Well, as stated above, the new semester is up and running. We started teaching classes last week and I am excited. I am still teaching Edoardo and Felice. Edoardo and I are doing a Bible study called Spread the Word Bible Study and right now we are looking at what the Bible says about the authority of Jesus. He is very smart and knows English very well and I am looking forward to more classes with Edoardo. Felice and I are reading a book called The Complete Stories of the Bible. It is a simpler language and stays true to what the Bible says. We started last week with Adam and Eve and continued with it this week. I prepare a vocab list of some of the more important words in the story for the week and then for homework I give him a proverb to memorize. I am also co-teaching the "advanced grammar" which we are calling "grammar 2" since the advanced part made a few of the students nervous. This class is on Tuesday nights and it is basically going to be more advanced grammar than anything else. I am still co-teaching the English conversation class at the church on Thursday nights with Ryan and we are going to do more conversation than grammar this semester and try to use the Bible as much as possible.
Yesterday I taught one of David's students, Giuseppe. He doesn't speak a lot of English and my Italian is limited. We just started out by talking with each other and asking "get to know you" questions. When he found out that I studied theology he started asking me question that I didn't expect him to ask me. Just a few of them were, "do you believe in miracles and have you ever seen one (he was referring to supernatural events)...do you believe in demons, demon possession, and have you ever seen one...where did Jesus go when he was dead to heaven or to hell, and what did he do there...why did Jesus wait 40 days before going back to heaven." Questions like those and a few others. I tried to be open with him and to stay in the word of God and see what the Bible has to say on all of those subjects, but it was hard to do it in one hour with a language barrier between us.
Every Friday we do a "physical Friday" which involves cleaning around the Bible school or helping out one of the church members, but last Friday we did a work day at the church. We have these HUGE palm trees behind the building and their branches have been falling and it can be dangerous. So we spent the morning in the cold piling up branches while David was on scaffolding next to the tree pulling them off or cutting them off.
We have also added some new activities to our schedule. Every Friday of the month, starting in February, we will have some activity with our students and members of the church. The first Friday will be movie night which Ryan and I are in charge of. The first movie will be Despicable Me, with subtitles, and we will have some questions to ask them after its over. The next Friday is a Cooking School, with Debbie, Laura, and Erminita. They will do American recipes for this school. The third Friday is Game Night and we will have a plethora of games to play, which Angela is in charge of. The last Friday is a Book Club which Emily and Andrea are in charge of and the first book will be The Pearl by Steinbeck. These are just some things we decided to do to get to know our students better and each others students as well.
Last Saturday Ryan, Emily, and Angela drove to Aprilia to go to a summer camp planning session. When the girls here, Erminita, Debbie, and Andrea put in a chick-flick David said that the men should do something. So we hopped in the car and drove to Volterra, a small Tuscan town not too far from Firenze on a hill. The views from the city are amazing and just the views on the drive up there were worth the trip. It also has some awesome Roman ruins of an amphitheatre and forum but it has gained some recent fame because it it where some vampire book series called Twilight takes place. I have never read them and don't really plan to. It was extremely cold there and even snowing, although it wasn't sticking to the ground. Volterra is also famous for their alabaster products so I bought an alabaster chess set with some of the money I got from my family for Christmas, so thanks Mom, Dad, Daniel, Megan, and Mammaw! I have also taught Eric to play chess and one of Eric's students really wants to learn to play so hopefully I can teach him as well! I never thought that I could use a chess set as an outreach tool! Here are a couple of pictures from Volterra.
One of the main squares in Volterra
Above and Below:
The Roman Forum and Amphitheatre in Volterra
The Castle at Volterra which is now a prison.
And me at Volterra with the Countryside behind me.
The baptistery at the Duomo of Volterra
Another building with a flat clock tower.
As always I hope that you will continue to pray for us. Pray that God will use us for his glory and we will allow ourselves to be used and that we will make the most of every opportunity to spread the Gospel, plant seeds in people's lives, and show God's love to other people. Pray also for our students and the churches here in Italy. Both mean a lot to all of us here at the Bible school. Thanks and God bless. Ciao
No comments:
Post a Comment