Recently in Greece Category

Wednesday:  We woke up Wednesday morning able to look at the Aegean Sea on one side of our hotel and Mount Olympus on the other.  We began the day on our double-decker bus to Philippi.  After a multi-hour drive and a couple of breaks, we arrived at the ruins.  Costas showed us the place in Acts 16: 12-40 where Paul was brought before the "magistrates" or generals to be punished.  As the story goes, Paul demanded the demon to come out of a posessed slave girl and so ruined her masters' chance of gaining wealth through her.  The Chorale was able to stand in the meeting place of those magistrates where Paul was brought.  We continued walking around ancient Philippi, seeing the Agora, one of the earliest churches built, and a theater that had been turned into a stadium where many Christians were publically persecuted.  Next we were able to see the spot where Paul baptized Lydia.  We continued on our journey after Philippi to see one of the original roads in Neapolis, a road that Paul had traveled on.

Wednesday night, we had a concert in Alexandroupolis, at a community theater.  The mayor of the city welcomed us, and there was another full audience.  A few encouraging stories about interactions with audience members were told to us after the concert.  Dr. Rediger talked to a music teacher here in Greece who had been very discouraged and drove an hour to come to our concert.  As she talked to Dr. Rediger afterwards in tears, she said it was a very uplifting experience for her, and she left encouraged.  Philip Byers talked to a military man who had deliberately broke the law by traveling too far from his base to attend our concert.  He told Philip that he wasn't able to hear many choirs like this, so he had decided to travel this far just to attend the program.

Thursday:  Leaving from the retreat center we stayed at Wednesday night, we traveled to Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece.  While here we visited a museum with the history of the ancient city and were able to spend some time walking around the marketplace and the town square. 

From there we traveled on to Katerini to perform in a Greek evangelical church.  Before our performance, we had the great privelege of hearing Costas' personal testimony, and his story of mission work in Albania.  We were very blessed to hear this wonderful story of our brother and how God has worked and is working in his life.

This performance was at one of the best venues for our sound; the church design made our sound resonate with much energy, and it was great to have that help at this time in the trip.  Although in a church, our concert was seen by many people from the community who didn't attend this church.  The minister was able to give a "short" sermon to the audience, and we were able to share our message with these people as well.

Friday:  Finally on to today.  We were granted an extra hour of sleep by the vote of Costas and our officers before we headed out to visit Vergina, the ancient capital of Lower Macedonia and the place where the the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, was found.  Costas told us that the discovery of this underground tomb was the second most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century...after the burial site of King Tut.  This site and museum was very educational...and a little haunting.  We walked down into a dark tunnel and saw the actual tomb, along with many of the items found intact within it.

We traveled to the city of Volos, Costas' hometown, to perform in the cultural hall of the city.  Dr. Rediger explained to us before the concert that we were the first Protestant choir to ever perform inside the building.  This program had been sanctioned by the Evangelical church here in Volos and was attended by members of the community.  Although some health issues plagued a few members of the Chorale, we had one of our best overall performances.  Many of us were very blessed to talk to people from around the community after the concert who shared with us their views on how they saw America as having hope due to the young people of our country.  This was a great way to end our night.

This will most likely be our final blog while in Greece.  Tomorrow we are traveling back to Athens for our final concert at the Olympic Royal hotel for a celebration of AMG International.  Very soon after that, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, we will be starting our flights back to the States.  We will see you soon!

                 God bless,

                                  Chorale co-bloggers Mark Statler and Erin Hinnen

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Time:  10:30 p.m.

Location:  Bus to Poseidon Palace Hotel

Last time we wrote, we spoke about Easter Sunday.  So it's Thursday...we're only a few days behind.

Monday:  Monday began our day of travel.  We first traveled to ancient Corinth, then made our way to Epidaurus, and finally journeyed back to our familiar home Hotel Oscar.  Being in Corinth was an awesome experience.  Seeing the ruins of Corinth's ancient Agora (marketplace, administration and justice, and places of worship), larger than the size of Rome's Agora, and all of its significance and Biblical history really brought Scripture to life.  In Acts 18:1-17, Paul was brought by the Jews to the Bema, or the court/place of judgment, in order to accuse him and have him beaten.  Gallio, a leader of the Roman court council, had the accusations thrown out, and Paul was released.  We had the awesome privilege of standing at the place where Paul was released, the foot of the Bema, and were reminded of God's faithfulness and Paul's trust in God's provision.

Next we traveled to Epidaurus and visited a 13,000 seat theater.  There the Chorale was able to sing our Russian piece, Bogoroditse Devo, and the Greek National Anthem, and Sounds was able to sing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.  The acoustics of the theater were astounding for a 4^th century B.C. architectural design, and due to this, the sound and experience was great.

To end our day, supper was prepared for us at Cosmovision Center, an evangelical ministry center that Fotis and his family are very involved in.  After our supper, a Greek P.E. teacher was brought in to teach us some traditional Greek dances, which we all very much enjoyed.  Finally closing our day, updates were given on the other T.W.O. Spring Break teams, and we were able to pray for them as a group.

Tuesday:  Tuesday was another day of long travel, this time up to northern Greece.  On the way, we stopped at the place of the Battlefield of Thermopylae, site of where the recent movie 300 took place.  We continued our bus ride on to the breathtaking views of Meteora.  This is the area where many monasteries and nunneries have been placed in incredible positions on top of "large boulders dropped from Heaven," as Costas put it.  These boulders are the size of mountains that jut up out of the flat plains and rise extremely high above the surrounding areas.  We were fortunate enough to visit St. Stephen's Nunnery; we saw these nuns' everyday lives along with historical Church artifacts placed in this incredible scenery.

                   --Chorale co-bloggers Erin and Mark

Prayer requests:

            *Rest and rejuvenation during our free times

            *Health...specifically for our voices

            *Continued excitement and energy to share this ministry with the people we come

                        into contact with

            *The language barrier will be able to be broken by this music

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Time:  11:00 a.m.

Location:  Bus to Philippi and Alexandropoulos

"Khristos Anesti!"  ("Christ is risen!")

"Alithos Anesti!"  ("Truly He is risen!")

Let's get right to it:  Easter Sunday, March 23.

For the Chorale members, Sunday was a 19-hour day...long, but definitely fulfilling.  It all started with the Ecumenical Easter Sonrise service on Philopappou Hill.  This was truly a beautiful experience in many ways:  The Acropolis was in the background; many languages were represented in the service, truly representing the unified body of Christ; and we were reminded of God's power and faithfulness through the messages and scriptures spoken.  The service began with the Chorale singing "Holy, Holy, Holy," and we also sang "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down" (complete with a community [not stray] dog walking through our rows) in the chilly early morning.  Also represented during the service were an International Choir, a Korean Choir, a Filipino Choir, and an Indonesian Choir.  Throughout this service, our eyes were opened to how God had brought us full circle in our experiences this year.  Hopefully many of you reading this will remember our Sing Noel: Christmas around the World concert in December.  That program had representations from nine different cultures in the speakers, scriptures, and songs.  During the Sonrise service, prayers, Bible readings, and songs were spoken or sung in nine different languages.  This was such an awesome experience; we don't believe anyone in the Chorale thought it was a coincidence...God had ordained this and worked in such a way as to prepare us for this time.

Next in line for us was a late morning service at a Pentecostal church of believers in Athens.  This service was another new experience for many members of the Chorale; the worship songs, message, and scripture readings were all spoken in Greek while headphones could be used to hear an English translation.  We were well received by the congregation through the Chorale and Sounds' singing of six of our songs.  Fotis, our host, gave the message and gave the Chorale an incredible compliment during it.  He said that when we get to Heaven, the Taylor Chorale would be singing next to God.  Our hope is that we continue to have pure hearts and glorify Him through our ministry, and when compliments like this are given that we "pass the bouquets on to God," as Dr. Rediger would say.

After having lunch with the parallel tour of alumni and parents back at the hotel, we were given a break to enjoy however we pleased.  We weren't done with the day, though, because Sunday night we performed our program at the First Evangelical Church in Athens.  Again, God provided a full audience, including many of the people we had seen at the morning services.  Up to the beginning of our concert, most of us had been awake for nearly fifteen hours, yet many of us felt that it was our best performance yet.  God continues to be faithful throughout our schedule, and we are continually provided with great experiences and opportunities to interact with and minister to the people of Greece.

                          --The Chorale co-bloggers, Erin and Mark

"Kalimera!" ("Good morning!" in Greek)

Many people know that the conversion rate between the American dollar and the Euro is much in favor of the Euro right now, but who knew the time rate would be that way, too? These past two days have been filled with so many great things; it's almost hard to keep track of it all.

Let's start with Saturday, March 22.

Costas, our tour guide: Entering our story now is Costas, our "tour guide" while in Greece.  Costas is a man that knows pretty much anything possible about Greece...or anything for that matter. He was the very first pioneer missionary to Albania, and many churches there were planted by him.

Acropolis: Saturday began with a tour of Athens with Costas. Our first stop was at the Stadium of Athens, a 70,000 seat stadium where the first modern Olympics took place. Our next stop was at the world-renowned hill of the Acropolis (literally meaning the highest point of the city). We started at the first-ever theater site, which is at the bottom of the hill. As we climbed to the top, we entered through the massive marble gate of the temple created for the goddess Athena. As we entered through, the Parthenon came in full view. It was an amazing site and was appreciated much more with the vast knowledge of Costas; he spoke of the incredibly exact measurements, optical illusions, and the extreme effort needed to build it. As we walked around the top of the Acropolis, the view of Athens was beautiful. The city of 4 ½ million people stretched for miles in every direction around the Acropolis.

Mars Hill: As we walked down, we approached Mars Hill (also known as Areopagus), where Paul spoke to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and Athenian people. Climbing the same steps as Paul to the top of the hill, our group paused as Philip Byers, our Chorale chaplain read Paul's speech in Acts 17:16-34. For many of the group it was almost an overwhelming experience as we heard Paul's words at the exact place he spoke them.

Concert I: After lunch and a few more stops in ancient downtown Athens, we made our way back to our hotel to prepare for the night's concert. This concert took place at the community center of a town just outside of Athens. It was hosted by the town's mayor and included a secular audience. The concert was very well received by the audience - we began and ended with the Greek national anthem, performed an encore, and each Chorale member even received a single rose. The Greek people were so warm and welcoming; we were very blessed by their reception of us.

We had a great day touring the city of Athens and performing our repertoire for the first time in its entirety. We have been so blessed and are very grateful for God's faithfulness throughout the trip thus far.

--Mark Statler and Erin Hinnen, Chorale co-bloggers

Prayer requests: *Health, strength, rest, high spirits

  *Praise for our wonderful audiences

  *Travel, especially tomorrow (Tuesday)

  *Preparation/excitement of the upcoming audiences

Greece has finally welcomed us... after 25 hours of travel!

Our Indy to Detroit flight was a piece of cake, but after a four hour lay-over, we began a more interesting trek to Amsterdam! This plane ride included two meals; many games, movies, and music to choose from; eight hours of semi-attempted sleep; and an uncomfortable descent that left quite a few of our group members a little worse for the wear. Upon our arrival to Amsterdam, we weren't quite sure if we actually left Upland, IN - we landed in rain and waited for our next flight in snow. For the next three and a half hours we made our way to Athens. We were picked up from the airport in a double-decker bus by our driver, Eric, and slowly, through holiday weekend traffic, drove to Hotel Oscar. We had a few minutes to unpack before we met with Photis, our main host here in Greece; ate a delectable dinner; and have had a couple of hours to relax, recover from jet-lag, and enjoy the city.

As Photis gave us an overview of our time here, we've begun to get a feel of all that's in store. Tomorrow night (Saturday evening) we kick off our performance schedule, followed by two Sunday morning worship services and a Sunday evening concert! Despite the hectic schedule, many of us are looking forward to the Sonrise (denoting Christ's resurrection) service at the Acropolis on Easter morning. Until then, though, we have a good night's rest and will receive a fun-filled tour of Athens tomorrow!

                                  --Mark Statler and Erin Hinnen

      Starbucks Frappuccinos,

          digital cameras,

    Subway sandwiches,

                 scones,

               and a single Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Yes...sure signs of the Indianapolis International Airport, where the Taylor Chorale is stationed for the next hour before our first flight leaves.

Our schedule so far, you ask?  Well, let me just tell you a little of how our next 19 hours are going to pan out:

Flight from Indy to Detroit

Flight from Detroit to Amsterdam

Flight from Amsterdam to Athens

"Flight 1010 to Detroit now boarding."

Here we come.

                           --Mark Statler

But first, an excerpt by Joe Hamgeri, Jenny Wolcott, Matthew Hurst, Mark Statler, Dan Luy, and Dr. Rediger:

Here we sit on the brink of Greece

Excited for joys that will never cease

For who knows what may wait ahead

Like dreams lived awake instead of in bed

We're gonna be on 'the road' for 22 hours

Being brought to foreign lands by our loving God's powers

We will see things few people get to see

And be in places few people get to be

Keeping the view of the Parthenon in focus

Going together in formation, with purpose, like locusts

Finally it's coming into full bloom

We're comin' for ya Greece so make some room!