All Roads Lead to Roma

After what seemed like an eternity I have arrived in the Eternal City. Bear with me through this post as I am operating on next to no sleep in what may be 2 days? Not so sure. And we are still awaiting the Daylight Savings here in Roma, so it may mess my up again.

My flight landed in Roma at 7am ish Italy time on Friday, which was 12am Thursday CA I think. Doesn't so much matter, because I am here now. I rode the train with Brian to their neighborhood which is a five min stroll from the backside of the Vatican. He kindly showed me to the apartment, to my room, and the bathroom. Then left to go to his language class. I promptly took a shower, and took a nap. I slept maybe 2 hours then got up and enjoyed the Pizza that Brian and Sarah returned with for lunch.

We then headed out to explore the neighborhood. We went to the Piazza del Popolo where we went to a church filled with monuments dedicated by people to commemorate their death or gifts to the church. There was also this fantastic bronze statue of Jesus as the Light of the World. It was the crucified Jesus but risen, as if coming out of sunbeams. A great image of Easter, and the reason why we are here. It was at the center of this church filled with images of death.
Also, while we were there we got to enjoy the musical talents of some Romans as they practiced for some performance.

Then it was time for Cafe! You know I love my coffee. From there we continued to the Tiber River and wandered along the river to the bridge of Angels and towards the Vatican, back to a bus and then to the apartment.




We just finished a fabulous dinner of tortellini with walnuts and brussel sprouts. (which I have never had, but really enjoyed.) Now it is time for Tea with Mussolini.

Ciao!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Only a few more hours. It is 5:30pm here so it is 1:30am in Rome Thanks to Day Light Savings time it is only 8 hours ahead not 9.

Please keep my Dad and I in your prayers as we head to the San Fransisco Airport at 4:30am tomorrow morning. I am still not excited to be in a car, and it is pretty early. Thankfully looks like we won't have any bad weather to contend with.

My first flight to Washington DC takes off at 8:01am, and I will land in DC at 3:45pm

I leave from DC at 5:15, so not much of a layover, please pray that we arrive on time, and that I find my way to the right spot.

I will then fly all night and land in Rome at 6:35am on Friday!

Be checking in as I will do my best to keep the blog current and filled with pictures and stories!

Thanks for all your support and prayers!

March Prayer Letter

Ciao! È buono da essere vivo, Translation; it is good to be
alive! Just two days ago I was in a major car accident and
while the cars did not fend to well, all of us involved walked
away with just whip lash and bruises. Praise God! While
my car was spinning about the strange yet peace bringing
thought that flashed through my mind was, well, I know I’m
not going to die, because I know God is sending me to
Rome. Another great picture that God painted for me in
this experience was looking in the backseat after it was
over and seeing my prayers strewn across the seat. My car
was literally covered in prayers, which is evident when you
see the truck that hit us.
Another reason is it great to be alive, is that in just a few
short days I will be jumping on a plane and heading to
Rome to meet my Team Leaders Brian and Sarah
Bennetch! I will be in Rome from March 13th-March20th for
my Vision Trip. It is a chance for me to really catch the
bigger vision of what God has invited me to. Since I will be
there on the Ides of March, it turns out according to
Wikipedia that there will be a toga run through the streets of
Rome. A good blog I found on this is
Just in case you are curious.
I would love to witness a bunch of people dressed in bed
sheets running through the streets there are a few things I
am looking forward to more. I am excited to meet my
teammates, see the neighborhood in which they live, and
where I may live. I want to see Rome through the eyes of
one who will be calling it home, not as I did years ago as a
tourist. To prepare for my trip I picked up a great book
called Four Seasons in Rome. I have loved author,
Anthony Doerr’s descriptions of the eternal city. Let me
share with you what he says as spring unfolds…
“Indeed the whole city seems to be filling up, breath after
breath of springtime blowing off the hills, piles of artichokes
appearing at the vegetable stand, then fava beans, then
strawberries, as if a sequence of northbound waves are
breaking over the city. The austerity of Lent gives way:
Romans pour out of their houses and swirl through the
streets, throng the markets in Testaccio, sit hip to hip along
the benches outside the Palazzo Farnese, devouring
gelati.”
See, don’t you want to come and do life in this city too
introducing the Eternal City to the Eternal God so that they
might experience Eternal Life? I thought so.
Following Him,
Trinity
Prayer Requests and Praises:
• Praise God that my accident was not
worse, and that I could walk away seeing
His hand at work providing peace and
safety!
• Praise God that I get to go to Rome for my
Vision Trip!
• Praise God that I get to go to Colorado to
attend a Support Team Building Workshop!
• Pray with me for continued safe travel as I
head to Rome and then Colorado and back
to Santa Cruz.
• Pray that my time in Rome and Colorado
will help immensely on my Road to Rome

Up Up and Away

(according to GoogleEarth this is my new Neighborhood)


I am off to Rome in only 11 days!!! Not permanently YET, I am going to Rome on my Vision Trip. This is a chance for me to meet my team leaders Brian and Sarah, and to get better acquainted with the city as well as the need. I am so thankful to all of you who have joined my financial support team, making this trip not only possible, but possible before the prices sky rocket during high season.

Please be praying for me as I journey to Rome. While I am taking this time away from the church as vacation and I am sure there will be aspects of the time that seem like one, I also have a lot of things to work through with Brian and Sarah. ReachGlobal has provided us with lots and lots of questions to work through. You can pray that God really shows me the need in Rome, and that I get a clearer picture of the work He has called me to. After being in Rome for a week I will head back to the states, but not home.

I will instead be landing in Denver, CO for a chance to see many of you,(Darbi, Heather, Pam, Vanessa and Stephen and the Daleys!) as well as attend Body Builders Support Team Building Workshop at Glen Erie in Colorado Springs. I am excited for this leg of the journey as well.

Every Good and Perfect Gift

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"
James 1:17

I just want to send a shout out of THANKS to all of you who have joined my Financial Support Team! I really cannot thank you enough, or do an addiquate job of expressing to you what an answer to prayer you are!

So often in the past few weeks I have prayed specifically for new donors, even being so bold as to ask God to provide certain gifts from certian people on certian days...and you know what? God has been faithful to provide exactally what I have prayed for, which makes you an answer to my prayers! He even has gone above and beyond!

So I wanted to say THANKS and encourage you to keep on listening to God as He continues to guide and direct you in so many ways! I am praying for you too!

Yummy

Want to know what is great about Italy? Food! Other things too, but tonight we are celebrating Italian cooking at my Pampered Chef Party. 15% of all proceeds will go to support me on my Road to Rome!!! Pretty fantastic!

If you love Pampered Chef or Me or Both but cannot make it to the party you can still purchase and help support my new ministry at the same time. Just click here and then you can place your order online. All orders need to be in by Monday, so take a look and see all the fun kitchen stuff you can get!

Two out of three ain't bad

For my new ministry I was given a book by ReachGlobal on raising support. In that book it strongly encourages the missionary to pray faithfully for those whom they ask for support, and also that we should pray specifically about each potential supporter. I read that portion of the book before I even made it home to CA and I started out praying faithfully for my supporters, even adding pictures of them to my computer screen saver, so that every time my computer in resting faces of people who are receiving my prayer letters are playing reminding me to pray for them. I love it. I picked great pictures too, so they make me smile.

I tried praying for specific donations a little, but not nearly as faithfully as I have prayed about other things. So today when my morning Bible Study was on the passage in Luke about not worrying about the clothes you wear or the other things you may need, but trusting God to provide, I decided it was as good as time as any to begin to get more serious in asking God to meet my needs.

In my prayer I asked God to provide three people at the prayer meeting I was heading to who would be on my support team. And I even asked Him to provide a specific amount from one person. I walked into the prayer meeting and one lady gave me a hug and told me she would be giving exactly the amount I had prayed about. Then I turned around and another told me she had pledged to give. I was in awe. Though I don't know why I haven't figured out that God answers prayer. I sat down thinking well God, two out of three ain't bad.

While we were meeting my phone rang, and someone left a message. I got out to my car and listened and they had said that they would like to support me financially! Okay so God is, well God!

Just had to share, cause I love watching God provide and continue to surprise me and teach me faith.