Ed's Note: We have followed Aris as he has been in ministry in Greece. For those of you studying 1&2 Thessalonians and Paul's 2nd Missionary journey, you will no doubt see some comparisons to Aris, as he travels in much of the same area, with much of the same message as the Apostle Paul did! Here are some previous reports he has sent us from that area:
Aris Metaxakis in Greece (click).
FINAL MISSIONS REPORT/UPDATE: Aris
and Mary, Limenas Thassos, Thassos Is.,
Greece, 6/4/2014
Dear Christian
brethren and friends,
Greetings to
all of you in Jesus’ name. I trust you
are all well and abiding under the shadow of the Almighty(! ) God is good to us even when circumstances
would challenge us, try us and even distress us.
Organized evangelistic
work progressed well from middle of January to
almost mid February into a number of new villages, and also started
outreaches into the mainland. In spite
of many obstacles, we have witnessed the mighty hand of God to lead us, in
amazing ways, to people whom God unmistakably ordained to receive a Christian
witness.
I made 2
evangelistic outreaches to the city square of Xanthi, about an hour’s drive from the
ferry port of Keramoti , just across from Thassos Island. I went once alone and once with my
English friend Bob Jones, a wonderful brother in the Lord. The outreach was mostly in the square, to
mostly Greeks and some Turkish Moslems. (This northern part of Greece,
Macedonia and Thrake, all the way over to the Turkish border, has a mixed
population going back to the Ottoman Empire) Both times, It took me a while to open my mouth and preach
the word. I could see from the reactions of people that many listened intently. The high moment
for me was when a little girl, called “Angeliki”, about 10-12 yrs old, approached
me with her friends, as I was preaching, and stood close by me. Afterwards, her
friends left but she remained behind and said, “you believe a lot in Christ.” I
replied that He was my Saviour and asked her if she wanted to receive Him. She
was keen and I explained salvation and I
prayed with her. I gave her a NT in modern Greek for which she was
thankful. I am grateful for the many
interactions with people and tracks distributed during this time.
On the
island of Thassos one gets to know people easily. I have made it a habit to revisit people in their
small shops, as most work for themselves. God has given me opportunities to
share the gospel of Christ with them. Also, my landlord Dimitris has been
coming to church regularly and it is wonderful to see him being so keen.
The church
here is a warm and friendly group of people and it is growing, with mostly
young people; the amazing thing is they are
all guys: 2 are sons of one of the Christian
sisters in church, and the rest are
coming through friendship evangelism of others . Pastor Dimitris and his wife Marjo have persevered the last 14 years, and now
are bearing fruit. The other great thing is, these young men are zealous
for God and they want to reach out. We
are excited about the services in church as we sense God moving here and there
is a sense of expectation in the air.
Unfortunately,
over the last 7-8 weeks I have battled with chronic sinusitis and other health
issues. I have not been able to go out
much for evangelism, other than daily interactions within town. I have become an expert in snuffling salt water
into the sinus cavities and made some improvement with more rest, home remedies, antibiotics and lots of prayer, but the problem
is stubbornly persisting. Unfortunately,
back problems have also re-occurred. Although I have been slowed down, I have been
given more and more opportunities to preach in Sundays and God has
been gracious to us to move on us by His Spirit.
Mary and I
went to Turkey on March 4, for another 3 months visa stamp for Mary’s passport.
However, Greek custom authorities, as we
were exiting Greece at the border, called Mary and I into their office and
informed us that she would not be allowed back into Greece, as her time had
expired, within the rules. The upside to
this, it made it easier for us to
rearrange Mary’s ticket with Turkish Airlines in Istanbul for March 12. We got that settled and were able to enjoy a
little bit of the city of Istanbul of 25 million people.
The Turkish people are friendly and there is
strong western influence and an obvious desire to move ahead. Please pray much
for the Turks that they will not be enslaved by
an Islamic agenda. We visited Cappadocia and at the hotel we met
a young lady from Australia, who is the wife of the Turkish owner of the
hotel. A very nice couple. Just before
we left I gave her a folded up tract
from my wallet and told her I wrote it.
She thanked me for it and told me her sister is a Family and Children’s
minister in Australia(!) The other
interesting thing is her father is Greek.
I know God put this couple in our way. Please pray for Kemal and Debra.
There are
many others I could tell you about such as the Turkish student lawyer named
“Barkan” who also accepted my witness,
and again I discovered that one of his grandfathers is Greek. I piped up
and said, “are there a lot of Turks with Greek blood in them ?” He said, “yes,
in Istanbul there are.”
In closing,
I must tell you that I have had to cut my remaining time here short due to
health issues mentioned, plus some
other medical issues which I need to address now rather than later. I
should be back in Canada April 10. I have made the decision prayerfully, as so much work, expense and organization
has gone into this trip. However, I am confident that God will finish this work
and I look forward to things ahead, regretting nothing. I also sense that the time back in Canada
will be a time of healing, preparation and clarifying the next step in God as
He leads us.
On a
personal note, I have enjoyed being here
with Mary, meeting people and getting to know them. It is amazing how
friendships have grown so close in just
a half a year. We thank the
Lord for this bridge building and working together with Thassos Christian
Fellowship and its leaders, Pastor Dimitris and Marjo Pelidis.
We need to
thank all of you from different parts of the church at large, both within the
PAOC and beyond it, who so faithfully prayed for and supported us.
God bless
all of you,
Sincerely,
Aris
Metaxakis and Mary Oughtred
