Vanovers' Travels: Headed home from Athens

The final leg of our 2018 adventure involved a brief stop in Athens, Greece, where we met up with some of our dear friends from the Netherlands (Petra and Peter Axt), and from San Antonio (Rob and Cynthia Grimes). Petra and Peter have been meeting us somewhere in Europe each of the last 5 years that we have returned from Kenya. They are a wonderful couple that we met in Guatemala several years ago when we served together on the SAGE (San Antonio- Guatemala Expedition) mission team. Petra is an internist, and Peter is an anesthesiologist in the Netherlands. Following our time together in Guatemala, we have stayed in touch with them and their family, and visited them in their home country, and they have likewise visited us in Texas. It has become a wonderful tradition that we have come to look forward to as we leave Kenya for the U.S. each year. This year, we were also blessed to have Rob and Cynthia Grimes spend a day with the 4 of us in Athens, as they got ready to leave on a 2-week sailing expedition around the Greek Islands. Despite warnings of severe weather including heavy rainfall, high winds, and possible hurricane conditions off the coast, we all came together for a few days and braved the elements to tour the city and some of it’s incredible historic sites. The rain was relatively light, but constant for 48 hrs, and no heavy winds or flooding was encountered in the areas that we visited. A bit south of Athens, they did have some heavy winds, high surf, and flooding along the coast, but fortunately we were spared. Our enthusiasm for spending time with our friends was not dampened, and we had a very relaxing time catching up on events in our families. Rob and Cynthia left for their sailing expedition today (Monday), and fortunately, it appears that the storm activity has passed (or so we hope!). Marilyn and I spent our last day taking a guided tour of Corinth and visiting some of the sites where the apostle Paul made some of his famous addresses to the Corinthians, and the men of Athens. It’s incredible to get a glimpse of what the ancient world must have looked like at that time…though admittedly, we both have difficulty imagining the grandeur of the buildings from what remains of the ruins. Artists’ renderings of the original architecture definitely help! In addition to touring the numerous ruins of the area, we spent time sampling traditional Greek foods. We had some wonderful meals here but are looking forward to getting home, where we hope to regain control of our diet and our waistlines! We are rested and refreshed….recovered from the trials of Kenyan medicine, and ready to return to our home, family, and friends. We look forward to seeing you soon!

With love,

Randy and Marilyn.