Thessaloniki, Greece: An Introduction

Above: This is the moment I realized I was in another country. A castle-like tower, White Tower, with a Greek flag. Hello, world!

Day 1: Feeling around the city! We got swarmed by street

 vendors. They were very friendly and one asked us to pray 

for him and then they all jumped in! It was wonderful 

to know their hearts and make friends with them.  Hopefully 

we  see them around again soon

This is "The Arch" but I haven't quite learned 

the importance of it. Obviously it was the entrance to something which is now in ruin, but thats all I know so far. I will keep y'all posted as I learn.

So this is a Minarete Tower (spell check?) which is from the Turk's influence post Roman Empire: Muslim effects after Christian reign. 

The ceiling is guilded but the rest of the interior was plain, with two or three rooms to walk into, perhaps for statues or shrines, offerings or priestly things. (do I have a history-buff to fact-check me?) 

This is White Tower again, but at night during our more people-populated ministry. We give out free coffee which always begs the question, "Why would you give away something for free?" Especially in the economic crisis, it is very counter-cultural I'm supposing to give things freely; even more so to really live out God's free love to us. It's wonderful and they feel wonderful in return!

Candles burning in the old Hagia Sofia church building. It was laden with hand-crafted pews, alters, golden chandeliers...before churches were burden with blandness and a duty to humility and taxes they devoted their precious possessions to building with honor to the Lord. Oh, and these candles were likely lit in remembrance for someone slash a specific prayer.

Across the street from Hagia Sofia, just a good shot of architecture in the center of town. Beautiful brick and balconies line most of this city. Ironically, it is what replaced the ruins which were also made of this same color brick...presumably, it of course is now a very faded version of this coloring.