end of june?!?

time is buzzing by! last time i wrote, i mentioned of a couple upcoming excursions. however before we left for these, we got to see Laura's end of the year recital at her school. Im not really sure what this translates as in America. all of the kids in her class did a sort of show... singing and dancing.. to celebrate the completion of another school year.

sorry about the picture. we brought our small snap shooter, and turns out, it was battery dead! I only got a couple of shots, of which, this is the best. it was a sad day realizing that we wont be seeing all of their sweet little faces again next year :/ 

Eric and Bruno, June 9 2012

Happy birthday to me! this was taken the day of my 25th birthday....and it just so happens, that i share my birthday with .... Anna Maria!! she is not pictured above bc she will not to have her picture taken! its sort of a mini phobia, so i understand.... anyways I know before we leave she will let me take a few of us together! ...all of this to say,for our birthday we ate lunch together at her apartment to celebrate! <3 above is eric and anna maria's brother Bruno who just recently returned to africa (where he lived for a few months before eric and i arrived first in taranto). we have become very close to bruno and were sad to see him leave :(... however, just the other day we received a call with a strange number flashing... we were thrilled to hear bruno's voice on the other end! :))))

that same day, we left for a weekend trip with our students to a small town outside of Bari called Polignano a Mare. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.  just look at that sea!

our students! Antonella and Luca

Eric, Luca, and Antonella enjoying some fresh sea food :)

me and eric ready to catch some rays :)

We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend the weekend with our students. during the week it is difficult for them to get together because of work and other responsibilities. as for us, we travel alot, and weekends tend to full up quickly. anyways, the weekend proved a good time and chance to get to know each other on an even depper level. we pray that these relationships will last and that we can continue to shine the light and love of the Lord. 

Luca, Eric, and Fabrizio

that following wednesday after returning from Polignano, we were back at the bus station ready to depart for sicily!! the brothers took a few days vacation and we stayed for 5 days visiting with the previous italian missionary family, the Spina's,  who worked with the taranto congregation before Eric and I. 

. . passing the mediteranean sea . . 

we took a type of charter bus. in total about 8 hours of traveling. our driver was at times questionable :/ but we did see some amazing landscapes! 

...across the mountains...dont look down! ;)

finally, we arrived at the boat dock where we would get onto the ferry that would transfer us to the island of sicily.

me and eric

the boys! luca, fabry, and eric

first glimpse of sicily!

we arrived late in the evening wednesday to Cattania. (Cattinia is the city where we stayed, and Sicily is the name of the island.) the next morning, stefano (the husband of the missionary family) drove us four to the center of town to explore until lunch time at their house. we started in the marketplace. see those huge green veges above? they are zucchini!! 

fresh garlic.

the part of the market that really caught my eye was the sea food section...

all of these crustaceans were alive by the way.

obviously, these ones were not. do you see the sword fish?!

outside the marketplace.

anyone home at the Duomo of Cattania?

I was forewarned about these fritters  (my termanology) . In italian they are called something that i am never able to say correctly, but it sounds like the word for oranges in italian. these are nothing like oranges. instead inside each fritter was rice, red sauce, meat, and sometimes peas. there also exists other ones with butter, cheese, and ham. maybe not the healthiest food choice, but it was fantastic! no wonder sicily is famous for them! it was laughable however, when i was handed my first one, i felt like the man gave me a 5 lb weight... it was that heavy! ha.

another famous sicilian goodie: the granita. in italian normally (meaning everywhere except sicily) the word "granita" refers to what we would call a slushie..meanwhile in sicily, it is instead a sort of ice cream. apparently people are crazy for it, i myself wasnt quite convinced. it sort of reminded me of sorbet....but less tastey. ...but the boys all loved it!

we returned back to the Spina house to enjoy lunch together. note the adorable baby above! her name is sefora. (i love this name in italain) the Spina's have four children. their two oldest daughters are married with two children each. Rina (stefano's wife) decided that she would babysit all of the grandchildren while the parents go to work (instead of a different sitter). Let me just say, she has her hands full! every morning at 8 am, three of the four come in to grannie's house. the fourth is miriam (sefora's older sister) who goes to preschool in the morning and doesnt come to visit until after lunch :)

Luca, Giulia, and Fabrizio

Guilia is the Spina's youngest daughter.

After lunch, we went with Dario (the Spina's son) to visit a small town outside of cattania before the Bible study that evening. Above is an old castle!

Luca, Fabry, Eric, and Dario on top of the castle.

welcome to the church of Christ at Cattania!

Stefano, Rina, and Giulia

after the study, we went out for dinner, eric and I both ate some more fritters ..... and afterwards we took a stroll along the sea all together. 

the next morning, we were greeted again by sefora's sweet little grin! <3

we headed back into the city to meet up with one of Luca's friends! here are some more sicilian sweets! 

The boys in the piazza of the Duomo.

my first cannolo! famous food number three in sicily. it was better than what i could have ever imagined. its a crunchy outside filled with sweet riccotta cheese- sprinkled with smashed pistachio nuts!

I shared my cannolo with Fabrizio, i think he liked it too :)

a beautiful park in the center of Cattania

 Etna

 Etna is the famous volcano in Cattania. it is constantly erupting, so there isnt a real chance for an explosion. pretty cool.

Luca, Davide, Miriam, Eric, and Sefora

.. . . . back at the house for lunch with the bimbi.

This day for lunch Rina's dad made homemade eggplant parmesan- yet another sicilan speciality.

Luca and Miriam

after lunch while the others were resting...and miriam should have been napping ;) .... we played a couple of hands of "Uno" with Giulia. 

..about a half hour after playing "Uno", she finally conked out. haha.

we went back into the city for awhile before we would meet back up with Dario later that evening. While walking around, we noticed this little train that was parked in front of the Duomo. turns out it gave tours of the the city (20 min for 5 euro!) 

Luca, Eric, and me

we decided to hop on! 

after our mini tour of the city, the boys ate some more granita! then we met with Dario and ended up heading back to the house to eat pizza in with stefano, rina, and Giulia. great company and a wonderful ending to another day in sicily.

Fabry, Luca, Eric, Stefano, and Rina

The next morning, Stefano and Rina planned to introduce us to the true Sicilian breakfast... get ready for food wonder number 4....

ice cream on a brioche for breakfast!!!! interestingly enough, they spread it on the brioche like butter. ha!

after breakfast, stefano took the four of us to see the famous volcano "etna". Ill admit the winding roads made me a little nervous, but to see the volcano, it was worth it. above is the path of the dried lava that came down from the volcano. 

we drove to the base of etna where we could explore the surroundings and even see some inactive craters!

eric and me in front of a volcanic crater!

coming back down we saw a house that had been destroyed by etna's lava!

all in all a fun morning excursion!

That evening, which happened to be eric and my 6th wedding anniversary :D, we were invited to Davide's (one of the grandchildren) 2nd birthday party! 

Davide is one curious little 2 year old! he had the funniest expressions all week! I wish i could have caught more of them on camera! 

Luca, Sefora, and Rina

Happy Birthday Davide!

The next morning was already Sunday! our last day in Sicily :(

The church in cattania is doing well. it is one of the largest in italy, some 60-70 members. they had a well rounded group of elder-material- men, families, and children. It was very encouraging to be surrounded by so many italian christians! 

this is the little kids class - can you spot Miriam?

the older kids class :)

after worship sunday, we bought sandwhich supplies for luca, fabrizio, me, eric, and dario, and headed off to this beautiful beach to enjoy our last afternoon together in sicily.

I have no idea what this beach was called, or where it was exactly, but i have to say, it was one of the most beautiful that i have ever seen. what made it so particular was that the beach was made up of millions of little stones instead of sand. i have some what of a fascination with rocks and so i spent alot of the day bent over sifting through to find treasures. also, this sea seemed to me, a lot deeper hue of blue, but the water was freezing. we could only stay in for 10 min at a time and when we came out of the sea, we were completely numb! ha.

Eric, Fabry, Dario, and Luca

We really enjoyed this day at the beach bc it gave us a chance to get to know Dario. He is a young man with a heart ready to serve the Lord. It really was a pleasure getting to know him :)

after the beach, Dario took us to see Isola bella. a small privately owned island off of sicily that is sometimes (depending on the water levels) reachable on foot.

we finished the evening by taking a funicular to reach the city called Taormina.

Luca, Fabry, Dario, and Eric

on our way! 

Taormina

this place was truly magical. what a blessing to get to enjoy this altogether!

We left Siciliy the next morning via bus and arrived in taranto later that same evening. We are so grateful that we were able to finally get to know Stefano and Rina. We had the opportunity to discuss the church here in taranto, being that they worked here for 12 years before we arrived. our talks shed a lot of light on the problems the church faces here in taranto, as well as provided encouragement for us to finish this "race". The Lord is working here. sometimes, we dont always understand, but we know that he who called us is faithful (1 thess 5:24)  , and our hope rests on this fact. 

we have bought our tickets to arrive in florence, and our official taranto departure date is July 20th. less than 1 month. please pray for the church here in taranto. pray that God provides wisdom, guidance, and humility. we ask also that you pray for all of italy. the churches here are so young and are in so much need of encouragement and support. 

our return to you in the states is upon us. we are constantly reflecting on how this work is preparing us and how we will translate this work in the states. one thing we know, is that this work is forever a part of us. we are praying and searching to find the ways that we can continue in this labor for italy. we are excited to see you and to express our gratidude for all of your support and love. we also are ready to speak with you more about italy. 

Thank you for your support and prayers! please keep the prayers coming! xoxoxoxoxox E & J