I know it has been almost a year and a half since I last wrote in this blog.

But I have exciting news!

One of my good girlfriends in Italy is getting baptized tomorrow.

Chiara is a spunky, fun girl who loves to karaoke to Britney Spears. I miss her dearly and wish I could be with her on her special day! I am leaving it to the rest of the girls to shower her with love and give her many hugs for me.

L to R: Antonella, me, Maria, Vera, Chiara (sitting)

Another precious treasure discovering her Savior Jesus.

It's 2011 and I don't really want to use this blog now since it is from 2010 and about my Italian Adventures.
But I want to post this...

A year ago I was in Atlanta at Passion 2010. It was moving to be with 20,000+ people in their 20's worshiping together.

You can go here and listen to some amazing worship songs and listen to the session.

http://live.passion2011.com/

I also firmly believe in their DO SOMETHING NOW campaign. We set goals at Passion 2010 to raise money for tons of different things. We out gave every single goal.

My God is amazing. I love Him so much.

Just wanted to share and encourage you that even when you feel alone and like you're the only one trying to the right thing that you're NOT alone. Personally, that's a message I need to hear.

So I got home  from Europe December 10.
Went to visit my good friend Day Carr in Indiana last week.
Right now I'm sitting in my old bedroom at the Nugents house.
I'll be in Macomb until Jan. 3.

All is well.
I'm at peace.
I don't know why or how other than from God....

My next step: looking for a job.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Over the past three months, I have been traveling on planes, trains, automobiles, taxis, buses.... To be honest, it feels nice to not have to worry about traveling somewhere new for a while. But I truly thank God for public transportation... and I realize by my interaction with the people who work in public transportation that it is an under-appreciated job.

Anyway, so my trip back to America was quite eventful -- life is always an adventure in my world. ;)

Thursday morning I got to the airport in time. Said goodbye to David and Irene.
My flight was supposed to leave at 10.10am.
I was supposed to go Venice --> Frankfurt --> Toronto --> Chicago.

If you are on facebook, you know that I asked to pray for clear skies for that day. Well, it looked like this:

Yes, that is fog. Not just any fog... it was SUPER DUPER FOGGY! I had to laugh at my simple request for a clear day and the result.

My flight to Frankfurt was delayed because of the fog. 

They gave me a free bottle of water and a sandwich. 

It also gave me time to journal and figure out 3G on my kindle (something that would prove priceless on this particular journey). 

I arrived in Frankfurt around 3pm. I had to reschedule my flight since I missed the connection to Toronto. This is what greeted me in the waiting area: 

So I took a number: 

Too bad they were only on #534 when I arrived. Two and a half hours later I was told that I would be on the 8.10am direct flight to Chicago (wahoo direct flight!). 

Because it was around 6pm on Thursday, they gave me a hotel room at Park Inn in Frankfurt, Germany. I was given a free taxi ride to the hotel. There was snow on the ground (although being a Michigander, I was somewhat shocked that they stopped flights in Frankfurt -- it was not snowing when I got there...). Heard Sleigh Ride on the way to the hotel and it just made me happy! A free hotel room. Buffet dinner. 

It made me miss Irene, though. My Italian was ok, but my German is... practically non-existent. Irene has been studying German, so I'm sure if she was with me, we could have had some fun in Frankfurt. But I just stayed in the hotel. The people who worked there all knew English well, so it was not a problem there. Until I got on the elevator with an older woman and she said something to me in German. I said, "I don't know German" and she pressed for floor #5. Too bad I only knew the first three numbers in German. Bummer.

I was shuttled back to the airport early Friday morning. 

Had to wait in line to get my new ticket printed out.

I got pulled aside for countless searches en route to my gate. 

Every. Stinkin'. Checkpoint.

For real.

I think I might have freaked them out that I was emailing my dad updates via my kindle. 

Suspicious to have a young woman traveling by herself, I guess. 

Regardless, I am now back in Michigan.

I plan to eventually start a new blog since this one was for the specific purpose of chronicling my adventures this fall in Italy.

Travelling alone

I am getting ready to travel back to America.
I keep hearing about all the snow we're getting in Michigan.
I have three different flights on Thursday.
Venice to Frankfurt.
Frankfurt to Toronto.
Toronto to Chicago.
I am asking that you please pray for clear skies and clear landing.
I think it makes me more nervous about the landing on ice/snow.

I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but that does not make it much easier to leave the family and friends I have here.
My heart will forever be divided in missing someone.

Thomas Jefferson: One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.
I will for sure be reflecting on these past three months and trying to figure out where to go from here.

As for America...
I am not coming home to a job, so we will see...

Trusting God knows what He is doing.

Thanks for sharing in this adventure with me.
I don't know that I will be updating this blog anymore after this.
Maybe once more to say I'm back in Michigan...

Chiavari

This week I went to Chiavari, a city in the Ligurian region of Italy. It is the northwestern part of Italy along the seacoast. Simply put, it's fabulously beautiful. It reminded me of Sicily in the fact that it was a great combination of mountains and sea.

I was so surprised to see the Pope.

Went to the beach. It was beautiful! 

We went to another spot along the coast. Right after this picture, the wave behind us got us soaking wet.... haha... We did not realize it would come up that far, but the waves were pretty crazy that day.

This is the Walti family: Lee, Jeannette, Hannah (17), Jacob (15), Elijah (11), and Abby (7). What a beautiful family. Everyone is so unique. They also have a daughter who is living in Florida, Bethany (20).  

I have heard so much about this family through people I met here and also my stepmom. They lived in Udine for a few years. When they arrived in Udine, Lucy helped them a lot with figuring things out here. Now they moved to start a new ministry with Italian Ministries. They are planning to have ESL classes in February. They just moved there in September, so they are still figuring out the area, but it is simply beautiful. Their apartment is PERFECT! It has a football (soccer) stadium practically in their backyard. Free nightly entertainment! 

Before I left, Jeannette and I went to a neighboring city, Sestri Levante. They recently found this hidden treasure tucked away:

As always with train travel, I had my kindle. I explained to a lady on my way to Chiavari that there were 250+ books on my kindle. She couldn't believe it. She had never seen one before. It turns out we were on the same train TWICE! She was also on the same train on my way to Milano (to switch to another train)! Small world. 

So, I have my kindle, but I often put it down because Italians like to talk. haha... I've been open to what God has to show me through different people I meet. On the train to Milano I met Francesca and her husband Tomaso. 

2 1/2 hours on a train with her and we exchanged addresses. She invited me to her home! She told me about her family, her desire for God, her husband's tainted view of church because of how priests treated his family, and life in Italy. Oh and she lived in MICHIGAN 40 years ago! haha... I'm excited for my simple conversations on Italian trains. They are beautiful. 

But I did notice... on my next train to Venezia Mestre, I sat by three girls who were close to my age. Guess what we did? Talk? Uumm, no. They all whipped out their cell phones/ipods and went about their own business. So different from my previous train ride.

All that to say, Chiavari is beautiful. The Waltis are a fantastic family. God is working in Italy... and it makes me really excited!

Church and Thanksgiving Saturday

The Church in Udine put on a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday as an outreach.

Italians are curious about Thanksgiving.

A few people from the church shared their testimonies. 

In my Bible reading, I recently read: Acts 2.46b says "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."

As I looked around the room, I realized it was probably something like this.
Italians know that the dinner table is a place of great food and conversation.

Good food:

These are my friends. They are beautiful women... and so much fun. Our favorite pasttime: karaoke. haha...

Lucy's sister Franca came with me and brought her family. Love them! Andrea, Ugo, Franca, and Paolo.

I am thankful for THANKSGIVING SATURDAY with my beautiful Italian family and friends.