First things first. Eric and Jessica came up to Florence some time this past Fall and Jessica and I talked about me coming down to Taranto to help with what they do there and with the Thanksgiving meal they were going to put on for their students and the church members. So, I decided to go down for the actual week of Thanksgiving because we waited to do the Bible School Thanksgiving meal when David and Debbie got back from their trip to the States.
It was such a great trip and very interesting. Andrea also came down to help from Ferrara. None of us had ever cooked a full Thanksgiving meal and definitely not a turkey. :) Considering that, everything turned out pretty well. We started a few days ahead of time and got everything peeled and cooked, except for the turkeys, so all we had to do was preheat. We had baked green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, 2 TURKEYS, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. The only thing that totally flopped was the sweet potato casserole and I think that's because what we actually got was some form of a yam at the market and the topping tasted funny. Eric and I went to the food market to get some sweet potatoes, because they don't have those at the grocery stores here, and we saw something that looked like sweet potatoes and decided that would work. and it did but then something about the topping was a little weird...oh well. live and learn. Eric and Jessica had invited their students and the church members from Taranto and there were about 35 people that came to the meal. I think the crowd favorite was the stuffing and mashed potatoes. Lots of hard work but so worth it. I loved being there with Eric and Jessica and Andrea for almost a week getting to see and help with what they are doing and just talking and catching up. Love you guys! Jessica has some pictures of Thanksgiving up on her blog if you would like to see them:
http://receivingsight.blogspot.com/
Thanksgiving and End of the Year Party
Back to Florence! On December 10, a week and a half after David and Debbie got back from the States, we had a Thanksgiving meal with our students as an end of the year party. If I didn't get enough peeling/chopping in in Taranto, I sure did this go around. Lots of food, Lots of dessert, Lots of work, but Lots of fun too. Ermenita was in charge of decorating and one of the things we did was have strings of leaves hung on the ceiling. She's so creative and it looked awesome. In the dessert category, we made apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and chocolate pie. We had 3 different kinds and 2 of them were made in the microwave. I got one of the microwave ones to make and it called for a meringue. For whatever reason, I thought I could do this by hand...For all of you that know how to make a meringue you know this is a terrible idea but of course, I started and couldn't go back and use a mixer (not because it would mess up the meringue but because I'm stubborn). At least 20 minutes later, I had a beautiful meringue and a sore arm. Anyway, the students loved the food. We had a pamphlet for the students on Thanksgiving and Maria Lisa(Debbie's student) and I read a short history of Thanksgiving and it went well. After everything was cleaned up there were still people there so we played Pictionary with them which was a great end to the evening.
Side Note: After the meal, our choir sang some of our songs that we had worked on. This past semester, we had 3 Friday night events: movie night, cooking school, and choir. David and I were in charge of the choir and in November we decided to meet every Monday night because if we wanted to perform somewhere, 2 rehearsals wouldn't be enough. It worked our great and we sang at 2 nursing homes. I think David got it on video, but I don't have it right now. After we were done singing at the first nursing home, one of the old ladies got up and sang the last song back to us...it was so cute. The song is called "tu scendi dalle stelle" (you fall from the stars). We also sang "It came upon a midnight clear", "Joy to the World"and one more. The second nursing home we went to was a "Nursing home for traveling circus workers". At first I thought, what in the world, but it was so cool. The people there had worked all over the world and spoke several languages. They had been choreographers, tight rope walkers, ice skaters, and the person in charge of the animals. So cool! Valentino, one of the men in the chorus, introduced us to them and something really nice and true. He said that it was a pleasure to sing for them and how strange it was to be entertaining people that had made their living entertaining. I hadn't thought about it like that before. Anyway, it was a great way to get closer to our students and spend more time with them and serve the community.
Thinking
In September, it had been one year of being in Italy for our team. We all individually started to evaluate what we are doing here in Italy and what we could do better the following year. In November, we all realized the other ones had been evaluating as well and talked about it all together and it was great and when David and Debbie got back, we presented our ideas to them and here is what came of all of that: Be involved at the nursing home that is close by(they have some kind of activity they do everyday in the afternoon), feed the homeless, and do more with the members in Florence and our students outside of lessons. "Visitation" was one of the things we saw that was a beneficial and Biblical thing to do and so we decided to split up into 2 groups, instead of just one big group, and visit people more often this way. Ryan and Laura did some research on other groups that are already feeding the homeless and there is a group every night of the week that feed the homeless and Sunday evening was the night that the group needed the most help so now, every Sunday, we go to the train station in Florence and help hand out food and talk with the people that come. This is something that I thought would be completely different than it was but now that I've done it, it's challenging but not in the way I thought it would be. As for spending time with our students, that's something I haven't been as good as I could've been but it's already been better with the beginning of this semester. Anyway, it was great to sit down and reflect over what's been going on and how we can as a group and individually make it better.
The New Arrivals
So I just realized I never officially introduced you to Kelli Click. She came in September and has brought a new energy to our group and we love her! Here is a bio that she wrote for our newsletter:
"I was born and raised in Lubbock, TX. I went to Lubbock Christian
Schools from Kindergarten through my Senior year. It was a great experience. I
have one sister three years older than me, who recently got married and is
living in Colorado. My mom works at Lubbock Christian University and my dad
works at Texas Tech University.
I attended Harding University and majored in Marketing. I was involved
in the Delta Gamma Rho social club and also worked as a Resident Assistant for
two years. In the summer of 2009 I had the opportunity to do the HUF program. I have grown in so many ways through Harding
and have learned a lot about God, others, and myself.
After attending Harding and graduating, I decided to stay one more year
in Searcy. I worked for a few months at a small retail store, followed by a job
at Harding in the College of Business as an Administrative Assistant. This job
was a tremendous blessing.
December 2010 was when I started thinking about Avanti Italia. After
learning more information about the program and talking with some of the
current workers, I decided to dedicate the next 2 years to this good work.
I arrived in Florence on September 4th. I have been going to language
school and am also teaching 4 students. It has been one of the most unique
experiences I have had. I have learned so much in such a short period of time.
Everyone has been welcoming and helpful in this period of transition. I am looking forward to seeing what else God
has planned for the work here."
And these are our newest members, Melissa Fabry and Peter Bell, now to be known as Second Peter.Melissa is on the far left and Peter is second from the right. They arrived a week ago exactly and start language school Monday!
They have both really jumped into everything and helping around here. They are real troopers. Here is Melissa's Blog if you'd like to know more about her: http://mfabry.tumblr.com/
Anyway, Love all of you and thanks for the time we got to spend together over New Years break!
