Back to School!

The past 2 days have been quite eventful! We have been, and will continue to, meet with David and Debbie each morning to discuss and plan. Today, we went into town to enroll in language school! I had to take a test to figure out which level class I would be in, and was pretty nervous. Once, I answered a question in Spanish. I didn't even know I knew Spanish! The school seems really great, and I am so excited to get started on Monday. Being able to speak the language is crucial to this type of work.

We will also begin our English teaching sessions in the next week or two! David already has a list of people who are anxious to get started, and will start calling tomorrow to get them set up with times to meet with us. Each person will come for one hour at a time to practice their English conversation using the Bible as the text. This is the core of our work here, and is very important to sharing the message with others. There will potentially be a group of kids that Chad and I will teach together. We plan to take them to the park across the street and help them learn in a fun and more active atmosphere using games, songs, and crafts.

We also brainstormed about some ideas for having all of our students together to meet one another and visit in a less formal setting. We are thinking about having a meal during the week of Thanksgiving and inviting everyone to come. We have a lot of ideas, but I will share more as they come about.

While we were in Florence getting signed up for school today, I took everyone to Hemingway's. It is a really neat place near my old apartment (from when I studied abroad here 2 years ago) It has all kinds of desserts, especially chocolate. I accidentally ordered "fish" juice instead of "peach" juice because the words are so similar in Italian. One of many language mistakes that I will make, I'm sure :) Also, the owner said to David and Debbie, "I know you live in Scandicci and work at the Bible School." We still have no idea how he knows. He said that he had met them in Hemingway's before, but today was the first time they had even been there! It was very bizarre. He did say, though, that his wife took English lessons at the Bible School about 20 years ago! But David and Debbie have not even been here for a whole year yet.

We also got our new Italian cell phones and monthly bus passes, so we feel like we really live here now! Getting the cell phones was not an easy task. I won't even try to explain the whole process. I will just tell you that my head hurt when we left. The problem is not that the system is at fault, only that I am not accustomed to the system.

I am really getting comfortable with getting around town and figuring out how things work. I didn't have to ride the busses much when I was here before, so this is all new to me. The real test will be when Chad and I set out on our own for language school on Monday!

Goodbye Tom :(

Tom left today, so that's sad. He has been so much fun and I know everyone will miss him. Please pray for him to have a safe trip home. Virgil and Jackie Jackson are American missionaries in Albania that have been staying here at the Bible School for the past few days and they return to Albania tomorrow, so please also keep them in your prayers. They have a long train and ferry ride ahead of them. Anna Maria is also staying with us. She is originally from Ecuador and is now married to a former Avanti Italia worker. He has moved down to Catania to begin a new job and she will join him in about a month. She is expecting her first child, so keep that whole family in your prayers as well.

We got to worship at the church of Christ in Florence this morning, and it was a wonderful experience. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. It will be great when we are able to understand more of the language! Our Sunday night worship was in English at the HUF villa where David spoke. He did a great job!

Tomorrow we will be meeting with David for a planning and prayer session. We will be discussing the work that we will be starting very soon. I am very anxious about the different opportunities that I have heard about so far!

The building of the church of Christ in Florence

David's French Fry Pizza at dinner Saturday night :)

"In Italy everything is possible, and impossible"

Disclaimer to my financial supporters: All of the reported activities thus far have been free of charge to us. We are in the process of getting over jet lag and getting comfortable with our surroundings before our work begins :)

The title of this post was a quote from our tour guide today. We were lucky enough to be invited to go on a tour of the Duomo with the HUF students. It was very interesting to learn so many amazing facts about it. Afterwards, Chad and I had our first test of finding our way back to the Bible School from downtown Florence on our own!

This is the front of the Duomo. It is made of all local white, green, and pink marble.

Inside the Duomo. The horizontal lines around the perimeter are actually balconies that are used to walk/climb the 473 steps all the way to the top of the dome.

Frescos inside the dome

Mosaic inside the baptistry in front of the Duomo

The Grape Harvest

Today we went with the HUF (Harding University Florence) students to Chianti to harvest a grape vineyard. The drive alone was worth all the "work" of cutting the grapes off of the vine. It was beautiful! The entire experience was amazing. On the way to Chianti, we stopped at the cemetery of the American soldiers that fought in WWII. About 39% of the American soldiers who died in Italy are buried in one of the 2 cemeteries here. One is just south of Rome, and the other one here in Florence has over 4,000 soldiers buried here. The average age is 21-22. It was an educational, yet very sad thing to see.

The cemetery is very well maintained and beautiful

As always, you can click on any picture to see it larger

The vineyard that we helped harvest

Grapes! (Uve)

Freshly cut grapes!
Grape vines
Loading the tractor up with grapes
Eating the grapes
More grape vines

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest."

After picking grapes all morning, we had a picnic lunch on a hill. We had dinner tonight at the villa with the HUF kids, and then Chad and I went to a Bible study at the church of Christ in Florence with David. We met some members including Giovanni, Carla, Mario, and Nancy (Mario's poodle) She seemed to understand much more Italian than me, so I know it's time to start practicing!!

Is this a dream?

Have I really only been here for 2 days? It feels like at least 2 weeks! Trust me, that is NOT a complaint! I am so in love with this beautiful city! I can't believe it has been 2 years since I have been here. Everything seems just the same, even the smells...sometimes that's not a good thing ;) Well, where do I start? My flights went well and I got here just in time for lunch yesterday! Rosa, who works for the school where I live, cooks lunch for us which is quite a treat. Today (9/24) is her 24th year anniversary of working for the school! David and Debbie Woodroof are the directors here at the Bible School. Currently Debbie's brother, Tom is visiting as well as David and Debbie's daughter, Emily! It is exciting to have plenty of friendly faces around to show us the ropes! They have been so helpful and fun, and have really made us feel right at home! You can click on any of the pictures below to see them larger, which I highly reccomend :)

The view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo last night (9/23)

My favorite part of Florence, the Ponte Vecchio.

After dinner last night, we caught some of this jazz show in front of the Palazzo Vecchio

At a cafe on a roof in the Piazza della Repubblica that Emily showed us today. This is my teammate, Chad. I took this because you can see Emily with the Duomo behind her in the reflection of his sunglasses.

It's pretty tough to get the whole cathedral into a single picture, but here is the actual "dome" of the Duomo designed my Brunelleschi. You can GoodSearch images of The Duomo of Florence if you are interested in seeing more of it. In fact, you should GoodSearch pictures of Florence, in genreral. I am going to try not to take too many pictures of the city itself because I took so many the last time I was here.
*GoodSearch is a search engine that donates 1 cent to the non-profit of your choice for every search you make.

This is a shot of the Duomo from the rooftop cafe. After we left there, we went to the bookstore where I bought my first Italian Bible :)

For the next 2 weeks, we will be learning all of the important things we need to know about where we are, and what all we are going to be doing. David already has a list of people who are interested in starting some English conversation classes with us, using the Bible. I am very anxious to get started. We we also begin Italian language classes on the 6th of October! When those classes end in December, we will move to a city that has a congregation of the church of Christ that has requested an Avanti Italia worker. During our time here in Florence, we will learn about these different congregations, visit some, and make a decision about where to go. Thanks so much to those of you who wrote sweet notes and have sent encouraging emails! I wish you all could be here with me :) Besides that, everything else is perfect. Please continue to pray for the work that we will be doing here.

I'm here!!!

I don't have time to post a full update now, but I just wanted everyone to let everyone know that I made it safely and everything is perfect!!