Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Spring Updates:

It's finally Spring! The weather has been perfect lately and it reminds me what a beautiful country I live in.  Believe it or not, sometimes I forget. Ma l'Italia e' davvero bella!  I got back from visiting the US for Carrie's wedding about two weeks ago and since then I have been trying to enjoy as much cappuccino and gelato as possible. Now that I'm here again it's back to work as usual.


These are some of the things we've been working on:

Earl Lavender's Visit:
Earl Lavender, professor at Lipscomb, has been coming to this part of Italy every year summer for a very long time.  This year he will visit our church in Bondeno! We are planning an afternoon of evangelism in the city and then an evening of study where Earl will give two different messages.  We will have visitors from other churches as well, so it will be an exciting day.  We are also helping the church in Belluno to host a night of teaching with Earl.  The next day we will travel to Belluno to evangelize together in the city of Belluno and study again together that evening.

Children's Play:
Our kids are putting on another play!  The kids did an incredible job with the last play, "The Man in the Well", in October.  We're all working hard (especially Daniela) to make this next play even better.  We don't have a title yet, but the theme is 'helping your neighbor'.  The big day is June 17th and we still have a lot of work to do, but I know it's going to be incredible.

New Songs:
I've been working on putting together a book new songs that also includes the sheet music.  Last year Emily Woodroof did an amazing job translating songs for the youth and putting them into a book.  People really like the new songs and now we need more books.  We also have a number of people in our church who would like to learn alto, tenor and bass.  So I'm working on getting a new book put together.

Prayers:
Please pray for the things listed above. Also, I will be moving toward the beginning of June.  I've been with Mina and Umberto for almost a year.  They have been very welcoming to me, but being older, it's better for them that I find new living arrangements.  I have a couple of options, but I haven't figured out where I will go yet.  Please pray that God will put me where I can be most effective in his work here.
Please pray for the youth at Bondeno.  The Sunday evening Bible studies have been going very well recently.  They have been more curious and asking difficult, but great questions.  Please pray that God will speak to them and grow their faith.
Recently I have gotten to know several people outside of the church.  Please pray that God will open their hearts to hear the gospel and that they feel welcomed to worship with us.
Thank you all for your support and prayers!
Feel free to come visit!