Carnavale

Who knew sinus infections were so persistent? I waited probably a week before I decided to go to our doctor (mainly because Im not so supportive of his in office smoke sessions), and by this point, the entire left side of my face was clogged and my left ear hadnt popped for 2 whole days. . .it was brutal. When I finally went to the doctor, he wrote me a prescription, we took it immediately to the pharmacy and got it filled. Because I had to take it with dinner, I didnt even glance at the medicine until around 8 that night ...turns out he write me up for amoxicillin- to which I am allergic! Thank goodness I noticed it and didnt take it. I waited until the next morning to return to the doctor's office. Somehow we missed that he wasnt open that day until 6pm that evening, and we already had plans. I didnt end up getting my medicine (I translated what a zpack was for the dr and asked for this instead. ha) until this past tues! craziness. Anyways, all that to say, I am so thankful for medicine! Even after just the first 24 hours of the Zpack, I was already feeling so much better! 

This past week we have been planning and getting ready for Laura's Carnavale party. Carnavale in Italy is like Halloween in that, for both holidays, kids get to dress up. However, I would argue that the two holidays are more different than they are alike. Carnavale is basically all the glits and balloons and colors of a carnival/fair combined with an explosive circus- a circus minus the animals-make sense? Its celebrated by huge parades with people dressed in bright colors, adorned with glitter and sparkles, feathers, and beautifully designed masks. Unlike Halloween, the kids get to dress up not only for a one night candy quest, but instead, they dress up for a period of 3 weeks; they wear their costumes to the mall, the grocery store, and around town. 

Anyways, the cracks in the past week was filled with efforts to find decorations, make desserts, plan the games, and hope that it would all come together!

Wednesday, Mino came from Latiano to have an English lesson with Eric and to stay for the men's Bible study afterwards. In the mean time, I knew that it was Zia Tina's birthday, but I thought I wouldnt see her until later in the week to give her a small gift and wish her a happy birthday. She called me around noon on that day to tell me that she wanted to surprise us by inviting us to her birthday celebration that night! Eric and I of course already had plans with Mino and the brothers, but I couldnt say no to Zia! We decided it would be best for Eric to stay with the men, and for me to go and celebrate with Zia Tina and the rest of the family. In the mean time, I called my student Antonella and asked if she wanted to go with me to help me pick something out for Zia. We decided on something from Thun. In Italy Thun is a very popular ceramic company that makes figurines and things for the home. Zia Tina loves rings, and I ended up picking out a butterfly shaped ceramic piece to hold her rings!

I think she liked it! 

The other uncle and aunt of Carmela- I can never remember their names!! :( Laura and  Zia Tina. 

While Eric enjoyed pizza with the guys, Zia Tina picked me up around 8pm and we ate at a lovely restaurant/pizzeria across from Ponte Girevole in the center of town.  

The Ricciardi Family :)

Zia Tina

JFK on the wall opposite of our table.

I could tell Laura was sleepy this night. Povera!

Marco and Laura

Im not sure, but I think this was a pizza topped with artichokes? In the south artichokes are a big thing! So are leaks and capers, and . . . 

Rucola! Which I think translates as Arugula, which is a type of strong green lettuce. This pizza was excellent! A new favorite of mine!

FANTA! another Italian must have. . .

We are so blessed to be a part of Zia Tina and Carmela's family here in Taranto.. .  memories and relationships that will last forever. . . .

The next day we organized some more for the party and did some grocery shopping at our favorite supermarket A & O. Later in the evening we left with Fabrizio, Luca, and Andrea to visit the community in Mesagne. The church members organized a film night together! We watched "The Grace Card," if you havent seen it, rent it tonight! It was excellent. There wasnt a dry eye in the building.

Andrea, Mino, and Eric

After the movie we visited and enjoyed some pizza and desserts together :) 

Friday I had class with Antonella. We decided to take a trip to Auchan and to speak only in English for the afternoon! When I arrived back at the apartment after our class, I finished up my lesson for the girls for church that evening, while Eric put some finishing touches on his lesson for the evening as well. Vito had called us during lunch and asked if Eric could take care of the lesson for the night because he was feeling ill.  Eric presented a wonderful lesson. One of the best parts about our time here in Italy for me is watching my husband grow. Its so obvious to everyone around him, the ways that the Lord is working through him and using him for His will. Eric has been working so diligently with the community here with some of the basic principles of our faith as Christians, and we are starting to see some fruits.  I see God illuminating a path for us, and its refreshing and so comforting knowing that we are not doing this work alone. He is certainly guiding us and directing us towards the hearts that are searching.

Say what?

Saturday was the day for the party! We woke up extra early, had our coffee and hit the pavement trying to figure out how we would blow up all of these enormous balloons! Luckily, we didnt have to go too far. Below our apartment and around the corner is a mechanic shop that is always open. We thought we would just pop in and ask if they would help us by using their air pump to blow up some of our balloons.. . . . .no problem! 

The man that helped us was so nice. After he finished blowing them up, we took the balloons up to the apartment before heading back out to get the desserts from the pastry shop. We decided to give the men at the mechanic place a plate full of Oreo balls that I had made for the party to say thank you!

Eric decided to blow up a couple more once we got back...

After getting the last minute desserts, pop, and face paint, we came back and ate an early lunch. Then, it was time to DECORATE!

The balloons were basically all of our decorations, with a couple streamers here and there. I think our plan was pretty successful! I couldnt help thinking about the movie "Up." :)

 House decorated? check. Desserts ready? check Confetti? check. Games? check. Organized living room? Music play list? photo both created? Check, check, check!! 

Laura as an ancient Roman.. . featured here with a mustache. . . :)

I thought it would be fun to create a "photo booth" where the girls could take some silly pictures. We bought a hat and a couple silly masks, while I made these fun mustaches and the angry bird mask (thanks pinterest!).   FYI looking at these pictures now, I cant believe I didnt iron the background sheet! oops :/ 

This is Alessia. She is only 7 years old. Carmela keeps her after school while her parents are at work. She is a sweet little girl. It was good because she and Samanta are the same age.

Samanta! Isnt she the cutest thing ever?! I still wish you could hear her little laugh- its almost like a little shrill! so cute! We were thrilled that she and Luana got to come. 

This is Fiorenza. She is one of Laura's friends from school. 

Take one all together. . . . 

This is my favorite :)

Carmela and Laura

I really wanted to be creative with our costumes, but we were cheap instead! haha. I just got a mask and some feathers to match Eric, because we found him an awesome Zoro hat, mask, and sword. fun! :)

In Italy group line dancing is the most popular party activity. Young, old, teens, they all love it! I was following little Alessia (the ballerina) the whole time! 

Please notice Samanta (snow white) . . . :)

1, 2, 3, .... .  .. . . GO!!!

I almost didnt even do this game, but last minute, I decided to try it. Apparently Twister is sort of a new thing here in Taranto Italy. I saw the game at Mister Toys last Monday with Carmela, but I decided to make one instead! why not? I had an old table cloth that had a bunch of stains on the front, but on the back was perfectly white. I googled the original twister game to remember how the colors went, dug out my acrylics, and went to town! Then I was trying to figure out what to put underneath it while we played the game because our floors here are marble- I didn't want one of the girls to fall and get hurt. . .when Eric suggested our work-out foam mats! They were the perfect size! It all came together great and the girls loved Twister!

Eric and Carmela trying their turn at Twister.

Laura, Fiorenza, and me.

Fiorenza and Laura

Even though Twister turned out great, this game was even better! Whats funny is, when I first found it online I thought it sounded a little dull, when actually it was hilarious to watch! You have to string up doughnuts (which don't exist here in Taranto without a cream center, but as luck should have it, I found these perfect cookies instead!) from a door way, and the kids have to eat the entire doughnut without using their hands, and without letting any of it drop to the ground before they finish!

Samanta and Alessia

The little girls were the cutest. They kept bobbing after the cookie- Samanta couldnt keep from laughing, and Im not sure that Alessia ever got a bite off of her cookie! haha

Eric making sure non of the girls were using their hands!

Maria Carla, Fiorenza, and Laura

Maria Carla was a pro at this game and finished her cookie before any of the others even had a chance to catch up with her! Carmela had brought 2 prizes fro the night, and because she won this game, Maria Carla took the first prize- a high school musical watch! :)

Maria Carla came a little bit later to the party than the other girls. She was dressed as a princess! Carmela and Laura do a lot with Maria Carla and her mom Carmen. They are actually from The Domincan Republic, but they have lived here in Taranto for several years now.

Samanta decided she wanted a couple more photos! I love this one!!

. . . and this one of us :)

I am so grateful to have met Samanta, Luana, and their mom! we are very hopeful for the possiblities with this family. Please keep them in your prayers :)

The second prize that Carmela brought was for the best costume. All of the girls voted and when I counted them, every single one of them (except Laura who voted for Alessia) voted for Laura! She was SO excited! It was all I had been hearing about all week- "who do you think will get the best costume??" she'd ask. . . and turns out, she won!! :)

We also played musical chairs. . .

The next day, I brought my down stairs neighbor some cookies to apologize for the noise :/ she was very sweet .. . I hope she'll appreciate the Oreo balls!

Laura and Luana

And then there were two. . . 

As hard as she tried, Laura couldnt get it together with Twister! 

Alessia and Laura

Alessia, Fiorenza, and Maria Carla

One last round before its time to go!

Since recovering from being sick, last week was a really great one. We are getting deeper into our work here and feel so blessed to have all of these opportunities. We are in prayer that God will continue to give us the strength and courage to do His work here in Taranto. We love you all! Thank you for your constant support and love. xoxoxoxox

Oh the possibilities. . .

Eric and I are officially sick. Really, as soon as we arrived back in Italy the flu bug was making its rounds. We had successfully (up until 2 days ago) kept it's forces at arms length.

Because literally everyone at the church in Taranto has had the flu, the past weeks of January weren't as go go go as usual. However, we do have bits of new and excited news to share. Its probably a blessing in disguise that we have to slow down long enough to recount the going ons around here.

Our second weekend back in Taranto, we were refreshed with the visit of Stefano and Rina Spina. Stefano and Rina were the Italian missionaries who worked and lived in Taranto about 5 or 6 years ago. They stayed in Taranato for some 10 + years?? This number obviously is not exact, but we can conclude that it was a substantial amount of time. Anyways, we had met them previously at the family retreat in Velletri last year, but didnt really get to talk to them much. It was nice this visit to get to know them a little better and to learn more about their experiences with the church here in Taranto.

I believe they arrived on a Friday and stayed until late Sunday night. Stefano spoke Friday night about faith, Saturday about hope, and Sunday morning, he concluded with Love. I actually didn't get to hear him speak because I stayed with the girls in our class, but Eric really enjoyed listening to his ideas.

Eric and Enzo

Sunday after worship we enjoyed Agape together.

All the ladies :)

Me and Anna Maria

The whole Taranto gang + Franco, Anna Maria, and Mino from Latiano

Laura and Guilia (the daughter of Stefano and Rina) with Fabrizio! 

Luana, Guilia, Laura, and Samanta

Saturday night instead of having a thrid lesson, we decorated Tshirts instead :)

Speaking of my class with the girls, there is much encouraging news to be told on this subject. First of all, I have occasionally written about Samanta and her sister Luana attending Bible class on Friday evenings with Laura and me. When the girls first began coming to Bible Study it was sporadic and usually just on Friday evenings. Luana is still sometimes here and sometimes not, but now her little sister Samanta brings her mom to church every Friday evening and Sunday morning! I see so many ways that God is working through these girls.  Samanta also has been sick (bronchitis) for the past couple of weeks. Finally this past friday she came bouncing through the door with a huge smile on her face. Her mom told us how Samanta couldnt wait to come back to class and see us :) talk about warming your heart!

There are several things that I am working on with the girls. When I first started, we learned several of the parables of Jesus and followed up the stories with activities/crafts. Just before we left for Christmas, I really felt like it was time to introduce some "meat" into the lessons for the older girls. Laura is growing so fast. I was looking at pictures from when we first arrived in Taranto and when I compare the little Laura with the girl I know now, its incredible how much she has grown and changed in just one short year. In May she will be 11 and the thought of her being so close to the teenage years honestly freaks me out a little bit!

Just this Sunday afternoon we were trying on her new Pointe ballet shoes because she is already old enough to start dancing on pointe! 

 Anyways, all of this to say that I'm consciously trying more and more to make our studies deeper. I really want her to understand that believing in God and becoming a Christian is more than our Sunday school Bible class. Its more than just the stories. I want her to be able to understand and apply it to her life, and I believe that we are at the point where she can.

Laura learning to jump rope.

So, before Christmas we talked alot about the Holy Spirit. She can identify with God and Jesus, but the Holy Spirit was a little difficult for her to understand. We did a couple lessons about the Holy Spirit- which by the way, I want to credit the website-------> : Ministry to Children for all of the wonderful teaching tools, lessons, and crafts that it has supplied me with. It is great! Check it out if your get a chance! After we established the Holy Spirit, we moved onto the fruits of the Spirit. Easing back into our lessons, we are using what we learned before Christmas to connect with our new lessons. I am using a book that I bought while in the states called "God and Me 2." It is exactly what I have been searching for! It has a real life short story with a page of activity questions based on the short story and the Biblical implications of  that story. The book is perfect because it starts with lessons concerning the 10 commandments and the importance of obeying Gods commands. But then, it slides into how we need to put God first and the importance of loving Him and others. Anyways, it is a great aide to me and I am so thankful to have found it! The girls are learning the basic principles of our faith, while at the same time, the little stories in this book, put it into a real life situation for them.

While this has been excellent for the older girls (Laura and Luana), I was feeling a little guilty that Samanta wasnt getting a "tailored for her" lesson. (She is 7 while the other girls are 10 & 11). . . . but God had something in store.

Last Sunday afternoon after church we headed to enjoy lunch with the Verardis at their home in Latiano. We enjoyed a fabulous meal (as always) and afterwards began checking online to make sure the train would be on time (there have recently been several strikes going on. The last one was a strike of the semi-trucks which lasted a little over a week. This meant low stock at the grocery stores.). We saw that it was listed and so around 5, off we went to catch the train back into Taranto. Well 10 min passed no train. 30 min later we were calling Luca to cancel our date with to go to the movies. We decided we would wait in Latiano until around 8pm to try and catch the next train.

While waiting on the 5 oclock train I enjoyed the art work :)

In the mean time, a boy named Andrea from Latiano, was having a get together for his birthday at the church in Latiano and had invited us that day to come! We originally had already had plans with the brothers and Carmel's family to go to the movies, but because the train didn't come we were free to go! We took a stroll through the narrow white marble roads of latiano and within 15 minutes reached the church building.We actually have never been inside this church building (Again, the culprit is always lack of transportation.) and knew very little about the community there.

We walked in expecting a few young people. . .  and were pleasantly surprised to meet 5 + Mino, Andrea, and Mino's sister Maria and her fiance Salvatore! It was sort of a surreal moment, because for a year now we have been living and working day in and day out with the small community of Taranto , that we really never gave much thought to the other churches in the same vicinity. We would have never guessed that we would meet so many young Christians in one place! They are between the ages of 17 and 26, and they are all from the Latiano area- which is about 40min train ride from central Taranto. Ok so that was part one of God's surprise evening.

Part 2. During the hours while we were waiting for the arrival of the 8pm train, I stepped out of the main room where everyone was, to a kids classroom while I was telling Carmela on the phone everything that had happened with the train.  While I was in there, I noticed that they had a bookcase filled with teaching supplies! I have to admit my heart kind of skipped a beat... Bible lessons for kids...already translated into Italian.....Bible coloring pages with Bible verses in Italian....studies on Mark, John, Genesis.....I mean I just kept pulling resource after resource!!

The "studies 'on Mark and Genesis were actually more like workbooks than lessons, but they could still come in handy. The main thing I was interested in was a giant blue plastic briefcase that held lessons for the life of Christ according to the gospel of John. By this point I had already hung up with Carmela and was frantically flipping through all of the different lessons. There are about 30 in all. Each has a story accompanied with a coloring sheet and sometimes a worksheet -again already ALL in Italian!! I could barely control my excitement as I went back into the main room and asked the teens about all I had just uncovered. They were happy to bag it all up for me to take and copy in Taranto as long as they had it back for next Sunday!

Yes God had this surprise planned for us. Although the lessons are actually too young for Laura and Luana, they are perfect for Samanta! I tried out lesson number one this Sunday with Samanta, and it turned out to be a blessing also to Laura. I started class and asked Laura to read Samanta the story (one-Laura speaks Italian, and two- to give some responsibility to Laura). We went through the story and talked a little about it and answered the questions. I could tell Samanta was loving all of the attention and on the flip side that Laura was enjoying the role of being a helper / sort of an older sister figure to Samanta. When we finished the story, Samanta finished her coloring pages, while Laura and I did Laura's lesson. Samanta listens while she colors and so she enjoyed chiming in on our lesson as well.

We both are really overwhelmed by the way we see God working in this city, with the youth, the little girls, the church members, our students...He is everywhere!  Not a second goes by that I dont stop and think how lucky we are to be a part of His will here in Taranto.

Luca, Eric, Marco, and Andrea

Waiting on the Latiano crew to arrive!

The good news doesnt stop with the girls.. . .  Remember right before we left for America we had the first youth meeting at our apartment? We decided that we want to offer this night for the teens once a month. So this past Sunday after eating with Carmela and her family, we came back to the apartment to set up for the second youth meeting at our house! This time, we invited our new friends from Latiano to come and join us and three of them were able to come; along with some of the teens (and Laura :) from here in Taranto. We had a great turn out and the study went great. Eric is working really diligently with translating the Francis Chan studies (While we were in America, we found study booklets to accompany the Basic videos. He is working to translate these week by week, so we can use them to guide our Bible studies after we watch the video.) and he is doing such an amazing job! We are so excited about this new outreach that God has given us! We have great expectations for this work.

Also.. . . we started our men and women's Bible study last week. Instead of meeting all together on Thursday, we have split the men and women into separate studies. There is something about the environment that changes almost instantly, and we're excited to see where this change will lead us.
Carmela and Enza both came from the church in Taranto. Then, Carmela's aunt Tina and her friend Lucia who we have gotten to know pretty well over the past year, decided to come as well.  Zia Tina is Catholic and her friend Lucia doesn't attend any services but she is very eager to learn and understand more about the Bible. Honestly the evening with the women couldn't have went any better.

I will say, though, that I am going to change the study that I was using as a guide. The first night we went by a book called "Experiencing Jesus" by Max Lucado. While I think the over all approach of the book is good, for the women here, it was still too much. I need to start at more basic level and move upwards from there. I originally thought about a Life of Christ study that I have. However, it is a longer study and it has sort of a loose structure. Then I remembered Andy Miller. Thank you Andy Miller!  I have already looked over the study and translated some questions in advance for us to review while we study. I think this is going be very beneficial to all of the women as it lays out all of the basics of our faith- and we will be reading them for ourselves during the study! On Sunday, I invited Samanta's mother to come and Carmela invited her friend Carmen to come to our next study. Please pray about this. We are very hopeful that this will be a huge encouragement to the women here. Hopefully they will gain confidence and strength as they delve into His word and discover the plans God has for them.  Eric tells me that it went well with the men also. They have started doing the Francis Chan video series too. The first lesson they started was called Fear God. In short, what it means to have a healthy Fear of God.  As they move on in the studies they will progress to Following Jesus, then the Holy Spirit, then Fellowship, then teaching, then prayer, then communion.  They are excited about the studies and have already had some great disscusions.  Aside from the church members that came we also had Giovanni and Giuseppe to attend :) Again, we are very hopeful about the possibilities these studies will provide.

About 2 weeks ago, Eric and I went to meet Enza at the market in Talsano to spend the day with her and eat with the family later that afternoon. I thought you might enjoy seeing how we buy our fruits and veges in southern italy :)

Fish heads anyone?

Giant frozen fish fillets!

I never know which cheese to choose! too many options!

Enza picking us out some fruit for lunch.

I took this one for you Mom :)

After the market, she took us to her parent's house where she grew up and we visited a little with her dad . . . .  and her brothers dog :)

Enza making her famous fried chicken cutlets. YUM.

I feel like I have to appologize every time for the long post! I dont realize all the things I need to write about until I actually sit down to do it. Then I realize that maybe I need to post shorter posts more often! ha. Anyways, we hope hat you are encouraged by the work that God is doing here in Taranto. Please continue for God to use us here and to strengthen and encourage the members of the Taranto church. We love you and miss you all very much! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox