Thursday, June 3, 2010

Welcome June!

Happy Memorial day to all of you, Stateside. From the sounds of things, the weather’s been lousy and if it keeps up, you may be able to swim to work soon. We hope you all are doing ok and we do pray for you often. Can you believe it is already June? Time is flying by!


These last 10 days or so have been quite busy. Our team has done ministry in a prison, a shelter for young kids who’s parents aren’t fit to care for them, parks, and a church. Our team is really starting to fall into place as far as the different rolls we have for ministry. As a leader, its great to see this happenings, as ultimately it makes less work for me :) Also as a leader, its truly a joy to see the students take charge and really own and be responsible for the ministries we are participating in.


This past weekend we were with a church in San Salvo, a town about an hour south of Pescara. We had a time of worship in a park, then passed out invitations to a “Gospel Concert” we would be putting on in the evening. We spent a few hours in the park, painting faces of children, talking with people and supporting the coffee bar that was there. Sunday was a very warm day and there were many people in the park. We ate lunch with the church and had a bit of “free” time in the afternoon. I was to lead worship for the “Gospel Concert” that evening and spent much of the afternoon preparing for that. We had, as a team, a great time of prayer prior to the service. The music worked well, as Rebeca (the girl in the picture above) assisted me in leading the songs in Italian. Our team did the “Everything” Drama that they’ve been working on, (Look for it soon on our videos page). Kaylyn shared here testimony and spoke wonderfully. Several people were moved to tears as she declared, through a translator, that she would choose to follow Jesus and give her “yes” to Jesus each day. Our time in San Salvo served to encourage the church and excite them about the opportunities there are in ministry within their own town, and missions, within Italy and across Italy’s Borders.


This week we have been learning on relationships from Jo Rocha. Jo is Brazilian, but lives in Belgium with his wife and 3 children. Jo and Kristien watched a son lose his battle with leukemia about 5 years ago. In light of our family’s recent battle, we have felt a strong kinship with Jo. He’s a sweet man who really is living out his teaching.


In the coming weeks, we are quite busy. This weekend we leave for Bari, for 8 days. We will be staying with church there to offer our teacher for the week to their church and community. This will be an important time in outreach preparation for us as well. When we return from Bari, we will have just over a week in Pescara before we leave for Belfast. Please be in prayer for the last two weeks of the lecture phase of this school. God has done some incredibly amazing things, but we are confident he’s not done yet. You can look forward to a new gallery soon, as we’ll have pictures from the last few weeks and the weeks to come!

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