Success in Ministry

It is very clear to me that there is SO MUCH WORK to be done in Italy for the Kingdom of God.

I just watched a video about John MacArthur's encounter with Lucio, a native Italian. It's not the best video about ministry here in Italy, but it does express some things:

1. Ministry in Italy happens very slowly. It is a huge mission field. They mention that a minister who was there 15 years had a church of 30 and that was a success. I don't like judging success by numbers only, but that just shows how different it is from American churches.
2. Lucio mentions that Italians are not well-trained for ministry. I told a girl I met at church that I worked with students in churches in America and she looked at me like I was crazy... You actually get PAID to do that?!

Special prayer request: Irene (my awesome stepsister) has her last college exam tomorrow. It's for economy and she's been studying like a madwoman since before I got here for this test. Her test is Wednesday, Oct 6 at 2pm here (8am EST). So if you could just take a minute to pray for her to be able to answer the questions clearly. She won't find out for like a month on how she did on the test.

I'm almost done with the OT in my Bible reading plan. I'm actually kind of sad to leave it behind while excited about starting into the Gospels! (*sidenote: if you DON'T read the OT, do you realize it's over 70% of the Bible? Missing out on a lot of good stuff there...).

Just read Esther today. Thought about Tommy and JTO. I'm pretty sure I've seen Star Queen at least five times... and I still love it. One of the best musicals... and if you're reading this, you must know how much I LOVE musicals! :)

On to Nehemiah.... one of my FAVORITE leaders in the Bible.

Ideal Cafe

On Thursday I spent the day with Lucy's sister Anna and her husband Joe. It was very fun to hang out with them -- it reminded me of a day with Lucy. We started off at the Ideal Cafe, a place Anna goes to every day. I almost felt like I was walking into Central Perk. haha... We went to the grocery store -- always an adventure with Italians who walk slowly through the store... which gave me enough time to look words up in the dictionary! We also went to a mall. It was cute. Their grocery stores are attached to their malls, which makes sense to me. While the parents are grocery shopping, the teens can be at the mall.

Here's a sample of the foods I ate on Thursday:




I started off my day with a bianca cioccolata calda (white hot chocolate). It was more like a pudding substance... still good. :)
Obviously you see I had McDonald's... It was HUGE! It was called the Big Tasty...
I had Nutella gelato. So good! YUM YUM!

Then there were the new experiences: fichi d'india (prickly pears) and Chino.
The prickly pears tasted like watermelon to me and had TONS of seeds. It was more like chewing enough so you could swallow the seeds... I'm not really a fan of them, but at least I tried it.
I was told that Chino was like Coke. Nothing could ever be as good as Coke... But I guess I would compare Chino to Ale8. It's more bitter than Coke. But it's not horrible. I would not choose it over Coke.

Good music should never be kept a secret:

Wonderful -- Gary Go
Beautiful, Beautiful -- Francesca Battistelli
Antidote -- B. Reith

Gracenomics book review

I just finished reading Philip Yancey’s What’s so Amazing about Grace? It seems fitting that I would continue my reading on the topic. So when I found out that I had the chance to read and review Mike Foster’s Gracenomics, I was all in!

While I've never met Mike Foster, I can tell by his writing that he is a genuine guy. He’s not afraid to tell us his likes, dislikes, and the fact that he’s not a perfect person. It is refreshing to hear a Christian leader acknowledging the fact that the world is messy. To me, Mike sounds a lot like Jesus. He is hanging out with broken people and writing their story for others to know that there is hope for them, too! 

I grew up in church but never really understood grace. At 25, I feel like I am just beginning to skim the surface of what GRACE is. It is refreshing and not at all like the judgmental close-mindedness I have been used to seeing in the Church. I am sure more people would be willing to become Christ-followers if they knew the message of GRACE.

The book is divided into three sections: GRACE for you, GRACE for others, and GRACE at the workplace. My favorite part of the book was on pages 60-62 under the heading "Invisible Pricetags". I say it was my favorite, but more accurately it was the most convicting. "The worst part is, it’s not just strangers that we assault with our pricing guns. Often it’s the people we love the most that we treat most harshly" (61). 

I recently had a conversation with a friend who grew up with me. We talked about the fact that the Church is so good at acting like everyone is always happy and that life is always good. Gracenomics posed a question we both were asking that night: What if, as leaders, we spoke openly about struggle, failure and the honesty of our checkered pasts (96)?

I am a person in need of GRACE. So are you. This book was a great reminder that there is "a second chance life waiting for you" (25).

This book needed to be written. This message needs to be heard by the world and WE are the ones who are challenged to live it out. The question to ask yourself is WILL YOU?

Go get this book. NOW. You'll be glad you did.

Here's how to get the book: 

KINDLE VERSION :: PRE-ORDER THE HARDCOVER :: DISCOUNTED BUNDLE

I spy... SBI

On Wednesday I went to the train station again.

Moses was in a good mood, always a smile on his cute little face.
Megan Kania, I LOVE MOSES! Moses is brave. He's super at helping me study Italian since he's a language pro! I mean, he had to speak Hebrew for the Israelites and Arabic for the Egyptians. But like Moses I'm a little intimidated in speaking, so I need to remember that God is with me and will speak for me.

I ordered my ticket in Italian. SUCCESS! I checked and double checked the train schedule and stops to make sure I wouldn't have another "detour" as delightful as that was.

I successfully made it to Casarsa. SBI is in San Lorenzo and it's really cute. Here a few pictures of the school: 

I got to sit in on the missions class. It was fun. There are 5 students at SBI this semester. 

Here are some things from the class:

"Missionaries are odd people" -- Sam (the teacher)

*thought to myself: I could be a missionary... I think I qualify. haha....

Make as much of your plan as you can and let God deal with it.

Isaiah 41.10: So do not fear, for I am with you; 

       do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

       I will strengthen you and help you; 

       I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God, please give me clarity on the opportunities that will present themselves here in Italy. It is clear that there is much work to be done here. Make it clear if I am supposed to do your work here. Close doors where they need to be closed (and help me to accept that) and open doors wide for me so I know which way to go. 

thank God for life's detours

I have been to Mossa, Italy. (So has Moses! -- thanks Megan Kania!)

Although I don't look very happy in this picture and I think Moses is hiding his face because he's embarrassed for me. I took the wrong train. And just so you know Mossa, Italy is really in the middle of nowhere. 

Mossa is a little town almost to Gorizia, Italy. I was really trying to get to Casarsa and as you can tell I took the train in the opposite direction. Tuesday I was going to visit Saints Bible Institute, a school where Americans can do study abroad. I am checking out the option of being an RA there. It's super cute and I eventually got there -- on Wednesday.

Tuesday I woke up early and walked to the train station. I ordered my ticket and looked at the screens for "partenza" (departure) times. There was a train that left at 7.46am. 

Tuesday turned into a day where I needed to be shown a little grace. I need grace every day, but I needed a little extra on Tuesday, especially from Irene who picked me up.

I had the chance to see where Irene goes to school since we were so close to it and she had to check to make sure when her last exam was scheduled. Although it wasn't what I had planned, it was a good day.

We had breakfast: una brioche (a croissant) and cioccolata calda (hot chocolate) for me, (caffè) coffee for Irene...

On the way home I was happy to see the familiar: La Sedia Grande (the Big Chair) which I saw last time I was here... 

I'm learning to thank God for life's interruptions, which is funny because I told my friend Jeni who will soon be going to Thailand to be thankful for those interruptions. Better said than done. But I'm learning.... and eating my own words of advice.

Learning to be: humble.