June 7, 2016: I am trying to write this blog entry on Wednesday night because the battery on my phone died last night.  But yesterday was a spectacular day and I did not want to miss recording some of our experiences.

We landed on the island of Crete this morning.  I have long heard of Crete and looked forward to spending some time here.  Crete has a very long history.  As an island in in the Mediterranean there have been many different occupiers of the island that have influenced there history and culture.  

The island is most known for some of the food they export.  Olive groves are very important here.  They have many different kinds of olive oil and we leaned how to select the one that is best for us.  We also taste some delicious olives and olive tapenade.

We took a motor coach up a mountain to a Monestary.  This Monestary is considers a sacred plane by the Vatican.  At the Monestary they have an icon of the Virgin Mary.  There are known miracles associated with the icon.  People come from all over to be healed.  There is a story that the Turks tried to steal the icon and bring it to Istanbul.  However when when it was taken is disappeared and reappeared back at the Monestary.  The people say is flew. So the Turks tried to steal it again.  This time they wrapped it in a marble column and tied chains around it.  It again returned (flew) back to the Monestary.

Today, while praying for healing, people wrap the chains around themselves.  Many are said to be healed.  While there we prayed for Doug's healing using the chains.

Message for the day; God provides what we need.  The terrain was difficult for the wheelchair and there were many barriers.  Edward from the ship stayed with us and helped us with every difficulty.