well we have officially finished our first semester back at the Bible School and will begin our next semester in a couple of weeks! 2015, i cant believe you are already here!
following the Lord these past 5 years has been an interesting journey to say the least! we have learned so much about Gods faithfulness and His goodness. time and time again, despite whatever we are facing, He is always TRUE. working here in this culture and in this place, we are torn in so many different directions that it can make your head spin if youre not careful! ;) lately as we are getting to know our students better and trying to work into the community around us, i cant help but feel a little crushed sometimes by the reality that surrounds us here in italy. one particular example is the view of God here. He is believed to be more of an idea here than the TRUE, LIVING, HOLY, God that we know and worship. F A I T H is hard to come by here. its mind boggling bc Christianity is ingrained into their every day lives. the baptisteries, the cathedrals, the art, their religious holidays... and yet, as a christian, its a lonely place.
The Duomo and Cathedral at Christmas.
while serving the bible school can be challenging at times, IT IS SO NECESSARY HERE. we may be few and small, but if we are faithful what this small seed, God promises He will bring about the harvest. its so encouraging to hear THE WORD on the lips of our students! whenever we have had a long week or feel overwhelmed, its the power of His word that keeps us strong and encouraged! i am so grateful for His word. this work is challenging people every day to know Christ- they are reading His word and we are surrounding them to the best of our ability with His LOVE. and his love, as you all well know, is contagious!
ALMOST REUNITED!
back row: Eric, Miles, David and Jodi.
front row: me, Meredith, and Morgan
photo taken fall of 2013 at the College COC before our send off to Italy.
thinking about the new year and all of the possibilities at our fingertips is so exciting!!! our 2015 team will soon be complete as david just arrived last week and the Thompsons (who officially have their
V I S A S!!) will return tomorrow and we cannot wait to get rolling!
STUDENTS
since we first arrived, we have picked up quite a few new students! each of my students have introduced me to either friends or family members who also would like english lessons. eric has also received several emails/calls regarding the possibility of taking lessons. We will be starting the new semester off with a mixer this friday Jan 16th- the first friday that the team is all back together!
AMONG OTHER THINGS
after thanksgiving, Jodi spent 2 weeks visiting in vicenza with the hopes of possibility moving there early Feb to work with the church and community there. we all agreed that the visit would give her a clearer idea of what her role would look like in Vicenza. Jodi really enjoys working with the youth...... and Vicenza has a lot of youth! :) Also, bc Vicenza is a metropolitan city (like a smaller version of Florence), there is also a big interest in learning English! She plans to continue to teach English in order to reach out to the community of Vicenza. and lastly, Jodi will obviously also be working with the church community of Vicenza!
Giovanni and Jodi in Vicenza.
Jodi returned back to the Bible School shortly before our winter semester ended. Since then we have discussed the option of her remaining at the Bible school with us for another semester. it will be very helpful to us at the school to have her teaching for a little while longer. In the meantime, everyone in Vicenza is very excited for her to return this June.
TIS THE SEASON
After we finished out the winter semester classes, we all took a little time to enjoy the holidays and to celebrate the New Year and the new semester that would be here before we knew it!
We spent a lot of time with our students who were more free during this period. so far we have found that people are really busy here! this obviously makes it hard to plan things together during the school/work year, so we certainly took advantage of the down time during the Christmas season!
Giulia and I walked through the Scandicci Christmas market with the girls....
we received our first package from the USA from my parents! THANKS mom and dad! they sent a little something for the girls as well...;) ps. before jumping to conclusions, the folgers coffee is not what you think! its filled with my grandmothers homemade carmel corn!
We said see you soon to Mino, who returned back to Puglia after not finding a job here in Tuscany...
....visited with Morgan and her boyfriend Zach who came to visit her in Florence for a few days! We took them to Fiesole where you can see a beautiful view of Florence. They celebrated Christmas in Germany visting friends of Morgans family, who served in Germany as missionaries while Morgan was growing up.
We also had our first game night with the Moradei family! Heads Up is always a winner, even in Italy!
Jodi celebrated Christmas with her long time friend in Edinhoven (the Netherlands).
and eric and I and the girls celebrated in northern Italy by a lake called Como.
Before Jodi and Eric and I left the Bible school, we made sure to tie up some loose ends, this including getting new alarm system on the front door! bc we didnt have the original manual,we were unable to change the existing code. Therefore, we had to replace the system entirely :( however, we are all feeling a lot more at ease and secure with this new system! we also can now change the code regularly on a monthly basis in order to maintain security here at the school! two thumbs up! in the meantime, ..... even though we felt secure with the new alarm system....we were UNprepared for the earthquakes that began in the days to follow ! They continued on for the next 2 days before we left for Como. the largest one even reached a 4.0 on the richter scale! thankfully no one was hurt and they eventually stopped !
trying to get off the highway.
lake Como is about a 3.5 hour drive from Florence. it was very cold on our way back, but we didnt expect there to be a snow storm! but as luck would have it, about an hour into our trip back to the school, snow began to fall. Just before we reached Bologna, we hit traffic. We were stopped on the highway for a good 2 hours before we were routed off of the highway. turns out they closed the highway bc of the snow! this meant we were rerouted through a town called Pistoia. We unfortunately didnt know that this meant we would be cutting through the mountains of Pistoia. At one point, we found ourselves stuck behind a semi truck half way up the mountain! i have never been so happy to see florence in my life! the good news is that once we finally made it back to the school around 9 pm that night (what was supposed to be a 3 hr drive turned into a 10 hr one!) we got to see Jodi and meet our guests who were there to stay with us for the weekend!
Meet Yasmine, Stefano, and their family!
Eric, Stefano, Alfredo, Yasmin, me, and the kiddos: David, Daniela, and Diego!
Meeting Yasmine and her family was such a neat blessing! Yasmine is originally from the Congo, but she moved to Belgium with her family
as a child. Later, she moved to Italy and married Stefano. They are currently
living outside of Rome, however, it is difficult to find a congregation where
they are located. She was searching on the Internet when she found the Florence
Church of Christ's website and began emailing with Alfredo. (Alfredo is a
member here at the Florence COC). After communicating for some time,
Alfredo invited Yasmin and her family to come and visit us!
Yasmine making us some delicious Carbonara and meatballs!
They stayed at the school and Sunday after church, we had a potluck together, and another family from Vecchiano (a church with only 5 members) came to visit with them as well. Later that evening Yasmin cooked a wonderful dinner for us at the school and we talked about her journey as a Christian until almost midnight! Yasmin is a very strong Christmas woman and we are so so happy to have had the opportunity to get to know her and her family! .... Even when we arent asking for His blessings, God joyfully blesses us and encourages us just the same! Jodi and I are looking forward to seeing her in march at the Women's Retreat in Velletri!!
New Years with Rosa and her family
:)
Back row: Stefano, Angela, Ester,
Eric
Front row: me, Jodi, Morgan, Rosa,
and Felice
New years day, Rosa invited all of us to her home for lunch!
of course she never disappoints, and her pasta with salmon was delicious! After
we had our espressos to close out the meal, we drove over to her daughter
Angela's country house to visit. Angela and her husband have one daughter named
Ester, who takes classes with Morgan here at the school. I know Rosa's two
grandsons a little better bc they are in my kids class ;) after visitng for a
little bit, we decided to play a couple of card games... including spoons! it was
fun to be able to get to know Rosa's family a little better and to celebrate
the New Year together!
After lunch tomorrow we will have our beginning of the semester meeting with the team, this including some team building activities as well ;) thurs we will begin our english classes in Florence at the church building, Friday we will have our kick off mixer, saturday about 10 italians from all over italy will come to the Bible school to discuss some projects for the new year, retreats, and camp, sunday we will visit the congregation in pistoia, and monday, we officially begin our 2015 spring semester classes!! Also on monday, Scot and Becky will arrive to visit with us for a week!
sooooo lots to look forward to as we start the new year. Please keep all of us in your prayers! we have a lot going on and are blessed with new opportunities every day to shine His light. please pray that we remain encouraged and strong in our efforts to share the gospel with everyone we meet! thank you to all of you who are supporting us! thank you especially for your prayers.
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. Ihave made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-29
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. Ihave made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-29
