Lindsay in Italia: June 2010

In early June I attended my first ever Italian wedding! Or perhaps I should say wedding in Italy, for it was between a Peruvian and a German. The bride and her sisters decorated the church building, and after the ceremony we had a big meal to which all the ladies of the Vicenza church made a culinary contribution. I enjoyed getting to help out a bit with the wedding preparations and festivities. Two girls who were Avanti workers in Vicenza five years ago came to town for the wedding, so it was neat to meet them and hear about their experiences here.

The following Saturday, Vittorio Vitalone, a doctor from Rome, came to put on a conference about spiritual and physical health, topics requested by the Ghanaians. He also preached Sunday morning, and after the worship service, a Ghanaian lady was baptized!

After my friend Jessica and I were in Milan for the ladies' day, she went up to Germany to visit some relatives, and then we met up to go to Greece for five days! Since she had studied abroad in Athens, she was my tour guide as we visited the Acropolis, other ancient ruins, and the archaeological museum. We of course also enjoyed plenty of gyros and wandering around the plaka (market). Reading Paul's speech in Acts 17 while sitting on Mars Hill and looking out at all the temples, which would've been even more impressive in his day, gave a new perspective to those verses. We then had a couple days on the island of Santorini: picturesque buildings, sunsets, and the Aegean Sea.

on Mars Hill with the Acropolis in the background

Santorini

Jessica then spent a few days with me in Vicenza before heading back to the States. Among the activities of daily life and work and showing her around town, we enjoyed watching several World Cup games in the cafe near my house :) Having her here was such an encouragement, and we made lots more wonderful memories. Her visit reminded me how blessed I am to have so many dear friends all over the world!

My dear college friend Jessica has come to visit me! Yesterday we went to Milan to help out with their annual ladies' day, held on the Festa della Repubblica holiday (today). We spent the night with the wonderful missionary family there, and en route from the train station to the church building to their apartment got a quick tour of the magnificent city center. Jessica and I made visual aids, helped come up with the game and crafts, and got to make double recipes of sausage balls and apple cobbler for the potluck :) Our fellow travelers were quite curious when we broke out brown paper bags, aluminum foil, construction paper, scissors, twine, and metallic pens to make the posters during the train ride.

Though in years past this has been a regional event, due to the reconstruction work being done on the church building, this year it was held just for the ladies of the Milan congregation, in a member's home. At least seven countries were represented among the thirteen of us! Jessica and I had fun speaking Spanish with the two Latin Americans. The missionary lady spoke about the juxtaposition of reality and truth, the difference between the way we often see ourselves and the way God sees us, and how it is important to adjust our perspective and take hold of all God's promises to us. It was a lovely day of study and fellowship, and I'm so glad I got to participate!

truth vs. reality

paper bag garment = the old life, or how we view our reality from a worldly perspective
silver = garment of salvation (Isaiah 61:10) and how God sees us

At the end of May was Vicenza's sixth annual Bible Festival, organized by the Catholic church. The Vicenza Church of Christ has participated in years past by bringing in various choral groups, and this year they gave us a room for a speaker. With the theme of Hospitality in Scripture, these four days included conferences, displays, concerts, and lots of visitors (and nuns!). Dr. Earl Lavender from Lipscomb University spoke about Hospitality in the Early Church one evening as part of the festival, and he also had a conference on I Corinthians at our church building while he was in town. Two of my English students came to this conference, and another one came to the Bible Festival, where Dr. Lavender spoke to a packed house. His inspiring message challenged us to view hospitality not as an action but a way of life. We were grateful for the opportunity to take part in the festival, preach a good message to a wider audience, and let them know about the presence of our congregation.

publicity for the Bible Festival was all over town

Dr. Lavender speaking on Hospitality in the Early Church

I have another new English student who comes twice a week, the nine-year-old son of my Sri Lankan students. He attends an international school where half the courses are taught in English, so he already speaks quite well. In addition to the language learning, his parents feel they have a responsibility to instill values in him and so are glad for him to be studying the Bible as well.

Other highlights since my last post: I have...
-seen a play featuring a lady from church and two other mothers of my English class kids; it was an end-of-course performance for their acting class.
-met several former northeastern Italy missionaries and their friends and family, who were passing through town.
-dined at a pizzeria with one of my English students.
-taken my children's English class on an outing to the park.
-brought five loaves and two fish (literally) to English class.
-helped my kids practice their colors and numbers with woman-at-the-well bingo, the game card being a "well" they built of colored/numbered "stones."
-beautified the bulletin board in my classroom.
-sent my Sunday School class on an Easter egg hunt to find the phrases to the beginning of one of David's psalms, as we studied how he was hiding from Saul.
-become a familiar face to the girls at the bread store next to my house, as we now greet each other even when I pass by and don't make a purchase.
-when picking up Jessica in Venice, met up with another Harding friend and his friend, who were traveling around Italy. Thus I was in Venice one day and Milan the next; despite living relatively close to these two cities, it was my first time in over three years to go to either of them!