You prayed, this happened.

We're halfway through the bag of espresso from Milan, which means it's high time for an update on how your prayers impacted those two weeks!

*Coffee in Milan, not my kitchen. I wish!

Instead of going on the mission trip as I have for the past three summers, the Lord asked me to stay here while hubs led the team. When I asked God to show me His plans for those two weeks, I got a clear answer. Pray. Pray with other people. 

And many of you did, both online and in the blue living room across from my house.

From my heart--thank you. From the hearts of Italians and Asians who had no idea you prayed--thank you. Your courageous minutes spent in prayer mattered.

Only two of these people knew you were praying for them!

Some of you joined the online prayer team, covering each day of the trip via email. 
Those moments set aside while you were sitting at those stop lights, brushing your teeth or standing in line at Starbucks to pray--they counted. They rose like sweet incense, doing battle on behalf of real people with real situations who encountered a real God during those two weeks.

Some of you came to the twenty-four hour prayer meeting in College Station. 
This was so exciting! I had never done anything like this before. It was humbling, exhilarating, and exhausting.

I want you to know that the sleep you sacrificed to come to the apartment in the small hours of midnight, praying on the curling carpet for people you would never meet on earth--it was seen by the Lord of Heaven's Armies. Your prayers meant the world half a world away.

The team felt the difference.
Thanks to an international texting plan, we were able to send encouragement and get up-to-the-minute news from the team during the trip, especially during the 24-hour prayer meeting. It was thrilling to sit on the opposite side of the globe and pray for a conversation happening thousands of miles away, knowing that our God was working.

Here are some specific prayers you prayed, and the response God gave:

1. You prayed that God would give our team the emotional energy to keep going. 

On a team of seven people, five were introverts. For you extroverts reading this, please take my word for it--twelve-hour days filled to the brim with challenging conversations can be extraordinarily draining.
 But the Lord gave the energy we asked for! The quieter ones on the team reported that they were surprised at their own ability to keep engaging in conversations long after their reserves would normally have sputtered out.

2. You asked Him to heal one of the girls on our team, who was sick with stomach cramps. 

The stomach pains ended up being something more serious than a simple virus, and she has spent much of the past week in the hospital. However, we praise God that the hospital visit was not needed until after she had returned from Italy! Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

3. You asked God for unity, and wisdom for the team leader.  

As his wife, this special request for my man really meant a lot to me. He told me later, after the jetlag began to wear off, that he definitely felt the Lord giving him wisdom in some challenging situations. The unity of our team was a key component in the success of the trip.

4. You prayed for students to trust in Jesus Christ.

We have a new brother and a new sister! Amelia*, a Chinese student studying in Italy, befriended our team during the first week. She had heard the gospel in Italian before, but it was not until a girl on our team, also from China, explained salvation in her heart language that it finally clicked. She still has many questions, and we were excited to hear that she met with one of the long-term missionaries just last Sunday to talk about Jesus more.

Marco* decided to follow Jesus as a result of a lunch conversation with two of the guys on our team during the second week. As each of them told about the difference that knowing Jesus has made in their lives, he leaned in eagerly. They sketched a simple bridge to illustrate how Jesus made a way for man to return to a holy God, and he said "yes--I want that."

The team was not just the seven people who got on a plane in Houston. It was also every one of you who prayed. Thank you for being part of God's work in Milan, Italy. 

*Names changed to protect our friend's privacy.

Your Minutes Matter :: an invitation to pray for Italy 2015

This morning I helped hubby roll the suitcases out to his car before I gave him one last kiss. Just five minutes ago, he texted me this picture to tell me that the team was about to board the plane for Italy!

Why am I not in the picture? Earlier this year, God surprised me by asking me to stay home rather than go on the mission trip to Milan. (Click here to read the story.) It was strange. I tend to assume--and I think a lot of Christians assume--that obedience usually means going rather than staying, but I couldn't deny the calm I felt once the decision was made.

I brought those now-empty weeks on the calendar to God. Did you want me to do something else with them, Lord?

The answer came quietly, dropping like a leaf into the calm pool of my heart: Pray. 

The ripple widened and another thought came, quick and insistent after the first: Pray WITH other people. 

All though scripture, there vivid examples of our great God answering prayer. He heard Abraham and made a 90 year old woman pregnant. He heard Moses and made a dry highway through an ocean. He heard Peter and made a dead woman live again. He has made water pour out of a rock, made lions ignore their dinner, and struck a whole army of enemy soldiers dead because of prayer.

One story in particular keeps running through my head, reminding me that prayer has significant results. 

That day the odds were stacked ridiculously high against the Israelites. They were just a bunch of sheep-tending nomads who'd been little kids when their parents left Egypt. Manna and the desert were all they'd ever known. They were about to face the Amalekites--seasoned warriors fighting on their home turf.

Moses told Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."

When Moses became tired and lowered his hands, the enemy began to beat Joshua and his men. But when he raised his hands in prayer again, the battle went well. As the day went on, he became exhausted, so two other leaders helped hold up his arms. The rag-taggle Jews beat the Amalekites that day not because they were good fighters, but because Moses persistently called on the Lord's help.

If we pray during these two weeks, it will accomplish three purposes:

1. The team in Italy will become more effective.
This one feels too obvious to write, but my half-hearted prayer track record shows that I need the reminder. As we pray, God will work. He will literally intervene in our space-time situations and change circumstances when we ask. He can keep the team joyful when they're jetlagged. He can heal food poisoning (which we pray won't happen!). He can change hearts and make the Good News suddenly clear to Italians.

2. The Church will become connected to God's heart for the nations. 
Prayer doesn't just change the things we pray for; it changes us.  If we spend our precious free time praying that God's purposes would happen, those purposes soon grow in importance to us. If we as the Church pray earnestly for lost people, those lost people soon become more and more precious to us and the love of Christ will dwell in us richly. The division between those who go and those who stay will be simply a matter of physical location. We are ALL commissioned by Jesus' command to "make disciples of all nations."

3. God will be glorified. 
This is the heartbeat pulsing through everything already mentioned. When God answers a specific prayer, He receives thanks, and his power over every circumstance is put on grand display. And to whom is it displayed? To us, certainly, but we are surrounded in a very real sense with a "great cloud of witnesses." When the angels in the unseen realms see our faith expressed through prayer, who can imagine what songs they sing to Him for it? When they see the way that His love causes us, His adopted children, to run to Him, the mysteries of his greatness and wisdom become the anthem of Heaven.

If God is stirring your heart, there are two ways to get involved:

Join the Online Prayer Team!

We need prayer cover for each day that the team is in Italy. You can sign up to pray for a specific day of the week, or the whole two-week trip--ask the Lord what He wants you to do.

As a member of the prayer team, you will get an email reminder on the night before your prayer day with prayer requests from Italy.

To join, click HERE.  

Gather in College Station for 24 hours of prayer!

There is power, encouragement and JOY when believers meet together to pray! The 24-hour prayer gathering will start next Friday, May 22nd at 5pm and will end the next day at the same time. It is a come-and-go event; guests are welcome to stay as long as they like and leave as needed.

Why this 24 hours, you ask?

This particular 24 hour period coincides with one of the most important days of ministry for the team in Milan. After a week of meeting students through the English Clubs on campus, our team always invites their new friends to join them for a full day excursion at a beautiful location several hours away from the city. The long bus ride and the relaxed setting of the Excursion Day has traditionally been one of the best days for deeper conversations about the Gospel with students.

To get the Evite to the event with more details, click HERE. 

An Italian in Texas! (And a crazy start to the semester)

For thousands of college students, the new school year means cramming your life into the back of your car and returning to the world of tests, papers, and dorm life.

And for those of us who do campus ministry (or are married to those who are), it means prayerfully flinging ourselves headlong into the busiest season of the year.

It means opening our hearts once again to befriend and love students.

It means pretending we don't have work at eight am for the sake of a deep conversation.

It means choosing to create community for young men and women who may carry scars from community gone wrong.

This year, it also meant the collision of two worlds: Italy and Texas. 

On the Italy mission trip two years ago, we met a young man with a big personality. Michele (pronounced "Mih-KE-leh") was not a believer in Jesus, but he had a lot of questions, and he seemed to have a really good time with our team and the Italian believers.

Several months after we returned to TX, that young man decided to follow Jesus and was baptized in an Italian mountain lake.

When we returned to Italy this past May, Michele was like a different person! He was full of joy, constantly laughing and joking around. It was as if knowing Jesus amped up his already gregarious personality. More than anything, he was excited to talk about Jesus and the Bible with anyone he met.

Check out these joyful guys! (Michele on left, with our friend, Ottavio, who is also a believer in Jesus.)

Two weeks ago, (smack in the middle of the busy semester kickoff) Michele arrived in the US for his very first visit! One of the permanent missionary couples in Milan traveled with him to Texas when they came back for their son's wedding. Hubby and I had the privilege of hosting him for two of the nights he was in town.

He promptly bought a cowboy hat that he wore with more Texan pride than most Texans.

This pic was snapped in Milan after he returned from his American adventure. Can you tell which one is Michele?

He also dove right into our busy preparations for welcoming the new students, helping the hubby pass out flyers for the Freshmen Connect event and even helping him set up the sound equipment for the student-led worship band.

But more than the Blue Bell Ice Cream, BBQ, steaks and stetsons, we were thrilled that we could share ministry with our Italian brother. While the church in Milan does some similar things--we are both doing campus ministry after all--is is larger and more established here.

Here too, the campus does not censor religious speech.

We went ice skating too! (from left: me, Michele, and two of the awesome students who went with us on the Italy mission trip last May)

We were also pumped to receive the encouragement of having Michele with us!

There is nothing quite like being around a newer believer to remind you of how crazy and amazing it is to know the God of the Universe. 

Or how precious it is to pray openly, publicly, without repercussions.

Or the fact that it really is incredible, this chance to do college ministry. This chance to stand witness to God changing the lives of young adults, one by one.

Our homegroup plus new students on the night of the Kickoff Rally! Right there in Rudder Fountain, we baptized two of the girls who joined our group last year. An awesome night!

When an old fear gets a facelift

"Now I drawed socks, see?"

 

Her eyes, heavily rimmed with dense lashes, were so blue. She clutched the percussion egg in one hand and the pen in the other as she created an elaborate family portrait. 

 

With socks.

Her little sister climbed into my lap momentarily to clasp my neck, only to leap off a moment later and run to where her daddy sat.

 

The parents were traveling, documenting the state of the evangelical church in Europe. With them were their three kids, ages 4, 3, and 1.

 

It was beautiful to watch them.

 

There was a time I believed that missions was only for single people. Because of this, I feared marriage. 

I was petrified by the fear that love for a man might crowd out my First Love. Now my fears seem small and silly. Two people who the same Lord can be a powerful expression of who He is. The marriage can become a living picture of the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, the community of God.

Watching that beautiful family, I felt...surprise? And then I was surprised at my surprise.

 

I suddenly saw that my stinky old fear had never really died--it had just leveled-up a notch. 

Now the fear whispers that mommy-hood will absorb any chance of being involved full-throttle in the Great Commission. 

 

And I know how ridiculous this sounds. How un-true it is. But fears defy logic and truth much of the time.

 

 

I fear missing out.

 

I fear isolation and stereotyping from younger, kid-less friends.

 

I fear losing my passion for Jesus in a wilderness of diapers and spit-up and soccer practice.

 

I fear losing my identity, of being just "so-and-so's mom".

 

Can anyone else relate?

 

 

But somewhere in the tangle of my unease, I feel Jesus whispering to my anxious heart.

 

Daughter, do not fear losing yourself; this is how you find true life.

 

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:25)

 

 

And right along all these whispers of truth, He is gently breaking down the fences I erect between myself and Change. Little nudges.

 

With each new baby in our circle of friends, each new announcement of "Guess what--?!", the idea of family has earned familiarity.

 

He also keeps letting me stumble upon amazing blog posts on this topic. Like this one that made me cry, or this one about surrendering the desire for a life on the mission field that sounded like a twin heartbeat of my post from last year. And then, just this morning, I came across this beautiful post about trusting the Lord with change.

 

I'm so glad my Jesus is gentle with me. I'm getting there.

Italy::Just the Highlights

It's a fact of life--life can sometimes get crazy busy! We completely understand, trust me.

So if you haven't had the chance to catch up on blogs or facebook in a while, the hubby and I thought we'd do a summary post to give our friends and family the highlights of our recent short term mission trip to Italy.

But since I've written a lot about Italy this year, I thought it'd be really fun to let you hear from the team leader himself!  So here it is--hubby's very first guest post on my blog. :)

Jordan--

"God did more than we could ask or imagine this year in Italy! (Ephesians 3:20) Nine of us left to go and reach college students in Milan, Italy on May 11^th.  We served the local students through English clubs to help them practice their English skills. We had over fifty students attending almost every day! As the team leader, I (Jordan) can tell you that a lot of hard work goes into making these two short weeks worthwhile for the Italians, but it's a lot of fun.

  

As a team, we prayerfully made a goal before we left to share our testimonies and/or the gospel thirty times.  I lost count near the end of the trip after we shared over fifty times!  Also, two of the students put their faith in Christ!  For a two-week trip like this, being able to share as much as we did was not normal. We know that through your prayers and support, God did more than we asked!

It was awesome to see how our team was filled with boldness to share the gospel as well as their personal stories.  For some it was a challenge, but with God's help they overcame their fears. As a result, many people heard for the first time about the forgiveness and grace of Jesus."

Italy by the numbers:

31 new Facebook friends for Cherise alone

252 espressos consumed by the team (a conservative estimate)

39 total hours of travel

282 people supported this trip!
50+ gospel presentations
2 new followers of Jesus Christ

Of course, it's not about tally marks. We humbly realize that God evaluates the success of a trip by a far different standard, so we don't share these numbers with that heart.

It's to say "look how BIG God is!"

We are brimming thankful.
Thankful for the chance to be part of God's age-old plan of love for Italy and the world.
Thankful for the chance to tell our stories of God transforming us and rescuing us.
Thankful for the dozens of answered prayers for safety, health, unity, and relationships with Italian students.

We are also crazy thankful for YOU, our wonderful friends and family members! That fancy dinner out, that new thing-for-the-wall/car/yard that you decided to sacrifice so that you could help us return to Italy--thank you. We couldn't have gone without you on our team.

Those minutes in the car when you thought of us and prayed for God to move--thank you. He did.

If you missed any of the awesome stories from the trip, here are all the links so you can catch up.

On our way to Italy again God was already answering prayers, and we weren't even in Italy yet!

Ciao-dy, Milan! It's been a while A picture-full post to let our families know we'd arrived safe and sound.
Photons, and a safe place for my flurried soul "Moo-care". 'Nuf said.
An Overdue Update! Lots of fun stuff in this one. :)
Living Forgiven in Front of Them One of the most memorable nights of the entire trip.
Five Years with My Love Our romantic date on the town in Milano.
A last-minute train ride to Turin! It wasn't on the original trip agenda, but it was awesome.
Clubbin'. English Clubs, that is.  In which Cherise finally explains what on earth we do at those English Clubs.

Clubbin'. English Clubs, that is.

So I just realized that there is a gaping hole in the Italy trip posts.

In the past three years, I've written plenty about scavenger hunts, awesome conversations, coffee, gelato and the amazing things God taught me. However, I've never really explained the activity that attracts the students in the first place: English Clubs!

So here ya go--everything you ever wanted to know about the most happenin' club in Milan.

First of all, it's a club, not classroom instruction. We aren't licensed teachers, we're college students from another campus who are excited to help our friends practice English in a fun, relational setting.

Every day has a theme. We use idea books that are divided into themes like "family", "the outdoors", and "culture". Once we've picked a theme, we choose activities and games for that day that relate to the chosen topic. The American slang associated with each theme is especially fun. For example, when we talked about family, we taught them the meanings and uses of...

"mama's boy"

"brotha' from anotha' motha'"

"chip off the old block"

"spitting image"

"daddy's girl"

"rugrat"

"family feud"

Food day is a favorite! Each year we fill up one entire suitcase with American snack food for our new friends to try. Can you imagine living your whole life without beef jerky? They also don't have Sour Patch candy, Cheese-Whiz, or--brace yourselves--

PEANUT BUTTER.

 I KNOW.

We REALLY like Mafia. The card game, not the organized crime ring. It's a bit ironic, sitting in Italy, playing a game called "Mafia", but it's perfect for helping the whole group use their English to accuse their neighbors and defend their own alibi. :)

It's a cultural exchange. The culture of Italy and the culture of Aggieland may be very different, but both are beautiful, deeply traditional, and really fun to share and explain! This year, for example, we decided to teach our Italian friends how to line dance to "Copperhead Road", and they in turn taught us a line dance in Italian. (I really wish I could post the video clip! But I can't get it to work... :(  )

Movies help the discussions go deep. Although we reserve spiritual conversations for the times when we are off campus, meaningful discussions often begin in the classroom after watching a movie clip. All levels will gather in one room to watch part of a movie in English (with English subtitles). Afterward, in smaller groups, we work through prepared questions meant to stimulate thought and conversation.
Often, the answers that students give to these discussion questions reveal their attitudes toward their family, their dreams, and may even give clues about their current relationship with God.

Even though we're back in TX, these English Clubs are still going on! One of the girls on our team remained behind in Milan to continue ministry with the students and do a bi-weekly English Club at a local café. Please keep her in your prayers!

A last-minute train ride to Turin!

Our tired team had just made it back to the hotel after that awesome evening of bowling and dinner with the students. "Do you want to come with us to Torino in the morning? They're having an encouragement time for the ladies there tomorrow."

What a beautiful surprise, plopped right into our lap! I was thrilled, but hubby was ecstatic. Years before our church's partnership in Milan, he had been on a short-term team to Turin and he still had many friends in that beautiful city.

The rest of the team planned to spend the day in Milan's historic center, so we left Chrissy in charge and gave her the team cell phone.

Early the next morning, we boarded a train!

Milan rests in a fertile valley ringed by hazy blue Alps. The view out the window was a gorgeous panorama of blue skies, red-tiled roofs, and flooded rice fields. (Who would have guessed that Italy was the place to grow rice, right?)

Turin has the kind of picturesque charm that can turn even a camera phone snapshot into something frame-able. I took this one at a half-jog as we crossed a street on our way to enjoy a delicious lunch at the home of one of the pastors. 

After lunch, I had a sweet walk and a coffee with Pam, and I realized all over again just how beautiful her heart is. 

We made our way back to the deceptively tiny storefront of the church, and into the underground rooms below the street. There were about ten of us crowded into the Sunday school room, representing about five different countries. I felt so encouraged simply to be there, surrounded by women seeking the Lord in a city known for its darkness. 

And then it just kept getting better! As I talked with some of the younger girls, I learned that three of them were from Romania! As we talked and shared in the beautiful Romanian language, it was as if sweet oil were being poured on the rusty door holding memories of my past time in Moldova. As it swung open, my heart was flooded with the joy of it all. It was as if Jesus, knowing the love I still carry deep for that nation, said, "Here; I haven't forgotten. I see your heart."

At dinner, I finally met one of the dear friends that hubby had made years earlier. "You know?" she said. "Those years, being involved with English Clubs...those were the most fun years I have ever had."

Living forgiven in front of them

 In my last post, I gave a teaser about our awesome Friday night. Thanks for patiently waiting! I always overestimate the amount of blogging time I'll have while we're over here in Milan.  (I mean, who knew we'd need silly stuff like sleep and food, right?)

Every evening after English Clubs, we go as a group to a local restaurant and invite the students to join us. The conversations we enjoy over food are often quieter and more personal than any we could have in the short break time during English Clubs, so we were excited when a large group joined us on Friday.

That particular night, we had an additional attraction: bowling! I'm terrible at the game, but I *almost* got a spare once, and laughing makes you bond with people, right? I don't mind being the joke. :)

Stylish, no?

Srike celebration!

"Giorda" is apparently the only logical way to spell my hubby's name...

After bowling, we headed over to the food court. I was with a sweet, talkative girl I'll call Rose, and I decided at the last second to join her group at "The Wild West". It's Italy's attempt at Tex-Mex, and while their guacamole leaves much to be desired, they do have pretty good nachos.

As the four of us at our end of the restaurant booth talked about the civic role of the Catholic Church in Italy, our studies, and our families, I was praying. I was listening intently, trying to hear past the surface and understand their hearts.

Usually, Italians are very reserved, and they have a hard time sharing personal details or discussing deeper topics. But if you listen well, there are often clues dropped about painful circumstances in their lives that can help you have a deeper conversation with them later.

Rose told how her mother had suddenly become very devout after visiting a shrine in another part of Italy. She now goes to church daily, as well as praying an hour every evening.

"How do you feel about the change in your mom?" I asked.

"Oh, it is fine and good," she said. "I like that she chooses this herself. It is not only religion. There is no person forcing her to do this--she decided it on her own. I think there is big difference between religion and a faith."

"I agree," I said. "When I was little, it was easy to believe in God because my parents told me. Later, I had questions and I found the answers when I read the Bible for myself. My cousin told me that it is ok to have questions because if something is true, it will still be true after you test it.'"


The conversation shifted and I listened for a long time. Then one of the guys said, "Wait--I want to hear you talk. Tell us about Texas." They listened, disbelieving, as I described the distance from Houston to Dallas, the variety of foods and cultures represented, the fact that not everything is desert, and the country dancing. The conversation was about to veer into an animated debate about Wild West shows when the same guy said, "No, this is OK, but tell us something else. I like to hear your voice. Tell us whatever you like."

Could I have asked for a more perfect chance to tell how God has changed me?

So I told my story.

How I used to find my value in the fact that I was a good student. How I thought my family was perfect. How my Grandma died. How Dad lost his job. How God helped me forgive my parents completely because I have been forgiven. How I now know that my value comes from the fact that I'm loved by God--not from what I do.

As we paid and walked out of the mall, Rose said, "I can feel everything you said. It is so similar to my life!"

She had to leave early and can't spend any more time with our team because of a job in another city, but neither one of us wanted to stop talking.

Please pray for this beautiful girl and for the other students who were sitting close. I know from experience that only God can give hope to a family that is breaking apart.
Only God can help us forgive wounds like that.
Only God's love can silence the accusing voices that tell us we're unlovely and unlovable. 

Ciao-dy, Milan! It's been a while

We're here! After 22 hours, two flights, a 5-hour layover and a van ride through Milan, we finally hoisted our bags and our sleepy selves upstairs at our hotel this morning at around 11:30 am local time.

(For family members who are curious, Milan is seven hours ahead of TX time. Our bodies felt like it was 3:30 am.)

Hubby zonked out during the layover in Newark

The Alps! 

The bus ride through Milan from the airport

First meal in Italy! So much fun reconnecting with the team and meeting a new friend as well.

Here we are! Exhausted to the core, but thankful for a safe trip.

The hubs is signaling that blogging time has expired, so I'll let the pictures be enough for now. Please pray for our team to be well rested tomorrow as we begin the first week of English Clubs and meet students on campus tomorrow!

If you're wondering why we're in Italy, click here, and then join us by praying!

On our way to Italy again!

The New York skyline is just barely visible past the forest of airplane fins jutting into the sky, and our team is sitting excitedly as we wait to board our second flight. We're finally on our way to Italy!

It's been a marathon of a week. Several people on our team (including my own hubby) are still sleep-deprived from final exams. Two of the girls actually graduated from Texas A&M this weekend (whoop!), and I worked two of the graduation ceremonies as a marshal because of my job in the graduate studies office. But we definitely feel that God is sustaining us and answering the prayers of our support team! Keep on praying!

One wonderful answer to prayer is that we did NOT have to wake up at an insane hour and drive to the airport this morning. The parents of one of the girls on the team generously hosted our whole troop last night, fed us delicious homemade meals, and drove us to the airport this morning before church. Thank you, Mrs. Spachek, for mothering us all on Mother's Day! 

A second answer to prayer came this afternoon during our layover when another teammate discovered that her debit card was missing. This particular friend is planning to stay the entire summer in Milan for an internship with the church plant team, so the loss of her card was not a small thing. We started praying while she and my hubby went to retrace her steps. God answered! Some wonderful honest person turned the card in to the lost and found desk and we all felt so relieved.

A few things to pray for:

• Continued safety as we fly to Milan tonight
• The safe arrival of all luggage, and that we don't lose any more important items! :)
• Good health. Because so many on our team are tired, we're praying for protection against sickness and headaches. 
• Opportunities to talk about Jesus with people on the flight 

Enjoy a few pictures from today! I will update y'all soon from Milan once we arrive. 

The first flight from Houston

Waiting in the Newark airport during our 5-hr layover

Newark, NJ

Paul taught us now to play spades!

Less than two months away!

The excitement has been slowly building in my heart since January, when our letters were signed and sent. Part of me still can't believe that we are actually returning to Milan! (Click here for last year's post on returning...it's still a true expression of how we feel to be going back!)

In case you're new to the blog, or just need a reminder, here's what's going on:

Our church has linked arms in partnership with a tiny, brave church plant in Milan, Italy. Like us, they focus their ministry on the college students at a local university. Also like us, they are passionate about discipleship.

This was our team with the students last year on an excursion. Such a fun day! Hubby and I are front, left.  

Each year, we send a team of students to encourage and help this church by putting together fun, interactive English Clubs for the students of Bicocca University. The clubs provide a great setting to meet students and build relationships.

We love the fact that we stay for two full weeks! That second week gives time for trust to form and conversations to go beyond the surface.

For many young people in Italy's post-Christian secularism, broken homes and shallow relationships are the norm. Knowing this, my husband and I have tried to text and Facebook our Italian friends throughout the year. Going back to the team and to our Italian friends--well, it's a bit like a family reunion.

Even though support raising is far from complete, my heart is full to bursting right now with thanks for friends like you who give to make it possible for us to return!

By our returning we tell the Italian students that they are more than a two-week project. The returning lends weight, not only to the friendships, but also to the declaration that Jesus is just as real and alive and life-changing as the first time we told them.

Never underestimate the power of persistent love. My own heart is proof that it can soften, redeem, transform.

Will you help us return? Click here for Fellowship Church's secure giving site.
**NOTE: please put "Castille Italy Mission" in the comment box before clicking "submit". This helps your gift go to the right place.

Will you pray?
Mark the dates for our trip in your phone calendar! (May 11-25)

• Pray for hearts to be open to the love of Jesus.
• Pray for us to be humble.
• Pray for courage and cultural sensitivity.
• Pray for Frank, Pam, Stacy, and Debbie--the long-term missionaries in Milan.
• Pray for every team member to reach their support goal by April 11.
• Most of all, pray for God's name to be famous and lifted high.

 

Now the big stuff!

After my previous post about God using "small things" in Italy, I realized that I should probably clarify something:

God did big things in Italy, and answered big, outrageous prayers.

It was my faith that was puny that morning, seeing only smallness. I was insecure, focused on my efforts instead of God's power.

That other post was not a trip summary. It was just a personal reflection on something I was learning--something that I needed to know just as much here in the states as overseas.

THIS post, however, is a report! :)
Because of the mixed crowd that reads this blog, I can't share personal details about friends' names and specific conversations. Just respecting my friends' privacy here. However, I'm excited to give a bullet-point update of how God answered some of your prayers!

• Three Salvations!
  Three of our friends decided to begin a relationship with Jesus, trusting that His death is the only way to be saved from the death penalty we all deserve. Technically, I now have two new sisters and a brother. "Thrilled" isn't a big enough word to describe how excited we are!
  
• Continued friendships & awesome conversations
  As I wrote in a previous post, I love returning. I love catching up, reuniting, re-hashing old jokes and making new ones. Thanks to Facebook, many of the friends we made last year returned to English Clubs to see us! 

  

  Team plus students at the beach of Santa Margherita, Ligura

• Hubby's allergies were fine!
  The land of pizza, pasta and cheese is a hard place for the gluten and dairy intolerant, but these supplements made life so much easier.
  
• Team unity
  Without unity, a team flops. Most of the team members were at the acqaintance level when we boarded the plane for Milan. Add this to the fact that we had a patchwork of ages, personalities, and mission trip experience, and you can understand why unity was at the top of our prayer list.
  I personally felt God connect me to the team during a fun lunch with the other girls. Some appointments fell through, so was only team members--a disappointment turned blessing.
  
• Minimal jet lag
  One of the girls on the team has a history of HORRIBLE jet lag. I'm talking konk-out-for-fourty-eight-hours horrible jet lag. We prayed that she wouldn't experience this, and she barely felt tired!

So once again, THANK YOU all for praying, for giving, and for being a very literal part of our team even if you didn't leave your home. We couldn't have done it without you. 

Small things

Again, I find that the ambition to blog regularly on a mission trip like this proved to be completely unrealistic. Oh well. There is grace in the doing and not-doing, and sometimes the call to sit and rest--to simply be--outshines the trophies we give ourselves for checking boxes off lists.


Our two weeks in Milan are drawing to a close. Sunday, we will eat one last brioche and point our noses back to the land of Starbucks and larger cars. I will miss Italy so much.

We have been living the refreshing rhythm of days measured by the quality of conversations with God and with others rather than by errands run or hours worked.

Even then, "measure" is a mis-nomer. Because how can you measure what God might do through a seemingly inconsequential hug? Or a friendly chat over a maroccino?

Two weeks is a blip on eternity's timeline, but if love was expressed, that blip carries the weight of eternity.

This morning I forgot this. For about three hours, I walked in a fog of self-doubt which was really God-doubt in disguise. It hit me after breakfast, causing me to question my effectiveness, my abilities, and whether I had wasted my time coming.

As I type, I'm scoffing at the absurdity. But even the absurd can sound true when you're tired.

I looked over the past two weeks and saw only a string of inconsequential moments, conversations, and activities. Only two weeks, when I longed to give the whole shebang and move here for good. It seemed so paltry. Like loose change in my coin purse.

But there was that day when Jesus called her two coins the biggest offering of all. 

And there was another afternoon when a kid's lunch, given to Jesus, fed enough people to fill a stadium. 

He loves to use the weak things, the small things, the awkward things, even the boring things.
By this, He shames the strong.
If I feel strong, I'm actually weak.
But when I give Him the small things--my little lunch, my loose change--His strength is obvious.

So this is what I'm learning. It's only something small...but I guess I could be wrong about that. :)

Siamo in Italia!

We are in Italy! As I type, the halls of Hotel Ornato are ringing with the thumps and thuds of an entire boy's footbol team. Their coaches are singing and drinking in the patio below our window, so sleep would be impossible even if I hadn't imbibed three cafes today...which I did. Those fancy little shot glasses of caffeine are incredibly delizioso and addictive.

But I'm glad; this is my first real chance to give an update since we arrived foggy-headed, stinky, and stiff on Monday!

Already, I am full of stories. Already, I want to move here permanently. (Kidding, kidding! ...sort of?) 

Already, my heart is aching again because so many of my new friends have no idea how deeply they are loved by God.

But stories will have to wait! Tonight I simply want to share some photos with captions to give you a little taste of the past three days. 

We rode the Christmas-light van to the airport... (still not exactly sure why those were there?)

The sunrise somewhere over the UK was *almost* worth having only two hours of sleep. Gorgeous!

Foggy London town wasn't so foggy, which gave us a beautiful view of close-set neighborhoods and fields as we flew into Heathrow Airport. 

The soda can I bought in London proudly proclaimed their commitment to never adding "NASTIES" to their product. What a relief!

We had a crystalline view of the Swiss Alps on our way to Milan--what a treat! For the next hour, I couldn't keep songs from The Sound of Music out of my head. 

Thankfully, the Italian landscape is much warmer than the Alps.

We were dead-tired, but of course, we couldn't sleep without visiting the gelateria for some delicious gelato. Yummy!

And this was the team on campus yesterday after the first successful English Club meeting. We were so thankful that God gave us the use of classrooms on campus for free this year.

And I'm posting my first update a little sooner than I did last year! *pats self on back*

I am so deeply thankful for everyone who helped us come again to this beautiful city. 

Seriously, ya'll are amazing. 

God is amazing. 

I am amazed that He chooses to use us. 

Can't wait to see how the next week and a half will pan out! Please take a minute right now to pray for our team; God is not limited by thousands of miles!