I've only been here four days?!

The past few days have been full of a variety of activities and new experiences! I will only hit the highlights since I can't possibly relate everything, but this post might be sort of long since there are so many firsts!

One function of the Bible School is to host visitors; thus, people are always coming in and out of this very hospitable place! Right now there are several travelers here from my hometown of Edmond! Last weekend a couple American girls from the nearby town of Prato were here. One of the girls had met a brother and sister from Nigeria who have been living in Empoli for the last year, and she invited them to church Sunday. It was great to be back with the Florence church again after being here two years ago, and I more or less understood everything that was said! A dozen people came over to the Bible School for lunch afterwards for a great meal and fellowship. The siblings from Nigeria really enjoyed it, and their uncle, who is a priest, invited us to Empoli for lunch with them next Sunday!

the Florence church building, formerly a chapel in a Russian family's palace

In the mornings I meet with David and Debbie Woodroof, the directors of the Bible School, for a devotional and to discuss upcoming events. Jim, David's father, is also here for 3 weeks helping out with all sorts of projects around the Bible School. It's been great to have him here!

Rosa, the cook, makes lunch every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After working here for over twenty years, we think she has picked up some English, but she pretends to not speak any so that we all have to practice our Italian. Yesterday I got to help her make lunch, which was so much fun! She is so sweet and said she likes me because I can understand what she's saying!

Monday afternoon Debbie and I went to Sarah's apartment for tea and amazing scones! Sarah is a former Avanti worker and is now the church secretary. I really enjoyed getting to know her better and learning more about the work here.

This morning David and I went grocery shopping at the Coop, the largest European grocery store I have ever been in. It was quite an experience. More on Italian grocery shopping later...

This afternoon David and Debbie attended the funeral of the mother of one of the members of the Florence church, so I worked with David's English students. He had given them homework the week before, so we went over that and discussed their questions. In the first lesson we actually ended up speaking Italian about half the time as I was explaining grammatical concepts (isn't the logic of English verbs wonderful?), and then he translated the Parable of the Tenants. The second student spoke English very well and had read John 8:1-11. He asked lots of questions about the story and so we discussed concepts such as justice and forgiveness, and then cultural matters such as Carnevale (Mardi Gras), which is being celebrated today.

Tuesday evenings a women's Bible study meets here and has just begun going through Beth Moore's The Patriarchs. Tonight we had supper together and then studied Abraham. Events are always happening at the Bible School or the church, so I'm just helping out however I can and learning so much. I can't believe I've only been here four days! The two weeks I am in Scandicci/Florence before moving down to Catania are going by so fast. Each day is full of a wide array of activities and the many adventures that come with life in a foreign country.