It has Been a while....

Sorry to all of my faithful blog checkers..it has been way too long since I have posted and I apologize. I have just finished up my third week of language learning, my third week of being on campus, and starting to feel like I can start to call this crazy city my home. I can honestly say that my favorite times of being in Rome thus far have been going to campus and meeting students. I have been having so much fun meeting Italian students, learning about their culture, and just trying to be their friend. Just last night we had a party at our house. It was an autumn themed party where we bobbed for apples, carved pumpkins and enjoyed eating wonderful chili and apple crisps. I feel like I am meeting people here, and getting a chance to tell them about the most important thing in my life: Jesus.

It has been a very rewarding experience thus far, but I would by lying if I did not say that there have been times of me questioning why I am here. It is hard for me at times to put a finger on why this happen, but I know that I have been learning a lot about myself in the process. I have been learning how much I can tend to focus on myself amidst hard times, and how it can tend to be all about me, but I think more importantly that this I am learning about how faithful God is. It is in fact something that I will never be able to understand this side of heaven. It is something that I am reminded of when I read Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. I connect to Paul so much when he is talking about our "treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." I am reminded in this passage that it is not what is seen that is important, because these things will ultimately see their end, but the things that are unseen are the things that will last for eternity. When I think about the things that I am missing in Italy, or focusing on all of the things here that can seem uncomfortable I am selling myself short. God is powerful, God is faithful, and God will get the glory in the end. It is just a matter of whether I allow myself the joy of being apart of this, or am I to focus on myself in the process and miss all that God wants me to enjoy and seek pleasure in Him.

I hope to be more consistent with updating my blog, and I want to make a promise to all that I will be doing this every week now (No excuses). Hope all is well with all...

Settling In

I am so thankful for those of you who have decided to follow this blog. I know I haven't posted in a while...this blog thing is a new thing for me, but I will be trying hard to keep you all updated. The last week has been one of settling in. The women finally got to move into their apartment last week, so they were able to move in, and the men were also able to settle in since we were not overflowing with too much stuff. We are so thankful for our places and the fact that they are so close together (it is about a 3 minute walk to the women's place). It has been a process to settle in, and I am sure it will continue, but it feels good to be ready to go on campus. Here is a guided tour of our apartment...

Students will be back on campus next week as they just finished exams, so we will be going on campus for the first time to meet students. I am really excited about it, and will ask for everyone to be praying for devine appointments, and that we would have favor among the Italian students we meet. I am super excited for this, as well as starting language tutoring on Monday, October 6th. It has been a prcess of learning language so far, as we have just been thrown into it, but I am excited to get formal training, so that I can communicate to Italian students in their own language.

The Beginning

This truly has been a new beginning for me. This is the first time I have ever posted on a blog, the first time I have ever lived in Italy, and the first time I have shared my life with so many people. I am very excited to be a part of this whole big thing, and can't wait to see how this whole year turns out, but I am excited to let you all in on how life in Italy has been going.

I flew to Italy with all nine of my team mates. (Here is a picture of us doing one of our famous pyramids...)

Top Row: Kerry and April, Middle: Kanda, Ella, and Jenny, Bottom: Me, Chris, Jimmy and Brian

We actually left America just in time, as I heard we missed the closing of a lot of airports by about half an hour because of all the trouble being caused by the winds from the storms in the South. I heard it has been kind of crazy with lots of power outages and such all around. We got to Rome and moved all of our stuff into the apartment which the men will be staying in for the year. The girls will be moving in to their place this Saturday, Sep. 27. We are so thankful to have been able to find two places so fast, and ones that have been accommodating to what our teams needs in terms of size. We are so thankful for the Lord's provision! The last week in Rome has been spent taking care of errands that had to be done in order to live in Rome for a year: metro passes, cellphones, permesso di soggiorno (which are basically licenses to live in Rome), and getting insight into Agape Italia (Campus Crusade for Christ) in Rome.

We spent three days this last week in Tuscany for Nuovo Inizio (noo-o-vo in-itz-ee-o), which is the new staff conference for all Agape Italia. Here we met the National Leadership, heard their vision for reaching Italy with the gospel, and heard specifics on how they forsee this happening in each city in Italy. It was really exciting to hear what the Lord has been doing in Italy, and what we are trusting Him to do in the next year. I got to help lead worship at the conference which was a joy to serve the people here in Italy in such a way. We also got to experience the beautiful culture of Tuscany, eat some really good cooking, and just enjoy God's beautiful creation in Italy.

Il Fattorio, or the farm. This is the beautiful place we stayed at in Tuscany

A lovely view of the Tuscan countryside!

The pool at Il Fattoriio and the lovely view behind it. I spent my mornings here reading my Bible and spending time with Jesus.

Just another site of what my team and I got to experience for 3 days. It was such a blessing to be able to experience this before we head off for a year of reaching Italian students.

That is all I got for now...and your comments on the blog our welcome, expecially if you feel like any improvements could be made. I feel like this is a process and I am excited to see what my posts will be like in the future. If you made it to the end thank you, and I hope you have enjoyed.