Newsletter - December 2008

Here is our December 2008 newsletter, which is the fifth newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Team Expansion Meeting

So, we spent the day helping facilitate a special Team Expansion meeting in downtown Tulsa. It took place at the Centennial Park Community Center around 6th & Peoria. That is a really nice facility! It was a great day seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new people. It was a good start to lead into the National Missionary Convention that starts tomorrow.

A Little Bit of Italy

Some of our Italian friends and their family are visiting the US right now. They are members of the church in Ancona. We were able to visit with them last Thursday, September 25. It is the most that we spoke in Italian since we arrived in America. It was very encouraging for Angie and I, because most of it came back very quickly. We conversed and translated for the American host family they were also visiting. We know that God has us in the states for His reasons, however, it was very nice to have this slice of Italy. It added fuel to our already existing fire to return. We look forward to the time in which God has planned for us to return. Check out the smiling faces below.

(Listed from left to right; Angie, Stefano, Emanuele, Matt, Matteo, Sylvia).

Featured in Horizons

We were featured in the August 2008 issue of Horizons Magazine. The article is about missionaries when they are in the states for their Home Assignment. Horizons is "devoted to publishing news about cross-cultural mission work among the independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. "

Go check out the article at Horizon's website, click on the August 2008 magazine:

http://missionservices.org/horizons/horizons.html

Or here is a direct link to the latest issue:

http://missionservices.org/horizons/2008_08.pdf

Newsletter - September 2008

Here is our September 2008 newsletter, which is the fourth newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

In Southern California

We've made it to Southern California. Here are some pics of us with John & Judy Webb. We are looking forward to a refreshing time with these great encouragers.

Off to San Diego

We have been travelling and going to camps and vbs's since coming back from Colorado Springs at the end of June. We have also had good meetings with some of our churches as well. We are going to San Diego to spend time with our team pastors, John & Judy Webb. They live in Oceanside, California and are always a joy to visit. While we are there I will also get an opportunity to speak to some of John's classes at Hope International University. We'll be back in Oklahoma next week.

You Never Know

So you never know who you will be inviting to study God's Word. Sometimes it's a cafe owner's son, and sometimes it could be a terrorist's son. Christians just need to trust that God will take care of them in all situations and do what they have been called to do. The following article is incredible interesting -
Read article here

Newsletter - June 2008

Here is our June 2008 newsletter, which is the third newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Camp, Camp and More Camp

The last two weeks Angie and I have been the missionaries of two different High School camps. First at our home camp, Sunset Bible Camp in Mannford, Oklahoma. Then we went to Mission Lake Christian Camp in Horton, Kansas. We had never been there, but we had a great time sharing at both camps what God is doing and wants to continue to do in Italy. This Monday Angie and I have double duty with a VBS in the morning and Junior High camp at night. Then the next week we will fly out to Denver and Colarado Springs, Colorado for various meetings to advance the ministry. We are going to be exhausted by the end of the month.

Newsletter - April 2008

Here is our April 2008 newsletter, which is the second newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Get Your Pops on Route 66

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that even though the title is "Life in Italy" when we are in the states it changes. This blog is about our ministry and personal life. Whether we are in Ancona, Verona, Tulsa or Louisville. When we travel to different cities where our supporters are located we try to take in as much as we can of the sights, the sounds and the tastes. So we were delighted to be introduced by Vince and Penny Brown to a section of Route 66 that we hadn't experienced before on a recent trip to Edmond, Oklahoma. I had inadvertantly left my camera at their house, so on our return trip to Edmond, we went back to the formerly mentioned sights.

Outside of Edmond is Arcadia, Oklahoma, the home of the Big Round Barn and Pops. The Big Round Barn is from the heydays of Route 66 and is now historically preserved and cared for as a musuem and a rented upstairs loft for events. Pops is modern, but fits right in on Route 66 with it's giant contemporary soda pop bottle monument out front. Within its A-frame building lies hundreds of different flavors of carbonated beverages! My favorite is the entire refrigerator full of root beer. It is root beer, vanilla soda, fruit soda, etc... from all over the world. You can go in and choose several and take them home to try out and savor.

On the last trip after we left the Big Round Barn and Pops, we continued down Route 66 halfway between Edmond and Tulsa (about 50 minutes). We saw some other cool looking buildings as well as an old rock filling station that once housed counterfieters and was the site of a homicide investigation. Crazy stuff, if only you get off the highways onto the byways.... Check out the pictures below.

Pops - Arcadia, Oklahoma, Route 66

Big Round Barn - Arcadia, Oklahoma, Route 66

Old Filling Station - Route 66

Internal Longing

So, usually while we are in the states, we go through stages of contentment. When we first arrive we are thrilled at everything around us, food, family, culture, etc..... Then in the middle we start evening out and feeling less tempted to see, smell, taste, touch and hear everything. Then our last period of time before returning to the field is spent saying farewell to things and people here while getting exciting abouting getting back to our other "home". Well, about halfway through our time in the states, the longings start. Tonight sitting here on our couch in Tulsa I had one. It was very short, but intense. I imagined streets in Italy that I have walked on and how I longed to be there. I am excited about the prospect of getting back. I am excited about the new team that God is forming. I am excited about what our new team is going to do once we arrive and they go through language school. I am excited about what the Ancona team is doing, as well as the other friends in ministry throughout Italy. I think God allows that longing to lie dormant during the first months of our Home Assignment, or it would make it terribly difficult to be content. In recent weeks we announced that we would be extending our stay in America from the end of June until the end of September. We will be balancing those feelings of contentment and longing a few more months, so that our team can be more fully ready to head to Verona.

Cravings of Pizza

So, when we are in the states Angie and I are usually enjoying the many foods that we miss when we are in Italy. And we have been. However, tonight I was watching a show about Italy on the travel channel.....then they showed pizza! Oh man it hit me all of a sudden, the flavors, the types (thin restaurant and thicker pizza by the slice) and of course the simplicity of it. Wow, is my mouth watering.

Newsletter - January 2008

Here is our January 2008 newsletter. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Perspectives

So, last night Angie and I went to our first night of a semester long class called "Perspectives". We are taking it to broaden our understanding of missions in order to be better leaders for the Verona team. We were in a room full of people from several denominations in a classroom at First Christian Church in Owasso, Oklahoma. It is a three hour class, every Wednesday night for several months. If the first night was any indication, it is going to be a great class. It feels like it is not only going to make me a better leader, but understand the heart of God better too! As we go to classes, I may try to post something here or there. As for last night, some verses that stood out were Genesis 12:1-3. They were verses that we grew attached to as we sought the city that God was sending us to and we talked about those verses last night. Then tonight at a small group of one of our supporting churches, Edmond Christian Church, we talked about those verses again. Is God trying to tell us something? Affirm something to us? If you get a chance read those verses and ask God what he wants to tell you through them. And also if you want to be challenged in your faith, check out "Perspectives". So far, so great. I'll let you know more as we go along.