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!