New Experiences and Travels

I have had had some great experiences over the past couple of weeks.  For example, my student Edoardo asked me if he could have his own Bible in English.  The request took me by surprise.  So the next week I gave him an English, thin-line, reference Bible.  I have never seen anyone's eyes light up when they received a Bible, but his eyes were alight with happiness.  I showed him how to use the reference noted in the middle and at the bottom  of the page.  During the Bible Study he used his new Bible and I used mine.  After our study he asked me if he should start reading his new Bible from the beginning or if he should just read where we were studying.  I told him that he could do either and then while he was packing up his stuff he took extra care to put his new Bible back into the box it came in and told me that he would take really good care of the Bible.  It really encouraged me.  I also got to talk with one of the students here about different religions, the little that I knew about them, but I got to share my faith with him and why I believe what I believe.

A couple of weeks ago we had a baby shower for Danielle and Luli.  Danielle is a former Avanti worker and she and Luli stayed here during December.  The ladies here planned the shower for her and we all pitched in and got them some gifts.  I have never been to a baby shower before and didn't really know what to expect, but Ermenita and Jessica planned some games to play.  One game was to guess how many M&Ms were in a jar, which Luli guessed correctly.  The other game, one of the ladies here filled 13 diapers with different things and we had to smell them and guess what was in them.  They were filled with things like onions, mint, peppermint, nutmeg, and Nutella.  She got a lot of great gifts and she told me that she felt very blessed by everyone's generosity, support, and love.

Luli and Danielle

 Above and Below: Diaper smelling game

The pictures below are some of the presents Luli and Danielle received:

Last Friday the ladies here at Avanti went to Velletri for a women's conference, so the men here did physical Friday, the library reading, and game night.  For physical Friday, we moved in the new double fridge, washer, and industrial dryer.  They were extremely heavy, but we got them moved in and set up (thanks College Church!).  At the library, we read The Giving Tree in English and did some activities with them.  They seemed to really enjoy it.  As for Game Night, we only had one person showed up for it.  We played Scrabble for about an hour and then she left.  Hopefully the next game night we will have more students.

 Above and Below: Eric doing vocabulary in the story with the kids

 Below: David reading he story to the kids

On Saturday the men had a road trip planned.  Ryan, Eric, Kyle, David, Luli, and I went to four small Tuscan towns leaving at 7:30 am.  We first went first to Montalcino.  It is a small town with a pretty cool fortress and while we were there they were having a wine festival and the streets in the main piazza. 

Ryan climbing out onto a fortress tower

 Below: from the fortress

  

Below: Luli and Me at the fortress

The next town we went to was Pienza.  There we ate lunch and had an awesome view of the valley we were in.  After lunch, a wonderful wild boar and pecorino cheese sandwich, we explored the town on our own.  I found a pretty good caffe shop on a small side street, but the funniest thing that happened to me was being pooped on by a bird!  Haha.

Below: around Pienza

Below: eating lunch at Pienza

We then drove on to Montepulciano.  It is a pretty cool town famous for their red wine, but more recently famous because one of the Twilight movies was filmed there in the main square.  Unfortunately we couldn't go into the fortress there but we got to walk around it.

  Above and Below: the fortress and grounds around it

 Above and Below: the main Piazza where the Twilight movie was filmed

We finished out the day by having dinner in Siena.  It was my second time there but the first for Ryan.  So Kyle took us on a small tour and told us interesting facts about the town in general, the Duomo, and the Piazza del Campo.  We got back to Scandicci about 10 pm.

After church on Sunday Kyle, Ryan, and I went to Pisa for the afternoon.  We had to wait 2 hours before we could go into the tower there, so we tried to go into the Duomo, the Baptistery, and the Cemetery there but they were all closed due to the fact that there was a procession for one of the saints.  But we eventually got to go into the baptistery before we went into the tower.  After we left Pisa we came back to Firenze and went to see a movie, Il Grinta (or True Grit). 

It was a good weekend.  We got to spend time with Luli, one of the men at the church here, and it was a last hoo-ra for Eric because he and Jessica moved to Tarento yesterday to work with the church down there.  I went with David to take them to the train station and was bitter-sweet to see them leave.  I will miss their company everyday but I know that they will do great things down in Tarento.

As I close out this post I ask that you will continue to pray for us over here.  Pray also for Eric and Jessica and the work that they will be doing down there and pray that God will bless them more immensely than they could ever imagine.  I know that they will be a blessing to the church down there.  Pray that we will allow God to use us here and that we will reflect God's love to everyone we meet whether our students or strangers.  I want to thank everyone for their comments, emails, letter, and facebook message that I receive.  It can be hard being over here sometimes and I thank you all for the encouragement and the prayers.  Make the most of every opportunity to serve God where ever you are.  Ciao and God bless.

Firenze, Pistoia, Ferarra, and Vicenza

Last Sunday after church, we went out to eat at a restaurant here in Scandicci called Nuovo Mexico, New Mexico in English.  Funny enough though, it doesn't serve Mexican food, its a typical Italian restaurant but the owner just liked the name.  The food there is fantastic and one of my favorite places to eat around here.  After lunch a few of us (Eric, David, Angela, Andrea, and myself) went to Pistoia, which is a town about 30 mins. away from us, for a singing service.  They invited the churches in Prato and Firenze to come as well.  I met a few people that I met before and some others I hadn't, including some of the A.I.M workers from Prato.  A.I.M. is another missionary program based in Lubbock, TX.  Everyone I met was great and it was good to spend some time singing with my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

This past weekend a few of us (Emily, Andrea, Angela, David, and I) went to Vicenza for the weekend.  Lindsay Walle, one of the A.I. workers, is about to finish here time here in Italy and we went to say goodbye to her one last time.  There are two churches in Vincenza that use the same building, one of Ghanaians and one of mainly Italians and we just happen to be there on their unity Sunday and also the Agape Sunday as well.  I met a lot of wonderful people, Italians and Ghanaians, and everyone is going to miss Lindsay so please pray for the church there and for Lindsay as well.  On the way to and from Vicenza we stopped in Fararra to see a couple of friends, Lucca and Daniella.  They were both here for the Youth Convanio in August before I arrived and went with us to Aprillia in October.  They invited us to their grandmother's house for lunch, which was AMAZING.  Lucca told me that his grandmother was the best cook in Fararra and he was right.  They fed us lunch on Saturday and then we stopped to have tea and caffe with them on Sunday.

Lucca and me

Angela with Lucca's grandparents

Every time I go overseas I am always amazed with the churches that I attend.  When I was back in the States I would always hear from missionaries about churches in other parts of the world but it didn't come alive for me until I went to Greece 5 years ago and had my first cross-cultural church experience.  It happened again when I was in Croatia and Hungary 2 years ago, and then again when I first got here.  I relived those experiences again when we had church this past Sunday with the Italians and the Ghanaians.  Ever few songs the Ghanaians would sing in their language and I would sit or stand there and listen to them and it was just an awesome experience.  I couldn't help but think that this is what heaven will be like when we are all singing together, people from different countries and cultures all worshiping God at the same time.  I smile every time i think about it.

My classes are still going well.  Edoardo still amazes me with his intellect and comprehension of what we are reading.  He understands about 95% of the words we encounter but every now and then there is a word or phrase that he doesn't understand.  Felice is making progress every week and I am glad to see him because he is eager to learn.  I found out in our first lesson that he and his wife Rossa, our cook here at the school, go ballroom dancing twice a week.  It sounds like they are pretty good and hopefully I will be able to go and watch them soon.  I have a new student for the next two weeks: Giuseppe.  He is one of David's students that I taught a couple of weeks ago and he might become one of my students for the rest of the semester, but I will have to wait and see.  I had class with him today and he and David have been talking about the temptations of Jesus in Matt. 4, which we continued to talk about; he also asked questions about where the Garden of Eden was and when Adam died.  The grammar class is going well and we had more students last week, which was encouraging.  Last week Ryan, Eric, and I got together and came up with a curriculum for the conversation class at the church.  We are going to plan 16 lessons each, 8 from the Old Testament and 8 from the New Testament, and make them into a little book.  Eric did class last week with one of his lessons and it went really well. So we will keep this format for a while.

As I said in my last post, we are starting to do a weekly activity with our students.  The first Friday of the month is movie night and last Friday we watched Despicable Me.  I ended up watching twice last week trying to find hard vocab words and idioms that they might not know such as, "I am sitting on pins and needles... pinky promise... simmer down... chillax..."  and a few others.  After the movie I asked them a few simple questions about the movie as well.  Ermenita made some cookies, the ladies here made an awesome punch, and learned how to make popcorn on the stove.  They all seemed to enjoy it and the snacks that we made for them as well.  This Friday will be the cooking school and I will let y'all know how it goes.

As for other news, Ryan and Laura have moved out of the school into their new apartment in town.  They are keeping their students that they had last semester and will be working more with the church and evangelizing at the University of Florence, so please keep them in your prayers.  In other unrelated news I have lost about 40 pounds since I arrived in Italy mainly due to the change in diet, but I have been walking a lot too.

Well, that is all for now but please continue to pray for all of us over here.  Pray for all the churches here in Italy and their ministries.  Pray that we will be real and transparent with our students and that we will show them God's love and mercy.  Pray also that everything we do will bring glory and honor to God and not for ourselves.  Thanks for taking to time to read this and keeping up with me.  I really appreciate all the comments, and emails, and facbook messages that I receive.  They are a real blessing and encouragement to me.  Ciao for now and God bless.