English, Music, & Baking...Such Simple Gateways!

This spring is going to fly by.  Since finals have ended and life is back to 'normal' (though really, when is it ever normal?), everyone has been coming out of the woodwork.  The good news is that word must be spreading throughout the students in the jumbo class of first years Taylor and I work as TAs for, because all of a sudden we've had a large influx of people who want to meet with us for conversation.  It's great because now when we go to (the excruciatingly boring) class, we feel like we finally have a large number of students we know as opposed to the slow trickle from the fall.

What I like about conversation lessons is that it's the perfect opportunity to get to know someone or share ideas- all we do is talk.  Since my first conversational student in the fall (Marco) brought matters to faith questions and is now reading the book of John, it's exciting to think of the way the Lord might use these hours of English practice.  One of my new girls is really shy in class, but opened up to me immediately in our first private meeting by telling me far more than I expected about herself and insecurities, to the point I felt more like I was in the cliche psychiatric setting than a "teacher"/student relationship.  For whatever reason the Lord has given me favor with her in the way she trusted me from the get-go (very shocking in this culture), so for her specifically I'm praying our language appointments transform into a true friendship...she really seems to be seeking one.

With Sharon (center) after her show!

In the last week and a half two of my friends have shown off their awesome voices and I've been able to see them shine.  Last Thursday (National Women's Day) my Irish friend Sharon blew us away at a jazz club, and since then I've been asking her more about her background in music.  Turns out she was part of a female trio a few years ago, signed by Universal Studios, and toured the UK for a few years.  Who knew?  I loved hearing her story, and why she ultimately walked away from the path the group was going down.

During our coffee date the afternoon following her Roman debut, I was almost robbed.  Two gypsy women approached us with their babies, asking for something about coffee.  Sharon and I were trying to figure out if they wanted us to buy them coffee, or wanted our cups, etc...the words were random and nonsensical.  While one was blocking my vision (really in my face), the other tried to slip some items from my purse under the blanket with her baby.  Fortunately my ipod headphones were still dangling out, so we were able to get everything out.  It surprised Sharon and I both, but it was quite funny to see yet another side of her as she jumped to my defense. Needless to say, we're both going to be more on guard in the coming months!

ours looks just a bit different
 than the picture...

This weekend was pretty much a "Sharon weekend" because to celebrate her birthday, my friend Wayne and I combined our baking skills to make her a cake.  From finding the right ingredients for a deluxe cake all in Italian to making a three tier cake when only one can fit in my tiny oven at a time, this turned into quite the baking adventure.  Well with more time always comes...more creativity! Wayne and I decided to make our cake unique to the one pictured in our book, throwing the idea for elegance out the window and going with "childlike creativity."  Also, we may or may not have improvised to make a three layer cake out of two pan so that we could eat the third layer that night with Taylor to test it out....Our tower cake made quite the impression when we surprised Sharon though, she was ridiculously excited to have her own birthday cake.  She celebrated her actual birthday in Ireland and didn't have cake at all! I'm seeing more and more how American desserts are a huge hit with all my European friends, regardless of nationality.  Maybe it's the massive amount of butter we use, or the heaps of sugar, or how we combine salty and sweet...whatever it is, I'm totally okay with using baking as a way to love on friends here.  Tonight Kyra and I are cooking a Southern dinner for the exchange students, and you know that means we're going to end the meal with something sweet.  Sharon had a funny story about the huge cake and one of her (Italian) roommates the day after.  She said she came into the kitchen and saw him eating the cake while waving his hands wildly and repeating in between bites "e una bomba! Una bomba, una bomba!"  In Italy any really good, really sweet dessert or pastry is called "a bomb," and Sharon was laughing because she had never seen him so excited about anything before as he was about this cake.

The Happy Birthday hippos are really what inspired the
deviation in cake styles...you just can't put
multi-colored hippos on a cake and expect it to look sophisticated.

Cristina, Francesco (bass), & the rest of their band

Last night I went to see Cristina, Francesco, and the rest of their band perform at a pub where one of the guys works.  He's about to leave to drive around Europe living out of his van, so the bar let all of them be the first to try live music.  It was a really good opportunity to reconnect with some of the people I met at Francesco's birthday party back in December, especially since in Italy your mere presence in the same vicinity as others supporting the same friend makes you part of the group.
Cristina's cousins, who are both very hostile to the gospel like many of the others there, were apparently asking about some people Taylor and I were hanging out with most of the night since they hadn't seen them before.  When they found out that one of the guys, a good friend of ours, is gay, they were absolutely shocked.  "Doesn't the Bible say you can't do that too?" "They're really friends?"  Apparently visible proof of our friendship in an area that countered the cousins' former exposure with "religious people" took them by surprise, and for once left them speechless instead of the usual knocks against Christianity.

I know all these things sound so simple, so 'normal life' rather than 'missionary life'...but really, that's what being a missionary in a city like Rome is all about.   We were talking about this a bit as a team this morning, how our ministry is truly relational and doing life with our friends.  The gospel is not a presentation, not something we can push here in one meeting and expect people to change all their prior beliefs immediately, not even something to say all the way through because most of our friends would walk away from us mid-sentence.  It's a lifestyle.  Every person I have met here, once we get to a point where they see I am genuine about my faith, has started to absolutely scrutinize all parts of the way I live.  As Taylor was saying, the majority of these people have never even met a believer before.  They're going to be curious. If we're sharing bits and pieces of our love for the Lord and truth with them, before we can hope that they will start to think about Jesus Christ in a Biblical light, we have to know they will want to know absolutely everything about what being a follower of Christ looks like in all arenas of life.  From the daily routine to behavior to future decisions, questions will be asked and observations will be made.  The research is important if they're considering investigating our God.  In some ways that's really scary, because we really do feel like each little thing we do or say is under a magnifying glass.  Thank goodness God is sovereign, and His grace and love shines through our humanity.  He brings people to Himself through all different avenues...He's big enough to use English lessons, musical appreciation, and even cakes to magnify His glory.  May it be so!

Playing Catch Up

Well, to state the obvious I'm a bit behind on updates.  My intent and goal before leaving for Italy was to write at least once a week, but now I've joined the ranks of what I hear happens to everyone the longer they're gone and a month later I'm trying to play catch up.  Although, if anyone could tell me what happened to February and if it even occurred this year, that'd be great...how we're already in March is beyond me!

February has been a wonderful month, full of the Lord's goodness.  The start of March has already been difficult, though full of the Lord's goodness.  Thankfully His goodness never depends on our circumstances, for He is always constant, always good, and always love.  Since it's been so eventful (hence the lapse in posts), I'll go for the brief recaps here:

• February started with a legendary snow for Rome.  For the first time in 26 years, Rome had snow that stuck to the ground in the first weekend.  Needless to say, the Italians were freaking out and it was quite amusing.  We didn't just get one weekend of snow, we went through the "crisi di neve" ("snow crisis", as quoted by the mayor of Rome) the second weekend too.

true to Italian style, of course this random
sidewalk snowman is smoking

• My language partner (a friend from the exchange) and I have started meeting for lunch fairly regularly.  At one of our more recent lunches, the Lord opened a door for a spiritual conversation and she started talking about what she believes, doesn't know, and how she wants to decide something for herself.  We are starting to read and discuss Matthew together, and as we made that decision she said "Maybe this will give me the answers I'm looking for."  Yes, Spirit, may that be!

Dad & I in Orvieto

• We had a few weeks off from classes and appointments since the semester at the university ended in early February.  The given break worked perfectly for me, because this month the two most important men in my life came to visit me and I took a mini-vacation.  My dad landed the weekend of the second snow, and we took a day trip to a small medieval town outside of Rome, Orvieto.  He also treated me to my first real burger since leaving the states (good ol' Hard Rock Cafe), and we had a great daddy-daughter weekend.  A couple days after he left, my boyfriend made the trip.  Long distance isn't the most fun thing, so it was wonderful to have a week actually together at my halfway point in Italy.  We had great time going around Rome, Florence, San Gimignano, and Bracciano. 

Jonathan & I in front of Castel Sant'Angelo

• The day before Jonathan left, my computer started dying that slow and painful Mac death.  This is the main reason I haven;'t been able to write in so long, I've spent a good deal of time trying to revive it.  Thankfully my team leader is a Mac guru and God will even perform technological miracles, so at the moment my computer is holding out!

• We finally had our sex trafficking awareness seminar last weekend.  Originally we had it scheduled for February 4th, but the Lord through the snow changed those plans.  We had a great turnout, and after giving basic info about sex trafficking and showing the Candy Shop (dubbed in Italian), the attendees engaged in a discussion about this problem and how we can help combat it.  Since the seminar we've had interest from a few of those who came about joining our outreaches to the women and transvestites, and we are so excited.  Even better, not all of those who want to help are believers, so we're praying the Lord will use this to bring freedom also to them!  

• March 1st brought some sad news from the home front.  After a long, full life, my Granddaddy passed away.  While ultimately I'm praising God for bringing him home, reuniting him with his wife, and giving him a new, restored body, being away from my family now is extremely difficult.  The last couple of days have really given me a picture of what it feels like for full-time missionaries...sometimes you just get so frustrated being so far away.  You can only go through trials and sadness with loved ones at home through prayer, same as you can only celebrate joyous occasions with a Skype call or email.  I'm thankful the Lord has given me this experience away, for now I have a better idea how to pray for missionaries who are geographically separated from family and friends indefinitely.  

Good Soil

     For the last couple of weeks, the parable of the soils has really been on my mind.  In the last few days the Lord has started revealing why.   Ministry in Italy is slow going.  Everything is slow in Italy (aside from the crazy drivers), so that shouldn't be a surprise.  Many lies have been sown into the lives of my friends here, so every time the Lord brings an opportunity for a spiritual conversation a great majority of it is correcting false teachings against the Word of God.  One example is how a friend told me she used to pray when she was little, then when she asked the priest about it he said she wasn't allowed to talk to God..that God was too busy to concern Himself with her life.  He told her if she wanted to ask God for something, she needed to go through him (the priest)...heartbreaking, and a direct contradiction to Hebrews 4:14-16.  Things like that contribute to the widening gap between Italians and the Lord, yet one I see that Jesus desires to fill.
    Monday was a fantastic day, because Silvia (my friend and language partner) and I had our first spiritual conversation!  She told me her background of faith/no faith, and how she's at a point in her life where she wants to decide what she believes for real.  The Spirit completely guided our conversation, and I was so thankful that our friendship has grown to a point where she trusts me to talk through such matters.  We're actually going to start reading the book of Matthew together, which makes me so excited.  After we made that plan she said, "maybe this will show me what I'm looking for," to which all I could think was "ohhhh yes, you have no idea!"  Please be praying for her in this time, that the Lord makes Himself known to her in a clear way.  For me also, that He gives me the wisdom I'll need to answer her questions and guide her through learning about Jesus.
    Between Monday's conversation and Taylor sharing at house church last week how she's been praying that our friend Marco will be good soil, I know the Lord's given me this story for a reason.  Now I know of three friends who are either directly or indirectly seeking God and coming to us for help, and now it is so important to pray pray pray that Silvia, Marco, and Manuela are good soil.  They're on the brink, in that I know God is bringing them to Himself in ways they can't even see yet, so please join me in prayer that the enemy will not take away the word, that the seeds of truth will take root, and that my friends are not choked by distractions or lies.  We want good soil, Jesus!

"As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."

-Luke 8:15

"Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."

-Hebrews 7:25

     How powerful is that verse? So powerful that God gave it to in our time together the morning after I met with Silvia, when I was thinking of and praying for her.  Let's claim it as His promise!  

Highlights of the Exchange

     Those of you who receive my newsletter saw a bit about the second half of our Italian-American exchange program, but I thought it would be fun to elaborate on some of our activities here and share some cultural pictures of Italy.  The five Italian students who participated were so sweet and planned unique activities for us every day for 8 days.  Several of the things we did were also firsts for some of the Italians, so it was fun to adventure all together.
     Easily my favorite day of the exchange was when we went to a little medieval town an hour outside of Rome called Bracciano.  It's known for a huge volcanic lake that is so beautiful, and also for this massive Odescalchi castle that has now become a popular wedding site...unfortunately, probably out of my budget :(

Yes, castle. Apparently Tom Cruise got married there.

Six of us went that day, 3 and 3, and it was perfect.  God blessed us with beautiful weather and a fun day exploring.  I really appreciated how by this point in the exchange (day 3), we were all hanging out as friends rather than as part of a program or obligation.  The ride up to Bracciano was really pretty, I saw plains of grass, sheep, and horses for the first time since I left.  I don't think I've ever considered myself a country girl, but the longer I'm living in the city the more I appreciate seeing and being in nature.  We all hiked down to the lake, which was quite entertaining going back up because Italians tend to walk incredibly slow and do not engage in much physical activity other than walking the city.  We also ate at a cute lunch trattoria, where the food was super cheap because it was all local.  Travel guide push here, if you're ever in Rome I definitely recommend the day trip!

The group above the lake

     New Year's Eve in Rome was...ridiculous, fantastic, semi-dangerous, covered in the Lord's protection, hysterical, and highly entertaining.  After a feast of a dinner at my apartment, we all went to the Colosseum to bring in the new year.  All of December Italians have been practicing their fireworks at random points in the day; Taylor and I have long been used to the sounds similar to gun shots going off outside our window.  NYE the noise poppers and fireworks were everywhere, from street corners to cars to inside the metro to in the massive crowd packed from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia (a distance that takes about 10 minutes to walk).  There were no rules for safety, and at one point we did see a thatch roof of a restaurant catch on fire after someone shot a flame gun.  At midnight champagne was flying everywhere, so we were all sufficiently misted in it and looking out for corks.  It became my new favorite NYE memory, and even though some of our Italian friends were unnerved by the fireworks the hours leading up to the actual shows (it was their first time for the big celebration too), they were all happy we went to the chaos!

     The third highlight from our exchange that I'll end on is our last day, the day that we "went to the snow," as the Italians kept putting it.  Reid took us up to a mountain two hours away from Rome in our team van, and we spent the day admiring the Lord's creation, sledding, trudging through a foot of snow, making snow creatures, laughing, and sliding down the mountain like penguins.  One of the funniest things about Italian winter fashion (in my opinion) is how they wear these massive, marshmallow puffer jackets once it has been designated 'winter time'...even if it is still 60 degrees.  Since neither Jordan (Reid's sister and one of the American students) nor myself had snow clothes, our friend Silvia brought the full equipment and we got to wear the awesome puffer jackets for a day.  Manuela went down a sled for the first time that day, and I'm pretty sure we all set a new personal record on highest point climbed in snow/longest sled run.  Overall, it was a great getaway from the city and way to end the exchange!

the girls making snow angels :)

    Please keep praying for these friendships!  New Year's Day I was just so excited when journaling, thinking about all the potential for this year and the rest of my time in Rome. Near the top of that list was the continuation of these relationships, getting to know all five students better and seeing how God continues His work chasing after their hearts...I'm looking forward to seeing what He does!

Every Nation

 God has a plan for every tribe.  Every tribe.

          God has a plan for every tongue.  Every tongue.

               God has a plan for every people.  Every people.

                    God has a plan for every nation.  Every nation.

   Two years ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Passion268 conference in Atlanta.  Now, I'm watching every session I can from here, alone in my apartment.  Each time I watch a session with corporate worship, I cry the whole way through because I miss it so and long for the Italian students to know the God we praise.  I just watched session 4 with the world version of "How Great is Our God," and am overcome with seeing a glimpse of God's plan for the nations.  Hearing a mixture of different languages come together to sing the same song, a song glorifying the greatness of our God, gives me chills.  While Rome seems so very dark, my heart is overjoyed to know there are 40,000+ people gathered in Atlanta to pray for the lost across the globe right now.  One day, the Italians will join in the singing from thanksgiving and joy...one day, the people on who's cross our Lord was crucified will be on their knees praising and adoring the Jesus they will come to truly know.

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

-Matthew 28:16-18

"And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying.

     'To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion 

     forever and ever.'"

                                                             -Revelation 5:13

Continuity

How is it almost January?  This last month has absolutely flown by, and praise God, evidence of His work in Rome has been everywhere!

Over the Christmas holiday something that was on my mind was the continuity of God's promises and His plan.  We celebrate Christmas in recognition and thankfulness that Jesus Christ came down to earth.  This month I've been blessed with seeing tangible pieces of proof that God is still 'coming' in a sense, by moving through His Spirit in us today.  One day, Jesus Christ will come back to our world victorious again.  He has come, He is coming and moving, and He will come again!

There are so many things I could say about this month.  After three difficult months wondering if I would see fruit of ministry in Rome while I was here, or if that would not come until years later, God has been good in blessing that desire in my heart.  To recap quickly...

• My very first English student that I tutored, now a friend to Taylor and myself, started asking questions a few weeks ago.  They first started with an intellectual interest in the differences between what we believe and the Catholic church, and in just a few weeks he's been brought to a point where he recognizes there is something missing in his life.  God is moving in his heart in an unbelievable way.  He told us that before he met us and started learning about our faith, he was behind a veil but now, little holes of light are piercing through.  ("Veil," really?  2nd Corinthians 3, anyone?)  He's confessed how he has a great life, money, looks, family, girlfriend, etc, but still feels lacking.  He's never met anyone that talks about God as we do, of how He's real and present in our lives.  God has taken an academic, classroom tutor relationship and transformed it into this...and our friend is so ripe for the gospel to seep into his heart through the conversations God creates!
• One of the exchange girls I hosted in Athens and is now a friend of mine here told me the other week that she likes talking about 'religious things' with me, because she sees a difference in authenticity.  Over a simple lunch at McDonald's, I felt the Holy Spirit in a huge way guiding our conversation, leading her questions, and giving me answers to some things I had never thought of before.  On top of that, when she was telling me a story from her weekend and how her key got stuck in a hotel room lock and all the staff said it would not be possible for the door to open without a locksmith, she said she prayed, made her friend pray with her, and God answered by opening the door two minutes later!
• When I was meeting my Italian language partner in a new coffee bar, some Irish study abroad students randomly approached me asking if I was Irish.  The Lord used that to create an immediate friendship with these three, and we hung out twice in the week after before they left for Christmas.  All three have seen some ugly, ugly things with violent conflicts between Catholic and Protestant churches growing up in Ireland, and all are incredibly turned off to the idea of religion, what for whatever reason they accept both me and my faith.  God has literally dropped these friends in my lap, and I could not be more excited about how He will grow our friendships this next semester.  
• Taylor and I were invited to go to an overnight birthday party for a dear friend of ours.  Other than significant others, all the people there had been friends >15 years.  Though that type of party was a new experience for me, we could tell it meant a lot to our friend and validated his friendship with us in the eyes of his childhood group since we were included and chose to come.  I could tell some of them were surprised to see the random American girls there! We're praying that will open doors with the rest of his friends, that it helped show that though we hold different beliefs, we care about them and do not see ourselves 'above' them in any way.
• We had our first prostitute outreach two Saturdays ago, and it was wonderful for our initial contact.  Four women on our team and a new friend who works with prostitutes in a different part of the city went, and we covered the same highway the four of us have been prayer-walking for months.  We gave all the girls (and three transvestites) little gift bags for Christmas, including our theme scripture verse (Isaiah 43:1-3).  Every girl but one took our offer, and several of them talked to us a bit.  It broke my heart actually talking to these girls, seeing how so many were younger than me, bubbly, beautiful, or scared, but I'm thankful the first experience has renewed our passion to pray for these girls and minister to them whenever we have opportunity.  One day the Lord will bring justice to all the trafficked victims, and until that day comes we will petition before Him.  What was also so neat about the outreach is it has given us a conversation topic with our friends (like my Irish friends), who are curious to why we would do something like that for those girls.  God certainly has a way of bringing everything together to bring glory to Himself!

Needless to say, we've been busy here!  Today was the second day of our Italian-American exchange program that we started in August, and so far it is going great.  Please be praying for us over this next week, that the Lord would use this time to create stronger relationships and show our sweet Italian friends Himself through us in vivid ways.  

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

                                               -John 1:14

Remembrance

     How many things a day do you think we forget? A week? A year?  I used to pride myself on my memory because when it comes to events, occasions, important dates or anything schedule-related, I'm like a human calendar...it's a little ridiculous and potentially creepy to those who don't know me.  Yet ever since I set out for this journey for Rome, back to the prep work in the states, the Lord has been gently convicting me of how easily we (or at least I) forget.  With today marking the 70th anniversary of the day "which will live in infamy," I've noticed a few lamenting how our generation no longer remembers the sacrifices from those before us or the significance to this day.  First it saddened me because I see the validity to that tragic thought, but then it got me thinking about how much more we forget about our God.
   
    Jesus said, "...do this in remembrance of me." -Luke 22:19
    Paul said, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved..." -1st Cor. 15:1-2a
    Moses said, "Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place..." -Exodus 13:3
    The Lord said, "...tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments...so you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God." -Numbers 15:38,40
    David said, "Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered.." -1st Chronicles 16:12
    Solomon said, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth..." -Ecclesiastes 12:1
    God said, "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; i am God, and there is none like me." -Isaiah 46:8-9

      Notice a theme?  The list could go on and on.  There's a legitimate reason that God told the Israelites to set aside holy days and times for festivals...they were to be a time of remembrance, of fresh rejoicing or thanksgiving for how God provided or made Himself known in a difficult time.  Until last year I used to read about the forgetfulness of the Israelites who saw God performing these incredible miracles in the desert, and not understand how they could possibly forget His love and faithfulness.  However, as I was preparing to come here and needed to see God do the impossible to make it happen, I realized I'm no better than the Israelites.  Even today, the forgetfulness is something to battle.  When I have a month where little support comes in, instead of immediately going to the Lord knowing He will provide because He always has, I start to worry.  When I meet someone who breaks my heart because he/she seems so far away from knowing Christ, instead of remembering the 'impossible' conversions by the power of the Spirit, I get discouraged.  Praise the Lord for when I am faithless, He is faithful still!

      God has been gracious enough to encourage me in my ministry here over the past few days by letting me see His work in tangible ways.  Everything in Italy seems to take forever (probably because it does), so often 10.5 months doesn't possibly seem like enough time to make a difference.  That's me putting God in a box though, and forgetting (again) that He has brought me here for a purpose.  One of my students I tutor in English started asking me questions during our conversation lesson about my beliefs.  For whatever reason He wanted to drill me with questions about my faith and why I believe what I do, as well as hear differences from the church I know to the Catholic church and school he's experienced.  That's totally and only God.  When I was looking over an old prayer journal, I saw how the Lord had answered (and provided for) three of my four running requests from that summer in 2010.  I'm sure if I looked over all the things that had to come together last year for me to get here, I wouldn't even be able to keep up writing down all the ways God was faithful.  Yesterday I had a great lunch and hangout time with a girl I've been praying for since August, and I'm seeing how God is honoring and growing an unlikely friendship in a way that can only be attributed back to Him.

     While I'm away from family and friends at home, I truly am thankful for this holiday season.  Since the week of Thanksgiving the Lord has been giving me blessed reminders of all I have to be thankful for, all the reasons I can give Him praise no matter the circumstance or season of life.  We took Communion together around the lunch table on Thanksgiving, and I like how it was incorporated into our meal with a sense of normalcy because remembering what Christ did for us should be a constant part of my daily life.  I finally got a picture of our whole team together (yay, holidays), so now you can have faces for the team when you pray for us!

Thanksgiving, and my Rome family :)