10 Years And Counting…

This week marks an anniversary of sorts. It was 10 years ago this week that God touched my heart with a burden so great that it compelled me to surrender my life to the work of making disciples and planting churches in Greece. It was during my freshman year in college that I was initially introduced to the spiritual need of this country. This had a profound impact on me. A week or so before Christmas, after much prayer and soul searching, I surrendered my life to work in Greece full time. At the time, I was working at the Boys & Girls club. Late one Thursday night, right before closing, I got down on my hands and knees in the locker room that I was cleaning and said, “God, if you want me to go to Greece, then open the doors and I’ll go.” During the invitation time on the Sunday night before Christmas I made my decision public to the church. This all happened in December 1997. Upon returning to school from Christmas break, I purchased a big (4x6) Greek flag to hang in my dorm room to continually remind myself of my calling. Ten years later, I’m setting in my home (in Greece) with my wife of 8 years, my 3 year old daughter, and twins on the way, sent by a great church…doing some last minute preparations for the Bible study that we have started! God is truly good in that He has clearly lead us here by opening many doors…to develop devoted followers of Christ for both local and global impact. Honestly, I cannot see myself doing anything else with my life…PERIOD.

Christmas Program and 3rd Birthday Party!

Yesterday was a first for our ministry here. Brandie's children's class performed a Christmas program for us! The girls were so cute dressed up in their red dresses and nice shoes. Brandie and the girls worked very hard over the past few weeks learning their lines and new songs. They sang “Away In The Manger” and “Joy To The World” and Brandie read Luke 2. They also had a line a piece to say. They didn’t freeze up…but performed like Brandie had envisioned. I then delivered a special Christmas message from Matthew 1:18-25 entitled “The Baby In Mary’s Womb.” It was a great time for us to reflect and respond to the challenge to rest in Christ Jesus during the busy Christmas season!

Immediately following our “Reflection & Response Time,” we switched from Christmas Program mode to Birthday Party mode to celebrate Emilys 3rd birthday. She’s been SO excited about her “birthday party, birthday hat, birthday candle, birthday song, birthday presents, birthday dress…” Anybody who’s spoken to her the past couple of weeks knows how excited she was as that is all she's talked about. She had a "Princess Party." Emily is facinated with the Disney princesses. So, it was pink and girly. We had a great time as Brandie made soup then we ate cake and ice-cream. She then opened all her presents from her friends & family! There were so many!!! We are so blessed to have friends & family that care for us so much!!! I want to say a special “THANK YOU” to everybody that helped make this a special day for Emily.

Emily's Christmas Program Dress

Emily and Melanie singing "Away In The Mananger"

Emily's Birthday Dress

Soup, Cake, & Ice-cream For All!!!

Katarina

On Tuesday night, we received a phone call from a Greek lady named Katarina. She lives on the Greek island of Samos. Two months ago, she had a miscarry (she and her husband have two boys aged 5 & 3). The doctors on Samos do not know exactly how to help her. She pulled some strings with a friend of the family to be seen by a doctor at the university hospital here in Athens. She called the other night to see if she could stay with us for half a day. The boat from Samos arrives in Piraeus at 6:00 am. She just needed a place for her and her sons to stay until after lunch yesterday. We had a great day fellowshipping together. She is saved and was raised going to an evangelical church in Kavala, Greece. She’s married to an unbeliever and is a constant witness to her husband and his family. She is literally alone on the island of Samos as there are no Baptist churches or any other kind of churches (except Orthodox). So, please pray for her and the situation with her baby. She will see the doctor on Friday and she promised to update us after the appointment. Also, pray that she will be a great tool in the Father’s hand to reach people with the gospel on Samos!

Email Updates!?!

We want to keep all of our ministry partners updated with the latest news. If you would like to receive our email updates, please email us at thecrabtrees@thecrabtree.org. Have a great weekend!!

Our Doctor Visit

This morning we went to IASO for a regular check-up. We've been dying to know the gender of the twins since we first learned that Brandie was pregnant with two babies. The past few times, the babies have not cooperated with us....today, they finally did. After a very clear ultrasound, we learned that Brandie is carrying identical twin GIRLS!!!! I couldn't believe it when we saw the evidence on the screen...but it was very clear. Both of us thought that there was at least one boy in the bunch. The doctor is also pleased that the placenta has moved up and the babies have moved down. According to what they were able to see, the placenta has re-attached itself. God is awesome!!!

Computer Crash, Thanksgiving, & Family Day

Last Monday (Nov. 19) our laptop finally gave up and died. It was on its way out for several months though. So, last week, we had no compter for a couple of days until we were able to purchase a new one. We would like to take this opportunity to say "thank you" to all the churches that sent extra Christmas support this year...it will be used to pay for most of the computer!!! Greeks do not celebrate American Thanksgiving...but that did not prevent us from preparing our own and over enjoying it! The day after Thanksgiving has become a family day for the Crabtree's. We wake up and go shopping for a new Christmas ornament. This year, we had to buy a new tree (and we found one that is 7 1/2 feet tall!). We then worked on decorating it and the house for Christmas. It's a little early for the Greeks to think about Christmas...but we do it this early anyway as it's one of our favorite holidays! We still do not know the gender of the babies yet. We will see the doctor in the next week to 10 days to do another untrasound. We're so excited about these new little ones. Brandie is doing good right now. She's still taking it easy...though she is doing more than she has the past few weeks. We'll let you know as soon as we know the gender(s). On Sunday, Brandie's Sunday School class finished their fall promotion. They were learning how to obey. Every time they demonstrated obdience, they could put another piece of their flower together. Sunday we presented them with their completed flowers. With the promotion, they were challenged to memorize two verses of Scripture (a good accomplishment for a 2 and 4 year old): Psalm 54:4 and Ephesians 6:1. Please pray that their little hearts will stay soft and that they will determine to live for God for the rest of their lives.

Our Christmas Tree This Year

Our New Laptop

Melanie & Emily Being Recognized For Learning About Obedience

The Right To Protest

The Greek people have a right to protest. It is actually written in the Greek constitution that all Greek citizens have the right to prtoest (as opposed to something that is only assumed). Last night, Brandie and I had a date--she is actually allowed to leave the house now!!! We got a baby sitter for Emily and we went out. As we drive past the Parliment building, Brandie noticed several news cameras set up. As we drove on down the road, we noticed that there were no cars driving in the other lane. This part of town has cars on it 24 hours a day...so we knew something was up. A few minutes later, the traffic came to a "stand-still" as a group of high school and college students were marching in protest. What were they protesting? Private colleges and universities. Right now, the government does not officially recognize foreign or private colleges/universities. To teach in the school system here or to perform any job for the government that requires a degree, that degree must be obtained from a Greek public university. The government here has been put under a lot of pressure to recoginze the foreign unversities (including several unversities from the U.S.). But the students and teachers do not want this recoginition to happen. Why? One theory is that by accrediting the private universities, the average Greek couldn't afford to attend the private universities where the better professors teach. They would have to "settle" for the State college and for an inferior education. Will the government eventually cave into the pressure and accredit these private universities? Who knows. Until a final decision is made, many more protests like the one pictured here will take place and disrupt the daily lives of the rest of us.

We were not moving when I took either picture.

These protests are not violent...just marches and chants demading a change of policy or chants protesting a change of policy.