These past two weeks, I am happy to report to you that we have experienced a joy and peace that we know has been sent from the Lord. Thank you for praying for us and the situations that we find ourselves in here in Taranto. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:7
Ta-Da!
Because the weeks in September were a little complicated and I didnt get to post about the happenings outside of the confusion, there are a couple of them that I want to share with you before I begin to tell you about the past two weeks. One of which is introducing you to our blue fiat panda!
size ratio :)
I especially like the plaid seats! By the way, almost all of the cars here in Italy are manual. Its a good thing eric and I both already knew how to drive them!
Again, thank you so much for supporting us to purchase this vehicle. It has been a blessing in SO many more ways than I know how to express to you! Thank you thank you thank you! :)
Inside Bulletin Board
Another small "catch up" is some new plans Eric and I have been making. One of which was to pay some attention to organizing the bulletin boards inside and outside of the church building. We decided to design this one as more of an interactive board. There is a weekly Bible verse, a calendar, an encouraging idea/thought for the week, a space for prayer requests, and lastly a spot to pick up weekly Bible lessons that Eric has been preparing for the congregation here. There is a great need for the members here to become more involved in searching and studying the Bible. Eric and I are trying to really help encourage the fundamentals of our faith as Christians with the congregation here in Taranto. One way we thought that we could approach this need, was to offer personal Bible studies to the members. Eric has been reading a new book of Jim Woodroof that is about grace and the Beatitudes. It is really helping him as he is putting together the the "take home" Bible studies. The focus will be understanding the fundamentals of our faith.
Cinzia and Onofio
The last detail is getting to know our new members! Cinzia and Onofio were baptized this summer and began attending worship with us in Taranto at the end of September. They actually live in Bari which is a good hour, hour and fifteen minutes drive, from Taranto. A few Saturdays ago, Eric, Fabrizio, and I drove there to visit them in Bari. They are a sweet couple and we are excited to get to know them better in the months ahead.
Carmela, Monica, Lucia, and Aunt Tina
Ok starting from three weeks ago, October 1st to be exact, Carmela invited me to join her and her girlfriends for a girls night out around Taranto. I had met Monica before when she came to one of the potlucks at church with Carmela. Her daughter Fiorenza is friends with Laura. Next is Lucia. She is a friend of Aunt Tina. I first met her one evening while we were at Carmela's house.
Fiorenza and Laura
Also, during the weeks of September, we went with Carmela and Laura to see The Smurfs movie in 3D (like the one on Firoenza's shirt). It was so cute. I wasn't aware of this until I came to Italy, I guess I just assumed that movies translate the titles literally, and that names such as "smurfs" would remain the same. However, the titles change dramatically .. . you will never guess what The Smurfs are called in Italian....i Puffi! Lately, I have been lucky to have the opportunity to spend more time with Laura and Carmela. I feel as if we are family- especially with little Laura. What a sweet blessing she is to us here in Taranto :)
The restaurant where we went that night is famous for its long flat bread pizza. Everyone orders what type they would like and it comes out on a long serving tray like this one above. You can't tell from the picture, but the pizza is actually sitting on little blocks on top of the table. It was really good, I was impressed.
Monica and Lucia
I am really thankful to have the opportunity to have some women friends. After eating pizza together, we decided to take a walk along Lungo Mare (After meeting together to have dinner, it is typical here in Italy to take walks around the city and enjoy each others company. When friends get together, they spend the entire evenings together. I think I arrived back at our apartment around midnight. Its so different from our western culture of an hour and a half lunch date, isnt it?) I got to talking with Monica, and it turns out that she was really interested in learning English! So, we set up to meet the following Tuesday and we had our first English class. She is so eager to learn that we have scheduled to meet twice a week. This is going to be an interesting friendship and I am excited to see what unfolds. Please keep her and her daughter in your prayers.
The next morning Eric gave the message at worship. Again, he spoke about the fundamentals of being a Christian. He did an excellent job. :) Afterwards, we had lunch at the home of Franco and Enza. Later that evening Fabrizio, Luca, and their mom, Adele, came over to check our translation for the Thursday night video devo. Afterwards, we went and got pizza together, and ended the evening by watching a movie at our apartment together.
Monday morning,we had planned to make a run to Auchan to get some some things we needed for the upcoming week (now that we have the car, we can go to the superstore Auchan! Another bonus of having a car.). On the way there, we passed this park! From the road, it didnt look like much, but we noticed that there were several joggers coming in and out of it. Because of Taranto's pollution, there isn't much greenery around so, when we walked in, we were in complete surprise! Italy has oodles of this type of Pine trees, and I love them. It felt like we were in a completely different city. It was very clean and well kept. There was what I guess you would call, a track that went around the area of the park, where people were walking and jogging. There were also lots of little stations - some for picnics, some for kids to play, there was even a spot for a gazebo! All of this to say,it was a really nice surprise to find this green get-away in the pines.
Me and Eric.
The wind from the sea was blowing like crazy that day!
The far end of the park that led to the sea.
Before . . .
Another new approach to our work here in Taranto, was to create a schedule. Aside from our students, the kids school, creating lessons, visiting with members..etc, we decided to allot one morning a week to be at the church building. We wish that we could be there more, but the church does not have a phone or Internet. The Internet is very much needed for us while we create our lessons, do emails, blog, etc. Anyways, this first Wednesday at the church building, we decided to take on the outside windows. What I mean is that we re-designed them! It was sort of intimidating to design something to "represent" the church. After we thought about it for a while, we asked ourselves, what is the most important thing that people need to know when they approach this "new" church? (to an approximate 90 % Catholic population, Christianity -meaning.. only following the Bible and Jesus Christ... is something new, and unknown here in Italy) We decided on the Greatest commandments. We wrote Matthew 22:37-40 on the first board (pictured below), and this Wednesday we will complete the second board with the scripture 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. The members seemed to like to first board. We are excited for this new project.
. . . After!
Sorry for the terrible glare! :(
While we were in Florence in September, Robbie (the director of the HUF program), gave us a number of a young girl he knows (and her family), who lives here in Taranto! Later that evening after we finished up with the window, we met up with her and her dad for a coffee. Her name is Federica and she is 17 years old. She was such a breath of fresh air! She attends a private school here in Taranto that specializes in languages. I am assuming that she does speak English, although, we spoke Italian that night. She said she would be happy to ask her friends if any of them would be interested in English lessons with us! On the flip side, she also has offered to give us Italian lessons once a week! I am excited about this. When we first started school, I have to admit that the school part didn't help me as much as I had originally thought it would. We were so busy at the Bible School, and living in Florence, where everyone speaks English, that at times it was hard to practice and really understand the language. However, since we have moved to Taranto, we have learned it so much more quickly! We laugh when we tell others that it was probably because we knew if we didnt, we wouldnt be able to survive! ha. This is a prime example of a blessing in disguise. Anyways, all of that to say, we are finally at the point with our Italian that I feel like critiquing and perfecting it is useful. We understand enough of the language now that we will be able to ask questions and work on learning new vocabulary, and pronunciation. We meet with Federica for our first lesson this Wednesday!
This picture just makes me laugh.
It makes me feel as if we are part of a star wars episode or something :)
The next day was Thursday. Before film night at our apartment, I got up early to go to the beach for a couple of hours with my student Antonella, then we enjoyed lunch with Anna Maria and Bruno, and afterwards I met again with Monica for our second English class of the week while Eric met with Andrea. For the film night, I baked a yellow cake from scratch from Debbie's recipe, and topped it with homemade chocolate icing. Debbie if you are reading this, it was a hit. Eric did a great job leading the lesson, and we had some good conversations.
While we were in America this past June, I tried to pick up little things for Laura as I saw them, things that I know she's never seen that Italy doesn't have, or just little things that little girls like. For example, stickers, things by Hello Kitty, pop rocks, ring pops, crafts etc.. . one of these things were these glow in the dark bracelets that I found at the dollar store. After our study on Thursday, I was thinking what to bring out for Laura (as sometimes its hard for her to be the only kid in the mix) and I picked the bracelets. Luckily, I brought back two packs because, I was just pulling out one for her when all of the sudden everyone was wanting one! ha. Hence the star war photo above.
We decided to get creative with our light show!
We had a good time laughing and enjoying our bracelets! 2 dollars well spent.
Carmela, Laura, me, and Enza
Andrea, Luca, Fabrizio, Eric, and Franco
The guys on the left are yelling Taratino slang "ma c'รจ weh?!" Slang for "but what do you want?!"
Just showing off our glow bracelets!
Carmela and me
Luca, Fabrizo and Eric
Oh silly boys!
Me and Ninetta
After going to Laura's school, we went to visit and have lunch with Ninetta. Each time we go and visit her, we get to know her a little better. She lives a very simple life, but one that is dependent on the Lord. She is 85 years old and insists on having us for lunch! After lunch, she always loads us up with left overs to take home with us, pasta, meat, fruit and desert! This past time, we had a really good visit about what it means to follow the Lord and be a Christian. She lost her husband some 5 years ago and always talks about him and how she wishes that they would have went together. For me, when I talk to her, its a reminder of how short this life really is, and how important it is to remember who and what we are living for. Many times she will say to me how she is ready to be with the Lord, and how she wonders when her time will come. But when she says it, she says it with a slight hence of frustration because she wants to be with Him now. Possibly more than you were interested in knowing about her, but just pray for her. She is a dedicated woman to the Lord, and we are thankful to have met her and to be a part of her life. Just before we were leaving she had an idea, and zoomed off to her bedroom where she called for us, saying she said something she wanted to give me. It was a ring of hers. She looked at me and Eric and told us,"I've loved you both since the first moment I saw you. I love you both as if you were my own kids." I tried to control myself as I felt tears in my eyes- I felt beside myself, completely humbled. At first of course I tried to ask her if she was sure, that it was such a nice gesture! But she just insisted and kept a great big smile on her face. . . wow.
Later that evening we had evening Bible study at the church, and afterwards, Eric and I met up with my students Antonella and Federica for Chinese food! Im sorry to say I forgot the camera :( But we had a good time and it was fun to try a Chinese place here in Italy. It wasnt the same really, but the rice was good, and they had soy sauce- which in Itlay is really expensive- about 7.5 dollars for one small bottle!
Saturday night, we spent with Enzo,Carmela, Laura, Aunt Tina, and Lucia. Carmela invited us over for her homemade panzerotti! (they are like hot pockets) This time I thought Eric had the camera, and he thought I had the camera...in the end, no one had the camera! :( Just trust me and know that the panzerotti were amazing :) Afterwards, we ended up having a very interesting conversation. Aunt Tina is a practicing Catholic, but she is a very open-minded person. Her friend Lucia, from what I could gather was raised Catholic, but is unsatisfied with religion in general. I can't remember how we got started talking, but Lucia brought something up about religion or the Bible. Anyways, Lucia had many questions about life and suffering, and of the purpose of our lives here on earth in general. We talked about many things, and in the end, we (eric and I) talked about the importance of going to the Bible to find the answers to life's questions. I really enjoyed talking to the women. That night when we had finished our conversation, I mentioned having a ladies Bible study, just the 4 of us. The ladies seemed interested.I am in the process of organizing ideas to find a good Bible study to start. Any ideas, or studies that you know of are much welcomed! Eric also just met with Fabrizio and Andrea last night and discussed the idea of them meeting for a time to study and even learn new songs together. We believe that this can/will be a very positive force.
We got up early the next morning before church- I, to finish baking sugar cookies to take to Fabrizio and Luca's after church, and Eric to go and pick up Anna Maria and bring her to church. Usually, Fabrizio and Luca would pick up their mom, Ninetta, and Anna Maria. Now that we have the car, Eric has been participating as Anna Maria's new chauffeur!
The weather here is finally cooling down. We are so thankful for this cool breeze in the air! I know Im getting ahead of myself, since its not even Halloween yet, but sugar cookies just sounded good!
Eric, Ninetta, and Adele at Luca and Fabrizio's apartment.
Fabrizio was our cook for the afternoon!
He made Pasta Carbonara!
Ninetta and Fabrizio
Luca and Eric making a strange face :)
It was so nice of the brothers to have us over for lunch! We appreciate them so much.
After our English lessons in the day, Laura and Carmela met us at our apartment to decorate Tshirts! I dont know about you, but when I was little, my grandma and I did this for almost every holiday! I didn't tell Laura what we would be doing until she got there and her face was priceless! She was SO excited! Before she came, I found some pictures online of things she likes, such as Hello Kitty, Hannah Montana, stars, hearts, flowers, music...etc for her to look at and copy onto her shirt. Notice the first thing she wrote: Hannah Montana!
After we finished, Laura took my camera and decided it was time for . . .
. . . . Dress up/ Picture Time!!!
These rings were one of the things I had bought in America for Laura- they came in handy for dress-up!
I don't remember the inspiration here :)
Look at her!
Sweet!
Why not scarves?!
Laura kept trying to tell us to be serious..this was as close as we got!
Laura was getting picture happy here! haha.
Cute!
Ta-da! The finished products!
Ermenita and Me
The next morning, Wednesday, Eric and I took off for a short visit to Florence. When we were there in September buying the car, we were not able to finish the process because we didnt have our Italian "Identity Card." Once we returned back to Taranto, we did the necessary paperwork to obtain the card, and booked a three day trip back to Florence to finish up the paperwork. We arrived into Scandicci around 5 pm that evening. Eric had already made plans with his student Behzad to attend a conference and go to dinner together. I, on the other hand, spent some girl time, catching up with Ermenita.
The Duomo at night. . .lovely.
The next morning, we left the Bible school around 8 that morning and set off to finish up the paperwork with David. It took us a while to find the right offices, but eventually we were successful! Afterwards, David dropped us off in the center of Florence where Eric and I enoyed some fresh air and the beauty of Florence in the fall together.
Piazza della Signoria
Angela and Kelli
After a couple of hours of enjoying Florence, we took bus number 17 and met the rest of the gang for lunch at a pizza place close to the church.
Ponte alle Carraia
After lunch, I went back into town, while Eric and Peter went to the Scandicci fair.
Ermenita and Lisa
A few hours later, we met back again at the church for English conversation class and the Thursday night Bible study. I had class with Lisa. She is 5 years old now. I know that we have only known her since last September, but it seems like she has/is growing up so much!
Thursday night Bible Study.
After lunch on Friday, we began preparations for the Bible School's American cooking night!
On the menu was scalloped potatoes and stuffed hamburgers! YUM.
Laura preparing the veggies to go into the burger.
By 4:30pm we were basically set. There were still a few preparations to be made, but I had made plans with Clizia to meet at Piazza Matteoti downtown Scandicci to hang out together!
Peppers? Olives? or Garlic anyone?
I can never say enough how much I love Clizia! I feel like we are sisters in many ways. It is always such a breath of fresh air when we get to be together. I am so thankful for our friendship! We had a few hours to get to hang out before time for the cooking school at 8pm, so we started by exploring the Scandicci Fair together.
We tasted this parmesean and it was magnificent!
Look at the colors!
I cant remember specifically, but this pottery is from southern Italy. In fact, living in Taranto, we see it alot. The Scandicci Fair happens every year here in the fall. It is huge! I only took pictures of the food parts, but in reality, the fair itself is massive. There was furniture, clothing, art, jewelery, food, anything you can imagine, it was there. Clizia told me this time that the different booths represent many of the different regions around Italy, and what each region is known for.
Monica
After awhile, we got a little chilly and decided to head back to Clizia's house to drink some hot chocolate before the cooking school :) Above is Clizia's mom Monica in their living room. I love their house. Her dad is a sculptor, as was her grandpa. They also have many artist friends. Naturally then, their house is full of what I like to think of as treasures. ha. The sculpture to the left of Monica was done by her grandfather.
Monica, Me, and Clizia
I miss them already :(
After we stayed for a while at Clizia's house, we went to the Bible School! It was so neat! It was like we were a part of a real cooking show! We had already prepared the food in advance, as well as the food that Debbie would demo with. This time David set up a microphone system so that Debbie could just say what she needed and the because the speakers were in the kitchen where we stayed, we could immediately bring her whatever she needed. Anyways, it made it feel like a professional show to me!
Checking the recipies!
Peter, Erme, and Kelli
And then came dessert!
Debbie, Erme, and Laura
Great job girls!
Clizia!!
Its funny every time we see each other, we both bring a little something for each other. . not on purpose, it just happens that way. This time, I brought her a scarf that I had made for her!
She loves this color :)
. . . And she had made me these fabulous bracelets!
This picture is a little awkward, but I was trying to model the bracelets!
Monica, Me, and Clizia
One last hug until the next time.
Here is Kelli with her first student! Its hard to belive that a whole year has passed since we had our very first students at the Bible School. . .
Aerial View of Puglia
After cleaning up and saying our goodbyes, we were up and out of the Bible School at 6 am that next morning (Saturday).
We were greeted in Brindisi by our favorite couple of brothers :)
These past two weeks have been filled with many new opportunites and plans for the next two months. We are planing some activites with our students for this month, and next month we have the youth retreat in Aprilia, followed by a possible men's retreat in Prato. The last week of November, we are planning to have a Thanksgiving dinner here for our students and the church members. PLEASE pray for us as we attempt to take on this opportunity. I am a little intimidated, but the good news is that Angela is coming down to help cook and be an extra hand! Thank you Angela! We are excited for the upcoming weeks and are always thankful for your support and love back home. By the way, if you have any American recipies, I could use them. . . you can email me at jefaislart@yahoo.com
Love you all! xoxoxoxoxoxox
