Heard It Through The Grape Vine

This week we started our new semester of classes.  We have had about 70 people wanting to take English classes with us.  We had a small party for our students last Wednesday so they could sign up for times and so that we could spend some time with them.  Not all of our students could make it, but we had about 25 come.  I have, right now at least, 9 individual students, the advanced grammar class, and the English conversation class that we have at the church on Thursday nights. I might have more students but the ones have have right now are Paolo, Edoardo, Lorenzo, Fabio, Felice, Alessandro, Lorenzo, Leonardo, and Flavio; and in my grammar class I have 5 students: Enzo, Leonardo, Morena, Vicenza, and Alessandro.  Next week I will post pictures of my students so you can have a face with a name.

On Tuesday we, the Avanti workers and the HUF students, got to help with the Vendemmia, or the grape harvest.  The vineyard was in next to a town called Montefioralle in the Chianti region of Tuscany.  The town is more like a village and you can walk through it in about 5 mins., but it is still a nice quiet place.

Montefioralle

 We worked all morning and even into the afternoon picking grapes off the vines.  They said that this year's harvest was better than last years because there was not as much rain as last year.  God gave us a perfect day for being outside: it wasn't too hot nor too cold and the wind gave us a cool relief from the work.  One of our friends/students, Clizia, came with us as well. 

 

Our friend Clizia harvesting grapes with us

 Kyle with a beautiful bunch of grapes.

Me workin' hard 

We had to stop working twice because all of the containers they provided for us were full of grapes!  During one of the breaks the owners of the vineyards made a delicious lunch for us of ribs, bacon, sausage, and bread.  It was awesome to have a chance to partake in this Italian tradition.  Next week we are starting our Monday night Bible study for men and women as well as our second week of classes.  We are still planning to do out Friday night activities again such as Movie Night and American Cooking School; we hope that Game Night will be more popular this semester.  David had an idea for a new activity: a chorus.  He wants to get our students together so we can sing Christmas songs in December.  I hope it takes off as well.

Above and Below:

The Vineyard we were working in

 Some of the containers of grapes we harvested

As I close out this blog I ask that you will continue to pray for us.  Pray that we will be open with our faith and the hope we have through Jesus Christ.  Pray also for our students and our classes.  Pray that we will also encourage each other and love each other as brothers and sisters.  Thank you for the support and encouragement I have received through the emails, Facebook messages, and Skype calls.  I will update again soon and let you know how things are going over here.  Ciao e vi voglio bene!

K.F.C.: Kitchen, Friends, and Convegno

Ciao tutti!  Well here is the news since we've been back from Albania.  First, we have pretty much finished our work remolding the kitchen.  It took us roughly a month to finish, but it looks great.  We replaced the tiles on the walls and laid tiles on the floor as well, both the color gray.  After the tile were finished we painted the walls above the tiles and the ceiling white.  David, Ryan, and I also did some electrical work moving a light fixture and making new places for outlets.  Before we only had one place to plug appliances such as a hand mixer or something like that and really only counter to prepare food.  Now we have about 21 outlets and 4 stainless steel counter spaces to prepare food.  Peperdine University donated the stainless steel counter tops to us in the spring, so thank you Peperdine.  Here are some before, during, and after pictures of our work:

 Before:

 During:

 After:

This summer we also had some new friends, angels in disguise in my opinion, pass through the Bible school and help us with our work in the kitchen and other small things around the school that needed to be done but didn't have time to do them.  I have talked about those people in the last post, but I wanted to thank them again for the blessing that they were to us.  Also Kyle, the HUF graduate assistant who also lives with the school with us, celebrated his 29th birthday in August and wanted his friends to come with him on a Vespa tour through the Tuscan countryside.  It was so much fun seeing the scenery while the wind whipped through our clothes cooling from the heat of the day.  We started in San Gimignano then went to Volterra and passed through other small towns.  All 16 of us returned safe and sound from the trip, and it was such a good day. 

Me on my Vespa!

I'm sure we looked awesome as we all rode down the road

 

Debbie and Erme decided to rent a convertible instead of the Vespas

One of my favorite pictures that I took that day.

On a slightly sadder note, Emily's time ended here last week.  At church a few weeks ago we had a slide show of pictures from her time here, Debbie made a cake for her and everyone at the church, and several of her students and friends came to see her one last time.  The last few days she was here several people showed up at the door to say good-bye to her.  I think that even that is a testimony of all the great things she did here for the Kingdom of God in two years.  And Emily if you are reading this I just wanted to say, "Thank you for all the work you have done here.  I can see how God has worked through you at the school, in Florence, and even in other parts of Italy.  You are already missed here, but I know that God will bless you and that you will be a blessing to those around you in the States.  Ti voglio bene!" 

Emily on her Vespa

Emily and two of her students, Lorenzo and Gulia

Lorenzo and Gulia pretending to be glad Emily is leaving!  haha, but don't worry they really miss her

 


And speaking of friends, we got to see many of our friends and make new ones at the Convegno here in Firenze a couple of weeks ago.  It was a lot of prep work for at the church and the school, but it was a lot of fun.  It started on Wednesday and ended after an Agape meal on Sunday afternoon..  Everything was in Italian and was hard for me to follow along, but I followed well enough to get the gist.  The theme was "Bereishit" which means "in the beginning" in Hebrew.  The speakers talked about creation, beginning of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.  It was good to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and get to know them better.  And I'm not going to lie, at the end of the day I was exhausted from trying to listen, speak, and think in Italian!  haha.

Next week we start back again teaching classes.  We will all have more students, since we are kinda short on teachers, but we are all looking forward to seeing our students again on a regular basis.  As always I ask that you will please keep us in your prayers.  Pray that we will be Christ to our students, friends, and even strangers that we meet so that God can work through us for his glory.  Pray also for the brothers and sisters in the churches here in Italy, and pray that God will continue to bless them and work through them.  I also wanted to thank all my friends and family for their continued support and encouragement.  All the emails, Facebook messages, and Skype conversations mean a lot to me.  God bless you and I will write more next week and let you know how classes are going.  Ciao.