Bologna, the city not the meat

The church in Bologna hosted a youth weekend, the same idea as the one I went to several months ago in Aprilia. The main speaker this time was Franco Verardi and he did a great job! The theme for the weekend was “Cosa vorresti fare per la chiesa?” translation - "What would you like to do for the church?" He demonstrated with a human pyramid, among other things and scripture, the importance of unity, and then asked what we can all do to build the church and encourage unity not just among the young people but the entire church. The young men and women at this convegno need to know they are not the church of tomorrow but the church of today and have a vital role. After lunch and Franco's class, we walked around downtown Bologna for a little bit and got some gelato and saw the important buildings. I only went on Saturday but the festivities lasted until Monday morning(because there was a holiday so everyone had off school.) From what I heard about the rest of the weekend, it was just as great as the first day. There was youth there from all over Italy and I know they went away encouraged and "recharged". Jessica and Eric were also there and it was great to see them again and hear about everything going on down in Taranto. They are doing such a great job! Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend.

After lunch fellowship

Luca really explaining something to Emily and Andrea

JESSICA!

Luca "translating" something for Emily
(The truth is, Emily helped him with a few words and
didn't really need the translation but it was nice of him.
I'm pretty sure this picture was staged.)

Looking down on a Piazza in Bologna

Farewell for now friend.

I realize now that I was being a little ambitious with my last prediction of what I would write this time, so, I think I will just do the first one and call it a day, which is Andrea leaving for Ferrara.

Around March(as best as I can remember), Andrea started to communicate with the church in Bondeno, near Ferrara, to see if there was a need for a worker there and they communicated all through April and asked her to come work in Bondeno with the youth of the congregation. Out of all of the churches here, besides Florence, the one we have come in most contact with is the church in Bondeno and we have all formed relationships with the members there, so naturally, Andrea has formed some bonds with the youth as well.

She left the middle of May and is doing great. She is staying with a family there and loves it! We received a letter today from her that said everything was going very well and we got to see her at the youth weekend, a week after she moved. We all miss her here but I know she's doing great work there and will continue to do so. Here is a link to her blog if you would like to read more about what is going on at the church in Bondeno:http://lavitainfirenze.blogspot.com 

Andrea and all her new friends!
(old friends but now she gets to see them more often)

Until next time!

"I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello"

The Spring semester of HUF ended and we were all a little sad to see them go, especially because Laura's brother, Clayton, and cousin were here but had to leave. No worries though, the next group arrived the middle of May and several of them stayed here for 2 weeks and now the villa is ready and all of the HUF students are there. 

Side Note: Also, Laura's parents came to visit soon after the HUFfers left, so we were not short on Lemmons for another week or so. While they were here we had a cooking school, and grilled out for Laura's birthday. It was great! It was also Christy's birthday, a lady from church, and her and her family came over as well. What a party! We played games and ate lots of food...everything good for a party.

Anyway, with the new HUF group, we've done a hike/trail cleaning day. What that means is Robbie split everybody up into 3 groups and we went in our prospective groups to hike and pick up trash on a trail in Scandicci. The art school in Scandicci also went with us so the students got to practice their Italian and the Italians got to practice their English. On the trail I went on, we hiked to the top of a hill to the Forest Fire Fighter's Base. They weren't there but it was still pretty interesting. Afterwards, we had a cookout all together and then headed back to the Bible School. There have also been several concerts at the villa including a piano concert, Passogigante(a local band), and a Beatles cover band.

Our favorite director singing to his wife accompanied by Sgt. Peppers(Beatles cover band)

Lemmons - Stephens Clan(minus Clayton)

Thank you to Ryan for letting me use some of his pictures! Currently at the Bible School, there is a group of Harding Bison Athletic students that are only here for month. They arrived May 31 and will stay through June. It's a little different than when the HUF students stayed here because we are responsible for several of their meals, which we spend a lot of time on. So far so good. They left for their first big trip today to Rome and I hope they have a good time. That's all for now but more tomorrow on Andrea moving, Bologna weekend, and the youth weekend here.

End of the semester

hello again to all. It's been a few months since I've updated and it's been super busy around here. SO, I decided to have several short updates on just one or two events each but one every few days until I've covered everything we've been doing. 

Here is the line-up(not necessarily in order):

• Bologna weekend
• Ferrara Agape
• Andrea in Ferrara
• Viviana and Fabio's baptism
• Aquarium trip to Livorno with the church
• End of classes
• Parades, band concerts
• BBQ's(Easter and others)
• Youth weekend
• HUF group arrived
• BAT group arrived
• Visitors at the Bible School
• Campeggio preparation
• Pizza in Empoli
• Women's day

Now you know what to look forward to in the next several days. Until next time!