Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Feste Della Donna- International Woman's Day Outreach
Today our team handed out 100 mimosas (the flower not the drink) to Italian female students! It was great fun to give away something that is a cultural symbol of the holiday that celebrates women. Attached to the flowers was Agape Italian's Logo, and a link to our website. There were even a few women who came back and wanted to double check that the flowers were indeed free. :) Which they were. Here are a few pictures from the outreach!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Where we are now...
In the states, college students generally go back to campus the second week or so in January to start their spring classes. However, in Italy it is a little different. They start taking their exams for the fall term in December and are just now finishing them up. Almost all exams are given orally and are in many cases the only grade given in a course, so if a student doesn't pass the test they don't pass the class. No pressure right!?! This still seems very odd to me, but I am learning. So in December we focused on helping out some of our Bologna partnerships while students just weren't on campus to meet. Many went home to study, outside of Bologna, and to spend the holidays. Those that did go home often only came back to take their test and to leave town again.
In January, our team came back and did intensive language study during two of the weeks, went to Nerja, Spain for midyear for a week, and then to Florence for a seminary type training on the book of Romans for a week. These were all things that even though aren't directly things that impact students are designed to prepare us for ministry with students. I can sometimes feel like I wasting time by doing things such as these but when I look at the overreaching effect that they have, I see their value and importance. For example, how can I communicate to Italians about Jesus if I can't speak Italian? Drawing pictures and hand gestures only go so far. In Nerja, my team got to talk with other STINTers from Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and some special forces. The hard soil that they are experiencing can be similar to what we are experiencing here in Bologna. So it was good not only to praise and worship God together but to also share ideas on ways to sow seeds that God can use to bring people into his kingdom! The class on the book of Romans gave me insight into the culture and times in which the letter was written that enhances what I know about how Paul shares the message of the gospel to the citizens of the Roman church. This is important not only for how I process the gospel as it relates to me but to also how I share the gospel with Italians today. So long story short, even though January was busy and productive, I really was ready to get back to campus.
As we begin the new semester, we took a look at the strategies we garnered from others in Nerja.
One of the suggestions that seems to work really well in not only doing English clubs like we have but also having conversation partners. The reason this seems to work a little better for reaching students is that you’re more likely to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with students meeting one on one. This of course means more opportunities for processing the gospel with students.
Another avenue we are using for reaching students in the International Woman's Day on March 8th. We are planning on doing an outreach on campus that would allow us again meet students and to also maybe get the Agape Italia name out there as far as students recognizing who we are. I will post more about this as details are finalized.
Another upcoming project that our team is preparing for is the Effective Study outreach. With this Agape Italia Bologna is sponsoring a world renowned team from Switzerland to come and share effective study tools with students at the university. Also woven into the presentation is the gospel. Right now we are still searching for a location as it is very hard to get a room on campus.
Overall we are really as a team trusting the Lord to bring relationship building opportunities to us and for us to recognize those and use them for building God's kingdom. Without relationships to work with there will be little opportunity for reaching students for Christ.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support for Bologna!
Crystal
In January, our team came back and did intensive language study during two of the weeks, went to Nerja, Spain for midyear for a week, and then to Florence for a seminary type training on the book of Romans for a week. These were all things that even though aren't directly things that impact students are designed to prepare us for ministry with students. I can sometimes feel like I wasting time by doing things such as these but when I look at the overreaching effect that they have, I see their value and importance. For example, how can I communicate to Italians about Jesus if I can't speak Italian? Drawing pictures and hand gestures only go so far. In Nerja, my team got to talk with other STINTers from Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and some special forces. The hard soil that they are experiencing can be similar to what we are experiencing here in Bologna. So it was good not only to praise and worship God together but to also share ideas on ways to sow seeds that God can use to bring people into his kingdom! The class on the book of Romans gave me insight into the culture and times in which the letter was written that enhances what I know about how Paul shares the message of the gospel to the citizens of the Roman church. This is important not only for how I process the gospel as it relates to me but to also how I share the gospel with Italians today. So long story short, even though January was busy and productive, I really was ready to get back to campus.
As we begin the new semester, we took a look at the strategies we garnered from others in Nerja.
One of the suggestions that seems to work really well in not only doing English clubs like we have but also having conversation partners. The reason this seems to work a little better for reaching students is that you’re more likely to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with students meeting one on one. This of course means more opportunities for processing the gospel with students.
Another avenue we are using for reaching students in the International Woman's Day on March 8th. We are planning on doing an outreach on campus that would allow us again meet students and to also maybe get the Agape Italia name out there as far as students recognizing who we are. I will post more about this as details are finalized.
Another upcoming project that our team is preparing for is the Effective Study outreach. With this Agape Italia Bologna is sponsoring a world renowned team from Switzerland to come and share effective study tools with students at the university. Also woven into the presentation is the gospel. Right now we are still searching for a location as it is very hard to get a room on campus.
Overall we are really as a team trusting the Lord to bring relationship building opportunities to us and for us to recognize those and use them for building God's kingdom. Without relationships to work with there will be little opportunity for reaching students for Christ.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support for Bologna!
Crystal
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Spiritual Warefare
How to Fight the Spiritual Battle- Video of Pastor Ernesto Bretscher from Torino, Italy and Translated by Marti Sanders
Video Part 1
Video Part 2
Video Part 3
Video Part 4
Sunday, January 31, 2010
To stay in God's will...
I remember when this journey started I had been living in Fort Worth for a little over 4 months when I heard that the young adults class in my church was going to send a small group to connect with some missionary partners our class had in Florence, Italy. I essentially went to the interest meeting to see why we had missionaries in Italy. (If you aren't sure...let me know. I would love to share with you the many reasons why.) As I became interested in going, I began to fill out the application. There is something about those applications that make me wonder if God would call a fallen person to share the message of the savior? I always become burdened with my guilt even though I know the truth that God has already paid my debt and forgiven my sins. Long story short I end up on the team feeling like I was doing something worthwhile in going to help our partners in Florence for a week over my summer but not at all feeling like I was qualified to go. Who knew that God would take my small leap of faith and change the course of my life?
It was in that trip that we also took a day trip by train to Bologna, Italy. There we met with Jesse and Tricia Marcos. While we were there Tricia mentioned that they were looking for an English as a Second Language Teacher to join them in the fall of 2009. Again my response was something along the lines, of ESL teacher yes, missionary no. I felt that there was no way God would call me into the missions field. I was an undeserving sinner. Anyhow like the first time God took the time to show me, he would call me. He did find me worthy of serving him. He showed me through the life of Paul and others in the New Testament that the people he used, other than Jesus himself, were all imperfect people called to share the perfect message. Wow, what a relief, I am not called to be perfect just to share.
However, several times in the past month I have felt God moving me towards another year here in Bologna, if not more, and I wanted to share that journey with you. The first time I felt God beginning to work on my heart, was this summer. I was in my second week of support raising and it was the first week support had not increased. I was praying asking God if he had changed his mind or if I was supposed to go at all. Not long after I finished praying and was staring at the number before me in a daze than my dishwasher stop. Being the excellent procrastinator that I am I stood up to put the dishes away rather than mail my support coach my number that hadn't changed. In the time it took me to put the dished away, I got three phone calls of people joining my team. The last call went something along the lines of,"Crystal, I have been praying and have decided to support you for two years at --$$ per month." Two years, I thought in disbelief I hadn't mentioned two years as even a remote possibility. Hum, I immediately pointed my finger in a heavenly direction and said God I am giving you a year, isn't that good enough. It soon occurred to me if I lived a 100 years, I was only giving him 1% of my life. Wow, that did not feel good. Ok, I will, maybe, just a little bit, think about I moaned.
Two weeks later was July 4th weekend, and I was at a family reunion for my Grandfathers side of the family. Now most of my family is from Texas or Arkansas on that side. I was standing at the sink talking with a distant cousin asking her, "What took you to New York?" She replied," I went to start a church plant, for 2 years." Her mother leaned over the sink to face me and say, "That was 30 years ago." Wow, again I prayed to God, I am in for a year, not more than that. I can't handle more; I am not qualified for that kind of task.
The next time I felt God speaking to me about more than a year, I was in Bologna. My team and I were on campus doing some surveys with the students asking many different types of questions. One was along the lines of, “Who would you discuss spiritual things with?" The answer," My friends, not my family, maybe my friends." Going off script I asked, " How long would you have to be friends with someone to talk with them about spiritual things?" Her answer was simple, "years, and years, and years, and years." Her answer was met with several nods from her friends.
The following week I was at the fall conference with Agape Italia staff. In one of the sessions I was with a girl celebrating her third year in Italy. She was super excited. I asked her why and she mentioned that most missionaries in Italy turn over within two years. It was known as a missionary grave yard. It made me start thinking, most missionaries are not in Italy long enough to develop the type of friendships necessary to discuss spiritual things with Italians. For the first time I felt really convicted about staying here longer.
As the holidays approached, I realized that for the first time in my life I would be spending Thanksgiving, and Christmas without any family. I was really crying a lot at the thought of that. Many nights I would do inventory with God about all the things I had given up to be here and to serve him. I would always concede that he was worth it, but that it was not the least bit easy. It was during one of my nightly prayers that I was asking God that if it really was in his will that I stay another year that he make it very clear. Making demands of God is never a good thing to do yet here I was. The next day, I am wasting time on facebook, when I get a message from an Italian student who lives in Rome that I don't know. He has requested that I add him and told me he did not know me but that he knew some of the Agape staff in Rome. So I conceded even though I usually don't. As soon as I added him, he sent me a message. He wanted to share with me the things he felt Agape was doing wrong. On the top of his list, was the fact that STINTers, like myself, were not in Italy long enough to build the type of relationships necessary to talk about spiritual things, and also so that the Italians wouldn't be suspicious. Not here long enough, I pondered in my brain. "God, could you have done something a bit more ambiguous. I was not asking for something quite so clear."
So, two weeks ago I went with a friend Linda to visit her friend Emanuel's family's vineyard in the country. One of the topics he wanted to speak with me about was that I really ought to think about staying longer in Italy if I wanted to be effective at what God was calling me to do.
It was after this that I really began praying that if God wanted me to stay, he would need to change my heart. In my mind my heart was with family and friends back home and not in staying another year. Last week in Nerja, Spain I was reading in Joshua, (I am reading through the whole bible this year) and I read:
Joshua 22: 5
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."
I realize that if I love the Lord with all my heart, following him, even if it means putting family and friends aside, is an easy decision. I did not need God to change my heart if it was already following and serving him. In a few more verses again I knew what the decision should be when I read the words of Joshua 24: 15
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
I realize that I feel like an unlikely candidate to be called into service for God, but so did Moses. (Exodus 4:10) However I know that God's will is where I want to be. So what I ask is that you pray for discernment and wisdom for me in the coming months as I seek with all my heart to follow the Lord and to stay in his will.
Crystal
It was in that trip that we also took a day trip by train to Bologna, Italy. There we met with Jesse and Tricia Marcos. While we were there Tricia mentioned that they were looking for an English as a Second Language Teacher to join them in the fall of 2009. Again my response was something along the lines, of ESL teacher yes, missionary no. I felt that there was no way God would call me into the missions field. I was an undeserving sinner. Anyhow like the first time God took the time to show me, he would call me. He did find me worthy of serving him. He showed me through the life of Paul and others in the New Testament that the people he used, other than Jesus himself, were all imperfect people called to share the perfect message. Wow, what a relief, I am not called to be perfect just to share.
However, several times in the past month I have felt God moving me towards another year here in Bologna, if not more, and I wanted to share that journey with you. The first time I felt God beginning to work on my heart, was this summer. I was in my second week of support raising and it was the first week support had not increased. I was praying asking God if he had changed his mind or if I was supposed to go at all. Not long after I finished praying and was staring at the number before me in a daze than my dishwasher stop. Being the excellent procrastinator that I am I stood up to put the dishes away rather than mail my support coach my number that hadn't changed. In the time it took me to put the dished away, I got three phone calls of people joining my team. The last call went something along the lines of,"Crystal, I have been praying and have decided to support you for two years at --$$ per month." Two years, I thought in disbelief I hadn't mentioned two years as even a remote possibility. Hum, I immediately pointed my finger in a heavenly direction and said God I am giving you a year, isn't that good enough. It soon occurred to me if I lived a 100 years, I was only giving him 1% of my life. Wow, that did not feel good. Ok, I will, maybe, just a little bit, think about I moaned.
Two weeks later was July 4th weekend, and I was at a family reunion for my Grandfathers side of the family. Now most of my family is from Texas or Arkansas on that side. I was standing at the sink talking with a distant cousin asking her, "What took you to New York?" She replied," I went to start a church plant, for 2 years." Her mother leaned over the sink to face me and say, "That was 30 years ago." Wow, again I prayed to God, I am in for a year, not more than that. I can't handle more; I am not qualified for that kind of task.
The next time I felt God speaking to me about more than a year, I was in Bologna. My team and I were on campus doing some surveys with the students asking many different types of questions. One was along the lines of, “Who would you discuss spiritual things with?" The answer," My friends, not my family, maybe my friends." Going off script I asked, " How long would you have to be friends with someone to talk with them about spiritual things?" Her answer was simple, "years, and years, and years, and years." Her answer was met with several nods from her friends.
The following week I was at the fall conference with Agape Italia staff. In one of the sessions I was with a girl celebrating her third year in Italy. She was super excited. I asked her why and she mentioned that most missionaries in Italy turn over within two years. It was known as a missionary grave yard. It made me start thinking, most missionaries are not in Italy long enough to develop the type of friendships necessary to discuss spiritual things with Italians. For the first time I felt really convicted about staying here longer.
As the holidays approached, I realized that for the first time in my life I would be spending Thanksgiving, and Christmas without any family. I was really crying a lot at the thought of that. Many nights I would do inventory with God about all the things I had given up to be here and to serve him. I would always concede that he was worth it, but that it was not the least bit easy. It was during one of my nightly prayers that I was asking God that if it really was in his will that I stay another year that he make it very clear. Making demands of God is never a good thing to do yet here I was. The next day, I am wasting time on facebook, when I get a message from an Italian student who lives in Rome that I don't know. He has requested that I add him and told me he did not know me but that he knew some of the Agape staff in Rome. So I conceded even though I usually don't. As soon as I added him, he sent me a message. He wanted to share with me the things he felt Agape was doing wrong. On the top of his list, was the fact that STINTers, like myself, were not in Italy long enough to build the type of relationships necessary to talk about spiritual things, and also so that the Italians wouldn't be suspicious. Not here long enough, I pondered in my brain. "God, could you have done something a bit more ambiguous. I was not asking for something quite so clear."
So, two weeks ago I went with a friend Linda to visit her friend Emanuel's family's vineyard in the country. One of the topics he wanted to speak with me about was that I really ought to think about staying longer in Italy if I wanted to be effective at what God was calling me to do.
It was after this that I really began praying that if God wanted me to stay, he would need to change my heart. In my mind my heart was with family and friends back home and not in staying another year. Last week in Nerja, Spain I was reading in Joshua, (I am reading through the whole bible this year) and I read:
Joshua 22: 5
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."
I realize that if I love the Lord with all my heart, following him, even if it means putting family and friends aside, is an easy decision. I did not need God to change my heart if it was already following and serving him. In a few more verses again I knew what the decision should be when I read the words of Joshua 24: 15
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
I realize that I feel like an unlikely candidate to be called into service for God, but so did Moses. (Exodus 4:10) However I know that God's will is where I want to be. So what I ask is that you pray for discernment and wisdom for me in the coming months as I seek with all my heart to follow the Lord and to stay in his will.
Crystal
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Book of Hope
Today marked a great day for ministry outreach here in Bologna. Our Bologna team has a unique situation in which Agape Italia is partnered other churhes and ministries that seek to reach the people of Bologna for the kingdom of God.
Today we, Agape, began helping with the Book of Hope distiribution, or libri di sparnaza. We went to a local high school with approximately 1,000 plus students. There schools are arranged a little differently than what we are used to in the states. Each student has a schedule that in unique to them and only some students come each day. So today, Thursday, and Saturday I will return with Cody and Kelly to continue passing out the book of hope at this school in hopes that each of the students there gets one. (Yes, I said Saturday to those who were reading carefully. Even though Monday, and Tuesday were a holiday here in Italy with no school, the schools are on stike on Friday, so we will be going to school with the students on Saturday.) Other teams are focusing on other high schools in the area.
Now, this is very strategic because members of our team went to some of those same schools the week of Thanksgiving and shared about the history of the American holiday. Ester, an Italian that we partnered with also shared what she was thankful for, GOD! Now this was tricky because they were only allowed to share their experiences. Thankfully, there were students who were both believers and non believers that asked just the right questions that the team was able to share the gospel with the students in the audience of several of the presentations. Hallelujah! God is great!
The follow-up to some of the presentation was that Ester was able to get several thousand copies of the book of hope and permission from ALL area high schools to pass them out to the students before school. Just as a side note that is an extraordinary feat! Praise God! The book of hope basically walks through the book of John and the gospel. It also has several testimonies of other young people who lives have been transformed because of a relationship with the savior! We are praying that the students not only read them and share them with others but that the holy spirit stirs their hearts with a longing for a personal relationship with the Lord. I know God is faithful to his promises!
Isaiah 55:10-11 (New International Version)
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
The last part of the puzzle is this, on Saturday night, an Italian Christian Worship band, Lost and Found will be putting on a concert just for these High School students at a popular discotecca.
Please pray that as we are reaching out to the high school students here in Bologna, that God is at work! These books could easy be pushed to the side or thrown in the trash, but I know God is alive and well in this city, and that the students definitely need the hope of a savior that has already defeated the enemy. Our team is increasingly aware that without God all our efforts are in vain. Pray that we continue to acknowledge that and seek his leadership and wisdom as we seek this city for his kingdom!
Also, due to scheduling issues and the holiday here in Italy on Tuesday, the English club at the engineering faculty has been unable to meet these past two weeks. We have offered several other times to meet and make up missed times and I am looking forward to meeting with the students again next week in our regularly scheduled time. Please pray for Kelly, Cody, Ryan, and I as we seek relationships with these students that the Lord open doors to share the Gospel!
As always, please also keep me posted as to things I can pray for you for. It would be my honor to take your requests before the Lord. Just send me an email at clearblue06@live.com.
Love in Christ,
Crystal
Today we, Agape, began helping with the Book of Hope distiribution, or libri di sparnaza. We went to a local high school with approximately 1,000 plus students. There schools are arranged a little differently than what we are used to in the states. Each student has a schedule that in unique to them and only some students come each day. So today, Thursday, and Saturday I will return with Cody and Kelly to continue passing out the book of hope at this school in hopes that each of the students there gets one. (Yes, I said Saturday to those who were reading carefully. Even though Monday, and Tuesday were a holiday here in Italy with no school, the schools are on stike on Friday, so we will be going to school with the students on Saturday.) Other teams are focusing on other high schools in the area.
Now, this is very strategic because members of our team went to some of those same schools the week of Thanksgiving and shared about the history of the American holiday. Ester, an Italian that we partnered with also shared what she was thankful for, GOD! Now this was tricky because they were only allowed to share their experiences. Thankfully, there were students who were both believers and non believers that asked just the right questions that the team was able to share the gospel with the students in the audience of several of the presentations. Hallelujah! God is great!
The follow-up to some of the presentation was that Ester was able to get several thousand copies of the book of hope and permission from ALL area high schools to pass them out to the students before school. Just as a side note that is an extraordinary feat! Praise God! The book of hope basically walks through the book of John and the gospel. It also has several testimonies of other young people who lives have been transformed because of a relationship with the savior! We are praying that the students not only read them and share them with others but that the holy spirit stirs their hearts with a longing for a personal relationship with the Lord. I know God is faithful to his promises!
Isaiah 55:10-11 (New International Version)
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
The last part of the puzzle is this, on Saturday night, an Italian Christian Worship band, Lost and Found will be putting on a concert just for these High School students at a popular discotecca.
Please pray that as we are reaching out to the high school students here in Bologna, that God is at work! These books could easy be pushed to the side or thrown in the trash, but I know God is alive and well in this city, and that the students definitely need the hope of a savior that has already defeated the enemy. Our team is increasingly aware that without God all our efforts are in vain. Pray that we continue to acknowledge that and seek his leadership and wisdom as we seek this city for his kingdom!
Also, due to scheduling issues and the holiday here in Italy on Tuesday, the English club at the engineering faculty has been unable to meet these past two weeks. We have offered several other times to meet and make up missed times and I am looking forward to meeting with the students again next week in our regularly scheduled time. Please pray for Kelly, Cody, Ryan, and I as we seek relationships with these students that the Lord open doors to share the Gospel!
As always, please also keep me posted as to things I can pray for you for. It would be my honor to take your requests before the Lord. Just send me an email at clearblue06@live.com.
Love in Christ,
Crystal
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Choosy mom's Choose Jif, plus other news!
First off I am so excited that after 6 trips to the post office and having someone call the automated post office phone system 5 times, that I finally have the package my mom sent me! Made my day! I also got a postcard and a letter today! Gosh I feel so loved!
IN OTHER NEWS:
We had our second English class today at the Facoltà di Ingegneria today and had 6 students show up. So, I will update you as to the progress of the class. The students are coming because at this faculty in the spring there will be an English test most of the students will be required to take, so I am going to help them with some test prep.
Last week when we met I had prepared a lesson focusing on a major English test in Italy that I thought that they might be taking, but it was the wrong one. The 7 students that showed up last week all said they were spoke, "Bruto Italiano." They lied, they spoke very good English. We did lots of grammar practice and it was ok. Anyhow, this week I knew in advance what test they would be taking as well as what they wanted to do with our time together. So, this week we focused on the spoken part of the test.
I prepared models of the four different parts and their components. We had a ton of fun. The first part of the test is an interview of the tester about their hometowns, family, and other things. I liked this part because I was able to hear a little from each person about who they are and where they are from. In the second part of the test they have to compare two pictures. The funniest thing is one set was to compare a dog to a chipmunk. It was so funny because none of the Italians had seen a picture of one before. After Kelly and I began to explain what it was one of the girls shouted, “They dance and sing like, umm” and I replied, “Alvin?” She said yes and they are started talking about Alvin and the chipmunks. After a few minutes of laughter we moved on to the third part in which the test takers are given a task they have to plan in pairs. It was fun to hear them interact with one another. The last part of the spoken test is for the students to discuss in a group of three their opinions about a question or topic.
This is where our time together got interesting. One of the questions I asked focused on politics in Italy. Anyhow they were all a little eager to discuss and Kelly got a lot of insight. She studied Italian politics as a part of her coursework in college. After our two hours together was over, I was a little sad that I would have to wait till next week for us to talk again!
• That the English club on Tuesday turns into a great way to foster relationships with the Italians. Praise that is on the campus and that we kind of have a room.
• Pray for the discussion group about worldviews of Christianity and other religions turns into a fruitful time with believers and non-believers here in Bologna. On a side note, it will take place in a McDonalds.
• Pray for the small group of girls who want to study the Bible with Annet in Greek and Latin. Praise that we have someone on our team who can do that!
• Pray for the team as we each branch out into personal ministry interest times on campus. Pray that we will each find something that will help develop relationships with Italians that will lead to sharing of the gospel.
• Pray for some special relationships that our Cody, Jesse, and Tricia have with people in the community and praise that some of them are asking the staff about God, the church, and the Bible!
As always, I want to continue to pray for supporters back home. Feel free to email me at clearblue06@live.com and I will make sure to diligently talk to God about what you share!
Agape in Christ,
Crystal
A picture of the card and post card, as well as the slips delivered before the package without pickup instructions.
The package, filled with lots of thoughtful goodies!
Choosy mom's choose Jif! Plus Taco seasoning, yumm!!! Thank you momma so much!
IN OTHER NEWS:
Last week when we met I had prepared a lesson focusing on a major English test in Italy that I thought that they might be taking, but it was the wrong one. The 7 students that showed up last week all said they were spoke, "Bruto Italiano." They lied, they spoke very good English. We did lots of grammar practice and it was ok. Anyhow, this week I knew in advance what test they would be taking as well as what they wanted to do with our time together. So, this week we focused on the spoken part of the test.
I prepared models of the four different parts and their components. We had a ton of fun. The first part of the test is an interview of the tester about their hometowns, family, and other things. I liked this part because I was able to hear a little from each person about who they are and where they are from. In the second part of the test they have to compare two pictures. The funniest thing is one set was to compare a dog to a chipmunk. It was so funny because none of the Italians had seen a picture of one before. After Kelly and I began to explain what it was one of the girls shouted, “They dance and sing like, umm” and I replied, “Alvin?” She said yes and they are started talking about Alvin and the chipmunks. After a few minutes of laughter we moved on to the third part in which the test takers are given a task they have to plan in pairs. It was fun to hear them interact with one another. The last part of the spoken test is for the students to discuss in a group of three their opinions about a question or topic.
This is where our time together got interesting. One of the questions I asked focused on politics in Italy. Anyhow they were all a little eager to discuss and Kelly got a lot of insight. She studied Italian politics as a part of her coursework in college. After our two hours together was over, I was a little sad that I would have to wait till next week for us to talk again!
Prayer Requests
• That the English club on Tuesday turns into a great way to foster relationships with the Italians. Praise that is on the campus and that we kind of have a room.
• Pray for the discussion group about worldviews of Christianity and other religions turns into a fruitful time with believers and non-believers here in Bologna. On a side note, it will take place in a McDonalds.
• Pray for the small group of girls who want to study the Bible with Annet in Greek and Latin. Praise that we have someone on our team who can do that!
• Pray for the team as we each branch out into personal ministry interest times on campus. Pray that we will each find something that will help develop relationships with Italians that will lead to sharing of the gospel.
• Pray for some special relationships that our Cody, Jesse, and Tricia have with people in the community and praise that some of them are asking the staff about God, the church, and the Bible!
As always, I want to continue to pray for supporters back home. Feel free to email me at clearblue06@live.com and I will make sure to diligently talk to God about what you share!
Agape in Christ,
Crystal
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