Florence in December

December is here! I can't believe it! Florence is beautiful and I have finished language school. According to Lorenzo di Medici I am fluent (enough) in Italian.

Things here at the Bible School are really different now that we are all done with school. We are getting ready for the new semester and we have all finished our lessons for the holidays.

Over the past month we have been really busy, as always. We had a great Thanksgiving meal with our students! There were 3 Turkeys, a ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, vegetable casserole, rolls, and more. And of course there were desserts, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, and pecan pie with fresh whipped cream. It was so good. There were at least 80 people here and everyone seemed to have a great time. We had a canned food drive as a way to help out the church and everyone was very generous.

We all spent several days getting ready for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun too. While getting ready Laura and I planted flowers in all of the planters on the front and sides of the school and the guys cleaned out second garage. It is amazing how clean they got it in just one morning. Before they started , you could barely see the floor and now everything is against the walls and they got rid of a ton of stuff that we didn't need. Everyone else was cooking, gathering silverware, and finishing the pamphlet. Jessica made a beautiful pamphlet that had the menu and facts about Thanksgiving and why it is a holiday. If you would like to see the pamphlet it is on Jessica's blog, http://receivingsight.blogspot.com. There are also some awesome pictures of the event, Jessica is a really great photographer!

Since then, everyone has been here and there taking vacation for a few weeks. I leave Monday to go back to the United States, if my flight isn't delayed. It snowed here all day yesterday and the airport didn't open today until 5 pm. The Bible School is beautiful with snow all around it. I even have a video of Zoey's first time in the snow.

Back Yard of the Bible School

Peter eating the snow

Bible School

  I'm so excited to see my friends and family and it will be a real treat to stay for several weeks and see one of my best friends get married. Congratulations Eric and Alyson! See all of you soon!

Rain, rain, is here to stay...

The rainy season has officially started here in Scandicci. The forecast for the week is Rain, Rain, and then I think Rain again. No worries though, there are lots of things to do inside still and this past Friday for "Physical Friday" we worked in the yard for several hours trimming bushes, thinning plants, and raking and other things that you do in the yard.

Everything is going great still. I've officially been in Italy for a little over 2 months now and time has gone so fast! Two weekends ago, all of the Avanti Workers went to the Youth Convegno in Aprilia (close to Rome). First of all, let me preface this whole thing with the fact that when I say "young people" or "youth" it means anybody from the age of 15 to late 20's, so young but not necessarily the youngest. Anyway, we left Friday afternoon with several of the young people from the north part of Italy and arrived that night and went to the families home that we had been assigned. Lindsay, one of the Avanti Workers that is in Vicenza, and I stayed with Graziela. She was awesome and so hospitable! We found out she is in the choir from Aprilia and I had seen a DVD, of her choir performing, during training at Searcy. The theme for the weekend was "Evangelism" and Vittorio Vitaloni was the speaker. He was very interesting, even though I didn't catch everything he said (because it was in Italian), I really enjoyed the message and getting to know all of the Italians and building more relationships.

Here is a video of my trip to Vicenza several weekends ago. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did at the time.

“There are only two seasons -- winter and Baseball.” Bill Veeck

The title is in honor of the Rangers and also the cooler weather here in Florence.

Wow, so much to say. I've started a new section in school. Now, I am at the intermediate level and can speak in the present, past, and imperfect past(meaning I can talk about what I did when I was little, and describing things in the past and I think there are other rules but yes). Italian is pretty fun to learn though and there are all kinds of people to speak with and practice. It's always encouraging when someone actually understands what you're trying to say.

I actually played in a concert with the Scandicci band! It was so fun and we had a good crowd. It was at the fair in Scandicci and we played lots of fun songs. I didn't take any pictures sadly but I will get one of me in my uniform soon so you all can see how much of a band nerd I really am. 

A quick rehash of what's been going on:

Corri La Vita: Pretty much the same as Race for the Cure but Italian Style.  The path went all around central Florence and it was awesome! We didn't actually make it very far through the course because the museums and gardens were open and they were free. So we made it to the Santo Spirito and saw Michelangelo's Crucifix and by chance there was a choir singing in the chapel and it was an awesome experience.

If I could paint, I would paint this.

Santo Spirito

At the Boboli Gardens

Prato Trip: This past weekend we had a Preacher Retreat at the Bible School and provided room and board for about 10 preachers from around Italy. It was nice to mix and mingle with them just a little bit. On Sunday, the Avanti Workers took a trip to the church in Prato and went to church and had a meal with them. They were so welcoming and loving. I had a great time.

After church, getting ready for lunch

Avanti Women(minus 2)

Friends

Our new puppy Zoey!: Emily has been searching for a puppy and she found one! She (the puppy) is the most adorable thing you could ever see. I don't have a picture but I'll work on that.


Grammar Class: I am helping teach a grammar class at 9 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Ryan and Andrea are also teaching and we rotate each night who teaches and the students are lots of fun. 

Those are the highlights and I'm sure I'm forgetting something but here is my schedule on a regular basis:


Monday: School in the morning, lunch with Rossa, a meeting after lunch about everything happening for the week at the Bible School, a lesson at 4 and 5 and then, at 6:30, dinner and Womens' Bible Study, and  the grammar class at 9.


Tuesday: School, usually some free time in Florence and lunch.  In the afternoon, prepare for lessons, take of things at the Bible School and dinner and then grammar class at 9.


Wednesday: School, lunch with Rossa, a meeting, a lesson at 6 with 2 students and the grammar class at 9. 


Thursday: School, lunch in Florence(usually I bring a lunch or go to Star Kebab), and then sometimes a field trip with the language school, conversation class at 6:30, dinner at 7:30, and Italian Bible Study at 8 and back to the Bible School around 10.


Friday: School, lunch with Rossa, a meeting/Physical Friday(we do something around the Bible School like paint or clean out the laundry room, you know something physical)and at some point dinner, band rehearsal at 9.


Saturday: This is our day off! So usually, we try to do something really cool and relaxing all at the same time, (although it doesn't always work out like that)


Sunday: Coffee at Bar Aquilla (which is kind of like starbucks but they have coffee bars everywhere so not as expensive), church, lunch, prepare for next weeks lessons, devo at the Harding Villa and dinner and then start over.


Somewhere in there, I study for class, and skype with friends and family, and do normal everyday things like laundry and wash dishes and get some gelato :)

C'è una prima volta per tutto

This week has been great! It was our first time to meet with our students and they were all wonderful. All of them challenge us in different ways and I know we are growing because of that.  Language school has continued and we are all doing well and picking up the language. Next week at lunch, we all have to speak in Italian and if we say something in English, we have to put some money towards the pizza fund. (I think I'll be paying for a lot of the pizza.) 

This is a picture of us in our classroom at school.

Training was last week before we met the students the night they all came to sign up. The brothers and sisters that went before us are so wise and shared some of there knowledge with us and what we should do and how to handle ourselves in different situations. For those of you who don't know David and Debbie Woodroof, here they are! David is the director of the Bible School and where would he be without Debbie. I can't imagine what life would be like without either of them here at the Bible School.

In my last post, I promised more language school stories which I thought I would have pictures and stories about the Uffizi museum but we ended up not going. No worries, I'll get to see it some other time. The reason we didn't go is because we got to take care of some more paperwork. We officially all have insurance and have sent our application for the Permesso di Soggiorno. I am so blessed to have the Woodroof here to guide me and the rest of the team. This was our third attempt at insurance and I guess it's true, third time's the charm. Now, I just have to go to an appointment in October to get my fingerprints scanned and have them make sure I'm ok. Please pray for all of us as we finish this process...so close! and also pleas pray for our lessons, students and teachers both. God has presented such an opportunity for all of us! 

Even when we don't expect it. Today, Salomon and Anne Marie, two  people from our class came home for lunch with. Rosa out did herself and we had Rotisserie chicken, awesome spaghetti(bucatini actually), cooked carrots, salad and to top it off some type of gelato cake. Rosa is good about using leftovers and we had some gelato leftover from the youth weekend so she made this cake that was delicious! I think they enjoyed it and I know we did. 

Stairs...

Today, with the language school, I went to the Boboli Gardens. It was beautiful but as the title says, there were a ton of stairs! (but the stairs made me not feel as bad about the gelato I had right before.)

 I am currently in my second week of language school at Lorenzo di Medici and it is going so well. As of Monday, the team(minus Peter) has arrived and is enrolled in class.  Our teachers are Michela first and then Enzo, 2 hours each.  We've all learned a lot already and according to David, we're improving every day. They taught us how to order a coffee (yes a coffee and not some coffee) so I think we will all be able to survive in Italy.

This past weekend we had a youth gathering at the Bible School and it was so much fun! We played pictionary and cards and translated "In Christ Alone" into Italian.  Saturday we went into Florence and saw the Duomo, and had a picnic at Piazzale Michelangelo. Everyone seemed to have a great time and I know we all started  relationships that will continue to grow.

I realize I haven't introduced you to my team, but for times sake, I'm going to refer to one of there blogs that has a brief bio and picture for each of us. There names are Ryan and Laura Stephens, Eric and Jessica Smith, Andrea Gallman and Peter McGraw.  Avanti Team 2010. This is a link to Ryan and Laura Stephens blog with the bios.

God is so good and, as always, continues to bless my life in new and unexpected ways. More updates to come soon about training, our meet and greet tomorrow night with our students, and more language school adventures!

La Mia Casa

Well everybody, here it is. I have finally started my blog. First of all, I'd like to say welcome! I'm so excited about sharing this adventure with all of you. God has been so good to me as my family and friends have helped prepare me for this.

I flew into Scandicci on Tuesday and Debbie and Emily Woodroof and Danielle picked me up at the airport. It was so nice of them, they even had a sign!  And of course what is the first thing you do when you get to Italy? Well, we stopped at Gelatando, one of the best gelato places according to some, and got some gelato. I got a tour of the Bible School and here are some pictures of my room.

From the door

From the window

Outside my room

And then we had a little get together at the house Emily was taking care of and I met even more people. It was so fun and they were kind enough to keep me up so jet lag wasn't so bad. 

I've gotten settled in and a few more people have come to the Bible School since I've been here, Allen Cochran and Andrea Gallman.  And today we went into Florence! My first time! I saw where I'm going to be going to language school and got to see the Duomo and it was beautiful! I'll put pictures of that up later. I think that's all for now but I'm glad to be here and I am looking forward to starting language school on Monday!