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.