Goodbye November.

P I C K I N G  U P where we left off, Saturday, the day after Halloween, Mino arrived!

Eric and Mino.

Mino is Franco Verardi's son from Latiano. Mino has been staying with us for the past month looking for a job :)

Melissa's choir concert.

Sunday night Eric and I went into town to support Melissa at her choir concert. She did such a great job! All of the members are italian, but they actually sing in english! Which is no big deal for melissa since she teaches Italian to the American Pepperdine students here in Florence;)

Outside the Questura.

The next week went as usual. David and Debbie officially left the Bible School on Wednesday Nov. 5th, and the next day Eric, Morgan, Jodi, and I spent the entire day at the Questura! 

waiting.

E X P L A I N I N G   T H E   "Q U E S T"  I N  Q U E S T U R A. 

The Questura is the italian police dept where foreigners come to get their paperwork finalized so they can have their official "permesso di soggiorno" aka- "permission to stay card." First, i just want to explain that this experience of the Questura is unlike anything Ive ever witnessed- obviously bc in America we are not a foreigners! There are people from every corner of the world at the questura. lots of different languages, groups of people, and pigeons- lots of pigeons flying around inside. Also, staying all day really means all day. We left the Bible school around 7 and returned around 6pm that evening.

Despite the long day, everything went pretty well!.... as always there was some confusion as to why we have student visas when we a teaching english...(legitimate question)... then its also always the luck of the draw as to who you get at the window. Jodi had a completely different person than morgan and Eric and I, and so she received some different instructions.... makes you scratch your head a little, and feel kind of confused,  but eventually this uncertainty becomes the norm! * fast forward... this week we went back to pick up our permesso. Our appointment was for 3pm but since we have done this before, we knew instead to come at 11 am when they start passing out the numbers. So, we were off to a great start. It was 11:15 and we were given numbers F007 and F008. Next, we were instructed by the police officer on duty to return after 2pm bc that would be when they would start calling the numbers for the permessos. So we left, had lunch, and were back at 130pm just to be safe. However, to our dismay, when we looked at the number board, they were already on F015! We scrambled to ask another officer on duty what we should do, to which he calmly responded to us by saying that it was no big deal, to just approach one of the windows and explain what happened. well this was no easy task, and it was almost as if a small mob was beginning to form in front of the windows designated for the permessos. then all of the sudden... no one was behind the window. I found some one at another window who told me the rest had went on lunch break- they would return in a bit. so we waited. in the meantime we met the others who also had been instructed to come back at 2pm and formed somewhat of an alliance with them! haha. finally they came back to the window and at first tried to dismiss us until they saw how many of us there were! The good news of the story is that around 4pm we had our permessos in hand! we're so happy to not have to darken the doors of the Questura for another year!!!! .... just one of our "normal" days here at the Bible School ;)

Commencing a fun Friday :)

The team had worked so hard the past week getting ready for our halloween party (among other things) that Eric and I planned for this Physical Friday to be a surprise. We rented a van and took the team to the near by towns of San Gimignano and Voleterra. It was good to be able to relax a little as a team.

The next morning, we had planned to visit our brothers and sisters at the Prato Church of Christ. This is one of the benefits of living further north in Italy. . .  more Christian communities in close vicinity! Prato is about a 20 min car commute from Scandicci. Peter, an AI woker from 2011-2013 who happened to stay in Italy another year, visited this community often during his stay in Italy. Peter is returning to the states early this Decemeber, so Prato wanted to have an Agape (potluck) to say goodbye.

AM service at Prato.

Agape. 

The potluck went really smooth! About 10 people from the Florence church came as well as another small church of 5 people.  

Miles, Mino, Eric, GIacomo, and Peter.

the AI guys + Mino and Giacomo.

Meredith, Lindsey, Morgan, Megan, me, Jodi, and Melissa.

AI gals + Melissa.

Our N E X T  W E E K  went as usual. Classes, students, and Bible studies galore.

Renata and me.

Tuesday morning, I was invited by Renata to spend the day at her school helping teach her english classes. Renata was one of my first students when we first came to italy 4 years and we have remained close ever since. 

From 8-130 I was here teaching these middle schoolers and answering their questions about American culture.

I quickly learned to control the picture taking .. . . I can still hear them shouting "selfie! selfie!" 

yes. they say "selfie" here in italy.

Also on tuesday evening, I have one of my F A V O R I T E classes every week, my kids class!

This video really doesnt do their cuteness justice ;) 

Carlotta, Mattia, Federico, Mirco, Michela, Ginevra, and Ilaria. 

My second week, I started noticing how much the kids were saying "O Dio" when they messed up. This of course is Italian usage of God's name in vain. So around the time Bethany came to visit, we came up with the idea to teach them to say "Oh man!" instead. This is the intensity they use to say it almost every time! haha. 

New bathroom.

Physical Friday consisted of cleaning up the back boys bedroom/bathroom. This is the back bedroom that met David's remodel of the back 4 bathrooms. this was a full day of work. DUST was everywhere!! The bathrooms look great, but we still have some finishing up to do. One of the main concerns is putting the doors on! We also need to cover the pipes, paint, and close off the top parts of the bathrooms wth 4 windows. We've been trying to find someone to come and complete this project so that the workers can have some privacy. We finally met with a contractor that Rosa and Felice use a few weeks ago, and we really like him. More importantly we trust him bc of his histroy with Rosa and Felice. 

Monica is the 4th from the left.

Friday night eric and I went to my student Monica's Japanese dance recital. She and her family are very into japanese culture. Years ago, when we were here the first time, she sang with a Japanese choir. Eric and i are very close with Monica's family. Eric has her husband Valentino as a student and one of her daughters named Clizia as my student as well. Later this evening, I went out with Renata for pizza and Eric stayed in to skype the family back home;)

The next week was  A L L  A B O U T  T H A N K S G I V I N G!

Meredith and Miles were scheduled to leave to return to the US the following Monday- Nov24. They will be in the states for a little over a month while trying to obtain their visas. Since they would be leaving before Thanksgiving, we decided to move the Bible School Thanksgiving up a week and have it Saturday the 22nd. I am so glad we did bc we needed all hands on board!! 

Sweet Potatoes.

Apparently, sweet potatoes are a rarity here in Italy. The only place we could find them was at the Metro (sort of like a Sam's Club). They were pretty pricey, so when we were checking out, i asked the asked the cashier if they ate these much. She looked at me very matter of factly, and said, ' im really not even sure what those are. really, what are they?' Question answered.

Official preparations began Wednesday the19th with our trip to Metro. 2.5 hours later and a tin car full of food later, we were ready to begin cooking for the feast. Knowing that each of us had invited all of our students, we guesstimated that our total would be around 100 people. 

lots and lots of sweet potatoes. 

I made sure to call my grandmother that night for her recipe, so Thursday morning, I would be ready to cook! I peeled and diced for 2 hours!!  

in our kitchen.

Lindsey, Megan, and Jodi.

In the meantime, the girls were using the downstairs kitchen of the Bible School. 

Morgan and Meredith.

Here was our menu:)

cheese ball.

vege tray.

turkey.

gravy.

dressing.

mashed potatoes.

sweet potatoes.

mac and cheese.

green bean casserole.

corn.

carrots.

rolls.

chocolate pie.

peanut butter pie.

apple crisp.

pecan pie.

We were all very grateful to Elizabeth Whatley fro the two giant Turkeys that she donated to the Bible School for Thanksgiving! Elizabeth is the director of the Pepperdine University in Florence. The turkeys arrived Friday morning at 1pm. I am so very thankful that ROsa was there to help!! 

Rosa and the turkeys.

Have you ever seen a turkey this enormous?! We all couldnt get over it!! We estimate that each one was about 30 lbs!  Rosa helped us clean and stuff the turkeys. We cooked one at the Bible School and one at the Harding Villa. 6.5 hours later they were perfectly golden brown and ready for the feast the next day! yay!

Jodi, me, and Nicoletta.

In the meantime, Nicoletta from Vicenza had planned to come and to visit us for thanksgiving. She and her family arrived at the Bible School around noon. I had gotten up early to fix the gravy, so she, her family, and Jodi and i went for lunch together in Scandicci. * the Saturday before, Eric threw his back out trying to lift a huge TV that David and Debbie had left in the apt. It was really hurting on Saturday, so he was stuck during the morning and afternoon with a heating pad in the apartment. 

Gioele and Stefano.

*photo credit Jodi.

Here are Nicoletta and her husband's (sorry i didnt get a pic!) boys. so sweet! they loved seeing the huge turkeys! They also loved meeting our pups Marie and Minnie:) 

After lunch with Nicoletta and her family, it was go time! The downstairs of the Bible School has a living room and a bonus room. We set the bonus room for 80 people bc thats all that would fit! Then, in the living room, we set out the food in the middle, and pushed the couches to the edges of the room. We planned on some people staying in there to eat as well.

The Dinner was to begin at 6pm. Most of our guests were here by 630pm, so we decided to go ahead and start!

Eric pulling the crowd together.

Eric got everyone's attention so that Peter could read the story of Thanksgiving. (all of our students are always so curious about it!) Afterwards, we prayed and told everyone to dig in! 

This is the living room set up. There were so many people in attendance! We had about 130 of our students to come! In addition to our students in Scandicci, we had several of our students from Florence to come as well.

Look at that turkey! 

Everyone was very brave! For the most part, they tried everything. Some of the favorites were the dressing, the sweet potatoes, and the mashed potatoes. 

Im sure you are probably thinking to yourself, how in the world did they keep all of that food warm?! The blankets. the fire hazardous blankets on top of the stove. once we re-heated everything in the oven, we would stack each one on top of the other and then cover it with a huge blanket. in the end, it became a mini-oven on top of the real one. cool trick that works! 

Miles and Eric.

me, Monica, Clizia, and Olga. 

Peter and Alfredo.

Alfredo is a member of the Florence Church of Christ.

Albina and me.

Albina is a new student. She is a hair dresser from Albania, but she is living in Italy. She found out about the Bible School bc a few of the Harding girls were getting their hair done at her salon! I enjoy our classes together so much! :)

In O T H E R  N E W S

Mino, Giacomo, Eric, Jodi, me, Megan, lindsay, Melissa, Morgan, Meredith, and Miles.

December closes the 2014 chapter of AI. C H A N G E is heading our way! Megan and Peter will return to the states on the 15th; Lindsay on the 21st. Jodi is currently visiting Vicenza with the hopes of moving there sometime early next year. Miles and Meredith will return from the states ( hopefully with visas in hand!!) the middle of January, and will begin to make their plans for the remaining of their time here in Italy. Also in January..... we are excited to welcome David Ezell as part of the team!! Please pray for all of our transitions and our hearts and mission as we begin a new year! 

Downtown Florence.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas around these parts! ;)

Christmas is normally my favorite time of the year... but this year, its little sad as we are missing our families during this holiday season... 

We didnt really expect to feel as homesick bc Italy did become our home in so many ways. However, what we are discovering is what we loved about "southern Italy," naturally cannot be generalized for all of Italy. Tuscany is very different from Puglia... actually its probably safe to say that its completely different! therefore, we are starting new! :) Please continue to keep us in your prayers, learning our new roles as directors and learning another new Italian culture can be a little challenging. 

me and marie

until the next time! 

xoxo

EandJ

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings an tell of his works with songs of joy." psalm 107:21-22

From Vicenza to Taranto.

Since our last update, we have traveled up to the northeast of Italy down to the heel of the boot! Its amazing to me how quickly the days/weeks fly by here at the Bible School! we blink and another week has zoomed by! We are getting a little more settled into this place... but like everything else, it just takes time. The highlight of our week is getting to talk about the word with our students! Seeing them process the G O O D  N E W S and the G R A C E of Jesus is indescribable... not to mention experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit as He guides our lessons. We just cant help but feel B L E S S E D to be in His service.

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." 

John 14:6

V I C E N Z A

Before Bethany had to return back to the states, we made an impromptu visit to Vicenza! Eric and I thought it was important for her to experience what it would be like going outside of Florence to work with a congregation. It also turned out that Jodi was very interested in visiting Vicenza in hopes of transferring there. So all things considered,  we decided to make a day trip up to Vicenza on the 18th :) 

Downtown Vicenza.

Francesca, Anna, and Beatrice

We were greeted by these sweet girlies! They spent the entire day with us walking around VIcenza.

Nicoletta and me

Nicoletta is a member of the church in Vicenza. Whenever we come to visit, she always makes sure to welcome us with open arms .

Rocco and Eric

( Rocco is Francesa and Beatrice's younger brother )

We stopped for lunch at a small bistro where the kids normally go after school.

Bethany, Francesca, Beatrice, Anna, Jodi, Nicoletta, and Miriam.

Afterwards we strolled through the chocolate festival downtown Vicenza. It was great to visit with the girls and to witness Jodi fitting right in with them as well. She had already met them for the first time earlier this summer when they came to the Bible School for the youth retreat.

Miriam, Francesco, Lorenza, Eric, Betahny, Jodi, me, Francesca, Beatrice, and Anna

Before we left that evening, we ordered some pizzas and ate together at the Fergnani's home. Jodi spoke with Francesco about the possibility of transferring there and ways that she could assist the work in Vicenza. We have planned another trip for the end of this month so that Jodi can meet the congregation and get a better idea of what her role would look like there. We are so thankful for the Fergnani family and for their hearts. Its always a joy to be able to spend time together. 

We returned back to the Bible school late that evening . The next morning,  the Nunez family come to stay at the Bible school, they are friends of Robbie Shackelford ( the HUF director) . They stayed for a week in the apartment across from ours in the Bible School. Then, the next Saturday (25th)  Ryan and Paula Butterfield arrived to stay . The Butterfields are former AI workers and directors. We didnt get to greet them until that following Monday due to . . .  our visit to Taranto!

* Interesting Bible School Fact #1:

 many of you may not know this but the Bible school not only serves as a school where Italians come to learn english through the Bible, but it also serves as a mini "bed and breakfast" of sorts. Throughout the year, we have several families, couples, singles, college groups, baseball teams ( you name it! ), who come to stay at the Bible School for various amounts of time. This is good for the Bible School in that it allows us to make many contacts. It also is just another aspect of our work here. when we have guests, we like to make sure they are comfortable, rooms are clean, and they have a good sense of coming and going in Florence. 

T A R A N T O

FRIDAY

Meredith and the mini van

We left for Taranto bright and early Friday October 24th. Eric and I are still waiting on some documents from the USA until we are legally able to purchase any type of vehicle in Italy. Therefore, in order to visit Taranto, we rented this really snazzy 7 person mini van to drive down to Puglia! 

Massafra, Italy

It was about an 8 hour drive down to Taranto in the mini van. It was interesting to watch the tuscan landscape transform into the white stone buildings of Puglia.

We made about 3 stops on the way down and arrived in Taranto around 4pm that afternoon! 

Me and Fabrizio.

Our first order of business was to meet Fabrizio and Luca at their apartment where we would be staying ( yes all 6 of us!! ) for the weekend. It turned out that we actually didnt get to see Luca very much due to his work schedule. His schedule is different ever week and varies from morning, afternoon, and night shifts. This weekend in particular, he was scheduled to work the afternoon and two night shifts. When we got there he was already at work :( 

After visiting with Fabrizio for a little bit and helping him get everything organized in the apartment for our stay, we changed and got ready for Bible study that would begin at 630 that evening. 

Meredith, Enza, me, and Carmela before Bible study.

It was SO wonderful to see these faces again!!! I wont ever be able to explain the love we have for these people other than to reference verse 32 in Acts chapter 4: "All believers were one in heart and mind." Jesus makes this possible. His spirit who reigns in each of us makes this possible. Praise God for his compassion for us as human beings and His will to unite us with His  P E R F E C T  LOVE.

Miles, Franco, Meredith, Enza, and Lindsey

It was neat and if im totally honest, a little strange, to watch these two worlds collide! ;) Visiting our family in Taranto as the new directors of the Bible School and introducing our team was a little surreal. its mind boggling to think that just 4 years ago, we were in the shoes of our AI team, and this "Italian life" was so foreign to us. We're so thankful to have this perspective and experience, so that we can relate to the team and to help them process all of the changes taking place around them and hopefully within them.

Meredith, Eric, and Miles in the piazza Medaglie d'Oro near our old apartment.

Taranto is different than Florence or anywhere in the Tuscan region in just about every way possible-weather, accent of speaking, food, culture, architecture, and especially economically speaking.. . This was one of the main reasons why we wanted to bring the group here. We really wanted to show them the diversity of Italy and the importance to be able to STRETCH ourselves and HUMBLE ourselves in order to reach out and effectively SERVE here. Whenever we are in one place too long, the temptation will always come to seek out ways to stay comfortable. This is something we believe has the power to hinder the work in Italy, and so we are very focused on creating opportunities for the team to get out of any comfort zone they have, so that they will have an even bigger opportunity to grow. 

"Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12: 23-24

Eric and Luca

After Bible study, we went to Anna Maria's house and visited with her before dinner with our friends Luca and Antonella. Anna Maria isnt pictured bc she doesnt like photos ;) It was great to see her and laugh together like old times. The team couldnt understand everything she was saying (besides Lindsey who has already been here 2 years), but even still they got a great sense of how feisty she is! :) It was refreshing cutting up together and sharing the joy of our relationship with the team members. 

In Italy, the normal dinner time is around 730pm. In southern Italy, it's around 9pm. We warned the team before we went, but it was still a little bit of a shocker for them ;) Anyways, after visiting with Anna Maria, we drove into downtown Taranto with the team and Fabrizio to meet Antonella and Luca for dinner. This was really good, again just to get the team to meet new people and experience a different atmosphere. It helped that Lindsey was able to communicate but Meredith did a great job listening and understanding! ( and im sure Miles did as well, but he was sitting at the opposite end with the boys ;) 

Antonella and me

If you havent read the blog up until now, ill recap by saying that Antonella was my first student and first friend when we moved to Taranto. She has been such a sweet sweet "treasure" (as we say in Italian) to me. We pray that we will continue to have opportunities to meet with her and Luca during our time here. 

Eric, Luca, Anonella, and me

After dinner, we walked around downtown for about an hour or so and got some gelato together. I was proud of the team for hanging in and enjoying the company of our friends together. I know it was special for Antonella and Luca to meet our AI team.

We climbed back into the mini van around midnight and headed back to Fabrizio and Luca's apt. Needless to say, after a full day of speaking and listening to italian, and italian in a different italian culture, we and the team were zonked! We were snoozing as soon as our heads hit the pillows!

SATURDAY

Fabrizio nella cucinia.

We let the team sleep in a little and planned to leave the apt around 9 to go and help Rosa and Felice for the afternoon. We awoke to Fabrizio making us his special café :) He also went and bought us some delicious pastries! We were sad that the team didnt really get to know Luca since he was at work the entire weekend, but we loved getting to watch them be affected by Fabrizio. Fabrizio and Luca are two people who really exemplify the love of Christ in their everyday lives. We of course know and love them and are always encouraged by their hearts, but it was a whole different type of joy to watch the team be affected by their love as well! Especially since they were experiencing it without knowing the language! As Paul writes. . . . the Love of Christ knows no bounds!!

Trulli in Cisternino.

Cisternino is a part of Puglia where you can find the famous Trulli houses. Rosa and Felice's house in Cisternino is a Trullo.

Felice and Meredith.

After getting a little bit lost on our way to Rosa's and Felice's house, we finally arrived!

Megan and Miles

Megan was happy to see us! She had already been in Puglia helping Rosa and Felice since that previous tuesday! Megan told us that the weather was unusually chilly and that it had rained on and off all that week. However, despite that, the three of them were able to clear 3 of Rosa and Felice's 5 olive fields!! 

Just so you can imagine, this is half of one field!!!

Felice in his olive tree.

Harvesting olives is not for the faint of heart! it is certainly a process! first you pick/shake/rake the olives  off that you can reach. After all such olives were plucked and dropped onto the netting under the olive tree, Felice would come with what I can only describe as an "electric shaker," with which we shook the rest of the olives off of the tree.

Rosa, Megan, Lindsey, Miles, and Eric.

...shaking and plucking...

Miles and Eric.

...and raking!

Lindsey.

Afterwards, we would gather all of the olives on the net and fill the bags full!

Around 1 pm Rosa fed us one of her amazing lunches! 

Our favorite was the fresh "knotted" mozzarella cheese. i think i may have eaten 5 of them plus my pasta?! at least i think it was 5...I sort of lost track! haha

wonderful fellowship!

Lindsey and Felice.

After lunch we stayed a little longer to help finish up the 4th tree that we had started. We hated to leave  bc there was still so much to do! Unfortunately a weekend just wasnt enough time to do everything we would have liked to do! we talked with Rosa and Felice about planning next year to bring the entire team and stay a whole week! there will certainly be enough work for everyone!! 

We were so happy to have visited with Rosa and Felice and to have helped even if it was just for an afternoon! After the cold day of picking olives, we headed back to Taranto to the apt to take our showers and get ready for the evening. We were all so exhausted the night before that none of us had taken one before bed! So that meant that all 6 of us, plus Fabrizio, would need to shower! Normally the apt has 2 showers, but it just so happened that one was out of order this weekend :/ so in about an hour and a half we all took a quick shower and got ready so that we would make our 8pm dinner reservation in the next town over called Grotaglie.  

The pizzera where Fabrizio and Luca made reservations was very nice! The team couldnt get over the fact that you could order a cheese pizza for 3 Euro!. . .  welcome to the south :) 

Fabrizio at Grotaglie.

The writing behind him says:

"Friendship is like nutella, what kind of world would it be without it?"

After dinner, we walked around Grotaglie for about 30 min waiting on our friends Mino and Dalila to arrive. Mino and Dalila are our christian friends who just got married last year. Mino is finishing up college while working as a waiter. He had worked 13 hours this saturday and then drove an hour just to come and see us! Makes me think twice about the fellowship we so readily have in the states and how easy it is to take for granted the ability we have to be together and to just be encouraged by one another. Its heartbreaking to realize that many of our brothers and sisters around the world (not just italy) dont have that opportunity. 

S U N D A Y

Eric and Franco.

Sunday morning after worship, the church in Taranto organized an Agape ( a potluck). 

Dolci.

Besides a couple of roasted chickens, and some french fries, we also brought. . .  Dolci! :D

Meredith, Megan, and Enza, Luana, and Laura

The kids really enjoyed having the AI team there :)



Samanta.

Especially Samanta! She followed Meredith around everywhere! it was so funny bc she was talking meredith's leg off and at one point drug Meredith to her older sister Luana and commanded Luana to teach Meredith italian!



Samanta and Miles.

This picture basically sums up Samanta's personality! haha

Carmela and me.

Because we were with the team this time, we didnt get to really visit with each of the members like we normally would. However, just getting to hug them and be around them for a little while was enough to warm our hearts and remind us how grateful we are to be here in His service once again.

me, Luana, Laura, and Samanta.

One thing we couldnt get over was how much these girls have grown!! just look at them!!

Leo and Eric.

Around 4pm after we finished up the potluck and said our goodbyes, we dropped the team off on Lungo Mare  ( its a place along the shore where people can take walks ) for a short break, while we went and visited our friend Cecilia and her family (she and her husband have 2 children, Leo and Georgia) for about an hour. Cecilia is a pharmacist we met while living in Taranto who became very close to us! It was great to get to see them and catch up a little. 

Lindsey, Megan, Miles, Meredith, Eric, Fabrizio, and me.

After our visit with Cecilia, we picked up the team from lungo mare, picked up Fabrizio, and we all went to their mega shopping center called Ipercoop. Ipercoop is basically equivalent to a walmart located on the inside of a mall. We bought tortellinis, meats and cheeses, and some green beans to take back to the apt and cook for dinner. It was great to come back and enjoy a meal with the team and Fabrizio on our last night in Taranto.

M O N D A Y

Me, Luca, and Eric.

The next morning, Fabrizio had already left for work, but Luca finally had a day off! Hopefully the next visit we will get to see him a little more!

Megan, Lindsey, Luca, Meredith, Miles, me and Eric.

Until the next time... :)

We arrived back at the Bible School around 5pm that evening.

B U T T E R F I E L D S 

Paula, Ryan, and Jodi

As I mentioned above, during our time in Taranto, the Butterfields arrived for their visit to the Bible School. 

The Butterfields are licensed therapists and offered their service to conduct some team building sessions while they were here, as well as one on one meetings. They group team building sessions were very helpful in unifying the team. We were all very thankful for their willingness to use their talents to help us a team! we are looking forward to their next visit with us!

H A L L O W E E N 

After our second session with the Butterfields on Friday morning (the 31st) , it was time to dig in and decorate for our Halloween party! The team did such a great job working together and getting everything done just in time for the party that evening! 

American Gothic?

Eric and I went dressed up as the painting American Gothic :)

American Gothic, Grant Wood, 1930

see the resemblance? ;)

The party went SO well! We had so many delicious treats, thanks to the team :) Our decorations were black lights that we found that Avanti italia had used for VBS last summer. The only mishap was starting the party at 6pm....none of our students showed up until 8pm! oops cultural mistake #905. haha After 8pm, the turn out was a lot better; about 30 of our students came!

Giovanni and his wife.

Enjoying the photo booth! They have been coming to our Thursday night English classes at the church building and staying for Bible Study as well. They are a sweet couple who we are all enjoying getting to know!

Clizia and her friend Marcus from England, Olga, and me.

Giuseppe.

Giuseppe also has been attending our Thurs night english classes at the church building. He is one funny guy! he also is very talented with languages. He is Italian but he also speaks English, German, and Spanish! 

One of our games at the Halloween party was having teams and dressing one of the teammates up as a mummy using toilet paper! The Italians really got into the game! 

Can you find Eric?!

or me??

Eric in toilet paper ;)

We also set up some "mystery boxes" where they had to stick their hands in a bowl and guess what was inside the bowl.

As you can see by his face, the third bowl was really gross for them! it was the insides of a couple of pumpkins ;)

We rounded off the night with a kids movie in English called " Hotel Transylvania."

A L T R I M E N T I . . . 

Minnie wrapped in her favorite blanket.

Altrimenti, or "otherwise," besides all of our activities and trips, things are going well here at the school! We have a lot going on, but it is good work. Even as I finish this post, Im thinking about this past week and the new things I will write to you about next time :)  However, as we keep saying over and over, the one on one Bible studies we have with our students is the highlight of everything that we do here. please pray for us to be bold as we study with them and pray that their hearts will be opened. Thank you for your love and support. We wouldnt be able to do this without you!

xoxox

love

E&J