Sicilian Summers

Summer has arrived in Sicily. It is hot! There are actually lots of little fires popping up all over the city lately because of the hot winds. Also, unfortunately this year the sea around Catania is dirty from what they think are boat spills, so no going to the beach to cool off yet; unless we go out of town, which doesn't happen too often with two littles.

So far this has been a very busy summer for us. Usually, summers slow down as most of our students decide to take a break because of vacations and such. However, this year most of our students are still coming every week. That being said, next week we decided will be our last week to teach for the summer, as everyone (including us) is usually gone for the most part of August and it's just too hot to teach.

In addition to our daily classes, we are staying busy just socializing really. The majority of our work here involves building relationships with people. There are a few students who are very receptive to hearing the Gospel and spending time with us, so we've been focused on building closer relationships with them. It's funny how God works really. I (Rachel) am not super gifted at being hospitable. I'm not a great cook or housekeeper or even super outgoing. Having people over is something that makes me nervous, but I knew it was something I had to work on and put more effort into. So, at the beginning of the year for my New Years resolution, I decided to work on that and prayed about it as well.

I think nearly every week this year we've had somebody over for dinner or dinner and a Bible study. There have been several weeks where there is somebody at our house almost every day of the week. It's crazy. God definitely has given me the opportunity to develop this talent. And it's been fun too. We've built deeper relationships not just with our students, but even with church members who we've known for years now.

That being said, there are a few people we know that are going through some difficult times, so I've really been spending a lot of my time spending time with these people - talking, listening, and just being together.

I just pray every day that God continues to guide us with his Holy Spirit to say and be the right thing for these people we are spending time with. That the seeds can be planted, and that their hearts will be open.

I don't feel that I can get into specifics on a blog, but I am in the slow and painful process of creating a website. I hope once it's done, that we can set up not just a blog, but also a newsletter where we can send more detailed information of our work straight to your inboxes.

We've received several letters this past year, and I just want to say that we appreciate so much hearing that you guys are keeping us and our contacts in your prayers. It's very encouraging, and we pray for those of you that support us, whether it be financially, emotionally, or in other ways. You mean so much to us!

Other updates to give you guys:

We were in the states for a month this spring. We got to see tons of family, take tons of road trips, see my (Alan's) brother get married, and visit with lots of friends. We stayed busy, and it went by quickly.

Davey got to ride while we were in the states

Katie came all the way to Maryland to visit us!

Sunny trying out her first New York pizza

This is what traveling with two small kids on an international flight looks like
Davey, thanks to the trip in America, finally really started talking in English!
Our youngest is about to start walking on her own so we are in trouble!
When we got back from our trip, we hit the ground running to finish preparing for VBS. VBS was June 8-10th and it was a big success. We had a total of 33 different kids come, 15 of which were visitors. The first day we had 26 kids (9 guests), the second day we had 23 kids (10 guests), and the last day we had 29 kids (13 guests). The theme was "The Parables of Jesus" with the phrase "Siate la luce" (be the light) as the main theme coming from the parable of the light on the hill. Each day they learned about a different parable.

Day 1: The Kingdom of Heaven is a treasure - Matthew 13:44-46. We also tied in the fact that the word of God is also a treasure
Day2: Follow God's word/Jesus' teachings - Luke 6:46-49 Parable of the wise and foolish builders.
Day 3: We need to share God's love/word with others - Parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37 The kids had a different memory verse every day. We set up the decorations to be like a city of Jerusalem during Biblical times, and they even had a market where they could buy prizes with the money they earned from participating, reciting memory verses, etc. They loved it!

Alan always gets stuck doing all the ladder work

Vbs prep lunch break

Campaigners Kristin and Kaylynn making a boat

5. We've had lots of visitors this summer. First, a couple came to do a survey trip to see if they could do long term missions here in Italy. They were with us in Catania for the first week in June. Then, the campaigners came and helped out with a conference and events for the youth in the nearby church of Paterno`. They also came and helped with VBS in Catania. And currently there's another guy here who is planning to come to Sicily to work with refugees and the church starting next year.

6. Serve the City came to Italy for the very first time, and the event was here in Catania. We happened to just recently meet the girl who was behind that, so we were able to help out in some small ways by letting the church building be a place for registration for the volunteers, and a few church members got involved and volunteered. So that was a neat opportunity.

7. Alan has been working on translating some Bible app materials/resources and is soon to the in the process of recording the voices for the videos.

8.. Last, but definitely not least, we've had two baptisms recently! Rosario, who came into the church asking Alan about English lessons, but very quickly opted to just study the Bible, was baptized. It was pretty obvious from the start that he was very passionate about studying the Bible and giving his life to Christ. His story is really interesting, and the drastic changes that he's made in his life, have been a testimony to his family and friends, so they've said themselves. Shortly after, through his example - as she stated in her testimony, his wife Francesca also became a Christian. They have two young babies that are close to our kids age.

Rosario and Francesca

As for plans for the rest of the summer, we have some more guests coming to stay with us soon. We also have church camp in August, and Rachel just found out recently that she's in charge of arts and crafts, so she's scrambling to get that ready. We are also going to take any down time we have to prepare our classes, studies, and youth group devotionals for the coming year.

Thank you all again for your support! We think of you all often. May God continue to bless you all in the work that you do there, and we thank God often for you guys and the blessing that you all have been to us!

Rachel, Shadi, and Shiva going out for tea and cupcakes at Bisou

Rachel took Giorgia out to eat to thank her for all the help she did with VBS. She found out that Giorgia had never played pool before, so they gave it a try.