ciao amici! oh my, was today a long day! i am so excited though, because we started our ministry today. we started the day with a meeting at the office. the ministry here is called 'agape italia'...that is what the students know the team as. so we met at the agape office at 10am and had a small bible study before we began our day. gary, the director of the agape team, took us through 2 samuel 9, and it was awesome. we are so blessed to have such a wise man of the lord leading our entire team. then, we went over some administrative stuff and left for the campuses! my team is split into 2 groups and each group goes to a different campus. the two campuses are novelli, which is business, law, and social sciences, and morgani, which is engineering and medicine. my campus is novelli. we got there around 12:30 and ate lunch at the mensa (the cafeteria). my group paired off and went to sit next to some students! we sat down at a table with kelly, one of the agape permanent staff girls, and immediately, a guy named carlo came and set next to us. he knew kelly because he had been to a few agape events. we talked to him forever in his broken english...it was aweome. i asked if we could speak in italian and he said no because he wanted to practice his english...it made me sad, but obviously, i agreed. then, we went and got a caffè and sat down and here comes carlo again...still yaking away! he was great though...he told us some jokes that made absolutely no sense at all, but that he thought were hilarious, so of course, theresa and i laughed along with him. he went to go study in the library, so we went up to a room where there were some more people studying to see if we could find some to talk to.
our preface for our ministry is that we are on a cultural exchange trying to learn about italian culture, language, and college students' views on life and spirituality. we have a survey that we go through with people we meet that starts off with surface questions and then get more spiritually oriented, in hopes that it will lead into an opportunity to share the gospel. we met with 2 groups of girls that were really receptive to what we had to say and gave great answers to our questions. there names are simona, silvia, althies, and sara. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!!! none of them are believers, and in fact, simona flat out told me that she didn't believe in God, but they were so open to listening to us and responding to the survey, that i was so encouraged. we invited them to our english class that we are having tomorrow, so i hope they come! please be praying for them continually! we didn't get to go much deeper than the survey questions, but the lord really opened my eyes to what ministry is like in italy, and gave me so much more confidence to approach students in the future. the biggest thing i learned today is that i need to be praying for sensitivity to the holy spirit, so i would know how to approach, what to say, how far to push, and when to back off. PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS TOO!!! even though i didn't outright share the gospel with anyone today, i am so encouraged by their willingness to hear and feel so empowered by the strength of my lord. i am so not alone in this...in fact, this isn't me at all. please pray that i would remember this. that is going to be it for now, but i love you all so much and i am so thankful for all of you and your prayers! please don't stop! pray without ceasing!
also, please be praying specifically for my team...here are their names:
stephanie
katherine
hayleah
rachel
thecla
ally
ashlee
theresa
samantha
kim
jessica
me :)
matt
adam
jonathan
kevin
chase
toby and jessica (our leaders)
thanks so much...love you!
ci vediamo! ciao tutti!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
ciao di firenze!!!!!
ahhhh! i'm in florence!!! this is so crazy...i really can't even believe that i'm here. it is saturday night here and i've been here since wednesday. i'm already in love. since i am not able to get to an internet cafè every day, i decided that i would just journal everyday and share some of my entries with you. so here goes...i guess i'll put in a few days worth here...
tuesday 5/20
well today we left for italy! i'm on the airplane right now flying from dallas to frankfurt, germany. i still can't believe i am actually getting to go on this trip. i'm hoping that it will be everything i have been hoping it would be. i actually don't even know what my expectations are. i hope that it is as beautiful as i have always imagined. i just envision myself sitting in a little cafè, sipping tea and watching everyone walk through the piazza. the last couple of days have been really great. i spent two days at a hotel in dallas at a briefing for the trip. we had some members of the campus crusade staff give some short talks about how to be a team and serve the lord together this summer. they talked about their vision for our summers and how they have described it as the 4 "L's": love the lord, love your team, learn a culture, and launch a movement. i would ask you all to pray that the lord would challenge me this summer to lean to love him in new ways. i want to come away from italy with a whole new perspective. i want to fall in love with my jesus all over again. i really want to love my6 team well this summer too. my goal, and please pray for this too, is to find out how each person on my team feels and accepts love, and really try to pursue them in that way. pray that i would be bold enough to ask everyone directly how they accept love and be able to discern by watching them on a daily basis, what that is. i just want to be a servant this summer and i am praying that the lord would teach me how to do that. also pray that the lord would show me how to specifically share the gospel with the students this summer. today i was feeling especially discouraged about my ability to present the gospel effectively this summer, so i prayed that the lord would give me strength and just use his holy spirit to speak through me. so...he answered that pretty quickly! while i was sitting in the computer room at the hotel, a guy came in and sat down at the computer next to me and started talking to me. he was asking me why i was at the hotel and i told him about our briefing for our mission trip. he said, "oh, so you are a christian?" i told him i was and it turns out that he was jewish, and in dallas on business from l.a. we got to talking more and he asked me a ton of questions about christianity and i got to share the truth of the gospel with him! on the same day that i prayed for strength, the lord gave me a blatant opportunity to practice. praise god. he is so sovereign. i am so blessed.
wednesday 5/21
we arrived in italy today!!! i am so happy we are finally here! thank you all for praying for our safe travel. we landed around 5pm and were picked up by the crusade staff that serves here in florence, and they took us to our hotel. we are staying at the hotel margaret near the center of town. it is so cute and exactly how i thought it would look. i have the best view ever! i stood out there for a while today and played fetch with the neighbor's dog, mattiè. tonight, the permanent staff and the stinters took us to a nice dinner at a restaurant called za-za's. my first taste of real authentic italian food was fantastic! i had ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce that is apparently famous in florence....oh my gosh, it was amazing. on our way home, we stopped and got our first gelato! also amazing. i ordered mine in italian and felt so cool. please pray that my italian gets a lot better while i'm here! that's about it for tonight! buona notte!
thursday 5/22
9am: please pray that the lord would give me and my team the kind of urgency for the gospel that the 1st century church had. pray that i would be like peter, who was so eager to follow the lord's commands and have prophesy fulfilled. i love that the lord gave him such a zeal and an eagerness to be counted among the faithful. please pray that the lord would give be the same heart.
1am: wow! today was such an amazing day! the lord has given me so much joy! i cannot believe that i get to experience something like this. today, we learned how to take the bus, go to the grocery store, and we got our cards to eat in the cafeteria on campus. i got to use more italian today too! please pray that i would understand more and have more courage to use what i know! after lunch today, we went on a scavenger hunt and got to see all of the city. we saw all the piazzas and the other landmarks. my favorite by far has been the piazza di michelangelo. we hiked up to the top and could see the entire city. it was absolutely breathtaking. then, later tonight, one of the guys on my team played his guitar and we did some worship on the steps of the santa maria novella chiesa (church)...oh my goodness! i got to praise jesus in florence, italy, and the foot of an amazingly beautiful church. it was so cool.
saturday 5/24
i'm not going to write a lot today because i think you get the idea. this place is amazing and i am in awe of its beauty. i am so thankful to be here and i hope you keep praying for me. we start our ministry on monday! please pray for "hearers" of the gospel...that is what we want right now...people willing to listen. that is all for now. i love you all. buona notte!
arrivaderci!
tuesday 5/20
well today we left for italy! i'm on the airplane right now flying from dallas to frankfurt, germany. i still can't believe i am actually getting to go on this trip. i'm hoping that it will be everything i have been hoping it would be. i actually don't even know what my expectations are. i hope that it is as beautiful as i have always imagined. i just envision myself sitting in a little cafè, sipping tea and watching everyone walk through the piazza. the last couple of days have been really great. i spent two days at a hotel in dallas at a briefing for the trip. we had some members of the campus crusade staff give some short talks about how to be a team and serve the lord together this summer. they talked about their vision for our summers and how they have described it as the 4 "L's": love the lord, love your team, learn a culture, and launch a movement. i would ask you all to pray that the lord would challenge me this summer to lean to love him in new ways. i want to come away from italy with a whole new perspective. i want to fall in love with my jesus all over again. i really want to love my6 team well this summer too. my goal, and please pray for this too, is to find out how each person on my team feels and accepts love, and really try to pursue them in that way. pray that i would be bold enough to ask everyone directly how they accept love and be able to discern by watching them on a daily basis, what that is. i just want to be a servant this summer and i am praying that the lord would teach me how to do that. also pray that the lord would show me how to specifically share the gospel with the students this summer. today i was feeling especially discouraged about my ability to present the gospel effectively this summer, so i prayed that the lord would give me strength and just use his holy spirit to speak through me. so...he answered that pretty quickly! while i was sitting in the computer room at the hotel, a guy came in and sat down at the computer next to me and started talking to me. he was asking me why i was at the hotel and i told him about our briefing for our mission trip. he said, "oh, so you are a christian?" i told him i was and it turns out that he was jewish, and in dallas on business from l.a. we got to talking more and he asked me a ton of questions about christianity and i got to share the truth of the gospel with him! on the same day that i prayed for strength, the lord gave me a blatant opportunity to practice. praise god. he is so sovereign. i am so blessed.
wednesday 5/21
we arrived in italy today!!! i am so happy we are finally here! thank you all for praying for our safe travel. we landed around 5pm and were picked up by the crusade staff that serves here in florence, and they took us to our hotel. we are staying at the hotel margaret near the center of town. it is so cute and exactly how i thought it would look. i have the best view ever! i stood out there for a while today and played fetch with the neighbor's dog, mattiè. tonight, the permanent staff and the stinters took us to a nice dinner at a restaurant called za-za's. my first taste of real authentic italian food was fantastic! i had ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce that is apparently famous in florence....oh my gosh, it was amazing. on our way home, we stopped and got our first gelato! also amazing. i ordered mine in italian and felt so cool. please pray that my italian gets a lot better while i'm here! that's about it for tonight! buona notte!
thursday 5/22
9am: please pray that the lord would give me and my team the kind of urgency for the gospel that the 1st century church had. pray that i would be like peter, who was so eager to follow the lord's commands and have prophesy fulfilled. i love that the lord gave him such a zeal and an eagerness to be counted among the faithful. please pray that the lord would give be the same heart.
1am: wow! today was such an amazing day! the lord has given me so much joy! i cannot believe that i get to experience something like this. today, we learned how to take the bus, go to the grocery store, and we got our cards to eat in the cafeteria on campus. i got to use more italian today too! please pray that i would understand more and have more courage to use what i know! after lunch today, we went on a scavenger hunt and got to see all of the city. we saw all the piazzas and the other landmarks. my favorite by far has been the piazza di michelangelo. we hiked up to the top and could see the entire city. it was absolutely breathtaking. then, later tonight, one of the guys on my team played his guitar and we did some worship on the steps of the santa maria novella chiesa (church)...oh my goodness! i got to praise jesus in florence, italy, and the foot of an amazingly beautiful church. it was so cool.
saturday 5/24
i'm not going to write a lot today because i think you get the idea. this place is amazing and i am in awe of its beauty. i am so thankful to be here and i hope you keep praying for me. we start our ministry on monday! please pray for "hearers" of the gospel...that is what we want right now...people willing to listen. that is all for now. i love you all. buona notte!
arrivaderci!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
finally
hello sweet friends...
i'm am so sorry that i have been slacking so badly with my blog. so much has happened in my life in the past 2 weeks that i was a bit hesitant about blogging because i didn't know if i would be able to convey all of my emotions through my post. so once again, sorry about that! to bring everyone up to date, in the past 2 weeks, i took my last undergrad final, graduated from texas a&m university, moved out of the place i've called home for the last 3 years and back to my parents' house, and now, finally, after many months, i am in dallas at my summer project briefing....whew!
i absolutely cannot believe that i'm here. it seems like it was literally just yesterday that i found out that i had been accepted to the project and started raising support. on that note, PRAISE THE LORD! as of yesterday, the lord provided all of my support. $6170.00!!! thank you so much to everyone that has made this trip possible and has partnered with me in spreading the gospel to italian college students! you do not even know how much you've blessed me and how much of an impact you are going to have on the people i am going to meet! like i said before, i am in dallas for my briefing. i got here last night and we had meetings all day today and then more tomorrow...and then guess what?...i'm flying to italy on tuesday!!!!!!!!! i am beyond excited. i know that the lord has some amazing things planned for me and that i am going to be challenged way beyond my own strength, but i am confident that this is his will for my life right now and i am trying to step out in faith and follow him.
so that's where i'm at right now. briefing has been great so far. it has been so wonderful to finally meet everyone on my team...there are 18 of us! woohoo! i'm actually a minority being from texas...almost half of my team is coming from louisiana! i'm so excited to get to know everyone better though and serve with them this summer. i know god has placed each one of us on this team for a particular reason, and i just can't wait to see what that is!!! i guess my overall emotion right now would be one of excitement. i'm just in awe of the lord's sovereignty and his goodness. our god is so faithful.
look forward to many more posts! thanks for reading! i love you all!
pace!
i'm am so sorry that i have been slacking so badly with my blog. so much has happened in my life in the past 2 weeks that i was a bit hesitant about blogging because i didn't know if i would be able to convey all of my emotions through my post. so once again, sorry about that! to bring everyone up to date, in the past 2 weeks, i took my last undergrad final, graduated from texas a&m university, moved out of the place i've called home for the last 3 years and back to my parents' house, and now, finally, after many months, i am in dallas at my summer project briefing....whew!
i absolutely cannot believe that i'm here. it seems like it was literally just yesterday that i found out that i had been accepted to the project and started raising support. on that note, PRAISE THE LORD! as of yesterday, the lord provided all of my support. $6170.00!!! thank you so much to everyone that has made this trip possible and has partnered with me in spreading the gospel to italian college students! you do not even know how much you've blessed me and how much of an impact you are going to have on the people i am going to meet! like i said before, i am in dallas for my briefing. i got here last night and we had meetings all day today and then more tomorrow...and then guess what?...i'm flying to italy on tuesday!!!!!!!!! i am beyond excited. i know that the lord has some amazing things planned for me and that i am going to be challenged way beyond my own strength, but i am confident that this is his will for my life right now and i am trying to step out in faith and follow him.
so that's where i'm at right now. briefing has been great so far. it has been so wonderful to finally meet everyone on my team...there are 18 of us! woohoo! i'm actually a minority being from texas...almost half of my team is coming from louisiana! i'm so excited to get to know everyone better though and serve with them this summer. i know god has placed each one of us on this team for a particular reason, and i just can't wait to see what that is!!! i guess my overall emotion right now would be one of excitement. i'm just in awe of the lord's sovereignty and his goodness. our god is so faithful.
look forward to many more posts! thanks for reading! i love you all!
pace!
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