Athens Visit, Zone Conference and Mission Tour

 

An Area Tour is basically a conference attended by a member of the Church's Area Presidency with the local church members and for missionaries serving in the area.  The missionaries in the Bulgaria Greece Mission from Greece and Cyprus attended the conference.  At the suggestion of our mission leaders we took the opportunity to travel to Athens a day before our Area Tour/Zone Conference meetings last week.  Our direct flight from Larnaca to Athens took less than 2 hours and our travels went smoothly.  We arrived in Athens at almost the exact same time as President and Sister Nelson arrived from Sofia.  We met them at the baggage claim and they set us up with a 3-day Metro pass and traveled with us to find our hotel in the center of town.  Their hotel was in the same part of town.  Athens made for a very enjoyable Valentines day.  The Nelson's found us a lovely little hotel in the center of the city with a great view of the Acropolis.  Off-season rates for our room were very reasonable.  Our free day was a lovely sunny day so you will see that our visits to the high points of Athens were delightful.  We managed to acquire a lot of steps.  Our aching feet were proof.










We met a lovely Polish family with three littles doing the Acropolis at the same time.  It made us wish for a few seconds that our littles were with us.






Just down the hill from the Acropolis is a large, lovely museum where there are numerous antiquities from the hill displayed.  For some reason they did not allow photos in some of the more interesting parts of the museum but here are a few photos to give you a flavor for the exhibits.








The next two days were quite rainy but we had time to visit a couple more sites before our meetings began. 


Hadrian's Gate






The Sanctuary of Olympian Zeus

The meetings were the meat of our time in Athens.  They were held at the Halandri Chapel, the only chapel the church has in Athens.  It is well in the suburbs and was a 40 minute Metro trip with some walking.  A rewarding conference and time to connect with other Missionaries.  We had the chance to become better acquainted with Elder and Sister (Kim and Wynette) Christensen who are nearing the end of a humanitarian mission and Elder and Sister (Allen and Marlene) Reidhead who also are nearing the end of their mission as office missionaries for Greece.   Interestingly the Christensens are from Spanish Fork Utah and know my cousin Bruce Seeley.  They have served together in the Payson temple and Bruce is their Stake Patriarch.  Sister Reidhead is also a cousin to Bruce.  Her maiden name is Seeley.  Both wonderful couples and the Christensens allowed us to chill (literally) at their apartment after we had lunch together with Elder Alliaud (a member of our Area Presidency) at a very traditional Greek restaurant.  The Christensens heating unit was not working properly and the rainy day made for our coolest weather since we arrived in the mission.


Elder Alliaud is Argentinian.  He is a member of the Eastern European Area Presidency.   He converted to the church as a young man after visiting an uncle in the US who had converted to the church some time earlier.  He recounted his conversion in his conference talk of 2019.  Watch it.  It gives you a sense of the man and I hope a little bit of the spirit he brought to our meetings.  

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-10-2030-ruben-v-alliaud?lang=ase

In the general meeting with the local members he shared that he felt prompted to promise that there will one day be a temple in Greece.  Temples are not built by brick but by testimony and faith.

A few of his thoughts that I think are worth sharing:
  • The Spirit of God loves us and will show us how to change.  Only by training our desires can they become allies and not enemies. (Elder Maxwell)
  • Avoid everything that deprives you of your agency.  Learn to be independent of anyone or anything.
  • Faith is always connected to joy.
  • Christ fixes broken things through the healing and enabling power of the atonement
  • Let faith surround us and extend our vision  (Alma 32:40)
He was a lawyer by profession.  He was a criminal lawyer and spent his day in the courtroom.  I get the sense he was a very effective advocate.  He has a sharp wit and delightful sense of humor.  His lovely wife also taught us during our last day.  







As part of our conference we gathered at Mars Hill just below the Acropolis to have a brief meeting and the three new missionaries who arrived the day before had the opportunity to share their testimonies in Greek at that historic spot.  President Nelson also shared dedicatory prayers offered at that spot by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder Russell M. Nelson.  It was chilly but special.








All our love to family and friends.  Until next time.
Elder and Sister Kiddle


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