A week end with family

Me and my mom on Mt. Etna

This week we were blessed by a visit from my family. They arrived on Saturday morning by bus (after traveling all night)and stayed with us through Tuesday night. It was really special to have my dad come to church on Sunday. It was his second time ever being in church. I told him that he could have stayed home if he wanted and we could have picked him up after church for the potluck. He said that it was okay in coming but didn't want anyone to push him to become like us. So he came for the service, Josh preached, and he stayed after for lunch too. My mom was super happy because it was her first potluck in 23 years with my dad present.

Michele, dad and Josh

On Monday we went on mount Etna, and were above the clouds. It was a nice warm day but there was snow on the side of the road so the kids had fun playing and throwing balls of snow....and falling into it too!!! We enjoyed local foods and made some of our typical foods too...:) We enjoyed their company and most of all trying to share the love of Christ to my dad. Pray for us that we can be a light and that God can take away the veil from his eyes.

(at the potluck)

(family picture with my dad, mom and little brother)

Please keep in your prayer the Christmas dinner that we will have on Saturday and the caroling that we will have on Sunday. Also during this time of the year the church usually distribuite christian calendars and we have 800 of them, so please pray for all of those who will receive the word of God trough the calendars.

Carmela for the fam

Thanksgiving outreach and more...

Last Saturday we had our Thanksgiving dinner. We as a family and people from the local church invited many people and we are thankful for all those who came. We also invited some of Hannah school friends and it was good to see them there.
Josh started with the history of Thanksgiving and in between turkey and dessert Marco (a co-worker) gave his testimony and Josh used a children's story to share the Gospel.
It was a very good time and we had good one-on-one conversations.
Gabriella(the sister of a believer) went up to Josh after the story off Thanksgiving and started asking him questions about his faith. Gabriella comes to the English lessons and she has never once come to anything that the church organized before the english lessons and this outreach. So seeing her there was already a blessing but than hearing her wanting to get to know us better was even more fantastic. Last week at the end of my english lesson Gabriella came close to me and we were chatting and in telling her about me and Josh and how we met. Faith came up in conversation and I was able to share my testimony with her.
There is also another lady that comes to the english lessons with her son, her name is Fiorella, she has had good spiritual conversations with one of our coworkers and was challenged to read the Bible more and deeply.
So we had a good time and good opportunities to show Christ and we are very thankful for all of what god is doing here in Acireale. We are sorry not t have pictures to post yet! Josh forgot to take pictures and so did I...:)
This month will be busy with many events. We will have another oureach in 2 weeks. It will be a Christmas dinner and a day later we will be caroling in the main square of town...and that will be quite interesting because Italians don't carol!!!
This coming Sunday we will have AGAPE, it is what we usually call our potluck. My dad, mom and brother will be here. I don't know if my dad will come to the service but he will be there for lunch and as you know he is not a believer, so my prayer are that he will decide to come and that God touches his heart.
Later on this month Josh's dad and mom will come down to spend Christmas and New Year together.
other prayer requests are:

• for us and the kids...I think we are still adjusting, I notice it in some of the kids reaction, so please pray that the Christmas break can help us get in our routine and family habits.
• we got our car back finally, we had to pay 300 euro more but the car still doesn't work right. So please pray for provision and wisdom to understand what we should do next.
• family health

November

Dear friends,

November is almost done and it is good to look behind and see what God has done. Not always the things that He makes are the things we would want to happen but in His sovereignty he drives our path.

We don't have our car yet but it is ready... just a few problems that hopefully will get resolved soon.

Last week Josh lost his wallet with all his documents and cards. Some of the documents are American so it is gonna take a little extra time to get. His Italian form of green card was in it too so considering that the immigration offices in Italy don't work very well a lot of patience will be needed!!!

We had many opportunity to share the Gospel with people of the English lessons or new friends that we made.

One of our neighbors has been pretty interested in wanting to know more about the Gospel, he had several conversations with Josh on many biblical topics and also on salvation. His name is Mario.

This week we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving at the church building,we have invited, along with the other missionaries, many friends. It will be a good time of being part of an American tradition, eating food with different flavors, but also of getting to hear the Gospel. In fact Josh will be sharing the good news sometime during the meal. So if you remember about us at this special event pray for Josh, for all the preparation and all the Italian that will be making american dishes :) and especially that God may touch people's heart with His Word.

We, as a family, are going to make several apple pies (since Josh is the apple pie master), the stuffing and apple cider. The wife of another missionary is going to cook our 32 pound turkey, and other believers are helping making other dishes.

Last Saturday we went up on mount Etna and had a good family time. It was not as cold as we expected and there was no snow. But we had fun looking at all the lava and showing it to Hannah and Benedetta and explaining to them what that was. I have to admit that Hannah was a little scared about the volcano...:) we looked at a crater of 2001, Josh and the girls went down at the bottom of it but I decided to stay up and take some pictures. We had a picnic and it was fun just sitting on the side and see the calm around us, the mountain in front of us with a tiny line of smoke coming out of its mouth.

Josh is going to have a Bible study with one of the guy attending the church, he is a soccer player for the city team and comes from Brasil, his name is Orlando. We had him and his wife over this past week and they are very nice. Both Benedetta and Hannah love Jacqueline(his wife)!

There is also another guy that came to church this Sunday that is wanting to know the Bible better so,please, pray for this future Bible study, his name is Salvo.

in Him

Carmela for the fam

Hello friends,

we finally have internet at home so we can keep you updated with everything that happens in our lives here in Italy.

Two weeks ago we were at a conference up in Chianciano Terme (an hour north of Rome). It was a good time spent in the study of the Word, fellowship and also a blessing for me and Josh to be finally just us after the three months apart...we left the kids with my parents.

There was flooding in the area near where we live, this happened just before our departure for Chianciano. The freeway was closed cause there was a lot of mud on it and the only boat we could take to get up in the italian peninsula was from Catania to Salerno. This would have brought us on a longer trip, but God is good and the roads opened up few hours before we had to leave so we were able to travel as planned.

Before leaving for the conference Josh planned and organized the English school and we started classes last week. I teach the basic class and God has given us the blessing of a teacher from the US for the next two months, she takes care of intermediate, advanced and kids class.

Josh is also trying to get to teach within schools.

It is amazing to me to see what God is doing already. English classes are just a way to make friendships, it is a long process but at the same time faster than others. Through this friendship and the different activities we plan on sharing the Gospel and we pray that God will call some to him.

It is amazing how fast friendships are being built and especially of opportunities that are coming up. Next Saturday we are gonna have a pizza and games night with the english students. On Sunday a contact has invited us to spent time with him and his girlfriend. We will have a big outreach for thanksgiving. What an opportunity to show and testify how thankful we are to God for his salvation.

Our lives are divided among, kids schools and activities and ministry but it is still a little hard because we are still getting settled... today for example we got the furniture for the kitchen that we ordered 35 days ago. So praise God I finally have a sink( that I cannot use yet) and storage room for our food, but we still have a lot of boxes sitting around, and for those who do not know me, I don't like a messy house or a not organized one!

Hannah is doing ok, she goes to school and is making new friends. Today she got her first invitation to go play at a friend's house. We signed her up to a ballet class that she likes a lot. Her Italian vocabulary is growing as long as her sicilian accent!

Benedetta is liking asilo, they don't have a lot of toys but do a lot of activities during the day. she (and Hannah too) misses her friends in fact today she was crying on the couch about wanting to play with her little friend Grace.

This last sunday after a message on assurance of salvation I spent a bit of time talking with a lady that came to visit for the first time and had good question about salvation.

last but not less important, our car should be fixed sometime this month. For those who do not remember our car was parked when it got hit by another car (pretty bad), and it is still not fixed. We had problems with the insurance, they don't want to pay the amount that it takes to fix the car well so... But there is always a reason the praise God because a friend had a car that we can use for 2 more weeks and have used since Josh got back. So God didn't leave us walking all this time!

So, as you see, life is going fast. I thank you all for your prayers, and for friendship and if you are reading this blog you probably care about us... and for this I thank you.

Lots of love and blessings

- Carmela

...a new school and new friends...

Last Friday School started for both Hannah and Benedetta. It was hard especially for Hannah because it reminded her of her old school and it made her homesick and miss all of her friends up in Sacile. But when we went to pick them up it was nice to see both of them smiling because they had fun days and met new friends. It was very hard for me because I understand what Hannah goes through so seeing her crying broke my heart and I have to admit I didn't let them see me crying but ran outside when I knew I couldn't keep my tears inside anymore.

So school it's still a little hard but I think they are adjusting...!!!

Since Josh came back we have been staying at the Academy. We signed the contract for our apartment and moved our stuff in it, but most of our stuff had mold on it from storage so we had to clean every single piece of furniture and clothes(actually we are still cleaning). The process is very slow because we don't have gas or water so we can really run the washing machine. Yesterday after church we officially moved in but as I said we have no water or gas. Life has been interesting!

We don't have internet at the house so we are sorry if we are not gonna be able to give more updates.

in Christ

Carmela

...houses and schools...

Dear friends,

now that Josh is back there are many things we have to figure out. First of all we have to find a place to live in. Before we came here some friends had found a house for us so we looked at the house on Monday evening and we decided to take also because we really want to start life...we have been living out of suitcases for too long and we all can't wait to open all the boxes and find our toys, our kitchen and office stuff! So hopefully sometime this week we will sign the contract and try to move in as soon as possible.

On the other side we have been trying to figure out the schools for our girls...where to send them, getting the books and the school uniforms....

As a family it is good to be finally all together. We missed Josh and just being a family on our own. The kids are enjoying daddy...yesterday they were playing baseball! we had a fun family time at a water park on Saturday.

As a wife i missed having my teammate here next to me but it made our marriage stronger and I think it would have not been possible without the knowledge that God had everything under control and that everything was for our good.

so has we adjust to the new place please pray for:

- our kids, that they adjust well and make new friends and learn with us to follow God wherever He calls us

- that they can find good teachers and good schools

- for the move into the new house

- for a new car cheap and good for our needs

- that our family can be a witness of the love of God and His grace to the believers and the nonbelievers.

In Christ

Carmela

all together again...

Yeah... we are all together again!!! Josh arrived last night and the kids couldn't stop talking to him, telling all of what they have done in these months and playing with him...Benedetta was so excited because when Josh left she didn't understand he was going to be gone for a long time and so she ended up being very sad and hurt in these 83 days. Hannah was happy to have back here her playmate and prince and I am so very happy to have here my other half.

We are thankful to God because everything went well and He protected Josh and us during the trip coming here, and took care of us in these months.

Our next week is gonna be full of house hunting and car hunting, signing the kids up for school and moving our furniture and just settling in a new home and adapting to a new place. So please continue to keep us in your prayer and thanks to all of those that have helped us with love and friendship in this time.

Carmela

for the fam

6 days

Dear friends,

today we are six days apart from the time Josh is supposed to be home. We are so excited, so happy to finally see and hug our special treasure. Josh will leave on the 2nd and be here in the evening of the 3rd. We, on the other side, will be taking a bus Wednesday evening and travel all night to be in Sicily the morning of the 3rd. So keep us in your prayer as we travel for protection and safety.

The time with my family was hard and good but now I am ready to get together with my other half.

Once in Sicily we'll be looking for a house, try to figure out what to do with our car(since as you remember it was hit and destroyed one of the last day in Sicily), we have to sign the kids up for school, we have to move all of our furniture and many other things. So this month will be packed...pray ,please, for strenght and energy.

The sooner we can figure all these things te sooner we can  take a couple of days just for the family.

I am grateful to God because this time went faster than expected and because he gave me strenght day after day and especially when it seemed even harder and didn't think I could make it anymore.

Thanks to you all my friends that have kept us in your prayer.

God bless you

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Cor.6.19-20

God created us to live with a single passionto joyfully display his supremeexcellence in all the spheres of life. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

- John Piper-

Starting to blog

With today I am going to

start putting up updates about our family and our lives spent serving the Lord in Italy.

As we get ready to start a new church plant in Sicily, the Lord has done ...strange things around us, but we are confident that everything is for our good. So while Josh is in the States raising support I am staying at my parents's house in Puglia(south east coast of Italy). 

Last night Hannah, Benedetta and I travelled by train coming back from the north visiting some friends and celebrating the marriage of a dear sister in Christ.

God is amazing in how he takes care of us. On the train a strange guy came into our cabin and sat down and closed the door and the curtains...and I was super scared....The whole time I was praying that God would bring in the people that had the reservation.  At a certain point I almost went out and asked one of the italian guys outside if they wanted to come in. God is good! At 1.30 a family from Bari came in and they filled the cabin I was so thankful!!!

So we are home now and getting ready for josh to come in only 23 days....