Church bells call to us from down the hill on New Year’s Day, and a few of us climb in the van to attend the service. I feel guilty about leaving camp, but my teammates who are staying behind say it’s okay, because nothing is happening here anyway. As we drive toward the village, we see a refugee boat and rescue boats on the water. So instead of turning left toward town we turn right to go to the beach. I’m planning to watch at a distance…this isn’t our role here and I don’t like to get in the way of the beach rescue workers. These wetsuit-clad men and women…

During the last few weeks I’ve seen evidence that tells me the world can be an awful place sometimes. But I also serve a marvelous Creator who continually reminds that He is good and this planet is filled with incredible beauty as well! I thought I’d share some photos showing you what we get to experience when we’re not at camp. We are on a Greek island after all 🙂 Gorgeous sunsets: Seafood at the port. Look at all the cats! They’re everywhere here. Spending afternoons by the sea. Our good morning view from camp. Another lovely sunset. Gyros!!!! Beautiful winding streets you could get lost in… …while eating pastries…

“There is no way refugees will come to camp tonight,” I think to myself as I pull my sweatpants on over two pairs of leggings, and add another pair of socks. “It’s too windy, too cold, and too dangerous to make the crossing tonight.”   But then I learn 42 people had arrived earlier in the evening.   When Shadrach and I take our turn at the back gate somewhere around three AM, a man is sitting on the cement. He is wearing a stocking cap, and is wrapped in one of the grey UNHCR blankets that Samaritan’s Purse hands out as refugees walk through the camp. He is too…

More than 400 people came to the camp during our shift yesterday.   First I met an eleven year old girl from Syria. She and a friend spotted the kids’ area and went straight for the hula hoops and jump ropes. They laughed as they tried to get the hula hoops to stay up. She spoke with me for a bit, because she wanted to practice her English. She said it had been a long journey to get to Lesvos. She had gorgeous, big eyes.   Then I talked with a man who has a wife and three small children back in Syria. He said crossing the water to get…

We decided to drive to a different city where most of the boats seem to be coming in now. We spotted some life jackets on the beach and helped the men who were there clean them up.         This is one of the life jackets we found there. It looks more like a pool floaty. As you can see, it clearly says “not for use in boating.” This is not a safe life jacket. This is one of the deflated rubber boats resting on the shore of the island. We found another spot where refugees had just arrived. Then we saw another boat come in. The Red Cross was there helping…

I am pacing around the front gate of our camp. The movement helps me stop shivering in the cold. Lights from Turkish villages twinkle in the darkness on the other side of the sea. This is where the boats pass through. But tonight, the water is quiet. The EU recently gave Turkey three billion Euros to help stop the flow of refugees. We’re thinking this means that our little piece of the Aegean is now more heavily patrolled, so smugglers are choosing other routes.  Many refugees are still coming to the island, just in other places. Sometimes ministry looks like simply being available. The Greek people were available this summer, when…

Somewhere on this island there is a little girl wearing socks with hearts on them and sneakers with velcro straps that I put on her feet. She came over on one of the boats, in the cold, dark, night. For months I have been reading about and talking about and praying for this big, faceless group we call “refugees.” But instead of a refugee, there was simply a little girl, maybe four years old, with wet tights and cold feet. And the truth is, I don’t know what will happen to her next. Bethany, who showed me the ropes in the clothing tent last night, says the most important thing we…