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