Year in Review

Though 2010 has not quite drawn to a close, my Christmas break has commenced, and I have begun to reflect on my year in Vicenza:

32 Saturday children's English classes

10 one-on-one English students

2 weeks of camp with a total of 94 campers

5 youth retreats

5 women's or family retreats and conferences

2 ladies' small group Bible studies on the army base

4 conferences hosted in Vicenza with guest speakers

3 potlucks with 2 children's skits

6 Old Testament Bible characters (Ruth-Elijah) examined in Sunday School

8 overnight guests in my apartment

9 congregations around Italy visited for worship or special events

3 baptisms witnessed + 4 more (heard about) of friends

1 wedding + 1 baby born in our church + 2 children's birthday parties

6 new church window displays created

5 kids babysat for extended periods of time

23 chapters of I and II Corinthians covered at our Thursday night Bible study

4 theatre, music, or chorus recitals of church members

2 natural disasters, 8 simultaneous computer viruses, 1 lingering health ailment

countless hours and meals in the homes of church members

countless conversations

countless challenges

countless blessings


I feel like my mission has been lived out as a jack-of-all-trades: children's minister, youth minister, English teacher, friend, encourager, tenant, photographer, writer...

"I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."

~I Corinthians 9:22b

My motto during the middle of the year, as a new role outside my comfort zone was thrust upon me, became "And who is equal to such a task?" (II Corinthians 2:16b). At the missionary retreat in August, I found my answer a few verses later: "but our competence comes from God" (II Corinthians 3:5b).

With my health still sub-par all year, I am grateful that I have still been able to be here carrying out my work. My temporary thorn in the flesh has given me the opportunity to rely on God's grace and power: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' [...] That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:9a, 10).

This following passage is a little dramatic for my situation, but I really like the idea it represents: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead" (II Corinthians 1:8-9).

This year, working on my own most of the time, I have learned to rely on God for everything, and He has proven Himself faithful over and over again in the little details of life as well as the big picture.

I know that God has put me in the perfect spot for now to use my gifts and talents to serve others and Him. As I bounced all over the country (and world, for that matter) in 2009 before landing in Vicenza for 2010, Paul's speech in Athens, long a favorite passage of mine, was played out in my life: "[H]e determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26b-27).

In each location of my Avanti Italia journey, I have learned and grown so much. I look forward to seeing where God will lead me in 2011!