Naturally, in the course of a month, lots of things have happened. Like I mentioned, we had our second [and last... well, for now...] month of language school. It was a[n obviously] more advanced, conversation-based class and we had the same teacher for all four hours every day. Also, unlike the first month, the course was actually only 3 weeks long because of the fall break that the long-term students had built into their schedules. The shorter time-frame, though, meant nothing in relationship to how much we learned. Being able to practice listening, comprehension and speaking for four hours a day [though exhausting] was invaluable. In the meantime we continued to build relationships with our fellow students and instructors. And because we continued to have our morning cappuccino in the bar at school, we were able to get to know the barista really well. Now that we’ve been out for two weeks, it’s been strange going day to day without seeing their faces. This is a prime example of how God is blessing us with friends most every aspect of our lives here.
After two months, things are finally beginning to seem settled. In fact, in addition to completing language school, I accomplished something grand: I RECEIVED MY PERMESSO DI SOGGIORNO!! In case you’re unaware of what that means exactly, I’ll explain. The permesso di soggiorno is a card that represents documentation that you have registered with the local government and that it has approved your residency in Italy. We began the process of obtaining this document the first week I got here and it took two months to finally get it completed. But two months is nothing, compared to the fact that David and Debbie still haven’t received theirs [David thinks they lost his paperwork]. The process actually involves “appointments” with the immigration office that usually involve entire days of waiting. For example, our first appointment was 9:00 a.m. on a Monday. We arrived at the immigration office at 8:30 and took a number. Three hours later, my number was called and I went to the designated window only to receive another number. Then I waited another three hours for that number to be called only to go to yet another window and give them my papers and fingerprints. At that point, we were sent home with a new piece of paper with another “appointment time” scheduled for the next month. The picture I’m posting here a was taken at around the fifth hour, I think. Basically, everything here takes forever here.. but it’s at times like these when we just say “Welcome to Italy!!” and move right along.
We’ve taken a few trips since my last post. The first one was to Volterra. We were actually supposed to have visited it the first Sunday I was here, but everyone was so tired due to the August convegno that was wrapping up, we postponed it. The very old medieval walled-in town of about 12,000 [which, incidentally also has an ancient Etruscan and ancient Roman heritage] is only a two hour drive from where we live, so one beautiful Sunday afternoon a few weeks back we decided to go. Some of you may have read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer and recognize Volterra as a very significant location in the second book, New Moon. Recognizing the name of the town [and ultimately associating it with vampires] I was pretty excited about going. Little did I know what I had in store. This town is absolutely gorgeous [and about 10 degrees cooler than where we live] and made me think.. “Twilight?...Edward?...what?”. It was one of those places where all I could think was.. “every person that comes to visit Italy MUST see this place” and the beauty had nothing to do with vampires or Bella What’s-Her-Name. Other than that, I’m having a hard time telling you why I loved it so much and I think that may be because I don’t believe words could do it justice [phrases like “beautiful sunset” and “rich history” just don’t seem to be cutting it] and I [like the awe-stricken ninny that I was that day] managed not to take any pictures. So.... sorry. Guess you’ll just have to come to Italy and experience it for yourself. : )
The other trip Em and I took was to Aprilia for the 2009 Italy-wide youth conference. [Don’t laugh when I tell you we went to a youth conference... the cut-off age was 25 and we wanted to make Italian contacts from other churches.. so there. ; )] Aprilia is about a 45-minute train ride from Rome and is, apparently, a pretty big town... 70,000ish I think. The church there is very active and a guy we met at the August convegno [conference] held here in Florence was in charge of organizing it, so we were excited about it. It proved to be a fairly challenging weekend for us because we were the oldest ones and we couldn’t understand anything!!... well, not ‘anything’ but it turns out that young people don’t like to speak slowly with their friends so the strange American girls can understand. Imagine that!! Haha. Nevertheless, we made it to the end of the weekend feeling like we had met some really great, sweet kids who are all my facebook friends now. Soooo... mission accomplished. Yay!!!
Other things that are happening: We [the women of the church here in Florence, Prato and Pistoia] are currently planning next year’s Italy-wide women’s retreat. It’s going to be in March and the theme is based on the story of Esther with an emphasis on inner and outer beauty mixed with the challenge of rising to the occasion and acting for the Lord. The more specific theme is “Per un Tempo Come Questo: Ester 4:14” which is translated as “For a Time such as This: Esther 4:14.” [The picture here is the graphic I created for the first “Save the Date”newsletters.] We seem to be making some pretty good headway and I’m totally pumped about watching all the planning unfold. One thing’s for sure, we could really use your encouragement and prayers for this effort. We want this to be an event where all the Italian sisters that attend this conference will feel refreshed, renewed and ready to serve Him and hope that everything will go off without a hitch, so please remember us.
Also, this weekend there will be a conference for families at the Florence church as well as a seminar on the gospels in Vicenza. Since there is this problem of two events on the same weekend, we’ve decided to split up, Emily going to Vicenza and me staying here in Florence. I’ll be helping some of the other single young women at the church here to babysit kids while their parents are attending the conference. We’re planning an entire day around the fruits of the spirit found in Galatians and I think it’ll be really fun.
Things with English students are holding up really well. I’m all filled up with 12 students a week, an English conversation activity at the church every Thursday and a class for children at a pre-school nearby on Friday mornings. This Friday we hosted our first movie night. We showed Disney’s The Incredibles in English and offered popcorn and Coke. We rearranged the furniture in the living room and projected the movie on the wall so it was kind of like we had our own little movie theater set up. We had a good turn out and really great fun. We hope to do something like that once a month. Pray that more students will attend so that we can continue to build relationships!!
I think that’s all for now. I know there are numerous other things I could report here, but trying to cram an entire month into one post is hard!! Hopefully I’ll be better and update more often. Until then, I hope everyone’s doing well. Take care and GOD BLESS!!!
