We were all baptized into one Body. --St. Paul's 1st Letter to the Corinthians

What an adventure today! We started this warm day off right... at the beach! We took a small walk to a beach a little further down the coast, so there would not be as much wind (it is very windy here). However, when we arrived at the beach we very quickly discovered that this beach was much like you might imagine a beach on Jupiter...it had MANY full moons. (This is code for nudists, people. I mean Lamar can barely watch PG-13 movies and she had to be exposed to this!  She was nearly catatonic trying to keep her eyes shut.)  And, despite the fact that these people were older, a few of them loved to move up and down the beach, including the edge of the beach where we decided to set up camp. Eeew!  Nonetheless, we still enjoyed the sun, and after absorbing plenty of sunshine we left the beach and proceeded to eat a late lunch and swim in the freeeeeezing cold pool.

A couple days ago Dad and Lamar stopped by a nearby, small hotel that had just finished being built. On the property was a small Byzantine Chapel, barely large enough for 5 people to stand in. Dad was curious if the people would be willing to let us hold a service of Holy Eucharist inside the small chapel on Saturday, since Pentecost was Sunday and we are leaving on that day. The owner was a little hesitant to let us host the service there because she felt like the chapel was not quite finished, but she agreed to let us do it in the end.

So today we arrived at the new hotel at the time that we discussed with the nephew of the owner, around 5:00 p.m. (Greek time), and dad introduced the whole family. It turned out that the aunt could speak only a few English words and the nephew was the only one that could really communicate with us.

After we had our introductions they convinced us to sit down in their sitting area and chat. Very soon after we sat down, the aunt and niece brought out platter after platter of snacks and drinks for us to eat! They were so hospitable! We learned that even though the owner did not speak English she did speak French. This was lucky for us because Katherine speaks French! For the next half hour we sat there with three different languages flying around the room. It was so interesting to listen to the different words and try to pick up their meaning. Since I could not understand the French or the Greek, I realized just how much body language was important. So I guess you could say that there were four languages present, Greek, English, French, and our bodies.

When we transitioned to the chapel to worship, we explained a few things to the family about how we did things. I was assigned to do the reading from the Acts of the Apostles. In this reading the Holy Spirit fills the apostles and they start speaking in different languages. As the crowd grew they each discovered that they all understood what was said even though they did not all speak the same language. This related to our situation perfectly, even though we did not all speak the same language, we spoke in different languages and eventually understood all that was said. Disregarding the fact that I butchered a lot of the words like 'Elamites' and 'Cappadocia,' we all connected to the Scripture.

Soon after the service ended the Greek family convinced us to go back to the room, talk some more, and give us more food to spoil our dinner! Not only did they spoil us with food, they spoiled us with gifts. The owner of the hotel gave all the women in the family a piece of jewelry to remember them by. The hospitality of these people was unbelievable. It was so hard to say goodbye, but we had to so that we could make it to dinner back at our hotel.

Sunset at the chapel by the Aegean Sea