con potenza, vieni Signor

(translation: with power, you come Lord.)

God is doing some great things here in pescara, and i haven't really given Him much credit for it here on my blog, but i've turned this into a superficial place for me to write my daily activities.. i apologize. so here's the God stuff that i haven't mentioned. watch out.. there's a lot :)

there are so many ways that i see God working here, though. really, he is opening soo many doors for ministry in pescara! first of all, since i've been here we started a weekly children's program at a park downtown. we have done it about.. five times now? i think. but it happens every saturday afternoon, and we have a pretty consistent group of kids, about 15-20 each week. it's great! they leave singing "Gesu ama tutti bimbi.. tutti bimbi de la terra" (Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world). i think they're starting to understand for God to love them.. we see those children and see the future Christians of pescara.. it's exciting!

through that program at the park, we met a woman named catarina who runs "associazione de rosa" which is a small shelter for abused children. she is now bringing her kids to the program at the park and wants to partner with us for other things too! she's not a Christian, but is very open to anything that will be beneficial to the kids. what a blessing to have those kids at the park each week!

the park where we do the children's program has a restaurant in it. it's a restaurant, but also it hosts art shows and other "cultural" things like that. anyway, the guy who runs the restaurant is soo supportive of what we are doing at the park and is there almost every week just to talk to us and see how things are going. his name is giuseppe (same name as the director of the base here...) and he is also in partnership with the head of tourism in pescara and the arts director or something like that. i'm not sure exactly what.. but anyway, he has asked us to help with a big art festival that is happening in december. they are closing off basically the equivalent of michigan avenue here in pescara and hosting 90 different artists... it's going to be huge! i won't be here when this happens, but everyone else is going to help at an information table, like giving directions and stuff. it's a really great way to meet people, you know?

this last weekend, we helped out with a big wine festival that happened on the main street very near to our church/office building. it gave giuseppe (the director of the base here, not the park restaurant guy..) a chance to meet the main business directors on this street, called via d'avalos. really, it was a great opportunity to make connections. he was pretty excited about it.

and that guy from the park, giuseppe, he comes to the church every tuesday morning for english conversation lessons.. he is soo eager to learn! it's exciting to see him progress. and i have a new student starting tomorrow. her name is barbara and she works just around the corner. she seems really nice, and i hope to build a relationship with her, with what limited communication we can have.. the language barrier is so difficult! but anyway, that means that the english lessons are a really good tool to get to know people and invest in their lives so that we can show them the love of God. to be honest, i feel so nervous every time there's a lesson, because i feel so unqualified to be teaching english. i wish i knew italian better so that i could teach better...

also, there is a girl named megan who is american. she is probably in her mid to late 20s. she actually used to be mormon and she came to italy to be a mormon missionary. her husband owns the real estate company that giuseppe purchased the church/office from, so that's how we met her. anyway, she's not mormon anymore because her husband isn't, which means she's pretty much banned from the mormon church. but she's really spiritually seeking. she's into a few new age-y things, but still knows that it isn't enough... she's been talking to giuseppe recently, and is really open to Christianity, so we've been praying for her a lot. i went to a halloween party with her and a couple of other americans and had a good time, but i just hope and pray that she will come to know the Lord.. there's no way for her to live fulfilled if not through Christ..

another opportunity is through a guy named massimiliano. he is the head of the Christian Motorbikers' Association in italy. he and his family are friends with giuseppe and cristiana and massimiliano wants to partner with giuseppe for some events.. another opportunity for ministry!

so, in short, God has opened soo many doors for ministry here in pescara, and all within about two months! it's crazy to see all this happening. the church is still very very small, but a grassroots ministry always starts that way. it'll be good to see where all these things lead.

this reminds of me of habakkuk 1:5, which says:
"look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!
for i am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn't believe
even if someone told you about it."

praise the Lord, huh?
keep praying :)