Today Marks Our First Month In Italy!

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Today marks one month that we’ve lived in Italy! Boy, did it fly by! We’ve spent most of this first month acclimating to our new culture, setting up our apartment, getting paperwork in order, meeting new friends and neighbors, learning the language and helping out at the church.

This is our new neighborhood…                                     DSC04318

This is our neighborhood market…                DSC04314

This is our apartment…                                                  DSC04313

This is some of our church family…               DSC04310

 

Thank you so much for praying for us! We’ve been very blessed to have many details that could have taken a while, come together rather quickly. “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.”~Ephesians 1:3

Our top 5 Prayer Requests…

  • CC Roma’s Men’s Retreat – pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and lasting fruit as men fellowship and study God’s Word together this weekend
  • Our Resurrection Sunday Celebration – pray for our preparation of a Biblical dinner illustrating God’s redemptive plan through the beautiful, prophetic picture that God projected in the Passover meal. (I will be helping put together this experience for the children while the adults will enjoy a similar celebration)
  • Calvary Chapel Italia Conferenza – April 29 – May 2 – Please pray that many will be able to attend this conference and grow deeper in our walk with the Lord as we learn from God’s Word with Pastor Joshua Black from Canyon Hills, CA.
  • Health and healing for Mike – He has a bad head cold
  • Language aquisition (Praise the Lord for free classes at the public library!)

That’s the Gospel!

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Rome 2012 071

“Who is a God like You, removing iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not hold on to His anger forever, because He delights in faithful love. He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” ~Micah 7:18-19

“Qual Dio è come te, che perdoni l’iniquità e passi sopra la trasgressione del residuo della tua eredità? Egli non serba l’ira sua in perpetuo, perché si compiace d’usar misericordia. Egli tornerà ad aver pietà di noi, si metterà sotto i piedi le nostre iniquità, e getterà nel fondo del mare tutti i nostri peccati.”

I love the phrase, “He will vanquish our iniquities”! Now that’s Good News! It speaks of my All-powerful Savior dealing the enemy of our soul a mighty blow. In the conversation about “religion” this is the heart of the matter. This sets Christianity apart from every other religion. Followers of false religions try to appease their god by doing “good” works or earn his favor by committing insane actions prescribed by their religion. The Almighty God of the Bible does all the work Himself.

The term “Christian” is misappropriated so often that I think many are confused about what it really means. A “Christian” is someone whose heart was touched by a glimpse of amazing, authentic, LOVE… a love so compelling, they had to move closer to get a better look, but as they tried, the pure light and truth of God’s character revealed the stain and stench of their own sin and they realized it created an impenetrable barrier, dividing them from His perfect presence. They couldn’t move into His arms unless it was dealt with. Confronted with His honesty, they realized that there was nothing they could do to remove it on their own… confronted with His holiness, they knew their good works were only filthy rags. Then someone told them about the cross and the LOVE that sacrificed everything to vanquish their sin and tear down that wall. Jesus willingly paid the penalty for our rebellion against God so we can enter into His light and be embraced as God’s children.

A Christian is not one who is perfect… A Christian is simply someone who has embraced the pure Love of Jesus Christ! His perfect love changes everything and they know that it’s a done deal! That’s the Gospel!

Connecting

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It’s hard to wrap my brain around the fact that we are living in Rome! Yesterday we celebrated being here two weeks by getting Internet and phones. I hadn’t realized how much I appreciate technology until we spent some time without it. It’s easy to take it for granted when you’re used to having it so easily.  This week our electricity and gas were also connected. (Praise the Lord for hot showers!)

We’ve been busy painting and cleaning our apartment, re-connecting with friends at CC Roma and enjoying making some new connections with the people in our new neighborhood.

Some of these connections include, Tina, who runs a small Alimentari (grocery store) across the street, Dalia, the barista at the end of our block, the hardware store clerks, pizza guys and some of the neighbors in our building, Lina, Gabrielle, and Anna. Each of them has been so kind and patient with us as we try to learn their language. We’re praying the Lord will bless each of these precious people and we’re looking forward to turning these connections into friendships!

Please pray for each of them and all the new connections that God is arranging.

Please also pray for…

  • Daily improvement as we learn the Italian language
  • CC Rome’s free classes that start this Saturday (I’ll be co-teaching an English class)
  • Creative direction and wisdom as we consider Children’s Ministry ideas
  • The Bible Study/ Fellowship in Acilia
  • Upcoming Men’s Retreat
  • Constant in-flowing and out-pouring of the Holy Spirit through our ministry team and each member of the body at CC Rome
  • God’s abounding love and grace in all our relationships, here and back home
  • Open doors to share the life giving Good News!

Romans 10:1-4 “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation! I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

 

We Have an Address in Rome!

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We made it to Rome on Wednesday, looked at an apartment on Thursday, prayed about it overnight, then put a deposit down on Friday. They let us paint it in exchange for most of the rent in March and April. It’s an old building and it needs some elbow grease, but it has a lot of potential with great big windows and 12 ft ceilings. It’s only about 4 blocks from the church and just half a block from the bus line.

We’ve been really busy ever since we arrived, but that has helped us with our jet lag (no time to fall asleep). We started a free Italian class at the library on Friday, went to church on Wednesday and Sunday and painted all day Saturday and today. In my wildest imaginings, I never thought I’d ever be fixing up an old apartment in Rome! I love walking with Christ!

Tor Bella Monaca!

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Mike and I feel very blessed to wake up to sunshine and blue skies in Tor Bella Monaca after months of waiting!

Yesterday we started our apartment search and surprisingly enough; we both liked the first one we saw! It’s in a convenient location (for a good price) near the church. It’s a rare find and we still feel good about it after praying, so we’re meeting with the landlord again today to go over details. We’re praying that God holds this door wide open for us if this one is His plan for us and that He’ll close this door if it’s not the right one.

Please pray with us for God’s grace to abound and His will to be done in all the details of our transition to life in this new country!

 

Rome 2015!

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A friend told me that flying standby is sort of like hitchhiking in the sky… You never know where you’ll end up. Life is like that. “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” ~ Proverbs 16:9

So, what better way to fly than to simply put our trust in the Lord, hold on tight and enjoy the ride. After all, the journey may be just as important as the destination!

Please pray for travel mercies as we take off for Rome next week. (God willing!) Where ever He takes us… however long it takes… we know He’s in control… we know we’re in good hands!

Nevertheless, His word says, “You have not, because you ask not.” So we’re asking Him to provide a couple open seats all the way to Rome!

Thank you for praying with us!

Watch and Pray

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Shortly after Peter swore his allegiance to Jesus, saying, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” Jesus finds him sleeping.

“And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 26:40-41)

Peter’s problem: Over confidence in himself made him sleepy (listless, intoxicated, unconscious, vulnerable) and completely unaware of his great need! We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. It’s such a subtle deception, this sense of independence that overrides common sense of our complete dependence on God. Peter believed he was ready for any battle, but his confidence was misplaced. Our pride makes us easy targets for the enemy of our soul, especially when we feel like we’re at the top of our game. We’ve spent time with the Master, we’ve been in training, we’ve studied, we know our call… we’ve got this! Our Lord’s response: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Everything done in our flesh is always weak! A good dose of “watch and pray” is our prescription. If only Peter (if only we) would simply follow Jesus instructions (and His example) by dropping to our knees in complete dependence, admitting, “I don’t know if I can do this, nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done.” Peter’s story may have been written differently if he had listened. Thankfully, the author of our story isn’t surprised by our weakness and can even turn our failings into lessons!

Our spirit is indeed willing, but our flesh is weak and needs to listen as His voice says, “Watch and pray – Then come with me, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty!”

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“We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.” – Corrie Ten Boom

“We will only advance in our evangelistic work as fast and as far as we advance on our knees. Prayer opens the channel between a soul and God; prayerlessness closes it. Prayer releases the grip of Satan’s power; prayerlessness increases it. That is why prayer is so exhausting and so vital. If we believed it, the prayer meeting would be as full as the church.” – Alan Redpath

“It is true that Bible prayers in word and print are short, but the praying men of the Bible were with God through many a sweet and holy wrestling hour. They won by few words but long waiting.” – E. M. Bounds

Encouragement for the Wait and Pray Assignment

WOOHOO! Our Waiting May Be Coming to a Close!

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We’ve finally gathered all the necessary paperwork to apply for our visas! We have an appointment at the Italian Consulate office in Seattle next Tuesday. Please pray for grace and favor in our interview, as well as travel mercies as we drive over the pass. Please also pray that God will make it clear to us what day we should set as our departure date.

While all this waiting has been difficult, I’m so grateful for God’s grace in allowing us to be here longer than we anticipated. Over the past couple months (months we thought we’d be in Italy) we’ve been so blessed! By being here, we were able to get acquainted with our son’s lovely girlfriend; we’ve made many wonderful memories with our grandchildren; I’ve enjoyed an extended (and much needed) season of rest after working a 60-hour week job and now it looks like we may even get to spend Christmas with our family! God’s plans always work out so much better than our own! I’ve learned this so many times, I’m not sure why I get so frustrated and fidgety in the waiting seasons that come my way.

One of the Hebrew words most often translated “wait “ is “qavah” which can mean “to look patiently”, “to hope expectantly” or “look eagerly”. Another is the word “yachal” and is sometimes translated as “trust” or “wait in hope”. A third is “daman” which means to “rest”, “grow silent” or “be still” and a fourth is the word “chakah” which means to “long for”.

I do love the “longing for”, anticipation phase of planning a trip. I truly enjoy the season of “looking eagerly forward” to Christmas even more than Christmas Day itself.  And “rest”, I REALLY like that concept! My prayer is that I’ll remember these lessons and joyfully embrace the next waiting season that God brings into my life! In the mean time I want to jump and shout, “WOOHOO!” because it looks like this one may finally be coming to a close!

“They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” ~ Isaiah 40:31