Busy Busy Busy

As Frosty the Snowman said in that classic cartoon show we are, "busy busy busy."

Playing spoons (their favorite) after the devo.
The youth group meetings have gotten underway and become a ritual once a month thing at our house. The kids enjoy it. We've asked different men from the church to come teach the kids a few times to
a) give them experience in youth group devos for once we're gone
b) let the kids get to hear from different teachers at church and
c) give us a break while letting the kids hear a probably more in depth lesson since our Italian is exactly perfect.



One of my students offered me a kitten, but I had to say no.  
We also have started a youth group meeting for the older teens (15-20ish). We've invited the teens from the church in Paterno (30 minutes away) and they have been coming. The first night we just talked to them about things that they would like to study.  The topic of, "How to Evangelize to Friends" was chosen, and we'll probably tag on something about evangelizing to people we don't know at the end as well.  Alan's preparing these lessons for them, though he wants to encourage them to take turns giving lessons as well.



So every other Saturday at our house we have some time of youth group meeting for a couple of hours. During the week from Tuesday through Saturday we're teaching classes. We're up to around 25 regular students. Four of them also do a Bible study each week with Stephano.



Dance recital




Gloria and I with gelato on the beach
  We try to spend a lot of our free time with our students. Alan and I went to one of our former student's daughter's dance recital. We also spent May 1st (a holiday here) with my student and her boyfriend. We lunched together and then went to Gole Alcantara where there's a river of super clear water, a cave, and a waterfall. Then we drove to the beach and had gelato. Of course, this being a day trip with me and Alan, an adventure had to happen. We ended up getting a flat on the highway. Some cops came and parked behind us while Alan and Franco took turns changing the tire. Naturally, it didn't go as smoothly as it should have because we were missing a part of the jack so it took longer than it should have. After a while, the cops asked for Alan's documents, and I heard one of them exclaim with much enthusiasm, "Gli stati uniti?! Number one!" (The United States number one!). I don't know why, but that just struck me as hilarious at the time.


The cops checked on us when we got our flat
Alan and I just returned yesterday from Genzano. Last year, when we were living in Florence, we went to almost every convegno (weekend gospel meeting), and there are many of them throughout the year. Since we moved to Catania, it's been harder to find the time and money to make the trips since we're farther away from the rest of Italy now. However, we wanted to try to go to one this spring, so we went to Genzano. We enjoyed listening to the lessons, and we got to spend quite a bit of time with the young people who came. There weren't very many since most of them are preparing for exams, but we had a lot of serious conversations with the ones that were there. We just ask that you all pray for the church here and specifically the youth.  They have a close bond among each other, but many times they are they only young person at their church or just one of a handful, and they don't have other Christians their age to talk to face-to-face very often. 

We have a really busy summer ahead of us. We're still teaching classes. Alan and I are preparing VBS, which is in eeek a month! I'm working on translating the lessons, creating activity books, making decorations, and buying supplies for the arts and crafts. It's going to be June 26-28th, and the theme is "The Armour of God" from Ephesians 6:10-18. I'll be honest and say that I'm stressing out about all that needs done, but so far it really is coming right along. This year, we're preparing the material, but we'll just be helping with the VBS when the time comes. All of the teachers and leaders will be the local members from the church.

Thank you all for the support you continue to show us in your notes and prayers. I can't tell you how much it means to us and how much it encourages us. 

Below are a few more pictures from our trip to Gole Alcantara with our student.


Working hard or hardly working?

Waterfall at Alcantara


Villa Bellini - a park in downtown Catania

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