March Madness and April Gladness
My titles make no sense. I'm not really a title person. But you can't judge a blog by it's title. Well...maybe you can.
Anyways, I am such a slacker, but I resolve to get back to work on my blog. So much has happened. I am going to give you a short and sweet summary. Bear with me.
We got a car! And thanks to YOU! Alan and I were overwhelmed by the love and support that you all showed us by not even hesitating and supporting our need for a car. We thought it would take much longer. We've already had it for over a month. It needed just a few small things fixed, but that's okay because we've got mechanic connections here in Italy. ;) We have already gotten to use our car in many helpful ways. For example, if it's raining, I can go do the grocery store still. Now the trip doesn't take 3-4 hours long and I can buy as much as I need and not have to think about how much I can carry back. We've also already used it to pick up students and their families to go on outings together, bring them to our house, and to go to events out of the town center to support our friends and students. Thank you so much for this blessing.
Alan and I also have other exciting news, that you would have already heard if you are Facebook friends with us. Siamo incinta! (We're pregnant!). So, basically one of my biggest fears has happened - I'm having my first child in a different country. But it's good for me, because it makes my little control-freak self put complete trust in God that this will all be just fine. If you want to read more about my pregnancy, and my comments on governmental healthcare, you can read them at my personal blog that I am going to start writing on again. Here's the link: http://rae-kirby.blogspot.it/
I haven't posted a new blog on there yet, but that's my next project. It's mainly a way for me to journal my pregnancy and my experience with the healthcare system, which fascinates the nurse in me. However, I didn't want to clog up our Avanti Italia blog with all of that.
We also enjoyed a visit for two weeks from Alan's parents (pictures at the end of the blog)! It was so nice to see family. This was the first time family has come to visit us, and it was nice. We were both a little homesick after they left, but it was a small price to pay to get to have family here. They had never been to Italy, so we took them around Italy for a week, and then they stayed at our house for the remaining week and got to sightsee Catania.
Alan and I have a good routine going. We teach classes Tuesday-Saturday. We have advertisements around the building, and occasionally pass them out in the city center or at the universities. Saturday we usually spend with friends from the church or with our classmates. The last two Saturdays, we spent the day with Vanessa (our student) and her children. We enjoy getting to know their family better, and her little girls just love Alan. We got to go support them in one of their dance recitals. So we got a peak at what being parents is like.
We have really good news in regards to our students. We have four that study the Bible every week with Stephano. They are all very interested, but one man in particular is extremely interested. He is our best English student and comes twice a week. After a while, it changed to one time was for English, and the other time he came he studied with Stephano and Alan sat in the class with them. This last week, Davide apologized to Alan and said he didn't want to continue English classes for right now because he feels it's really important to study the Bible with Stephano. Of course, he didn't need to apologize for this. Alan and I are really happy that he's so ernest to study and find the truth for himself.
If you all could please continue to pray for our students, we would appreciate it. We think one of the greatest needs is probably to pray for their desire to find the truth. It's amazing to me how often we'll read the Bible, and they'll point out that the catholic church (their religion) teaches the exact opposite of what we just read. When we ask them how the feel about reading one thing, but being taught another, the typical response is, "God is good and merciful, and he'll save us all in the end anyways so it doesn't matter what you believe." We've learned recently that this is actually a big teaching of the Catholic church. Of course, if you read the Bible, it doesn't say that. We'll point out those verses about Jesus being the only way, that the gate to heaven is narrow, and how many people will address Jesus as if they know him on the judgement day, but he'll respond that he doesn't know them etc etc. John 14:6, Matthew 7:14, and Matthew 7:22. Anyways, this is a huge prayer request for us - that people will have desire in their hearts to search for the truth, and that Alan and I will know what to say when these types of conversations happen.
Alan and I are actually learning a lot from Stephano. We enjoy sitting in on his classes when we can. It's good for our Italian, and it's also a great way for us to learn about Catholicism and how to approach Bible studies with people who follow this religion.
We love and miss you all! Thank you for the prayers!
Anyways, I am such a slacker, but I resolve to get back to work on my blog. So much has happened. I am going to give you a short and sweet summary. Bear with me.
We got a car! And thanks to YOU! Alan and I were overwhelmed by the love and support that you all showed us by not even hesitating and supporting our need for a car. We thought it would take much longer. We've already had it for over a month. It needed just a few small things fixed, but that's okay because we've got mechanic connections here in Italy. ;) We have already gotten to use our car in many helpful ways. For example, if it's raining, I can go do the grocery store still. Now the trip doesn't take 3-4 hours long and I can buy as much as I need and not have to think about how much I can carry back. We've also already used it to pick up students and their families to go on outings together, bring them to our house, and to go to events out of the town center to support our friends and students. Thank you so much for this blessing.
Alan and I also have other exciting news, that you would have already heard if you are Facebook friends with us. Siamo incinta! (We're pregnant!). So, basically one of my biggest fears has happened - I'm having my first child in a different country. But it's good for me, because it makes my little control-freak self put complete trust in God that this will all be just fine. If you want to read more about my pregnancy, and my comments on governmental healthcare, you can read them at my personal blog that I am going to start writing on again. Here's the link: http://rae-kirby.blogspot.it/I haven't posted a new blog on there yet, but that's my next project. It's mainly a way for me to journal my pregnancy and my experience with the healthcare system, which fascinates the nurse in me. However, I didn't want to clog up our Avanti Italia blog with all of that.
We also enjoyed a visit for two weeks from Alan's parents (pictures at the end of the blog)! It was so nice to see family. This was the first time family has come to visit us, and it was nice. We were both a little homesick after they left, but it was a small price to pay to get to have family here. They had never been to Italy, so we took them around Italy for a week, and then they stayed at our house for the remaining week and got to sightsee Catania.
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| Swiss guard in the Vatican City |
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| Alan's parents enjoying a gondola ride in Venice |
If you all could please continue to pray for our students, we would appreciate it. We think one of the greatest needs is probably to pray for their desire to find the truth. It's amazing to me how often we'll read the Bible, and they'll point out that the catholic church (their religion) teaches the exact opposite of what we just read. When we ask them how the feel about reading one thing, but being taught another, the typical response is, "God is good and merciful, and he'll save us all in the end anyways so it doesn't matter what you believe." We've learned recently that this is actually a big teaching of the Catholic church. Of course, if you read the Bible, it doesn't say that. We'll point out those verses about Jesus being the only way, that the gate to heaven is narrow, and how many people will address Jesus as if they know him on the judgement day, but he'll respond that he doesn't know them etc etc. John 14:6, Matthew 7:14, and Matthew 7:22. Anyways, this is a huge prayer request for us - that people will have desire in their hearts to search for the truth, and that Alan and I will know what to say when these types of conversations happen.Alan and I are actually learning a lot from Stephano. We enjoy sitting in on his classes when we can. It's good for our Italian, and it's also a great way for us to learn about Catholicism and how to approach Bible studies with people who follow this religion.
We love and miss you all! Thank you for the prayers!
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