our girls in a love moment

Hello everybody,

I am back! This month was kind of interesting since Josh was in the USA for a week attending the Shepherd's Conference. It was a blessing for us considering that the trip was completely paid, a supporter paid for Josh to be there :)

It was a good time for Josh to study and learn from MacArthur, S.Lawson Jerry Wragg and others, a time to marvel and grow. On the other side of the Ocean I was taking care of our girls, driving around Acireale (my biggest phobia) bringing the girls to school and other activities. We thank the Lord because He took care of us during this time, towards the end of the week the stomach bug hit our house, so I was stuck home with Hannah that wasn't feeling well. Even in this situation the Lord blessed us with a sister in Christ that just moved near our house and was able to get some medicine for us.

Josh and Phil Johnson

Josh and Giuseppe, a coworker here in Acireale, both at the Conference

A choir at Grace Community Church

So Josh is back now but the sickness is moving around our family, so please pray for our health.

Last week we had a group from Agrigento, a town near here, they helped us doing distribution and going at the exit of high schools to distribute invitation for an evening program at the church, the movie showed was the one on Jim Elliot's life. I couldn't go because Hannah was not feeling well.

The group from Agrigento with their special blue t-shirts, on them it is written "saved to serve"

the team sang some songs for the church

The team also performed a mime on Sunday after the potluck

The past months were spent trying to become friends to the parents of some of Hannah's friend in order the share the Gospel to them. We have also tried to be active in their school life. We are gonna be able to teach English in another district of Hannah's school up in Pennisi, the town where the Academy is. Also a private school has me teach there once a week. I teach 21 little kids and at times it is so crazy but it is good to get to know some of the teachers, to show them first we are different and then letting them know why. One of the ladies at this school, a Montessori school, is a little older than I am, has two kids and is divorced. In her eyes I can see sadness and I pray that God opens the door to share the Gospel. Her name is Grazia.

Pray also for the English school, we are suppose to start this coming week, but for some reason there is something that doesn't work, we don't have as many students as we normally do.We teach at the church building and it seems like an hindrance to the people, so please pray for wisdom and that we can just find ways to get to know people and have opportunity to share the Gospel.

Thank you for all your prayers.

December

This year was for us a very interesting year...It started with a very important change in our life, after 7 years serving in the Northern Italy God moved us to the other end of the boot...Sicily. Many times I had to remember the example of Abraham when God called him to sacrifice his son. For sure it was not easy for him to give up the son so long waited and in whom he probably poured out his father's love. But he obeyed, he stepped up, took his son and left. Once on the mountain he was still ready to obey, he trusted God and feared Him. For us leaving a place well known and that we loved wasn't easy. But I had to remind myself to be obedient even if the command at time can feel strange.

We did experience the goodness of God in these months, many difficulties entered into our lives, but He helped us make it through. We had two surgeries in the family before our move.

Josh had to be in the States for almost three months while we were here in Italy, our car was hit and unuseble for several months...but in September we finally made it here to Sicily and God did show us grace in letting us be all together,and giving us a new nice house, our car back and new friends. The most beautiful gift was just to be reunited as a family, to be with my mate, my other half.

This month we had another outreach, we had a Christmas party. We made lots of food and invited believers and friends to spend time with us. There was a game at the beginning and then before the dessert Johnny preached a gospel message. We had a good numbers of non believers and we are glad that they were able to hear the Word of God.

(Josh with some of our English students that came to the Christmas party)

(Carmela and Teti in the middle with on the far right Nanni and Sara on the left)

This month was a blessing for us in fact besides the visit of my family early in December we had the opportunity to spend Christmas time with Josh's dad. The girls were super excited to play with grandpa and show him their new room and house.

(At our home with our Christmas tree...not a real one)

(Hannah giving grandpa her christmas present)

(The kids with Josh's dad in one of the main square here in Acireale)

Then for New Year's Eve Josh's mom came. We celebrated the new year at the Academy with people from the church, with games, food and fireworks. After that mostly we spent time with family and preparation for Hannah's birthday on the 5th of January. It was a blessing to have mom and dad here to help. Hannah wanted to have a tea party and so we did, and it was special. Josh was the waiter and some of the kids really had a lot of fun in making him work hard!

Among all other blessings we were able to go on base here on Sigonella and do things that we weren't able to do in a while. We watched two movies at the theatre, ate some burgers and American pizza. The kids played in the big playground on base, made snickerdoodle cookies with grandma and ate most of the dough!

Some things to pray for are:

- finishing up the work on the church building so that we can have an extra room for a 6-8 year old sunday school class. We take turns teaching the younger kids but Hannah has not a class yet and she can't wait for her class to start.

- team, that we can work well together even being four different families

- health

- ministry, as we get ready for a new season of outreaches

- for our family that we can grow more all together in the Lord, as a couple and that as parents we can be good steward of God's treasures towards our kids.

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