What Do You Think about Jesus?

Guila & Eliza enjoying babysitting at the conference in Enna
The last week of April we had a nearly week long conference here in Catania. Jay Young, who worked with the church in Pisa in the past, came with his wife to give this conference titled, "What Do You Think about Jesus?" Of course, it was presented in Italian. The week leading up to the conference, thousands of fliers were passed out by members of the church. The conference was held at one of our member's office's conference room, because the elders thought that more people would be likely to come if it wasn't in a church. Which, strangely enough, is something that Alan and I have noticed here. I feel like in the States people don't hesitate to try/visit another church with a friend or relative, but here it seems like people don't come to church unless they are seriously thinking about becoming members of that specific church. It's understandable in a way. Catholicsim is deeply rooted into the lives and traditions of people here, that it seems like they feel it would be a big decision/step to actually go to a worship service somewhere that isn't a Catholic church.


Alan and I were really greatful to Jay Young for giving the conference. We invited all of our students to come. Initially, several of them said they would be interested if it was in English. Jay was kind enough to agree to do a short summary of the lesson in English before he gave the full lesson in Italian. Over the week, seven of our students came to the conference, and they all stayed for both the English summary and the Italian lesson. Actually, there was only an English summary on the first night. The other evenings, some events happened that made it impossible for Jay to come early to teach in English first. It just so happened that the largest group of our students came for the English part the first night Jay was not able to teach, and we literally found out that he couldn't come about 10 minutes before it should have started. These students hadn't been there the night before, so while Alan made runs with the car to pick up church members for the conference, I gave a summary to our students of the lesson we had heard the night before. At this point, I had a horrible cold, sore throat, and massive headache. I was literally put on the spot, and I was struggling to remember what the lesson (which had been in Italian) had been about the night before. I really don't know how I did it. Just when my mind would go blank, I would remember the next point in the lesson. We had great discussion, and during the entire hour I felt that the Holy Spirit was guiding me and helping me get through that hour (I was really sick that whole week and felt miserable). Our students all remained for Jay's lesson that evening, and many of them were the ones asking questions at the end. It was really a great turnout and experience for our students.

Friday, April 25th was a holiday, so the churches in Sicily (Palermo, Paterno, and Catania) organized a convegno (gospel meeting) to be held in Enna, which is a town in the  middle of the island.  Jay Young, as well as other men from each of the churches spoke. The theme was related to Jay's conference theme.  Two of our students came, one with his whole family. Alan and I had a car full of people to take there and back (once again we're so thankful to you all for helping us with getting a car so we are able to do things like this!).  Alan and I did some babysitting during a few of the speeches. Pictures included. :) We had a lovely day together with our brothers and sisters in Sicily. 



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