one more week

ciao tutti! i am sorry to tell you that i have but one week left here in italy. i actually only have 3 days left in florence because we are going to cinque terre next week for our debriefing. i absolutely cannot believe that my time here (for now...) is almost finished. i guess time flies when you're having fun (or when you are telling people the most important message they'll ever hear...either one).

well yesterday officially marked the end of my ministry here. i am going to get to hang out with one of my italian friends one more time before i leave, but we aren't going to campus anymore and there will be no more initiations. i really am in awe of how much the Lord has done in and through our team this summer. the agape staff told us at the beginning of the summer that the Lord would do more in us individually than he would do through us, but i didn't believe them initially. i thought that there was no way i would be changed as much as people hearing the gospel for the first time would be...i was definitely wrong. i was talking to one of the stint girls last night about how i think the Lord has done so much in my heart this summer that i don't think i am even consciously aware of all of it. i cannot wait to come home and just process everything that the Lord has taught me. if i had to pick the biggest thing the Lord has taught me, i think it would be the importance of loving people. we are going through 1 peter as a team this summer, and in 1 peter 4:7, it says, "Above all, love each other earnestly, because love covers a multitude of sins." it has been so crucial for me to realize that the most important thing we can do as followers of Christ is to intentionally, purposefully, dilligently, and earnestly love everyone around us. Christ said that the world would know his followers by their love (john 13:35).

i cannot express in words the hopelessness and apathy i have witnessed in my time here. the italian people do not know love, they do not know hope, and they absolutely do not know Jesus. i know a lot of people wondered why i was going on a mission trip to italy...people think that italy is a christian country...i mean the pope lives here...really? but like i have said before, i think italy might be the most "lost" country in the world! people have completely missed the truth of Christ even though they have been around the church and religious teachings their entire lives. most italian students are angry at the melding of the church as an institution with political power and hate that the pope has so much power over their social lives and their personal decisions. so many students i have talked to think that religion should be a personal thing, and they are intrigued when i say that i have a personal relationship with Jesus, but because of the influence and impact of the catholic church, they cannot wrap their minds around the idea of freedom from the law through Christ. it is my hope that the seeds planted this summer would take root and they would be able to experience the freedom and bliss that comes from knowing Jesus as your Savior.

i know that i have so much more to say, but it is terribly difficult to put everything in words (and type them into an internet blog when i am sitting in a tiny, stinky room, probably contracting deadly diseases as we speak...or type i guess). i just ask that just because my time here is almost finished, that you would not cease praying for this country. it is my hope that my experience and my blog has opened some of your eyes to the need for the gospel in this country, in all of western europe, and all over the world. the reality is that italians need Jesus...more than anything. pray for them daily (1 thessalonians 5:17), and have confidence in the movement in this country. the Lord is moving mightily here and i know He longs to see reconciliation. the italian people will always have a special place in my heart, and i pray that they have creeped into yours as well. thank you so much for your support and prayers thus far...don't stop!

i love you all...arrivaderci mi amici!

xoxo...hayley