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!
Laura learning to jump rope.
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 :)
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
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