Published: October 16, 2009 12:23 am      

Grannies to wash cars for future trip to Greece

DUNCAN — Jean Schalit and Maxine Blystone are not your normal grannies.

They work with after school-programs and avidly support troops.

Both are regulars in water aerobics, and Schalit even teaches her own class.

They are both involved with their church, Tanglewood Bible Fellowship, and have been on numerous mission trips to Mexico and Israel.

So don’t be surprised when you see these grannies running a car wash at 11 a.m. Saturday at Homeland for a fundraiser to send them on another trip out of the country.

Next May they are planning on taking a trip to Greece with pastor Brad McCoy to tour several significant biblical sights in Athens, Turkey and all of the islands between the two.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” Blystone said.

To raise money for the trip, they are hosting what they like to call the “first ever senior citizen car wash.”

“I saw a group of kids doing it one day for a fundraiser and asked ‘Why can’t we do that?’” Schalit said.

The two will have some help with their carwash by way of several cheerleaders from Duncan High School who will aid in their fundraising campaign and help wash the cars on Saturday. Schalit said she was willing to jump right in and wash the cars, but Blystone had another route she planned to take.

“I’m going to hold the sign,” she said laughing.

They don’t expect to raise all of the money needed for the trip during the carwash, but they do have several other fundraising items on deck.

The trip will be close to $2300 a person, but McCoy said that this price is pretty well inclusive of everything needed for the trip including airfare and some meals.

“And while you’re over there you get treated like royalty,” McCoy said. “We’ll stay in some of the nicest hotels over there, where a trip here we would be staying in a Motel 6 or something like that.”

The trip will begin with a flight into Athens from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and the group will be greeted by their representative upon landing and taken to dinner. They will board a cruise ship and will tour the Aegean Sea for four days, touring the islands of Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. Many of these sights are not just tourism sights, but also biblical sights as well.

Patmos was an ancient Roman prison island and was the sight where the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelations. The group will spend part of a day here after they have visited Kusadasi, Turkey.

While in Turkey, they will have the option to go to Ephesus and see the remains of the Agora, the theater, the Stadium, the Library of Celsus and the Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world.

McCoy said that Turkey is a significant place for them to go on this trip since for a time, it was the center of Christianity. The Apostles John and Paul spent time here, and the book of Acts speaks of ephesus several times.

The main emphasis of the trip is to learn of the Apostle Paul’s travels. He spent significant time making numerous impacts all over the Aegean Sea region. The very sights that are highlighted on this trip are also in the bible, and in some instances still have some of the same structures there.

Their journey is a sightseeing trip, rather than a mission trip, so they will also be able to take in the other tourist attractions of Athens, such as the Parthenon, or the island of Knossos, the fabled island where King Minos had his legendary beast, the Minotaur.

They still have several months before the trip, but Schalit, Blystone and pastor McCoy are eagerly anticipating the trip.

“You read about these places in the bible and see pictures of them all the time,” Schalit said, “but after this trip, you can look at those or read about them and say ‘I was there.’”

McCoy said that the trip is not limited to the grannies and himself. If anyone else is interested they can contact him at Tanglewood Bible Fellowship at 252-3365, or can find information at www.tbfduncan.org.