I'm back!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I made it safely back to Italy! The flights were great!
After carefully and strategically selecting my seat online, prior to arriving at the airport, someone else had sat in it, and asked me to take their seat instead. I reluctantly agreed...but it's funny how things work out. I ended up sitting next to an airplane pilot from Paragould, Arkansas who is a member of the church of Christ! We felt like family immediately! He was very friendly, and made me feel a lot better about flying. After all, he has been operating flights for over 20 years! He even went to Harding University for a couple of years back in the 80's. Someone reading this must know him. His name is Kevin Hardcastle. Let me know if you do!

I also have a recommendation for anyone who might ever plan a trip to Europe. Northwest has a flight straight from Memphis to Amsterdam and it is 2 hours shorter than most flights from Chicago or Atlanta to a European country. Sometimes the layovers into Amsterdam are longer, but the airport is amazing! There is SO much to do there, that you could actually spend a whole weekend in the airport alone!

Great news! This morning, Luli was baptized! He is a man from Albania and the fiance of former Avanti worker, Danielle, who is here visiting. Everyone was very excited about welcoming our new brother!

Danielle and Luli

After services David, Mona, and I had a wonderful lunch at the home of Kelly and Marco. My Italish is really good.

I have spent most of this weekend catching up on sleep and packing. I will fly to Catania tomorrow to begin my work there. I am very excited about the opportunity to go live and work in Sicily!

I started reading a book called, "Italians Dance and I'm a Wallflower: Adventures in Italian Expression" by Linda Falcone. It's a really good book, and I thought it would be fun to share some of her thoughts to give you more insight into the Italian culture. The first one is called:

"In bocca al lupo"
(Into the Mouth of the Wolf)
"It may be useful to know that in Italy it is considered extremely bad luck to wish someone good luck in the literal way by saying 'buona fortuna.' The lucky way to wish good fortune is to say 'in bocca al lupo,' which can be translated as 'into the wolf's mouth'...which compares any challenge to being caught between the hungry jaws of a wild beast...it could simply symbolize having to overcome any excruciatingly difficult enterprise. And yes, buying a stamp and a light bulb in the same morning can be classified as an excruciatingly difficult enterprise in Italy. Thanking someone for wishing you good luck is the surest way to earn yourself really bad luck. The appropriate response to 'in bocca al lupo' is 'crepi' or 'may the wolf die.' What if you forget to issue the death threat? 'Ora ti sei messa in un vero pasticcio!' 'You've gotten yourself into a real pasticcio now! 'Pasticcio' is a giant lasagna that women traditionally make with fresh pasta for Sunday dinner."

So, be careful. You could end up with a lot of bad luck, or even stuck between a bunch of noodles!