Ciao, and happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday season. It was quiet around here, but it was nice to have a rest. The Italian cities go all out in decorating for Christmas; thousands of lights were strung downtown, illuminating the crowded streets. For Christmas dinner, I went with our directors, the Williams, and their family up to Harding’s villa to join the Shacklefords (who run the Harding University Florence (HUF) program) and several other guests. We had nearly more pies than people, so we considered the festivities a success.
However, the holiday season has also been difficult because we’ve been passing a bad cold around the school; someone’s sick every week, and I’ve already had it twice. Only Kelly and Matt have escaped. Hopefully, we’re all on the mend now. We’re eating lots of oranges just in case!
I do have some good news to report: Charles Anthony was traveling through Europe and stayed with us for a few days in early January, on the recommendation of his friend from home, Carla, a former AI worker. Carla and her husband, Andy, have been studying with Charles for some time, and while he was with us he decided to become a Christian. Gary baptized him, and he went back home to Texas to begin his new life as a Christian. Please pray for our new brother in Christ, Charles.
Now that the school is back in full swing after the break, life is getting crazy, as I’m sure you’ll see in the “What’s Going On” section. Thank you for your continued prayers for our work here! Oh, and thank you to all of you who sent Christmas cards; it was nice to hear from you! I hope you all have a great new year.
In Him,
Katy
What’s Going On:
* I have just begun teaching an English class one afternoon a week at the local elementary school. I have a class of fourteen third-graders who are now learning the English words for various jobs. I was very nervous before I started since I haven’t worked with this age group much before, but it’s going well. An added benefit is that I have the chance to meet many more of the people who live in our neighborhood and town.
* In February, we are planning to begin offering four-week-long basic English grammar classes every month that I will be teaching. This is a way of getting to know students who are not yet ready for our normal conversation-type classes. Italian Phrase of the Day Ti voglio bene (Tea voh-lyee-oh ben-ai): Literally, “I want you well.” Used for “I love you, I care about you” among family members and close friends.
* I began working with four new English students this week. All four are very friendly and open, and I think building relationships with them will be easy. Patrizia is just learning the basics of English, but luckily my Italian is now good enough that we were able to have a long talk and get to know each other anyhow. She is quite religious, and seems very interested in our church and in making Christian friends. Denise is a mechanical engineer who speaks quite good English already, but wants to improve to help her with work. Clara was one of Lauren’s students. As they had just finished reading through Acts, we are picking up the story in Galatians. Clara is a fun student, as we both enjoy literature and learning languages. Elena was also a student of Lauren’s; she is an older woman who has always been interested in the United States and hopes to travel there some day. She has learned an impressive amount of English through books, and is trying to improve her understanding of spoken English. Things are really getting busy, but I am enjoying really being able to throw myself into the work.
* Lauren and Matt Freels, two of our AI workers, left this past Monday for their new work with the church in Vicenza, a city in northern Italy.
* We have two retreats this spring that I am looking forward to. Both will be held in Velletri, a camp near Rome. The first, on the last weekend in March, is the annual Convegno delle Donne (Women’s retreat). A month later, the churches in Rome will hold a convegno for everyone.
The Brothers and Sisters in Italy
I began in my last newsletter introducing you to some of the family of God here in Florence. The focus of mission work is to build connections between Christians, God, and other people, and the surest way I know to communicate our work here is to talk about the people.
Today, I want to tell you about Alfredo Gennari. He has been a member of the church in Florence for many years now. His son, Alessio, and grandson, Aaron (with him in the picture), are also members of the Florence church. His wife died of cancer several years ago.
Alfredo is very involved in our Tuesday night Bible study here at the Bible school, and has been teaching for the last several months. In the fall, he and Greg, one of the AI workers, taught a series on the ten commandments, and now he has just begun a series on the book of Revelations.
Alfredo owns land up in the hills near Scandicci, and for the past several years has invited us AI workers up to help with the grape and olive harvests. Although it is hard work, we enjoy the opportunity to see that part of the Italian culture.
