| God is at work in Northern ItalyHere is what is new with us just in the last week. God is at work in northern Italy. We praise his Holy Name. I had a recipe swap party last Friday night. It was awesome. I had candles everywhere and had music playing. Everything was so pretty. Elena, Daniella, Chiara, Patricia, and Deborah came. I asked them to bring their favorite Bible verse, but only two brought them, Daniella (John 20:29) and Elena (Galatians 6:8). Chiara, the local librarian, said she is having a spiritual crises and doesn't know what she believes so she didn't bring a verse. We had a great discussion about 'Doubting Thomas' and how amazing it is that Christianity has survived when even Thomas, who lived with Jesus for 3 years, didn't believe. I told them that the disciples all deserted Jesus when he was alive but later all died for believing in him. I continued on to say that something had to have happened to make them believe. I continued along that same line discussing Paul's conversion. I could tell they were all listening intently and considering all this. I feel like I now have an open door to talk with Daniella, Chiara, and Elena. Praise God!
Six of our ESLstudents (Elena, Davida, Nicola, Andrena, and Yari came to a concert we held last Saturday night, as well as the U.S. Bible students and everyone from our mission at Saints Equipped to Evangelize. I had hoped for more students, but that is who God provided. Marshall, the guitar player, did a good job of talking about Jesus and quoted several verses from the Sermon on the Mount. So, I think seeds were planted. We are having another concert in Udine this Satuday night at our church. Eleana, Davida, and Nicola are planning on coming, so, I'm excited about that. God is definitely on the move. We can't wait to see what is going to happen!
IN THE MEANTIME....Chiara, the librarian, said that she has read about reading circles (Book Clubs) and wanted to know how they work. I discussed starting one with her, Elena and Daniella, and they are all enthusiastic. I thought about using the book, 'More than a Carpenter'. Then a most interesting thing happened this week......(this is a long story). I did a Bible study 4 years ago called 'Apples of Gold'. It is about older woman mentoring younger woman. It is a 6 week course. You meet at your home for 3 hours each session. The first hour covers subjects such as Kindness, Hospitality, Loving Your Husband, Loving
Your Children, etc. The second hour is a cooking demonstration and the third hour is eating and discussing the topic. The author was the organist at our previous church in Ft. Myers and I told her last April that someday I wanted to translate AOG into Italian and teach it here. A friend of mine, Kari, translated it into Spanish last summer and just finished the first study in Spanish with great success and enthusiasm. She has been encouraging me to do this in Italian. So, after many emails between the author and publisher, I have been approved to translate this into Italian. (which I have no ability to do!) However, Chiara and Elena want to help. So, how exciting is that!!!!!
I'm hanging on to the robe of Jesus in fear and amazement! This past Wednesday, we went to dinner with 3 of our ESL students. Half way through dinner, Marco, an atheist, ask me what was the difference in my religion and Catholicism. As I was explaining this, Elena, the 17 year old who we have all been praying for, announces that she has been considering all of this for sometime (since our Thanksgiving dinner) and wants to know where the closest Evangelical church is (Oh my GOSH!). She told me she has been waiting for the right time to tell me all this but.....she has seen the Joy, Peace, and Happiness that all us evangelicals seem to have and she wants it too. (OH MY GOSH). Obviously a huge positive discussion ensued. In the meantime, at the other end of the table, Nicola, a 21 year old Romanian male, asks Tom to explain our religion to him. (This was after he told me he was probably going to go to hell and I told him that he was unless he believed in Jesus. (I can be rather blunt!.)) The end result of all of this is Elena and Nicola want to come to church with us on Sunday. PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM, PRAISE! It is so amazing to see God at work. One last footnote, Marco the atheist, declined the invitation, but opened up to us and explained why. He had a very difficult childhood. His parents were divorced (which was unheard of in Italy at that time), he was never baptized, and was always criticized and ostracized by other children and the Nuns. Therefore, he wants nothing to do with church or religion. I explained to him how different our church was, but he still said no. I have faith that this discussion is not over and feel that we now have a better opportunity to witness to him. Thanks for your prayers! |
