And we're off...

The new school year has started and the craziness begins. Officially, our lessons started 3 weeks ago, but 2 weeks ago was when all of my students started coming. This semester, I have 12 one hour time slots. 11 one-on-one classes and one group grammar class. Registration Night, we had around 20 new prospective students show up and my parents were still in town, so they got to meet some of them. I wish you all could have been there to see my mom and dad with the Italians. It was great.

On that note, my parents came to visit! We went to Rome first and saw what there was to see and more. My parents were lucky enough to experience a real live strike, and not just any strike, but a "general" strike. That means that it wasn't just the buses that stopped running, but all of the museums and exhibits were closed as well. Fun. No worries though, the churches were open so we took the time to see those that day. We met with the church in Rome  twice while we were there and the second time we all had dinner together at the building...gotta love pizza. After Rome we went to Naples and Pompeii and we all loved it. Some people might cut Naples from their trip but I'm so glad we went. The people there were very friendly and Pompeii was one of my favorite places that we visited. That concludes the first week. The second week was spent mostly in Florence and then one day in Venice. I know what you're thinking...one day in Venice!...but that's all we could do. Like I said before, they got to come to student registration night and it was great to see two parts of my life come together.

My schedule is similar to last year to where our days to have lessons are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday is set aside for visiting someone from the church, Conversation Class and Bible Study at the church building, and Friday is physical Friday, where we do something to clean up the Bible School or go help someone else doing something similar. There are a few changes this year to my schedule which includes teaching at the 'Asilo Nido' (preschool) and teaching a weaving class Thursday morning at the church building. Yes, I know...weaving class.

This summer, Laura and I went to a little town near by called Stia that the Harding students visit with HUF. There is an old mill and a museum in the old weaving factory. The lady that works there, Angela(great name right), teaches people how to weave and Robbie asked Laura and I if we would like to learn and then teach others how to weave on the looms he bought for the HUF students. Of course we said yes and spent 2 full days learning the basics of weaving. Laura made a video of it and interviewed Angela on what she does. Very interesting.  Weaving Video on Facebook So now, on Thursdays, Laura and I are teaching a mother and 2 of her daughters how to weave and make bracelets. This family consists of 7 children and the parents and neither one of the parents have a consistent job so this will hopefully be a way for them to make a living. So far, we have had 3 lessons and they learned how to measure out the yarn, put the yarn on the loom, actually weave the yarn and make 2 different types of bracelets. They're doing so well and it's great to see the progress they make each time. I'm sad to say that with this family at first, I was very reluctant to interact with them at all. They were different from me in so many ways, but I'm so glad this opportunity has come and that we get to spend time together each week. It gives me an opportunity to see a little part of what their life is like and share our lives together and hopefully show them Jesus. Please pray for the work here and especially this family and all of our interactions. Until next time!