Monday, February 15, 2010

This is how we know what love is

Conveniently, the waffle-maker I inherited from the previous missionaries is heart-shaped. Thus the little ones in attendance on the Valentine’s Day’s Eve edition of the English class were in for another new treat. Italian breakfasts generally entail cereal or pastries, most certainly not eggs, meat, or waffles. A couple of the children were familiar with pancakes, and after trying this new snack, topped with honey, they wanted me to teach them how to spell out “Waffles are good” on the dry erase board. Hopefully they won’t expect me to bake a new American treat from scratch each week : ) Since doubling a recipe for six apparently produces enough waffle batter for 110 small hearts, I shared the love again on Sunday morning.

In honor of the holiday, the theme for the Saturday afternoon children’s English class was the love God shows us in providing for our needs and the love Jesus has for children. One of our activities was a scavenger hunt to find the supplies to make Valentine’s cards; I don’t think I’ve ever seen the kids as calm and quiet as when they were decorating their cards, and they used every single heart sticker available!

Two ladies from the Ukraine and Bulgaria eat lunch at the church building each Sunday, and they invited me to join them this week, insisting that I eat an excessive amount of several of their typical dishes, as Russian hymns played in the background. I enjoy the fellowship with Christians who have come to Vicenza from an interesting array of nations!

Sunday afternoon the kids from church got dressed up for Carnevale, and their parents and I went downtown to celebrate, a.k.a. throw confetti and thin streamers everywhere as we meandered through the antique market sprawled through several of the main piazzas. When kids in costumes encountered one other, they would throw confetti at each other. Our crew contained a cowboy, a pirate, Batman, King Kong, and a female devil. Fortunately the child who came to church without a costume this morning donned the full (plastic) armor of God before leaving, so at least he was able to take his stand against the devil’s schemes.





Hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day as well!

“This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
I John 3:16

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