our missions blog

we’re just showing up

Thu, 3 May 2012 14:42:00 +0200

there is a woman and a man who work alongside the teachers in ruby love’s preschool class. their names are emma and fausto. emma’s personality is big and brash and wonderfully italian. the first day david and i took ruby love to school, emma introduced herself to us, asked ruby love’s name- and when we told her, she simply said “well, that is too long and too difficult, i will only call her ruby”. and she meant it. she endeared herself to me on that very day. she also reprimanded me for being 5 minutes late dropping ruby love off at school once telling me that “it was not possible to to that again”. and fausto informed me that DESPITE there being no place to park my car at the bottom of the hill leading up to the school, i was NOT able to ask permission to have the gate raised that would allow me to ACTUALLY take ruby love right up to the school. he meant it too. it’s the italian way. they say things the way they are, very unapologetically. they feel no need to sugar coat anything or make sure you feel ok about things. they just tell you what they are thinking. it STILL catches me off guard, and i have to remind myself regularly that it is not personal. one day- who knows how long down the road; when my language is better, when i am more confident in this culture or when i am tired of being the nice one- i will kindly and firmly take up for myself- but for now- i just apologize and go about my way!

anyway- i digress- sorry!!

emma has asked either david or myself NO LESS than 3 times each what EXACTLY it is that we do. and we have told her that we are here with a small evangelical church working together with a evangelical organization teaching the bible to university students. she always just smiles and nods, and it is evident that she has NO idea what in the heck that means.

well - yesterday morning, as i dropped ruby love off at school, emma asked me to come sit down with her on the children’s bench outside the classroom. i am not going to lie- i was more than a little nervous! she smiled and said to me “you and you husband don’t REALLY work here in Italy DO you” (she stressed REALLY). i chuckled to myself and told her “actually, emma we DO work here in Italy”. she followed with “ok then - EXACTLY what do you do on a normal day?” so i tried to explain it to her once more, very simply not to confuse her any more than she already was. i boiled it down to this. “we work alongside a small evangelical church here in Bologna, teaching the Bible to university students”. “ooooohhh!!!! bello” she said- which just means: beautiful! i smiled, she thanked me for clarifying things, and i went on my way.

david returned that afternoon to pick ruby love up from school, and once more emma came charging up to him, this time asking him if he would be willing to talk to both she and fausto about some things we believed in the evangelical church. she asked 3 or 4 questions about specific beliefs in the catholic church, such as what do we believe about Mary and a couple of others. after david answered their questions, emma said to david, “i think i like what you believe better than what we believe in the catholic church. i do not believe God wants us to believe this way, the way i have always been taught in the Catholic church.” david was SHOCKED! they were both so candid, and beautifully open.

david invited both of them to nuova vita, our church, and told them he would love to talk with them further if they were interested. fausto attends a catholic church regularly and said he didn’t know if he could come to an evangelical church, but he would think about it. emma’s thinking about it too!!!!!

we didn’t do a thing. we didn’t set out that morning to evangelize anybody at ruby love’s school. we were just there, willing to have a conversation. we simply showed up.

i am humbled as i contemplate the moving of the Holy Spirit here. it is beyond exciting!!!

pray for emma and fausto with us! that they would know the truth, and that truth would set them free!!!

il cielo azurro (the blue sky)

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:58:15 +0200

it’s 9:00 am and i am waiting on David to get home from the Milan airport where he has gone to pick up his best friend who will be staying with us for a little while. i love waiting on little pieces of home to arrive. it reminds me that there are still important parts of us there, and they still work hard to be a part of our lives here , and i am so grateful. the visits are always too short, but this time, the separation will be short too. in almost exactly 2 months, we will be coming back to the U.S. for the first time as a family, in over 3 years, but that’s another blog for another day.

today- it’s BEAUTIFUL. the sky is azurrissimo, as the Italians would say, meaning it is the bluest blue you have ever seen. the sun is warming the terra cotta roofs as we speak, and i am sipping a decent cup of american coffe while ruby love watches saturday morning cartoons in the other room. 2 very different cultures collide, right here in my very living room, and i am happy.

there continue to be days where i am acutely aware that i am a foreigner, fumbling through life in a foreign country, but today- i FEEL blessed. blessed to be here. to be stretched, almost daily. to be filled by only Him. to experience blue italian skies and pink terra cotta roofs. to have a bilingual child. to love the italian people and be broken hearted for the lost ones. to wait on the Lord. to be loved by friends and family back home.

thank you Jesus for my life, and thank you, that while I see through the glass darkly, YOU have perfect vision.

control

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:49:01 +0200

it’s gray and rainy today, which is actually not much different than any other day in april here in Bologna. we are all affected a little more by the rain, however, than when we lived in the States, simply because life happens outside the walls of buildings a little more frequently here. not having a driveway means a longer walk to the car in the mornings when i take ruby love to school, or go to church or the grocery store, or anywhere else for that matter. LOTS of time spent in route, or waiting for buses. all that to say- we are definitely affected by rain, and we are ready for a little sunshine.

my last living grandparent was laid to rest last monday, and though there is definitely joy as we contemplate her staring into the face of her Savior, there is also sadness as we contemplate road trips headed south to Tampa, FL where she will no longer be waiting.

a LOT has happened in the 3 years we have been in Bologna. some things i would have told you then, before doing it, that i would never have been able to do it! but in God’s vast mercy- i am continuing to DO it, which is much more a testimony to who He is than who I am. on the days when i am too tired to continue doing it, i am reminded that it was never meant for ME to do anyway. and however briefly, i give it all back to Him. it’s an exercise i repeat multiple times a day. i do it on my own, i realize i am too tired to do it anymore or i simply am not able, i give it to Him for how ever long my spirit can relinquish that control. the same control i fight way to regularly for in my own life, but have NO desire to have.

that’s the illusion i have bought into, my whole life. it’s an illusion i think Satan sells many of us WAY too often. the illusion of control. the illusion that i can do this on my own.

it was NEVER intended to be this way. we were never intended to do it on our own, and i have to remind myself frequently that this is satan’s m.o. if he can convince me that i have, deserve or even WANT control, he wins a thousand battles. because he knows what i can not seem to remember, i WILL fail. it was ALWAYS supposed to be Him doing it in me, through me. i am the created- HE is the creator. i am the life- HE is the author of it.

a winter wonderland

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 17:25:07 +0100

a week ago today they were predicting a little snow and as i was already scheduled to go away for a day to an agriturismo 35 minutes just outside the city of Bologna, i asked david if he thought it would be ok to go, and he assured me it would be fine. the overnight stay was for a 24 hour period of prayer required by TEAM at least once a year, and as it has been a heck of a last 2 1/2 months, david and i decided it would be great if i could physically get away from the city for a day. so i went.

which was no small feat for me to begin with. i drove. by myself. to an unknown destination. on ridiculous italian streets. did i mention, BY MYSELF!! well- with a little help from Dora (the explorer- our GPS, so aptly named by my mom in law) that is.

i made it, but on the way it began to snow harder, with a light dusting on the road. after a little slipping on said ridiculous roads, i arrived with little other misfortune, and decided i would NOT worry about the drive tomorrow, tonight. so i checked in with the owner, and told him i was here for a little relaxation and refreshment, and he assured me that there would be no shortage of that as i was the only occupant for the next 2 days!

the room was perfect. tiny, with a REAL double bed (NOT 2 twins pushed together!), a fluffy white duvet, 2 ample pillows, a HUGE (by italian standards anyway!) shower and more than ample heat! which, again, is no small feat here in the winter. because electricity is so expensive, hotel rooms in the winter can be pretty chilly!! anyway- and at the foot of the bed was a giant window with THE MOST breathtaking view of the bologna hills- and with snow coming down! i couldn’t have asked for more, for my 24 hours with the Lord!

anyway- to make a long story short- i woke the next morning to almost 2 feet of snow, and no possible way to get down off the beautiful hill that brought so much peace the night before! i called david, who called our friend Mark (who was sick with a cold!) who in turn, put chains on his car and trekked up the hill to come get me. 4 hours and a set of broken tire chains on OUR car later- we were forced to abandon our car in a kind italian gentleman’s driveway and return home WITHOUT said vehicle!

a week later- we are STILL without a vehicle, and it has snowed on and off for the greater part of the last week. there are almost 3 feet of snow on the ground. it hasn’t been above freezing in OVER a week. cars are trapped in garages, and driveways, and parking spots...........and OURS- remains trapped in some kind gentleman’s driveway 35 minutes outside the city!

to stay we’re a little stir crazy might be the understatement of the year! ruby love is ASKING to go back to school now!

but it IS beautiful, and it is more snow than i have seen EVER- in my lifetime! and in some ways- i am grateful to have seen it!

in other news- because i have been incredibly unfaithful to my blog- mom is doing better! every day brings a little healing, both mentally as well as physically! shortly after i arrived back in Italy, after spending 9 days helping with my mom back home, i got a phone call from my dad that the nurse practitioner treating mom’s hypertension had discovered thyroid cancer!!!! i think it was a few seconds before i breathed again! BUT, alas- God has been beautifully faithful to sustain her, and after surgery to remove her thyroid on the 29th of december, she is finally able to take a much wanted respite from dr’s offices! she is healing slowly, both from the surgery as well as the stroke! but she is healing none the less!

i want to say thank you to those who have emailed, called, asked and prayed for us all! i am certain none of us would be standing BUT for these precious prayers. especially when, i hadn’t the words myself! i am profoundly grateful to all of you!