I have been in Greece for two and a half weeks now, and I wanted to give everyone an update on the ministry we’ve been doing!

We have partnered with a ministry host from Hope Church Romania. They are a married couple who live in Romania but have felt called by God to minister and make disciples here in Thessaloniki, Greece. Their goal is to create a strong Christian community that people can come to as we evangelize, invite people into deeper spiritual conversations over coffee, and begin the discipleship process with those who come to know Christ. They also hope to walk alongside those who already know Jesus as their Savior and want to grow deeper in their relationship with Him and their understanding of the Bible.

So, for our first week of ministry, we were given flyers to hand out promoting a giveaway. It was a way to start conversations with people, learn more about the culture and community, and hopefully get some people to accept a one-on-one coffee meetup.

Every day, I would walk the streets of Thessaloniki for five hours, handing out as many flyers as I could and striking up conversations. For me, this was extremely uncomfortable. I wouldn’t normally start conversations with complete strangers back home. But I wanted to be obedient to the Lord, so I found my strength in Him and used my confident hope in Jesus to walk outside of my comfort zone every single day.

The work was tiring. Walking for so long, starting so many different conversations, and constantly putting myself out there was exhausting. And I admit that I started to get discouraged when the week was over. I had handed out many flyers and started countless conversations, but none of them opened the door for me to share the Gospel or talk about Jesus.

At the same time, others on my squad were able to share the Good News, get people to agree to coffee meetups, and hopefully start discipling people soon. I felt like all the hard work I had done had been for nothing.

I felt like I was doing something terribly wrong.

I started doubting and feeling like I had completely failed the Lord and those who had given financially to make it possible for me to be here in Greece. I didn’t want to face the Lord or anyone from back home because I felt like I had completely missed the mark.

But then, I received a lot of encouragement and truth from my teammates, squad leader, and family.

People around me began reminding me that God is still working, moving, and using His Holy Spirit even when I can’t see it. Maybe the love, kindness, and interest I showed in the people around me would plant a seed that would start someone’s journey toward Christ.

I was also deeply reminded that I am accepted by Christ regardless of my works or performance. This brought to mind a verse I memorized during training camp, Ephesians 2:8–9:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I was striving to feel worthy, accepted, and good enough for God through my own performance rather than His life-giving gift of grace. I had completely forgotten that nothing I have ever done or will ever do can change God's acceptance of me because He has already accepted me through grace because of Jesus’ sacrifice. God’s love for me wasn’t going to change whether I brought three people to Christ that week or didn’t lead someone to Christ until my last day on the World Race.

My sister sent me a picture that reaffirmed this lesson: The Light Kingdom is about presence, not performance.

That changed my whole perspective on what I was doing here in Greece. God isn’t expecting me to share the Gospel and bring every person I meet to Christ. He desires for me to walk obediently with Him every day, going where His Spirit is leading me and stepping out in boldness to approach strangers when I would normally never do so.

And I had done just that all week!

I realized that God’s ministry was at work, maybe not evident in the people I was talking to, but definitely evident in me. I had learned how to step completely outside my comfort zone, talk to strangers, listen for the Holy Spirit to tell me when to dive deeper into a conversation, look for opportunities to share the Gospel, and speak love and kindness to people I barely knew. Looking back, I now realize that God was starting His transforming work in Thessaloniki in me before showing me more evident work in the community.

This led me to Galatians 6:4, which says:

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”

During that week, I wasn’t able to see the growth God was doing in me because I was so focused on comparing myself to what other people on my squad were able to do in the community. And it made me feel like such a failure.

Now, I see that God was teaching me to recognize that He works differently in and through each of His faithful vessels. He was simply working in me before allowing me to work in others. I wouldn’t have felt like a failure if I had just focused on the work I could see God and His Spirit doing in me! Still, God was able to get me through that discouraging time, especially with my teammates reminding me that we may be here to sow seeds in people’s hearts rather than reap the harvest and actually see them come to Christ. God may have placed us in Greece to start putting questions and curiosity about Jesus on people’s hearts. It could be three, ten, or even forty years before those people truly accept Jesus as their Savior.

Galatians 6:9 says:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

And did I feel this verse come true that next Tuesday after our first week of ministry!

That day, we were taught by our ministry host how to use a survey about life and faith to start conversations and get to know people better. It also ended with an invitation for people to do a coffee meetup and continue the spiritual conversation.

After the lesson, I was sent out with my teammate Jenna to walk the streets and approach any English-speaking Greeks who the Holy Spirit was highlighting. We began with prayer and then allowed the Holy Spirit to guide us to whatever street He wanted us on. We got to pray over one girl, buy some earrings and get to know the owner of a street jewelry shop, and then, all of a sudden, we felt the Holy Spirit telling us to turn right down a fairly empty street. Once we came to another intersection, we felt Him leading us to go left. As we were walking by a perfume shop, we both felt that we needed to stop in and talk to the lady working at the counter. As soon as the conversation started, I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking through both of us, leading and guiding the conversation.

We talked to her for almost an hour, and she agreed to take the survey with us. We got to learn more about her beliefs and spirituality, and we even agreed to meet up for coffee in the upcoming weeks to hopefully present the Gospel and discuss her beliefs more!

After we left, Jenna and I were so overwhelmed with joy, praise, and gratitude to the Lord. We couldn’t stop praying, praising, and rejoicing in what He had just done!

As we started walking back to the apartment, we had one more really good conversation with another woman who owned a street jewelry shop. We ended the conversation hopeful that we could maybe invite her to coffee and discuss more of the Bible and Gospel.

On the final part of our walk, we couldn’t stop worshipping and singing our praises to the Lord for all to hear! It was so encouraging. Just a couple of days before this, I felt so discouraged and wanted to give up. But I kept walking obediently with the Lord, and I got to reap such a bountiful harvest in some very fruitful conversations. Praise God that He will never stop working, and that He is growing spiritual perseverance in me!

Romans 8:28 declares:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

I have come to understand that the work God was doing in me during that first discouraging week was actually further preparing me for what I experienced later in that conversation with the lady at the perfume shop. God gets the final say on everything. And if it isn’t for His glory and goodness, then He isn’t done working in it yet! How amazing is it that He loves His children so much that He won’t stop working until it glorifies His Name and expands His Kingdom!

Even when I can’t see it, God is making all things work according to His divine plans and goodness. Hallelujah for that!

The rest of the week looked very similar. We went out onto the streets, struck up conversations, and recorded responses for the survey. I also got to do my first coffee meetup with a Christian who has lived in Thessaloniki his whole life and it was so encouraging! I am very hopeful that the Lord has great plans for Thessaloniki and that He will use us to begin planting seeds in the city that Paul wrote to in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Thank you for continuing to walk with me on this journey. I appreciate all the prayers and love from my community back home. They have gotten me through some hard times of homesickness and struggling.

So thank you!

I would love for you to continue praying for:

• Thessaloniki, that people would come to know Christ and become part of a strong Christian community.

• Our squad, that we would continue to step out in boldness and share the Gospel.

• People who are willing to be discipled and grow deeper in their faith.

• Our ministry hosts, that they would continue to experience blessings, financial resources, and missionaries after we are gone.

• That I would continue to listen for and hear the Lord’s voice, listen to the Holy Spirit, and be interruptible for Him.

• That I would seek to know Jesus more and more every day.

I want to end with Ephesians 3:20:

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

God has already grown me more than I could have ever imagined on this trip, and I’m still in my first country! He has already shown me that His work doesn’t always look the way I expect it to. Sometimes He is working through conversations with strangers. Sometimes He is planting seeds that I may never get to see grow. And sometimes, He is doing His deepest work in me before I ever see the fruit of it in someone else.

I came to Greece thinking ministry would mean seeing people come to Christ and knowing that I had made an impact. Instead, God is teaching me that ministry is about obedience. It is about showing up, listening to His voice, loving people well, and trusting Him with whatever happens next.

I don’t know how many people will come to know Jesus because of our time here. I don’t know which conversations will turn into something more or which seeds will take years to grow. But I do know that God is working. And I know He is growing me, changing me, and making me more like Christ in ways I never could have imagined.

He is going to continue expanding His Kingdom and teaching me what it means to live completely surrendered to Him. And I can’t wait to see what He does on the rest of this trip! I also want to continue living for Him when I get back home, too.

Maybe I won’t always get to see the harvest.

But I want to keep sowing. I want to keep walking. I want to keep listening. And most importantly, I want to keep saying yes to Jesus.