How my heart yearns within me!

The Vicenza church is in the midst of an intense May, with the church calendar highlights being visits from beloved Americans. Yesterday we had a combined worship service with the Ghanaians, followed by a potluck, in honor of Howard Bybee, who came to Vicenza as a missionary in 1959. He has touched countless lives over the years, as evidenced by the high turnout, which included some who have not been at church in quite a while but came to see Howard. I was delighted that my landlady and her mother, sister, and niece accepted my invitation to come; their family has known the Bybees for years, as my landlady and Howard's daughter went to school together. Here are some pictures from the potluck:

with Begonia, my dear friend and English class helper!

We are all excited about her upcoming June wedding!

precious baby in a bundle

Our wonderful day of fellowship continued with Jim Woodroof's afternoon presentation of his book, "Between the Rock and a Hard Place," which was just translated into Italian! Due to a difference in idioms, the Italian title means "Between the Anvil and the Hammer: The Risk of Taking Jesus Seriously." Jim presented Jesus' method of placing his hearers between the incredible and the undeniable and encouraged us to follow this principle in our evangelism efforts. He has been traveling around Italy speaking at various congregations; I was blessed to hear both his first presentation (at the Velletri conference) and his last, as Vicenza was the book tour's final stop.

with the author and my very own autographed copy

Update on my newest English student: we got together for breakfast, and that afternoon she came for her first lesson! She comes two afternoons a week and is very eager to learn. Our lessons are quite different from those of my other students, as she is at a beginner level. She is a twenty-five-year-old Ukrainian, and I am delighted to not only have a new student, but also a new friend!

Last weekend I participated in the installation of a new church kitchen, which had been donated by one of the families from church. Here in Italy, a kitchen does not come with the house; rather, the various components are purchased separately and then move wherever the family goes. My main roles were handing the men the level upon request and teaching them words for some of the tools in English. Due to falling tiles and a leak to the floor below, the church bathroom and kitchen have both been renovated recently and are looking great. A great amount of dust has been created in the process, which was nearly the death of the photocopier, which has more years than I. I find it interesting that this is the third Italian kitchen installation in which I have been involved; last summer, the Florence church put in a new one, and the Bible School kitchen also underwent some updates. Who knew kitchens were so interchangeable and constantly on the move?

My house has been invaded by some unwanted guests! Termites have been creating quite a few holes in my lovely wooden living room floor. The floor was already quite holey when I moved in, and my landlords don't seem to be too concerned but plan to fumigate when I'm away at camp this summer, so that I won't have to inhale the fumes. In the meantime, I've cleaned up the damage and marked the 30+ new holes with post-it notes, per request.

One of my new favorite pastimes is timing how long a load of laundry takes. The previous record of one hour and forty-five minutes was recently trumped by a one-hour-and-fifty-nine-minute load. Drying everything on my handy drying rack (as I have no balcony) takes between one and two days, but I'm hoping that average time will speed up with the advent of warmer weather. The temperature finally got above seventy today! Vicenza has been having its rainiest May in thirty years!

My women's Bible study (on the army base) of Job has come to a close, and tomorrow will be the finale of the spring study session. This in-depth study has taught me so much, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this pilot group with the study's author. To close today, I'd like to share these inspiring verses that we examined as the turning point of the book (Job 19:25-27):

"I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him

with my own eyes--I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!"

Mamma mia!

My mom came to visit me during all the volcanic ash chaos! She made it to Madrid without incident, as the northern European airports were the ones in crisis. Then northern Italy shut down, so she flew into Rome instead of Venice. By this point the trains were filling up, but I managed to get down to Rome to rescue her, and then we returned to Vicenza on an overnight train, arriving bright and early Sunday morning, so she was still able to go to church with me and meet everyone! Considering how many people got stranded or had their travel plans entirely disrupted, I am thankful that my mom was still able to make it with relatively little delay! The luggage, however, arrived five days later. When you don't have much with you (just what was in the carry-on), you realize how little you really can get by with.

To sum up the first week of her trip, which we spent in Vicenza, here's a quote from my mom: "I loved hanging out with you in your apartment and cooking, exploring Vicenza, and experiencing your life on a day-to-day basis, including attending church and seeing how you interact so creatively with the children in the Bible class, visiting with your adult English students, going to your ladies' Bible study, going to markets and of course eating all the great food! I also loved seeing how much everyone there loves you and how it encourages them that you are a part of their lives in Italy (not just in Vicenza but also in Naples, Rome, and other churches where you have met people through a mission trip, summer camp, retreats, and convegnos). You are truly letting the love of God shine through to them!"

Thanks to her love of pizza, my mom helped me acquire a new student! The hostess at a pizzeria (pictured below) that we happened upon was wondering what we were doing in Italy and is interested in learning English. I gave her my phone number, and she called yesterday; on Thursday we're going to meet for breakfast so I can tell her more about the English lessons and set something up!

The second week of my mom's trip we traveled south to Naples, Sorrento, Capri, and Rome! In Naples we stayed with the family that hosted me for a week during my mission trip to Italy with a Harding group two summers ago! It was wonderful to see them again and also worship with the Naples church on Sunday morning!

with the family that hosted us in Naples


overlooking the Roman Forum


gelato on my birthday :)

Then we were also able to attend the Wednesday night Bible study at the church in Rome with whom I had also worked two summers ago. Something I especially love about being in Italy is having connections with Christians all around the country, and then running into them again during my travels, or at the various nationwide events, or even more randomly. It was great to re-connect with the Rome church before venturing up (after dropping my mom off at the Rome airport) to the family retreat they organize at Velletri, which my campaign group had also participated in.

Avanti Italia group photo at Velletri (left-right): Recruiters Howard Bybee and Jim Woodroof; Avanti workers me, Emily Woodroof, and Jillian Shackelford; Directors Debbie and David Woodroof

The theme of this 30th annual Velletri convegno was "Sulle Vie Della Fede," or "On the Paths of Faith," such as the road to Damascus and the Emmaus road. I enjoyed hearing excellent speakers and being entertained by the adorable children. Emily, Jillian, and I were put in charge of an impromptu children's class :)

Back in Vicenza after all these wonderful and uplifting travels, yesterday I had lunch with my dear friend Kendra from high school, whom I had not seen in five years! She has been teaching English in a nearby town, and I'm so glad we had the chance to get together to catch up and reminisce before she moved to Israel today!

five-year high school reunion :)