angelo, Laura M. & her son David went of to a different area of the city.

By 1:40pm Elisabeth and I delivered approx. 900 books of John; total combined appox. 1800-2000
I was able to converse a little with three school girls; after my complimenting their English, they were more accepting of taking the gospel of John.
The steps here are a little different than Canada. The bottom step will be narrowerer and look the same as the sidewalk so when I stepped off of one, I went right over on my ankle. I was so thankful that no damage was done and found out later that someone from a different team had broken their ankle. God is good!

By 3pm we were back home having lunch and resting up for church tonight. Elisabeth and I both bought “things” from the grocery store and we ate her “pastry with feta cheese in the middle” thing. Not much flavour but filled the void none the less and of course the coke went down good.

We left for church at 6:20pm. and drove into the city. Service began a half an hour later due to Corinna not being able to get to service until 7:30pm. Br. Logan preached on God’s Will-Submission; part of a series on knowing God’s will for your life. Telemachus, Corinna, Kayode and his friend from Afghan. were in attendence.

All in all it was a great day. Tired and happy.

———————-

Day One
Tuesday, 8:55pm

Greetings from Thessaloniki,
Made it!! All flights went really well.We all prayed in Frankfurt before going to our final destination.
How exciting it was to finally make it, to have Brothers Logan and Angelo greet us at the airport.
We stopped at the house to drop off luggage, freshen up and then off to Carrefour, kindof a Walmart, to do some shopping. Passed on the octopus but yes to the coke, so I wouldn’t get Canada sick.
Back home to rest before going to the Logan’s for supper and what a supper! Mostly Greek dishes, the Lemon and Molasses cookies were good too. Mrs Logan is an awesome cook. We were having a lovely visit on the couch as they did not want us going to bed too early, but then I began to nod off and when Angelo said “when you ladies are ready we can go,” I thought it a good idea.
We walked back to the house from the Logan’s as it was a beautiful night out.
I am very much ready to sleep as our day on the streets will begin at 10:30am.

New Team in Thessaloniki:

– Mother and son, Laura McGehee (Bible Baptist, Deland) and David Jacquet (Sweet Springs Baptist, Ardmore)
– Laura Lordi and Elisabeth Newman (Golden Plains Baptist Church, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba)

Update from Sister Laura McGehee

Our team of four arrived safely on Tuesday, April 9. All our flights were pretty much on schedule, with only a few short delays. When we arrived, we were met at the airport by Bro. Brent and Bro. Angelo. We bought groceries, got settled into the mission apartment, and had a Greek meal that the Logans prepared. After a good night’s sleep, we rose early for a time of quiet Bible study, prayer, and a light breakfast, then headed out to stuff letter boxes.

We divided into two teams and covered two different sections of town. Everybody lives in apartments, so there were many stairs to climb! Some buildings had cluster boxes, which made some buildings a lot faster to complete. After a couple of hours we placed 1,800 to 2,000 books of John with a gospel tract in letter boxes. Please pray they will be read and lives will be changed.

We returned home and had lunch and a quiet afternoon of rest. Church was exciting. There were 14 in attendance. Bro. Brent preached a very powerful message on the will of God in our lives. We were at church until 9 enjoying sweet fellowship.

On Thursday we will be going to the square and holding two street meetings, one in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Please pray for the hearts of these precious people to be tender and willing to receive the word of God.

Thank you for your prayers for our liberty and protection to evangelize. We returned today to the same exact spot spoken of in the previous report. The Lord was gracious to us as we spent more time in prayer for God’s help on the streets of Thessaloniki in lieu of the riot we had experienced last week. God answered those prayers and yours. There was absolutely no incident today as we sang, preached, and spoke of Jesus Christ. Much literature went very quickly. Many asked for and received New Testaments. Our group of 6 men and 6 ladies enjoyed the sunshine and the opportunity to stand for Jesus Christ in a dark lost world. What a blessing to do something for eternity! All is well.

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision”
Philippians 3:2

Mankind can many times be animalistic in nature. Paul, who was a partaker of this beastly treatment when he preached in Thessalonica, warned us of these people. They have shown up again in the same city many centuries later. The dogs, evil workers, and religious fanatics in Thessaloniki bore down upon us today. It was the most violent scene yet in all of our evangelism even though we have been moving around the city to different places in our preaching. I thank the Lord that we had seven good men and no ladies present on the street with us this afternoon. The multitude gathered as we sang, passed literature, and preached. You could sense a confrontation of spirits in the air. Men, women, young, and old began screaming at us. New Testaments were ripped up in our faces, and then, they themselves got in our faces. However, some listened and received our witness. Those who were receptive became objects of attack by the ravenous and depraved. We continued on even as those who were receptive began leaving since things were getting out of control. The crowd of evil workers began spitting upon us. A lady started swinging her purse and hitting Bro. Tony who was holding one of the banners. We pleaded on for their souls. Men began approaching Bro. Angelo in an attempt to stop his preaching in Greek. We formed a line in front to stop this advance. The crowd grew with half listening and half stirred with rage. I must confess that it is normally within my nature to be a fighter. This is not the most spiritual virtue of Christlikeness but is nevertheless how my constitution is made up. Today, it was as if the sweet Spirit of God spoke to me with the question, “Are you willing to be beaten for the name of Jesus”? Honestly, I usually would not be that spiritual, but today in the quietness of that moment, I submitted to that possibility. The shoving and pushing began. Obscene gestures and curses filled the air. Threats were made with one man saying they would kill us while another said he would crucify Angelo. As things continued, another man struck Angelo in the groin. There were more hits at our arms which shielded the preacher. One man tried to force us to kiss his idolatrous cross by shoving it in our faces. The screaming continued while the crowd increased again. Our men held valiantly for the truth and then broke out in song to the worthy Lord. Jesus continued to be lifted up and preached to the crowd that had grown to about one hundred persons. The security patrol sat nearby on their motorcycles just observing the chaos. This all continued about the space of two hours. The Lord protected us from further violence as we were not privileged to suffer anything else than the above for the Master’s name. His hedge had clearly held the advance. In spite of what the dogs, evil workers, and concision might do to us, we got on our knees together with heads’ bowed, praying for these souls for whom Christ died and thanking our heavenly Father for the privilege of representing His Son. As we got up from the pavement, a dear young lady approached Angelo to thank him for our witness and to declare to that she was a born-again believer. She said she had been watching us come week after week with the gospel and that she felt forced by the Lord to approach us. “I am sorry for what they are doing to you. They are animals. Please do not stop what you are doing. Thank you! Can I please come to your church? The Lord wants me to be there. Please tell me how, when, and where you meet.” With tears in our eyes, we left rejoicing. Another man who had fearfully left the tumult called Angelo later to ask if he was alright. He also stated that he would come to church Sunday. May the Lamb of God receive the praise which He deserves!

His servant and yours for the sake of the gospel,
B. Logan

Fly a Kite…Get Rid of Your Sins?

Sounds like a strange idea? Well during Kathari Deftera (Clean Monday), everybody in Greece is buying and flying kites (see pictures). I am not kidding. And I thought easter egg hunts and chocolate bunnies were strange pagan traditions. The Orthodox church tops it all. The people are told they must fast (which means only seafood and a special type of unusual bread) after they have enjoyed the meats and parties of Carnival (which has its own wicked pagan roots). In addition, you are encouraged to go fly a kite. Not knowing all of this weird tradition, our group stopped to ask one of the many vendors why they were selling kites everywhere. The answer was that it was to release sins into the sky to be clean. This is the mentality that we deal with in seeking to preach the true way of God’s forgiveness through faith alone in the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing has darkened the nations like religion. No wonder the Bible is so foreign to the people. We took advantage of this event today and went among the crowds to hand out the light of the word of God.

In spite of the darkness, Project Thessalonica presses on with the blessing of the God of heaven. Yesterday on the Lord’s day, we were blessed with a total attendance of 18 people. One Greek man, Kosmas, visited the church for the first time. We had met him on the street a few times before with very good conversations. He was thrilled with the preaching and even joined us to give out gospels of John today! Telemachos, our faithful Greek man, was also on the streets with us spreading the gospel. It was sweet to watch the Greeks on Sunday during the service. They were not only singing the hymns but even reading the Scriptures out loud during the preaching service. Although somewhat disruptive, it is good to see them speak out when they are trying to find their place in the word of God or understand something more fully. Please pray for Karina. She is a sweet middle aged Greek lady that has been coming for several weeks to our services. She weeps during the preaching and has been confused by all the Charismatic things she has watched on AMERICAN television stations such as TBN. It is going to take much patience and a teachable spirit to help her. To this point her spirit has been very tender. She even purchased and brought cleaning supplies to clean the church building.

Our new team from three U.S. States (Texas, Virginia, Connecticut) is standing strongly for the Lord Jesus Christ in our continued witness to the city of Thessaloniki. After several days of rain, we were finally given good weather and were blessed to stay among the public for three hours of continual preaching, singing, tract distribution, and conversing. All the members of our group were very much blessed, joyful, and encouraged by the days events. The same can not be said for the devil’s crowd. We stirred up the lost and spiritually blind as they (for the first time) placed a loudspeaker in our direction with a million decibels sounding out the music of hell. This was an attempt to shut us down and make us leave. While our ears suffered and the street preaching was muffled, the Scripture signs could not be put out, and it actually drew more people in. Much literature was distributed today by the good grace of God. Finally, the police came and forced the angry crowd to shut down their loudspeakers, which could be heard for many blocks up the street (and they say we are loud). The police were very kind to us, unlike the last event when the undercover agents made us go to the police station for a two hour “passport check”. They did ask us to move to calm down some of the folks. Although we do plan to move around to different areas more, we did not acquiesce to their request at that time and stayed until 2pm without further incident. There were many good conversations with some promising to visit the church services. About ten individuals happily asked for and received New Testaments. Pray that the word of God will break up the fallow ground of hearts. Also, a new suburb of Thessaloniki, called Panorama, is almost completed with gospels of John in every door. A map with its location is below. May Jesus Christ be pleased with our efforts!