The Rest of the Story...

Four posts ago ("Fifteen Minutes in My Shoes" on October 8) I mentioned that two Ghanaians from our congregation had passed away unexpectedly. Since then a touchingly ironic episode has come to light, and so I wanted to share the rest of the story.


As of our church business meeting on the first Saturday of the month, only one of the men had passed away, and we were discussing how to help his family in Ghana. The Ghanaians told us of their custom of collecting money to help the family and wanted to establish a church rule to do this each time a death occurs. The Italians explained that their custom is to encourage good works in honor of the deceased, as the remaining family members are usually not left in dire financial straits, as is a family in Ghana who loses the man of the house. Instead of making a church rule for a cultural practice not specifically commanded by the Bible, we agreed to set a date for a special collection, for anyone to give as they decided in their heart to do.


Sunday after church, one of the Ghanaian men pulled aside one of the Italian church leaders to tell him he had been wrong about these circumstances not appearing in the Bible. Some of the Italians and Ghanaians remembered seeing these two men talking, but we did not know the content of their conversation until the next week. The Ghanaian had pointed out James 1:27:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:

to look after orphans and widows in their distress

and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Little did he know that within 48 hours he would have a heart attack and leave behind a widow and six children, and we would be discussing how to help care for them, too.


To all who know the special significance of this post's appearing on this date: Thank you for putting this verse into action and for all the ways you have supported and prayed for our family. We love and appreciate you more than you could ever know!


And now for the real rest of the story, for all Christians, as depicted by C.S. Lewis in the closing lines of The Last Battle:


"And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

How Life in Italy is Like LSU Football

In honor of my daddy and his alma mater, and in nervous anticipation of the outcome of the game at Auburn on Saturday...here are my reflections on the intersection of two of my passions: LSU football and Italy.

I am missing way too much LSU excitement this football season, what with a pair of last-second victories vs. Tennessee and Florida. LSU is a master at keeping fans on the edge of their seats and on the verge of a heart attack: crazy calls, foolish fouls, bizarre last-second victories, and the inevitable defeats along the way. That all got me thinking about how LSU football is like Italy is like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, resulting in this comparison of some of their more infamous characteristics and claims to fame:

Yellow flags. Red tape.

Death Valley. The Colisseum.

Diehard fans. Striking workers.

The Mad Hatter. The Godfather.

Mardi Gras colors. Carnevale spirit.

Touchdowns. Artistic masterpieces.

Goal-line stands. Mafia crackdowns.

White jerseys at home. High fashion.

Faked field goal attempts. Tax evasion.

Overtime victories. Penalty kick shootouts.

Laissez les bons temps rouler. La dolce vita.

Cajun tailgating. Pizza and pasta and gelato.

Hail Mary (2002 Bluegrass Miracle). Hail Mary.

3-time national champions. 4-time World Cup champions.

Excessive turnovers. Over sixty government turnovers since WWII.

Questionable clock management. Trains and buses unconstrained by the clock.



Must I geaux on? At this college and in this country, everything must be done with dramatic flair. Win or lose. Rain or shine. Absurd or agonizing. Unpredictable and undeniable. Implausible and improbable. Paradox: Somehow it works (in the long run). And thrives.


Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.


In Democracy Italian Style, Joseph LaPalombara explains how Italians have fashioned "stratagems" through the centuries to counter-act the seemingly overwhelming bevy of political excesses: "Democracy, Italian style, is above all else the art of permitting free government to endure under conditions that logically appear highly improbable." He compares the endurance and overall success of Italian political society to the famous tower with the telltale tilt: both somehow manage to remain standing against the odds.


Such is my team, with its counterintuitive stratagems. Such is my life: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (II Corinthians 4:8-9).


Leaning, but not falling down.

Pisa, 2007

Tiger Stadium aka Death Valley, 2006

Entertaining Angels

Last weekend four Avanti workers from the Florence Bible School came to visit me! Here's the story of our weekend in pictures:

Angela, Emily, Andrea, me, and Ermenita

Friday night we went to a pizzeria out in the country with the two Ukrainian sisters who study with me; one of the sisters works there but had that night off. We enjoyed trying more exotic combinations of pizza toppings and chatting with the girls in a mix of languages for several hours.

me with the two Ukrainian sisters;

the one on the left wins "The Best Recruiter" award

Saturday four little girls from church (two sets of sisters, ages 14 and 11) came over to my apartment for lunch. We all cooked together, ate, talked, and sang until it was time to dash off to English class.

the girls all wanted to crack the eggs for the pasta carbonara!

the fullest my kitchen table has ever been!

With these special (English-speaking) guests as reinforcements, the English class went on a field trip to the park to play Red Light Green Light; What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?; and Duck Duck Goose (pictured below).

Then my friends and I walked around the center of town briefly until it was time to meet up at church for our next meal! We cooked dinner for half a dozen church members.

Sunday afternoon the girls returned home to Florence. Their visit was an encouragement to me as well as the English students, children, and Vicenza church members!

Today I added my ninth English student, another friend of "The Best Recruiter." She moved to Vicenza nine years ago from Kiev and is very well-traveled, having been all over Europe and the former Soviet republics, as well as to Bolivia. Every now and then she would throw in a word of Spanish without realizing it. She said the Bible stories we read today were interesting, and I look forward to getting to know her better!

Not a Coincidence!

This week one of my English students asked me to tell my story of how I came to church, like if my parents brought me when I was young. A benefit of church, she observed, is forming friendships with fellow worshipers. She told me that she believes God exists because of the ways she has seen Him work in her life. For example, she was wanting to find a way to learn English, and then my mom and I showed up at the restaurant where she was briefly working (in April). I am also grateful for this "coincidence," for I gained not only one new student/friend, but four! She has become my best recruiter! Today her older sister began studying with me. The middle school daughter of a friend, whom she had sent to me a few weeks ago, today sent one of her friends.

My friend's sister (age 28) moved to Italy from the Ukraine just two weeks ago, and she is very talkative and fun. Her previous study/work experience includes dancing, making clothes, and speaking on television. She is working in a pizzeria as she endeavors to learn Italian...which means we have no common language to fall back on but must speak only in English!

The friend of my middle school student is also from the Ukraine; she has lived in Italy three years and speaks three languages fluently. She is in her first year at a linguistic high school and thus is also studying English, Spanish, and German. Both of these new students are at an intermediate level, and after trying out various activities with them today, I know better how to tailor future lessons to their needs. This increase in students also means the Russian speakers have officially overtaken the Sri Lankans!

A coincidence can be defined as when God chooses to remain anonymous. If only we have the eyes to see, we can catch glimpses of Him at work in our lives in countless ways. That fateful April meeting might not have occurred had it not been for the volcanic ash saga that delayed my mom's arrival; we would have had that Sunday lunch at the home of a family from church had they not thought my mom was too tired from the more-chaotic-than-usual transatlantic travel. But we went in search of a good pizza, and the rest is history!

Last weekend was full of fellowship with church members! I

-ran into a lady from church and her husband on my way home from English class, so we paused for coffee (or in my case, pear juice. I must confess that I still do not like coffee!)

-went to the movies for the first time in Italy, with two Latin American girls. Two differences from the American movie-going experience: when you purchase your ticket you are assigned a particular seat, and there is an intermission.

-had Sunday lunch at the home of a couple from church who often spontaneously invites over guests and those who do not have a family of their own to dine with. This week there were ten of us!

-wandered around the monthly antique market with some young adults from church. We brainstormed ideas for more church programs.

-had pizza for dinner at the same home where we'd eaten lunch. A full day with my dear "family" here!

The first week of October, strands of white Christmas lights appeared on two side streets! At some point, they'll take over the piazza, à la Harding front lawn. The second week of October, unusual decorations appeared down the entire length of the main street, strung from one side of buildings to the other, every few meters. Based on the appearance of this decor, and the town's obviously exuberant anticipation of Christmas, I wondered if they decided to get ready for Mardi Gras five months early. Then I came across an advertisement with this same pervasive image and picked up a brochure to discover that a giant craft fair is coming to town next weekend. Mystery solved.

Christmas (lights are) in the air!

the lady with the Mardi Gras-colored craft supplies bursting forth from her head! I spy 25 :)

Fifteen Minutes in My Shoes

Since my last post, my life has consisted of mostly ordinary activities--if anything about my work here could be considered "ordinary." Yet somehow whenever I sit down to write, feeling like I do not have much news to report, I end up with the longest litany of items to share. You won't receive a magical blessing within fifteen minutes for reading to the end and forwarding this to your fifteen closest friends, but I sincerely hope you do read it all...and maybe you will be entertained or touched by something I've shared. To summarize my last three weeks, I present the most notable happenings in the style of fifteen superlative awards:

The Greatest Disturbance of the Peace

This morning I awoke to the noise of my windows vibrating to loud music and a ruckus in the street below. Intrigued, I peered out my window to see a parade-like student demonstration. The ones at the front of the mob had a microphone and took turns airing their grievances to their flag-waving high school companions. Yes, in Italy students (and teachers) go on strike, as often as once a month, from what I've heard.

Enjoy this 50-second video of the student strike demonstration!

If the video does not work properly, here's a still shot:

The Most Interesting Question Posed By an English Student

Flipping through my children's New Testament storybook, a girl asked, "Is the story of Peter Pan in here?"

Perhaps the Most Eye-Opening Dialogue: Out of the Mouths of Babes

The above-mentioned middle schooler is also the winner of this category. As she read "John Baptizes Jesus," she was surprised to see the picture of Jesus being baptized in the river and remarked, "Adults don't get baptized!" Thus we had a conversation (in Italian, as she's a beginner at English, her fifth language) about motivations for baptism and how babies do not understand what is going on. She shared her personal experience of being baptized as a baby. "Yes," she said, "my mom told me that I was red and crying." Though this brief dialogue may not have changed her worldview, her mind was opened up to a radically new idea, and I was impressed by her insight.


Most Likely to Happen Like Clockwork: A River Runs Through It


My youngest student comes two evenings a week, and in addition to his new-found love for playing Hangman with Bible vocabulary, toward the end of each lesson he keeps his ears tuned for the chorus of the duck reunion...yes, each day at the same hour, without fail, a paddling of ducks congregates on the river behind the church building.

The Most Exciting (and Delicious) Evidence of Autumn

A roasted chestnut vendor has set up shop right along my commute from home to church/work!

The Most 3D Sunday School Craft

Having finished our series on the life of David and moved on to Solomon, this week we studied the construction of the temple. Though nothing like the real one in scale or splendor, our craft allowed the children to attack a heap of toilet paper rolls with their architectural ingenuity.

The Latest/Earliest Arrivals at Sunday School

The Ghanaians hold their worship service after ours, and each week toward the end of Sunday School, the two adorable siblings pictured below arrive in anticipation of their class. So they jump right in and participate in our craft!

The Longest Thursday Night Bible Study

This week our meeting at 8:30 p.m. lasted until 11! We discussed recent church happenings (mentioned in the prayer requests below) and other pan-Italian church affairs, and I must say it was all very informative and interesting, as well as encouraging to hear others wrestling with some of the same dilemmas and challenges rattling around my mind for months. Mission work isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I am blessed to be partnering with such heartfelt brethren dedicated to the expansion (in depth and breadth) of God's kingdom.

The Greatest Culinary Undertaking

Today I made homemade tortillas! A family friend had shown me how last fall, and this was my first time to make them on my own. As much as I love Italian food, eating something different (and especially Mexican) every now and then is a nice change of pace.

The Most Ambitious Project

I have inherited the task of updating the nine-and-a-half-year-old church directory! A lot of comings and goings have happened in that time frame, so I am attempting to collect and organize the data of the estimated 40 Italian speakers and 80 Ghanaians.

The Longest Half-Mile

Our church has been collecting items to send to a Christian man in prison in Zambia; he is the leader of a congregation in the jail, and our church has helped him out in the past through sending Bibles, etc. I was entrusted with the task of writing the letters to accompany our shipment of clothes, shoes, personal hygiene items, English hymnals, and schooling fees for his children...and also with the task of packing up and sending said shipment. In order to transport these two boxes (totaling 65 pounds) across town on foot to the post office, my rolling grocery bag became a precarious dwarf-sized dolly. We only had one mishap on the not-so-smooth cobblestone road, and after an adventure of filling out all manner of customs forms, the boxes are now on their way. Please pray that they make the rest of their journey unscathed!

The Most Impacting Literary Work

Speaking of Africa, I would like to make a book recommendation: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The story begins with a missionary family's arrival in the Congo in 1959 and is a fascinating account of issues post-colonial, cultural, religious, familial, and political. Though I have thus far read only 70%, I can already tell that it will join the ranks of my new favorite books, along with Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series, which I devoured this summer. This fascinating and enlightening trilogy dramatizes early Christian life in the Roman Empire.

Favorite Quotes (From a Friend's Blog)

This category resulted in a tie between two quotes that I discovered in moments in which I truly needed to hear them. Thanks, Catie! [http://centerstreetsynopsis.blogspot.com/]
"If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me." -John Bunyon
"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." -E. E. Cummings

The Highest Concentration of Tragedies: Join Me in Prayer

Recently hospitalizations and deaths have come in pairs. A young lady at church was in the hospital for a few days, and I went to visit her twice. Thankfully she has made a full recovery and survived a potentially dangerous episode. My landlady's mother, who lives in the apartment below mine and is one of the sweetest elderly ladies I've ever met, has been in the hospital for the last week and a half, recovering from a stroke. Please keep her in your prayers! At the moment she is unable to speak. Two Ghanaian members of our congregation recently passed away. The first was a few weeks ago while the man was back in Ghana for a visit. Then Monday a man in his 40s had a heart attack, leaving behind a wife and six children in Ghana. Such events highlight the ubiquitous nature of human tragedy that sooner or later affects us all. On the one hand, we cannot imagine what those most directly affected are feeling and enduring, yet on the other hand, we can, for we all share the frailty of the human experience. Thank goodness we have an ever-present Refuge to shelter us and enable us to bear these burdens together: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (II Corinthians 1:3-4). Please pray for these families and for our church's endeavors to help them, financially and otherwise.

My Best Attempt to Capture the Glory of God in the Sky

I love beholding the glory of God in nature. When glimpsing a spectacular sunset or traversing idyllic landscapes, I am reminded of God's majesty and sovereignty, and worries and troubles diminish. I took this picture when I was in the mountains in August, and it has become the centerpiece of the new display I made for the church window a couple days ago, along with the words of Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." What an awesome reminder that God is in control of all and shines down His light upon us!