Campeggio 2011

Returning to italy wasnt as simple as was arriving in America.

The scheduled flight back was originally for the morning of July 29th. We arrived at the airport suitcases ready, everything in order, and the lady at the front desk tells us that there was a problem with our flight itinerary. There had been a scheduled time change made within our flight arrangements. Apparently, there is a required minimum time frame of 1 hr and 1/2 time for transporting the luggage from one flight to the next. Because of this time change the airline company had made, we no longer had that 1 hr and 1/2 that was needed to put our bagage on the next plane to Rome from Chicago.

All of this to say, she basically guaranteed that our bags would not make it on the plane with us, and that we were not guarenteed a certain time when we would retrieve them. I will just back up and say that the two previous times I have flown to Italy, I lost a bag. So after this conversation, I was certain that we would in fact loose our bags, something we were not willing to do at this point. Anyways after all was said and done, the lady at the front desk was an angel, her name was Joyce Day, basically scheduled us an entire new flight itinerary through American Airlines, when in fact the fault was AlItalia. Talk about great customer service. So we headed back to Canal Winchester and enjoyed one last Mexican lunch of chips and salsa with our family! A great surprise =)

The next day, however,  there were tons of storms, so after our 9 hour layover in Chicago, we waited 4 hours on the ground inside the plane before we finally took off for Rome. Once in Rome, we had missed our next flight to Brindisi because of the previous flight delay, and. . .  they had lost our luggage. YIKES. After 2 hours of searching, we found the luggage, boarded the next available plane and arrived in Brindisi close to midnight. What a trip. When we got home we were in for an even bigger surprise... I had brought back a huge container of Hershey's Coco powder to made brownies and other sweets.... when we opened the suitcase........

This is what we found! We had wrapped almost everything else in zip locks and plastic bags, but somehow missed the coco powder. haha. So over a 24 hour trip, at 2 am, I found myself standing in the shower trying to rinse out a chocolate covered suitcase. ha.The next day we had to finish the laundry effected from the exploded coco, and get ready to leave for camp the following morning on Sunday.

Sunday morning Eric, Pier Francesco, and I departed for San Benedeto train station,where we would then catch a bus ride to the next train station, to finally be picked up by Roberto. Together we climbed probably 2 or 3 mountains together and arrived at the top of a mountain in a small village called Meschia. it was such an awesome welcome! Immediately Daniela, Joele, Viktor, Mino and all the rest of the teens that we hadnt seen since Florence came running to great us! What a wonderful welcome back =)

This was our class!

(our = Laura, me, Titus (and American who grew up as a missionary child in Italy and now returns frequently to help with the work in Italy), and from Wednesday to Friday, Tonia also helped with this class)

The schedule was as follows: Breakfast at 8:30, followed by cleaning, a short devotional, Bible class, followed by and activity class, lunch, rest time, sports, shower, dinner, devotional, activity, lights out for campers, meeting for all of the counselors, cooks, and crew members.

Above the girls were making a circle tag for each camper. We hung them in the dining room and let the kids write positive things on them all week! it was a success and a great encouragement for them =)

Ginevra, Alessia, Helena, and Clarissa

It was Tuesday night. Mino, who was just baptized on his birthday this past May 29th, had just given his very first devotional. Afterwards, all of the counselors were about to start our meeting when all of the sudden Emily comes in and says that Miram (one of the campers) wanted to talk with her. 15 minutes or so passed, we were all waiting in suspense, hoping for what was about to happen, Emily returned and announced that Miram had decided to be baptized! And that she didnt want to wait any longer, she wanted to be baptized right now! The feeling in the air was magical, really. All of the men and women were jumping up, hugging each other, laughing crying, the men running frantic to clean out the freezer and the women preparing large cooking pots of water to fill it with. The girls were as teenage girls are naturally, frantic haha. Running to find Miram, hugging and kissing her. It was fantastic, something that I will never forget, and that I am so thankful that God allowed us to witness.

(I took a video of the actual baptisim, but I cannot get it to upload, so i only have these few photos)

Afterwards....

.....Nostra sorellina!! Come è bella tu sei!

Franco giving one of the morning devotionals.

Of course the days following we were all still on a spiritual high! The campers were in high spirits and it seemed that the baptism of Miriam had set the tone for the rest of the week =)

Another one of our Bible class activities....

Laura and Daniela

We first met Laura when we went to the family retreat at Velletri in May, although we had met her older brother Andrea months before. They are both from Rome. Daniela of course was one of my first friends here in Italy- we met that first weekend we were in Italy when the Bible School hosted the youth retreat. What a blessing she is to me. Pray for this girl, we know that she is going to do some amazing work for the kingdom=)

Daniela, Virgina, Viktor, and Joele

Virgina is the daughter of Vittorio and Toina, and they are from Roma. Actually, all of you at Harding should look for Virginia, as she is now an enrolled Harding Student! She has finished her first semester and will be returning for the fall semester soon.

This activity was for the "activity class period." The kids could choose between singing, English, and dance. Angela, Laura, Eric and I taught the English class. This day we were learning directions- go straight! turn left! Turn around! etc. Above, I had made different maps of the campground with a different route on each map. We split the kids into groups of 2 and gave each of them a map. One of the team members was blindfolded and the other had to give directions in English to follow according to the map. It turned out really fun.

Mino and Viktor

Good job guys!

A great surprise mid week, was the arrival of our firend Marco! Marco is from Vicenza. He, along with Pier Francesco, was baptized last summer at camp. This summer, we didnt think he was comming because of work, so it was a great surprise to see him  =)

They were SO happy.

Helena and Alessia

When you move to a new place, it takes awhile to get better acquainted with with all of the new people you meet on a daily basis. Slowly, it begins to happen that you run into new people who are somehow connected with the other people you met first. One night, Eric and I were talking with Helena (above on the left), and it turns out she is the grand daughter of Sergio and Franca who we stayed with at one of our very first youth retreats last October in Aprilia! We told her the story of when we first met her grandparents and how we knew zero italian and only had the vocabulary to talk about the pomegranate they offered us for a snack! We decided that we would have to make a visit soon and enjoy pomegranate all together next time =) 

Taking our group photo with our T-shirts!

Pier Francesco, Eric, and Daniela

Waiting for their turn to play soccer!

Alessa and Clarissa

Guilia and Laura

Pier Francesco and Eric

Laura and Angela

Snack time! Snacks consisted of orange or pineapple juice and slice of bread with Nutella! 

We love Nutella=)

Volleyball

The girls =)

Im not positive but I want to say that this was the night of the midnight hike. As I said before, we were already ontop of a huge mountain, but this night, we found some even higher ground on our hike. At first I was a little apprehensive about this , but it turned out to be more of a slightly uphill walk than a hike, and could not have been longer than 15 min. on mostly on gravel road. Anyways, I didnt take my camera bc its fussy at night, although as always happens, when I choose not to take it, I wish I would have. The night was so beautiful. It was calm and refreshingly cool due to the altitude. Seemingly every star was out for us to see. After the devotional and prayer, we each said outloud things for which we were thankful, and at the end, we all stood up and made a huge circle and praised God with songs under the starlight. Another magical moment that we are so blessed to have been a part of. 

Alessia, Clarissa, and Helena 

The next night was the night of the talent show! All of the kids were sooo excited!

Viktor, Mino, and Pier Francesco

Daniela sang a song while her sister Alina accompanied her on the guitar! So talented!

Mino did some beat boxing ....

and Viktor solved a Rubik cube in 1 min and 30 seconds! 

I think they had an ok time ;)

That same night was the night of Pier Francesco's first devotional! It was outside, so I didnt get any good pictures other than ones of the other kids while we were waiting for it to begin. He did a really great job! 

Me and Eric

Viktor, Daniela, Joele, and Pier Francesco

Me and Daniela

      The next day after lunch was the day of the water fight. . . 

It was the funniest thing, right before they started it, they all grabbed hands, made this circle, and sang "Bind us Together." Immediately after they broke hands and raced for the balloons! ha!

Giacamo and Eric at a stand off =)

Ouch! 

Later that evening, we had a show of the things the kids had learned in their "activity period." 

Pictured above is the singing class- excellent!

Three of the dancers =)

Our last night, we had a huge cook out!

 Hot dogs, beans, and bruschetta, followed by Gelato for desert.

Ciao tutti!

Eric and Kristofer

Kristofer is Joele's little brother. He and Eric became pretty close during camp. 

Virgina, Giacomo, me, Daniela, Eric, and Viktor

Later that night, we AI workers had just went outside to sit around the campfire for a bit before bed. All of the sudden we hear a bunch of the teen girls come running, Clarissa and Cristina want to be baptized tomorrow!! What a wonderful way to end a fantastic week!

Clarissa and Me

Franco praying with Cristina, Miriam, and Clarissa before the baptisims.

Franco and Clarissa

Franco, Clarissa, and Cristina

Clarissa giving her confession.

Franco, Cristina, and Clarissa

Cristina with her dad and Franco on the left, and Clarissa and her mom on the right. 

What a beautiful thing to witness.

This is when Franco said, "Siamo miracoli!" 

we are miracles =)

Indescribable. 

Kristofer, Alina, Me, and Daniela

One last goodbye until next time!

Pier Francesco, Daniele, and Eric

We are blessed.

Daniela and Eric

Me and Daniela

The good news did not end at camp. The following morning after church service, we received a phone call that Viktor, after ariving home from camp, had been baptized at his home church in Aprilia!! 

I hope after reading this you have experienced some of the joy that we did while we were at camp. The time is now with these teens. They are hearing and receiving Jesus with joy; and wow, it is awesome to get to see it first hand. Those of you who are partnering with us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for allowing us to be a part of this work. I cant really communicate to you the things we are witnessing and the lives that are being changed, but know that all of these things and more are happening right now. Please keep the youth of Italy in your prayers. They have many great things in store for them. Pray for the churches and for us that we will continue to be in His service here in Itlay. 

We love you! xoxoxoxox!