Catherine Frodsham, December 2024
Aubrie and Ben came to Greece a few weeks ago! This momma’s heart needed this visit. It was a short visit but we packed it full! They flew in from San Francisco, layover in London, then flew to Athens. We picked them up and took them to our apartment. We ate Greek food, then they needed some sleep because we were leaving at 9 am in the morning to drive 3 1/2 hours away to Meteora, Greece. Meteora is in northern Greece near the Albania border. It is a beautiful unique mountain area with huge sandstone mountains that rise up and the monks built monasteries on top of these peaks. It is so amazing they could build these so long ago. It is so worth seeing. We stayed the night in Meteora and walked through the town and had several authentic Greek meals. The food is amazing in Greece!
We had a beautiful hotel and then got up and drove to Delphi that is on the way back to Athens – kind of. That was also so beautiful. We could see the Mediterranean Sea through the drive. In fact, after Delphi, we stopped at the Sea and got out and put our feet in the water – well Aubrie did. It was so beautiful! Greece has so much water all around and in and out of Greece. There are 300 islands small and large. One thing we discovered though that it is a 2nd world country. Lots of needs here.
We got back to Athens and went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, about a 5-7 minute walk from our apartment. It is great food. Although , I think Ben ordered lamb sausages and I don’t think he liked that. Aubrie had Moussaka. I had Giant Beans. We all had Greek salad that you can only get in Greece. Greece is known for its feta cheese. You have a huge slab of feta on every Greek Salad. It is very yummy. There is no lettuce, only tomatoes, red onions, olives, cucumber, g. pepper and feta and olive oil and spices. YUMMY.
The next day was Friday and we had a Zone Conference. We also had a few missionaries going home so a tradition in our mission is a testimony at Mars Hill early in the morning to watch the sun rise. The departing missionaries bear their testimonies and the new missionaries just coming to the mission also get a chance to bear their testimonies. Aubi and Ben got to be with us at Mars Hill to witness that special event. We also had Pres. Gerard and his wife from the Europe Central Area Presidency with us for our mission zone conference.
Tim went to the zone conference and Aubi and Ben and I walked over to the Acropolis. It is a lot of stairs and I have been there a couple of times so I sat on a bench and watched the people all around me while Aubi and Ben enjoyed the Acropolis. We then met my niece, Emily in Monastraki square for lunch and she took us to a cool place with more ruins and the museum. Emily married a Greek man 5 years ago and lives in Athens now. It has been so fun to have her here to visit and have family so close. She and Aubrie are the same age and have enjoyed keeping in touch over the years on Facebook and were excited to see each other.
We took the metro back to Emily’s car and she took us to a beautiful outdoor restaurant by her home. She only lives about 15 minutes from me. That was a miracle for us to be so close in this HUGE city of Athens! We had great pizza and visited with her husband , Thanasis. Tim drove to meet us there for dinner as well.
The next day on Saturday we decided to take a boat to one of the close islands – Agenana- the Pistachio island. There are ruins there too. ACTUALLY there are Greek and Roman ruins EVERYWHERE!!! We bought tickets and took the metro down to the port in Athens. There was a BIG storm coming in that day and our first ship cancelled. So we went to another bigger ship and they went for it. So we took that boat to the Island. It was so cool. I think Aubrie got a little seasick. But she was tired too. So it took an hour to get to the island.
On the island Ben and Aubrie decided to take a motorcycle to tour around. Tim and I walked around the little port and had lunch and shopped. It was a great day. It started to rain alot so we found a restaurant to hang out in until our ship came back. It was several hours but so fun to visit and eat and enjoy each other.
The next day was their last day!!! It was Sunday, so we drove to church. Our little branch meets in a hotel right now and it seats about 70 people. We sometimes have up to 50 visiting tourists but we didn’t have that many that day. We have about 30 members that come. So Aubi and Ben were able to see our little branch. There are lovely people there and wonderful missionaries. There was a young man who comes every week but he is not a member. He translates into English for us. IN fact, he was just called as a non-member to be our branches translator. WE LOVE HIM!! His name is Costas.
The picture above is at our apartment in Athens and all of the young and senior missionaries serving in Athens. We are few but we are mighty!
Side note: A miracle just happened last week we invited Costas to come to dinner at our apartment along with all of the young and senior missionaries in our branch. The missionary who found him a year ago and taught him the gospel is back in Athens and I invited Costas to have Elder Wahl teach him again in our home starting next Sunday. He agreed!!! We love him. We believe in miracles and things don’t just happen. The Lord is in charge and we know that. We just say what do you want us to do Lord!!
So after church we came back to our apartment and packed up Aubi and Ben. WE love those two so much. We took them to the airport and I cried all the way home. What a wonderful visit. THANK YOU FOR COMING Aubie and Ben!!
Latter-Day Saints 