Beginnings and Endings

Ciao everyone!  Sorry that i haven't posted a new blog in a couple of weeks.  We have been really busy here.  And i just wanted to thank everyone for the packages and letters that I received, it means a lot and has been very encouraging to me.  So, last week was my last week of language school!  It feels so weird to finally be done and it seems like such a long time ago that I started.  It also strange to not wake up early in the morning, hit the snooze two or three times, and then rush off, late, to school kinda regretting that I hit the snooze two or three times, haha.  However, I had the best teachers!  My first two teachers were Giovanni and Maria.  They were the two who gave me private tutoring for the first two and a half weeks I was here.  Then for one week I was with the rest of the team in their class, but I cannot remember the teachers' names for the life of me right now because I was very overwhelmed with the material that whole week.  Then I moved on to another class and had Enzo and Simona as teachers.  They were awesome and I learned so much from them.  I have a picture of Simona but my camera died on the last day of school before I could get a picture with Enzo.


Its been kinda quiet around the Bible school lately because everyone is on vacation for two weeks.  Debbie, David, Emily, and Ermenita all left around the first of the month and are in the States.  Andrea left last week on Wednesday to go home and be with her family for a couple of weeks, and Angela left on Monday to head home for a couple of weeks as well.  Ryan and Laura went on vacation for a couple of weeks and went to France, Ireland, and Scotland, and they got back on Tuesday night.  Eric and Jessica left a couple of days after them and went to Scotland, Ireland, and France.  Since I just finished school last week, my vacation started on Friday, so I have been taking it easy around here.  I was suppose to go to San Gimignano last Saturday, but we got 6 inches of snow here in Florence, yay!, and I didn't want to chance getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere for a few days.  I was very excited to see the snow since I am from the South and we really don't see snow.  Angela and I took Zoe, the new puppy, outside to see the snow once there were a few inches on the ground and it was hilarious!  She had never seen snow before, being only 5 months old, and she freaked out.  She ran around the yard not knowing what she was running around in and very surprised that she cold eat it.  (Angela has a video on her blog of Zoe in the snow and a link to her blog is on the right of this page.)

I have stayed around here for a few days, but yesterday I went to Siena.  It is a beautiful town and sits on top of the hills.  I mainly stayed in the historical district of the town and saw the main sights, but everything was closed!  Every museum I went to and the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico was closed, everything but the Cathedral there.  The first on is the Piazza del Campo.  It is a huge square and every June or July they have a horse race around the edge with people standing on the side of the square or in the middle.  In the Piazza del Campo is the Palazzo Pubblico and in there is an art museum.  Here are some pictures of them:

I also went to the Accademia there but it was closed when i went, so I just took some pictures of the entrance.

Then I found the Duomo of Siena.  It is a beautiful building and I think that the inside is prettier than the inside of the Duomo here in Forence.

The Cathedral

The front of the Cathedral

The inside of the Cathedral

The baptistery

 Last week was also my last week to teach.  My student Edoardo and I went to get some coffee right across the street and ended up talking for an hour and a half.  We were just getting to know each other and talked about travel, soccer (or calcio here in Italy), and books.  Hopefully I will get to have coffee with him this week.  I also got to teach Felice for one last time before the holidays too.  Alban, one of my other students, couldn't make it last week for our lesson.  Felice, which is Italian for "Happy", is my beginner student and the husband of Rosa our cook here at the school.  He is very enthusiastic and on our first lesson we wrote down 10 questions to ask each other.  It was a way for him to use and learn some English and also a way to get to know each other.  I now have to start working on the curriculum for next year.
I will post again soon and let you know how things are going here.  Please continue to pray for us, pray that God will watch over us as well travel on vacation, pray that we will continue to be a light for God wherever we go, and show God to the people we meet.  This is the season that people remember Jesus the most, but I hope and pray that we will always remember him and what he has done for us.  I was reading the story of his birth in Matthew and Luke and I think the most important verse in those passages is Matthew 1:21 which says, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." which is the greatest gift that we could ever receive.  Merry Christmas and Buon Natale.  Ciao and God bless.

Giving Thanks

          I started teaching last week and have three students.  I don't know a whole lot about them yet since two of my students were not able to make it for class the first week.  So this past week was the first time to teach two of them, and I have a beginner, an intermediate, and an advanced student that I meet with for one hours, once per week.  I'll post more about them after I get to know them a little better.  I am still in language school but the others here have finished.  we have a two week break in December to travel and to rest before we start back to work again.  I will do some traveling, day trips mostly, but I hopefully will spend a few days in Rome. 
          Well, last Saturday we had a Thanksgiving dinner for our students.  We started cooking for the dinner on Thursday and cooked for three days.  On Saturday we did a last minute cleaning in the classroom, where we had the dinner, and the outside.  We bought flowers several weeks ago but we were never able to put them in the window boxes because it has because it has been raining almost everyday for three weeks.  So Saturday Laura and Angela put the flowers in the pots while Eric and I took them up the stairs to put them on the windows.  Around 11 am Eric, Ryan, and I started cleaning out the garage.  It took us four hours, but we cleaned it out and rearranged everything.
           The students and their families started showing up around 7:30 and we had about 70 people in all.  we asked them to bring a "non perishable food item", kinda like what people in the States do to donate for a soup kitchen or church,  for the pantry at the Florence church (food that we can give to needy people who come and ask for food).  They went above and beyond my expectations with donating food.  Some people brought two or three bags of food!  Their generosity was incredible!  We had some appetizers for them and before dinner, Andrea read them a story about Thanksgiving that Jessica put together.  The story was about the first Thanksgiving and how it became a national holiday and also what it means to us as Christians to be thankful to God for all has done for us and still is doing for us today.  I know that I am thankful for my family who have helped me and supported me to come to Italy, for my friends who are always there for me and praying for me while I am in Italy, for the awesome teammates here in Florence (Angela, Jessica, Ryan, Eric, Laura, Andrea, Emily, Ermenita, David, and Debbie) and the support and friendship that I receive from them everyday, and for the people in the church here in Florence who have been so welcoming to me and making me feel at home.  There are so many that were not named here but I thank God for you in my prayers.
             I got to meet some new people, family of some of the students, as well as some people I had already met, Like Samuele and Francesco.  We ate good, traditional thanksgiving food (by the way, thanks Debbie and all the ladies here who cooked) such as turkey, green bean casserole, ham with a cranberry glaze, corn casserole, rolls, sweet potato casserole, dressing, and of course gravy.  For dessert we had pumpkin pie and pecan pie with homemade whip cream.  The Italians loved all the food and had a good time and we did as well.  The last person left around midnight and we finished cleaning around 1 am.  It was a very busy day.

             On Sunday, there was an American couple at church that was backpacking around the world for a while.  They are from Oklahoma and about our age as well.  they were surprised to find so many English speaking people at the church there in Florence.  That night they met us at a movie theatre to see the new Harry Potter movie.  It was very interesting to watch it in English with Italian subtitles. 
             I thank you again for reading my blog and keeping up with the work we are doing here.  I ask that you please continue to pray for us and the work that we are doing.  And pray that God will continue to use us and that we will let ourselves be used.  Thanks again and God bless.  Ciao

Recent News From Italy

Well, I guess I haven't been doing a great job with keepin' y'all updated with everything that's going on here.  The week after the last post I was down with a migraine, and this past week I have been playing catch-up with school work and work here, but here is what has been happening...


Eric and Jessica went to visit the church in Taranto, which is in South Italy and Ryan and Laura went to visit the church in Rome.  They all had a great time meeting the people in those churches.  While they were gone, David took Andrea, Angela, and I to an old church not too far from Scandicci.  It was very beautiful.  Here are some of the pictures of that outing to the church:

After we went to see that church, we went to the Harding villa because we were throwing a surprise party for one of the members, Luigi, of the church here in Florence.  He is in the process of taking tests to be a conductor, I think.  Well he passed his first test and we decided to celebrate.  While there he played his clarinet for us and his wife played the piano.  They are both amazing musicians.  I took some video at the concert, but for some reason it wouldn't load onto the blog.  Sorry about that.  Maybe I can figure how do fix it and add it later.

Last Saturday we all went out to eat with Mario, a member of the church here, and we ate at his favorite seafood restaurant.   The food was amazing and, like every Italian lunch, it was HUGE.  We had squid, octopus, prawns, shrimp, some kind of fish that was very good, vegetables, bread, gelato, and caffe.  It was awesome to spend time with Mario and to talk with him.  After lunch, Ermenita took me to the Saturday market here in Scandicci to do some Christmas shopping.  The market is kinda like a flea market but they have clothes, mainly for women, and all kinds of delicious food.  It was my first time there and it was a very interesting experience.

Last Sunday we had a concert at the church as well.  It was a quartet based here in Florence.  They were very good as well.  We used this as a way to invite our students to church and meet the members of the congregation.  We also sent invitations to the American universities here in Florence, including the HUF students, as well but a few from Peperdine and the Harding students showed up from that crow.  We had a really good turn out from our students and members of our church, close to 100 people.  I got to meet some of Ryan's, Laura's, Jessica's, and Eric's students that I see when they come for their classes but never get to talk to.  It was good to talk with them and get to know them a little (plus I got to practice my Italian with them and for they practiced their English with me).  After the concert, we had a chili supper and then had singing, in both Italian and English, at the church.  It sounded so beautiful.

This weekend was pretty relaxing and I didn't do a whole lot.  Emily took Ryan, Laura, Eric, and Jessica to Vincenza this weekend to visit the church there and they left Saturday morning and got back Sunday night so they house was pretty quiet with 5 people gone.  We did, however, do a massive clean of the building on Friday because we are starting to have a lot of guest come through this month.  I finally got to dry my clothes, but had to take them to a laundry mat down the street because the dryer here is broken and it has rained everyday for the past two weeks so nothing on the clothes lines will dry.  It was nice to have a quiet weekend because this coming week will be very busy.  I start teaching English this week and have three students so far.  I will tell y'all more about them at a later time after I get to know them.  We are also cooking a HUGE Thanksgiving meal for some of our students which will be on Saturday.  I think we have about 60 people in all coming for this meal, so we will be start cooking at least 3 days in advance.  Language school is still rough because I have to concentrate on everything word and try to figure out what they are saying.  I am getting the hang of it and I can understand a lot more than I can speak.  I can listen and figure out what they are saying, eventually, but when I try to speak it is very rough and takes me forever to say what I would like to say.

Please keep us in your prayers.  Pray that God will continue to use us for his glory and that we will allow ourselves to be used by God.  Pray also for the churches here in Italy and that we all will work for God rather than for man.  God bless.  Ciao

New Friends and New Places.

 I know its been about a week and a half since I blogged last, and a lot has happened since then.  Last Friday Ermenita had her "American Graduation".  It was the first time that the school has ever done one, so we went to support her.  Here are some pictures from her graduation:

Here we are anxiously awaiting for Ermenita's Ceremony

  And here is Ermenita getting her degree! Yay!

After the graduation, we had a movie night here at the school for our students and their families.  We watched Monsters Inc.  And to tie it into Halloween ,the ladies here made "witch finger" cookies (sugar cookies in the shape of a finger with green food coloring and an almond for the fingernail), a "witch's brew" punch (a fruit punch), and Emily made her famous caramel popcorn.  It was a lot of fun to watch it in English with the students and they really seemed to enjoy it.  It was good to meet some of the students that I have never met before like Samuele.  He is one of David's students and speaks English very well.  He works as a college professor in Firenze teaching History and Philosophy.  He is a very interesting guy who has lived and gone to school in a couple of different countries.  I tried to talk to him, and our other students, only in Italian and they were all very forgiving of my bad grammar and limited vocabulary.  Here are a couple of pictures from the movie night: 

Here are the Witch Finger cookies.

Everyone gathering for the movie

Here I am talking to Samuele

The day after our movie night we had the HUF students over for a devotional and some games.  We made tacos for them (and by we I mean that Laura, Jessica, Andrea, Angela, Emily, and Ermenita aka our awesome cooks made the food).  This was the first time I had a chance to meet them all and I discovered that three of the students were in the youth group I worked at in Little Rock.  We sang for a while and then Ryan, Eric, and I read a few verses about Mission work.  I read the accounts of the Great Commission from Matthew, Mark, and Acts and also Col. 3:23-24, where it says to work with all your heart for the Lord and not for man.  It was a verse that I read a couple of days before during my own study time. We tried to encourage them to serve God when they could and wherever they were, whether in a foreign mission field or somewhere in the US.  After our devo we played Pictionary in English and Italian.  We all had such a wonderful night.

This past weekend we all took a trip to Aprilia for a youth conference.  We left on Friday after lunch with Lindsay, an A.I. worker in Vencenza, and some of our Italian friends who were here in September: Luca, Marco, and Daniela.  The whole weekend was about evangelism.  it was all in Italian, so I had to really concentrate to hear the words and then try to understand them, but I was able to get the gist of the sessions by reading the Bible verses they referenced.  So at the end of the days I was exhausted.  But it was awesome to meet people our age, and a few years younger than us, from the churches all over Italy.  We sang all weekend long and Vittorio, the preacher there in Aprilia, spoke at the sessions, and ate wonderful food prepared by the wonderful ladies at the church there.  We did have some free time on Saturday so a bunch of us went to take coffee and hang out in the park.  And we also played a game of Charades with them!  I was very blessed and encouraged by this weekend and making new friends and has been one of the best experiences so far for me.  Here are some pictures form this weekend:

Me and my new friend Luca

Another new friend Marta

The MEN!!

Hangin' out at the coffee shop

 

During a session

Hanging out in our free time

Hangin' out with our Italian friends in our free time

And here are some silly pictures of the game of Charades that we played:

What a great weekend!  We left early from the retreat on Sunday (well after lunch) to come back to Florence for the HUF Halloween party.  It has been a busy couple of weeks, but God really is blessing me.  Please keep praying for us, praying that we will let God use us and that we will be transparent with each other and with the people we are ministering to.  And please pray for all the churches here in Italy.  Hopefully I will be more diligent about my posting and do it more regularly.  Thanks and God bless.  Ciao

Schedules, Meetings, and Meanderings.

Ciao!  I am slowly making progress in taking care of everything so I can live in Italy.  I have registered at the police station, gotten my codice (which is like my Italian social security number), and my cell phone.  I still have to get my health insurance and fill out some more paperwork.  Hopefully it will all get done this week.

I know i told you that I would post my full schedule, but I haven't started teaching my English classes yet.  So i guess that i will tell you about my students another time.  So the schedule so far, everyday, is to wake up and get to school by 11:00 am Monday and Friday and 9:00 am Tuesday-Thursday.  On Monday nights we have a separate Bible studies for men and women, and this past week was my week to lead the study.  One of the Italian men in the group has some questions about specific passages in Bible that he doesn't understand, so we spent the hour talking about John 6:65.  He has such a great heart and is honestly seeking to know God better and to understand his word.  After Bible study on Monday night, there is a beginner's English class that Ryan, Andrea, and Angela teach here at the Bible school in Scandicci.  This beginner's English class also meets on Tuesday and Wednesday night and I got to help out on Tuesday night this week.   It was great meeting knew people and helping them understand English.  I would say that their English is better than my Italian!  On Thursday night we do another beginner's English class at the church in Florence, and also an advanced class if anyone there would rather do that than the beginner class.  After the class we have dinner and a Bible study in Italian.  We sing a few songs in Italian and then Robbie, the Harding University in Florence or HUF director, leads a Bible study.  Right now we are studying about the Lord's Supper.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon, after a wonderful meal from Rosa, the Avanti workers have a David and Debbie to talk about things that need to get done during the week.  After the meeting on Friday we have "Physical Fridays" where we do something around the School that needs to be done like painting, cleaning, moving furniture,
"e cetera". 

I have been here for two whole weeks now and have been able to do a little sightseeing of Florence in my little free time.  I went on my own last Thursday to the Duomo and the San Lorenzio market, and at 3 my language school went to the Accadamia, an art museum that has Michelangelo's David.  On Tuesday Ryan, Eric, Allen, and I had a guy day and we went around Florence to see the Duomo, the Piazza della Signoria, the Ponte Vecchio, the Piazzale Michelangelo, and of course got gelato.  Here are some pictures of my trips around Florence:

 The outside of the Duomo (above and below)

And a view of the dome and inside the Duomo:

Here we are in the Piazza della Signoria and behind us was the Di Medici family palace was.

(from left to right: Eric, Me, and Allen)

Some in the Piazza di Singnoria:

And are the A.I guys with the Ponte Veccio behind us:
(Me, Ryan, and Eric)

And here are some views of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo:

And here are the infamous A.I. guys at the Plazzale Michelangelo:

This past weekend while everyone was taking their own trips, I stayed at the School to study, get my phone, help David move some furniture, and some other necessary chores.  Language school is still going well and getting difficult. I was told that I would have to butcher the language before I mastered it, and currently I am butchering it. However, it does help to speak it with other people and Italians who will correct me.  I have put more pictures of my Florence adventure on Facebook, so if you are my friend then feel free to check them out.  Well that's all for now, but please keep praying for us over here.  Pray that we will open ourselves up to God and he will fill us with his spirit and use us for his glory.  A presto!