Back by Popular Demand

Saturday I began teaching an English class for children! Our first lesson focused on the story of Noah, with vocabulary including animals and the colors of the rainbow. The class included color-coded bilingual versions of the story, animal charades, the "Noah Was a Man" song from the new Memorial Road children's cd (which the kids absolutely loved), a snack, and other games and activities. Basically, it's going to be like a two-hour Vacation Bible School each weekend. Last summer an intern had put together this class for about a dozen children, some from the church and others who have friends or grandparents who are Christians. The class was so popular that the children and parents were very eager for me to resume it. A Peruvian young lady from church came as well to help me with the energetic children :)

Sunday morning I presented the story of Ruth to my Sunday school class. The children are familiar with the beginning of the Old Testament and most recently studied Samson, so I am picking up where they left off and will continue with the major stories of the Old Testament. They already know the song with the names of all the New Testament books and enjoy searching for verses, and soon I hope to teach them the song for the books of the Old Testament!

The last couple days I was in Florence for my permesso di soggiorno appointment! When I showed up at the Questura building Monday morning, I was assigned a number. Over two hours later, I was summoned to a window only to receive another letter/number. Four hours later, I was called up to get fingerprinted and present a couple documents, which only took a few minutes. In one month I must return to the Questura to pick up my actual permesso card! David and Debbie also had their appointment Monday morning, and I was very grateful to have someone to wait with (other than the hundreds of unknown foreigners) all day in the austere room with no heating and no functioning bathrooms.

Only 254 more people to go until I get a new number!

After this adventure, I ran around Florence meeting up with various friends and students.

My friend Marcella, who owns a cooking school,

invited me to come to a class with the Harding students.

I went to the Tuesday market with one of my former (Bible School) English students.

My second tea time of the afternoon was with Tea, who is from the country of Georgia and studies English at the church building.

I have really enjoyed keeping up with my contacts in the Florence area. In a month I will return to Tuscany for the women's retreat! I just finished the Italian-to-Spanish translation for the study material to be sent to the ladies who register so that they can prepare by studying Esther, the theme for the retreat.

Last week in Vicenza it snowed three times! In the past week I have also experienced the hospitality of the Vicenza church, as a couple families invited me to meals in their homes. In the above picture taken from my living room, the church building is just to the left (out of sight) of where the road dead-ends.

Tomorrow morning a worker is scheduled to come install the phone line in my apartment! Getting internet may take a couple more weeks; in the meantime, I have become familiar with the libraries and am a card-carrying member :) I apologize for being behind in responding to e-mails, but I do enjoy hearing from you! Thank you for your prayers and support!