Team Member Arrival

So, in about two hours one of our team members, April Houk, is arriving at the airport in Verona. She is travelling with a friend of ours from college. That way she has help travel and baggage. Once she arrives, we will begin guiding her through her first steps in this new culture in which she finds herself living. It will be an adventure for us together!

Newsletter - January 2009

Here is our January 2009 newsletter, which is the first newsletter for 2009. 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.

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.

The Tides Are Changing

So, the last couple of days, I have spent pouring over my personal ministry plan. This is a plan of all the goals and objectives that I have set before myself in a certain period of time. This particular time it is for six months, from January to July 2007. As we continue to transition from this team to the role of Team Leader for the new team being launched, we have had to evaluate what ministries that we are involved in are weaned off first. There are already many things to do and prepare for the new team, which involve around team recruiting, fleshing out of team documents and guidelines, as well as research/surveying for the location of the new team in Northern Italy.

I am enjoying the transition from this role to the next. Both seem well suited for me, which makes it easy I guess to go from one to the other. My mind seems to handle transitionary periods well. The celtic people called this the time between the times. For instance, when the sun is coming up and it is not day nor night. Also, dusk is another example. Another would be when you are at the beach and you are standing just past the edge of the water, where you are not quite in the sea, but you are no longer on the beach. The crossroads. Standing at an intersection with roads leading back to the way you came from and roads leading to where you will go next. There is part of me that enjoys just standing in the middle, reflecting on the past and dreaming of the future. I know, however, that I can't stay in the crossroads. God has called us to move forward and leave the past behind, but I do enjoy reminiscing about what He has done in our past.

Expansion of Ministry in Italy

If you only read about us on this blog, then you may not have heard our latest news. Because of some new interest in Italy from potential missionaries, we are going to be leading a new team in a city yet to be chosen in the North. We will be praying, surveying and researching many Italian cities before determining which one God is leading this new team. We are planning to come back to the states in November 2007 to raise awareness and funds, as well as recruit and prepare a new team. Then in May/June of 2008 we hope to return to Italy with the new team and head to the new city.

Until then, we will continue to minister here in Ancona, doing the tasks we have been doing for years and still connecting our relationships to Christ. As we learn about the cities we are studying, I will post items of relevance.

Back from the Team Retreat

Well, we had our team retreat a couple of weeks ago. It went very well, one of our best yet. Everyone had come prepared with their goals for the next six months. We looked at the last year and what goals had been accomplished, as well as what goals were not accomplished and why. We had several planned and unplanned times of team building. We had video games, spades and some videos.

In the next few weeks we will be sharing some of the exciting goals that we will be shooting for this year. Thanks for any of you who prayed. We could tell that it was covered in prayer.