I am truly blessed to be a part of a community here in Rome, as well as around the world. A community of friends, family, and coworkers who love and support me. Many of you have committed to pray with me and for me and my team here in Rome, and of course for the people here. My new teammates Zach and Naomi who are still in the support raising phase of their ministry have gone to a lot of work to put together a 30 day prayer guide to help you, and us be more intentional in our prayers regarding Rome, Italy and Missions and our roles in each of those areas. I have not seen the prayer guide yet, but they will post it on their blog beginning tomorrow.
I invite you to join with me and my team in this 30 days of prayer. Click here to get started. While you are on Zach and Naomi's blog you can get to know them better as they are part of our Rome city team hoping to be here by April.
And even today you can begin praying for Brian and Sarah and the other City Team Leaders as they are attending the Europe City Team Leaders Meeting in Lyon, France this week.
I am home sick today. Not homesick, but home sick. Yesterday I went to school, it was tough, but I made it through, I came home was feeling fine. And then within an period of no more than 15 min I was sick. Headache, sore muscles, sore throat, ear ache, fever...I felt like I got hit by a bus. (actually no, if I got hit by a bus here in Italy I would feel nothing. They are crazy and fast...I would be dead)
So at 7:45 pm I figured I should drag my sorry self to the pharmacy down the street before they closed at 8pm. I was wrong, they were closed. So, I went to the supermarket, no drugs. Sad. I shuffled home and crawled back in bed. Sleep came in shifts, between neighbors clicking heals on marble floors and dragging furniture about their apartment, and pain as my wisdom teeth decided to push their way into the party.
This morning I awoke feeling no better, and about 9 rolled myself out of bed, bundled up and set out once again in search of meds. I had in hand my list of Italian vocab to help me along, intent on making sure I got some aid, but when I reached the pharmacy instead of attempting the new words I just held out my list of symptoms and explained, this is what my symptoms are. The pharmacist kindly reached behind the counter, and produced a box of tablets. Explaining I could take them 3 times a day.
After saying grazie I headed to the store, bought some lozenges and juice (with vitamins, hard to find here) and now here I am 2 hours later, lying in bed, feeling no better. But with time to blog.
It seems that everyday I am learning to operate in a new tempo. While, we took a month to study speaking about the hear and now, it seems we are traveling at light speed when it comes to the rest of time. There is Passato Prossimo, Imperfetto, Futuro, Composto Futuro and I know that we are just getting started.
Maybe, this is why I have not been able to write much in English this past month. Even now, I am having difficulties putting anything into words.
Last night I went to teach English and while I was sitting there going over English conjugation I realized once again how completely simple it is to conjugate a verb in English. Normally only the He/She changes. ( I am not saying English is easy, our spelling does not correspond to our pronunciation and we have all sorts of nonsensical rules, but as far as conjugation goes)
To Go
Present Tense
I Go We Go
You Go You All Go
He/She Goes They Go
Where as in Italian
I Go (ANDARE)
Presente
Io Vado Noi Andiamo
Tu Vai Voi Andate
Lui/Lei Va Loro Vanno
And that is only one tense. Today we learned a tense that is used when speaking hypothetically or when speaking of two events. But this tense does not even exist in English. And what's interesting about this tense is that you have to actually use the Passato Prossimo form of the verb in combination with the verbs Avere(to Have) or Essere (to Be) in order to talk about an event in the future, that happens before another event in the future.
Now, in my training they taught us not to judge, rather to practice Wonder. (Wow, I wonder why they choose to say it that way...) So, in my wondering I have determined that there are benefits to having a whole tense dedicated to the idea of MAYBE/ACCORDING TO ME. And while I am still thinking this way I am going to try to complete my homework. Before I determine that this tense is useless and just want to hit my head against the wall.
This past Saturday I moved into my very own apartment in Rome! I have been living life in the homes of so many other people in the past two years that I had begun to lose hope of ever having a place to call home. I can honestly say it is a wonderful gift to have a home. It is something that many people take for granted but, when you have gone without one for awhile you realize what a precious thing a home is. Somewhere to return to, to welcome others into, to hide, to express yourself, to rest, to nest, to feel safe, to relax, to work, to play, to cook, to put your stuff, to just be.
My new home is beautiful, and is an answer to so many prayers. It is big enough for me to welcome others in comfortably, but not so big that I will have to spend hours cleaning or searching for my keys. It is furnished with very nice furniture and even a few paintings of Italy. This is not something I thought I wanted, but what God knew I would need, as it has saved me a lot of money that I did not have. And I ended up with nicer things than I could have afforded on my own. It also saved me a lot of hassle, as not having a car makes buying large items even from ikea kinda a pain. I had even dreamed of having chandeliers and there are three in my new home. (so like God) My home is also very convenient, because it is just across the street from the Train Station, and it is just a 3 min walk from my Team Leaders home. I can now make it to school each day in 30 min when everything is working, before it would take me an hour. Funny how a 3 min walk can save you 30 min.
Having a home has also already opened up the door for me to build better relationships with people here in Rome. I have had friends over, of course. But what was even better was that the people in my home group were quick to offer their services when it came to helping me move. If you have ever had to move alone, be it across the street or across the globe you know how overwhelming and sad it can be to do it alone. So when my new friend here offered to help before I even asked I was overjoyed and we had me moved in one car load, in less than 10 min! AMAZING! Another friend volunteered to accompany me to ikea, which meant a whole afternoon of following me about with a cart, and then helping me cart all of my goodies home via buses and metros. Super sweet, and super helpful!
Like I said above, now that I have a home I have a place to return to, which is fantastic, as I am leaving tomorrow morning for Moldova! If you have been following my newsletters and prayer updates than you already know that I am going to Moldova (that is a country near Romania, in fact at one point it was part of Romania. Just in case you like me had no idea where Moldova was, if you don’t know where Romania is well then you might consider playing traveler IQ on Facebook for a few hours) I am heading to Moldova to attend the European Conference on Prostitution and Human Trafficking “Escape 2010”-an All-European conference, bringing together grass-roots Christian practitioners who are working together to combat human trafficking and prostitution.I am expecting that this will be a difficult conference to be a part of due to the topic, and I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I will return home after the conference.
When I return home I will jump right back into Italian classes, where I started my next level just yesterday. I have passed both of my exams, and I am happy to say that I have some amazing instructors and things are starting to click! Again I am so thankful for all my Italian speaking friends who have been so helpful and patient with me as I learn their beautiful but difficult language. Their kindness has paid off as many of them are now taking English classes that I help to teach, and we get to reverse the roles a bit. I really am enjoying teaching English, as I get to remember what it feels like to know something J I am helping with the primary level and have a fantastic class made up of all ages and people from Italy and other countries as well, we meet every Tuesday night. I am also going to begin helping one of the instructors at my language school with conversational English when I return from Moldova.
Aside from all of that our home group is a blast! I love attending each Friday, and am constantly impressed with the depth of our discussions. You can pray that we will continue to grow as a group and that discipleship will continue to take place. I have also started helping to hand out food on Monday nights at the main train station. My very first week of doing so there was a pretty serious fight between some of those who came to get a meal; one man was badly injured when the other hit him over the head with a bottle, and then came at him with the broken bottle. Please continue to pray for peace and safety as we continue to serve in this important ministry. I was unable to attend this week, but I was told that they were able to pass out 200 meals. There are just two women who make all of the food and package it all up, and there are a handful of volunteers to hand out the food. Pray for wisdom and direction for this ministry as it is new, but growing quickly, also for more help and a few people who can speak in Italian and English well!
Thank you again for all your prayers and support, I cannot live out God’s calling on my life here in Rome apart from your role in this ministry! Huge thanks to those of you who have been giving regularly and to those of you who just started or resumed your giving!
I have a HOME! Today I met with the Land Lady, her son (who owns the place and is 20) and the Realtor and her son, I signed the contract and I paid my money and now I have a Home!!! I actually have the keys a whole mess of them! Thank you for all your prayers I will post pictures sometime this weekend I am sure! Like I said before this Apartment is a gift from God and a huge answer to many many prayers!
In Italiano Adesso means Now. What is happening Adesso?
So glad you asked. Here in Rome there is a lot happening right Adesso! In the past 10 days I have had the chance to share about God's provision in my class at language school. One of my friends from my Language School came to home group, he is a priest from Poland. I got to go to the beach, something I had never done in Italy! And what made it better was the great time I had with my two friends from our home group. I got the chance to go to the main train station in Rome last night and hand out food to those who were very hungry, in the process God made it clear that my experience from my time at the Dream Center and in Haiti will be an asset to this new ministry. I will be meeting with the director of this much needed ministry next week sometime to discuss strategies. Today I met with my Realtor and her assistant and though I went to talk about my apartment, we ended up spending most the time talking about what it is to be a Christian and about our Friday group their level of interest in what I believe was so amazing to me, and I would not be surprised if this was just the beginning of an ongoing dialogue and hopefully relationship. Tonight I got to attend and help teach free English classes at a local church. I had a great time helping people experiment with English some for the first time. Tomorrow I will get to see two friends from home. On Friday I will sign the papers for my new apartment, and I can move in this weekend. Brian and Sarah return to Rome Friday morning, and I am looking forward to their return. A week from Thursday I will be heading to Moldova for the conference on helping to stop Human Trafficking.
Adesso there is a lot happening! Thanks for all your prayers and support!
I have been in Rome for 2 months and 10 days (but whose counting) and during that time I have stayed with a girl from my home group and then in the apartment of Brian and Sarah my team leaders while they have been on home assignment in the states for the past 2 months. Before moving to Rome I shared a bunk bed and room with my little brother and prior to that my friends graciously allowed me to stay in their extra room while I raised my support.
I have not had a real "home of my own" since May 2009...Which is why I am so excited to tell you that God has provided me with a fantastic new place to call home, and just in the nick of time! Brian and Sarah return a week from today, and I really wanted to have a place to move into before their return.
So, just when I had reached the end of my rope, when I had lost all hope of finding an apt in this neighborhood, that fit the bill God showed up in big ways! On Wed, I called home and asked my mom to pass along a prayer request to my faithful prayers that meet on Wed mornings. I knew that if God was going to listen to anyone He would totally hear these saints prayers! I asked them to pray for the following:
An apt near Brian and Sarah's. (in Balduina)
A place I could afford.
If they really wanted to be specific a place by next week
And even more specifically by the park and train station I had gone to pray in that day.
I woke up on Thursday morning to find an email in my inbox from an Apt Agency (which I get everyday) but when I clicked on this ad, it opened up this page.
Which told me, that this apt. was available for rent just a 4 min walk from Brian and Sarah's apt. That it was the right size and price. That it is across the street from the train station, that it is a 2 min walk from the park. And they want to rent to a foreigner.
Can you say THAT WAS GOD!
It gets even cooler...I emailed a friend across the street who has better Italian skills than I and asked him to call about the place for me. He did, and so when my phone rang during my 15 min caffè break Thursday morning at school and a Realtor who spoke English wanted to talk to me about the Apt, I was so excited! He called the Land Lady and we had an appointment set up for today before I was done with my cappuccino!
Today I went alone to look at the apt. because I figured that the Realtor who spoke English would be there. He was not and in his place was a woman who spoke no English and the Land Lady who spoke limited English. But by then I knew I was supposed to have this apt., so I just did my best in Italian.
They showed me the apt. I was instantly sold on it. It is furnished which is something originally I was against, but after being here I have discovered that my funds just don't go very far, and that I cannot afford to furnish an apt. So it is really for the best. It has an entryway, a nice size living room/dining room, a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and balcony, a large built in closet in the hallway. The kitchen is new and big enough for me to start cooking some amazing dinners for all my new friends soon! The bathroom even has a washing machine, the living room even has a TV and a hide-a-bed.
All of this is made even better because after I sign papers next week, I can move in! I will have a home!
Thank you for all your prayers! God heard them...and he even heard the desires of my heart, as there is a chandelier in the bedroom, which is just one of those things I had wanted. God is Good!
