Ministry in Larissa...

My time up in Larissa was fabulous and the family we stayed with was more than hospitable, they were great! Larissa is a happening little town, kind of a college town. It was quite clean and a change of pace from Athens. We also were able to do some really cool ministry the first couple days we were there. The first night I got there, a couple girls and I went to a popular square and laid out a table with free bibles and Jesus DVDs...All of the Bibles got taken! Praise the Lord! It is is Easter season, so that definitely helped! The next day, the group of friends I was with and some people from the church we were staying with went to clinics and sang worship songs. These clinics are for mentally disabled people and the elderly. The clinics let the church we were staying with come and sing twice a year for Christmas and Easter. It was more than awesome! We sang all the songs in Greek and the patients were trying to sing with us and were really happy to see us; we also passed out cake to them afterward. The first clinic we went to was in great condition-very clean, patients taken care of and cared for, etc. The second clinic was another sight to behold. It was in sickening condition. I felt like I had walked into one of those horror movies about mental institutions...The building was dirty, the room was so smoky that you could barely breathe. The patients were not cared for at all, they were dirty, etc. It pretty much made me cry and want to scream at the nurses and want to do something. I literally tried to walk to every single room to give each patient cake and say a few words in Greek to them. After the experience, it made me miss my own grandpa a ton, who is in a nursing home back in Chicago, and I decided that when I get back to Chicago, I would love to get a group of friends going to a nursing home once a month and talk and pray with the patients. If you think about, say a quick prayer for the patients at these clinics we visited because a lot of people would say there is no point in going to these people and telling them about Jesus, but they need him as much as we do. Also, I was able at the second clinic, to get in front of everyone and give a 2 minute version of my testimony so I thanked the Lord that I got that opportunity because I was able to just encourage these patients with the promise from God that though people in our lives may leave and forsake us, God will NEVER leave or forsake us and we can always count on him because He is always there for us.