¡Hasta Luego, Inseguridad!

The summer session of the ladies' Bible study on the army base began last week. I'm in a group reading Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity.. in Spanish (the title of this post)! Having this opportunity to practice with native speakers will hopefully prevent my Spanish from being entirely corrupted by Italian :) I've read the book in English and can highly recommend it. I'm hoping this study will not only benefit me personally but also equip me to help the girls at church (and around the country) be more secure with themselves.


The Thursday night Bible study reached a milestone this week: we finished I Corinthians! When I arrived in January, we were in chapter 6... six months later, we made it through chapter 16 and are now on to II Corinthians. Another exciting development at the Bible study is that the couple who leads it has been bringing fresh produce from their orchard to share with the rest of us. This week I got zucchini, tomatoes, and a leek!


My English students are one by one finishing Mark and beginning to read Acts! I had a particularly good discussion with one of them last week as he was asking me why there are so many different churches, and as we studied Acts 2, we had more conversation than usual; typically he answers each question briefly and keeps on going. I'm glad to have growing relationships with my students as they are also having a growing understanding of God's Word.


A girl from France is doing a five-month business internship in Vicenza, so it's nice to have another person my age at church! We get together occasionally during the week as well, and this week she came over for dinner.

A Moldavian couple from church, who celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary last month, on the first of this month gave birth to an adorable and tiny baby girl!

In other neighborhood news... the entire length of the street the church building is on is under construction. With first one side shut down, then another part, this has made my commute a little more exciting, as well as complicated traffic patterns and bus routes, as the street and bridge have become one-way. Around here, there's never a dull moment!

CAMP!!!

The Italian Christian summer camp was once again an incredible experience!! I returned home so full of joy and wish I could adequately communicate all that transpired... God was powerfully at work in our little nook up in the Apennine mountains.

The first week we had 71 little ones (ages 6-13), and our theme was the Fruit of the Spirit. I co-taught the youngest Bible class (twenty vivacious six-to-nine-year-olds, pictured below) and helped with the art class and sports. Last year there were forty-five campers each week, so this substantial increase of precious children also made everything even crazier than usual :)




The second week we had 23 teenagers, all but one of whom I already knew. It was a much more tranquil and intimate week as we focused on "Facing Your Giants," using the story of David and Goliath and Max Lucado's book of that name. I was in the Bible class with the 14-and-15-year-olds (pictured below) and co-taught the English class, which consisted of pictionary, charades, the "take a hike" game, and listening to English music to decipher the lyrics. For the Friday night end-of-camp showcase, our English class sang "The Battle Belongs to the Lord."

As we focused on identifying and combating our personal giants, we had a tangible reference point, a life-size replica of Goliath that some of the men had constructed! We wrote our giants on slips of paper and put them in a box, which, along with Goliath, was burned on the last night. Below is the English class with Goliath.

We had such a great staff of counselors and cooks for both sessions! Emily, an Avanti worker at the Florence Bible School (pictured with me below) was a counselor with me for both weeks, and working with her was so much fun! To read more about camp (as well as her work in Florence), I suggest you visit her blog: http://dafavola.blogspot.com/

The absolute highlight of camp was that two boys, from Taranto and Vicenza, decided to be baptized on Friday!! They both have amazing stories, which I will share in part. The one from Taranto (down south in the arch of the boot) comes from a Christian family but had fallen in with the wrong crowd, so to speak; due to past behavior problems, he was almost not allowed to come to camp this year. Before his baptism, he admitted (it sounds better in Italian), "I came to camp intending to wreak havoc, but instead God wrought havoc on me." The guy from Vicenza is from a non-Christian family but had been to camp a few times with a friend; last year he was selected as the Best Camper. Before his baptism, he prayed, "You know I've never had a father; now I'm choosing You to be my Father." In the absence of a typical baptistery, a giant freezer was filled with water, and we all gathered around to witness these two new births. Please pray for both of these new brothers in Christ, especially as they have now returned from camp to the regular world and do not want to revert back to their old lives. Pray also that I and others will know how to encourage and support them.

rejoicing with our two new brothers in Christ!!

(on the left in the bright blue and orange shirts)

On facebook I have uploaded lots more pictures of camp, as well as a ten-minute film created by a group of teens re-enacting the story of David and Goliath. "Tu ci credi ai giganti???" is particularly hilarious if you understand Italian, but I would recommend it to all who would like a glimpse of the campers and the camp's location. It was truly a special group of people in a special place, and we are grateful for all the unforgettable moments! God is good.

Ode on a Grecian Isle

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!

From Venice to Milan!

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!

the result of the Psalm 18 Easter egg hunt:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge."

Jessica and I in Venice

Jessica and I in front of Milan's Duomo

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 :)

Not an April Fools' Joke

Monday night the church in Padova (half an hour away) hosted a concert by Chorale Harmonie, an acappella group from Marseilles! They sang in both French and English, and it was a very uplifting evening. Several of the French songs also exist in English, but not Italian, so it had been many months since I heard them, so that was a nice surprise!

In case you heard about the landslide, caused by a burst irrigation pipe, that derailed a train in northern Italy Monday morning, killing nine people... that was about two and a half hours north of me.

This morning I had another random encounter with a faraway friend! While I was in the market getting fruit, I saw a girl from Sicily (the complete opposite end of the country, an island no less, and a good fifteen or so hours away) who was here on a high school field trip, just like the other teens from camp I encountered last month!

Then in one of my English lessons this afternoon, I got to talk to a customer service representative at a bank in England, attempting to sort out some address confusion on behalf of one of my students. Never a dull moment.

This afternoon I changed out the display in the church window! Begonia had the idea from an e-mail she'd seen with a Bible on a plate, symbolizing how "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3b), so I found a couple verses and made a little 3D exhibit. The timing and theme of the display is somewhat ironic, since on Saturday the Ghanaians are having a day of prayer and fasting up at the church building. Here are a couple pictures, with some lovely street scenes reflected in the glass:

"I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." ~Job 23:12b

My last post was long enough without including my latest apartment adventure, so I will close today with my April Fools' tale. At 11:30 p.m. on April 1, my electricity went out! At first I wasn't too concerned, since I was leaving town the next day, and I would have plenty of daylight to pack, since I never have to turn on my lights til dusk anyway. Then a few implications dawned on me: 1) No refrigeration. Hence a mass exodus of all my cold food to the fridge/freezer at the church building. 2) No heating during the night. 3) Ice cold mountain water shower in the morning. Having dealt with these minor inconveniences, I mentioned the problem to my landlords on my way to the train station, not knowing whether I'd have electricity upon my return from the youth retreat. To avoid the risk of burning down the whole building, I had left the power completely off, since there had been a suspicious burning smell when the electricity went out and when I had tried in vain to re-set it. Returning home Monday evening, I was delighted to find that my lights worked and noticed that a new breaker had been installed. On my way home from reclaiming my food from my surrogate fridge, I ran into my landlord, who told me that it had been repaired the day before. Props to my landlords on getting something of this magnitude accomplished on Easter, since Italy pretty much shuts down on holidays. [For example, on Easter Monday, my ladies' Bible study group leader was unable to find an open gas station.] Mission: Let there be light, 2.0 -- accomplished! And I live above a lamp store...