Italian Sub

Nothing like touring an Italian sub on a saturday afternoon in Italy. It was pretty awesome. A friend from church who works at the base took us for a tour.

Sunday Lunch

Giuseppe, Chiara, Me, Giuseppe(back), Giacomo(wt.shirt) , Luigi(red shirt) and Amanda


Our crowd of friends from across the street at Bar Roma (a restaurant & cafe). One of them went to church with us and then everyone came over for lunch when we got back to Pisa. They made all of the food. We had a traditional pasta one of the boy's mom made, fresh pasta made by another guy's grandma, bruschetta made by one of the guys,meat sauce made by Chiara, and I made brownie sundaes. We had a great time putting everything together and setting up a huge lunch for 7. I have never eaten so much food in my life. It was a 3 hour lunch then we walked through town as it was the monthly
market Sunday. I seriously could not eat for a day after. These people have become our good friends in Pisa. We have met most of their parents and families. Pray for natural and open spiritual conversations. Pray for multiple opportunities to share the love of Christ not just through our actions but also with words.

Vision Casting

It has taken 2 weeks of messages and cancellations to pull of this dinner to meet with the Christian students who understand what vision is and have a heart to reach others. People began to arrive at 7:30 p.m. but in usual Italian style weren't all here until 8:30 maybe 9 p.m. We prepared a huge meal of pasta, pancetta(bacon), piselli(peas) and panna(cream). We sat down over a meal and began to speak about the different ministries we are involved in. Our goal for this night was to help the students understand the vision and goals of Agape Italia and to discuss how we could work together to reach the students of Pisa. Our vision for Agape is not to replace the 2 other ministries here but rather to work together and help one another become better at what we do. We long to see the most students reached for Christ and this will only happen if we are united. We need the help of the other groups as we are outsiders and they need us because of the training we bring. They were all very excited and eager to give ideas on how we can be more culturally relevant and creative in reaching Pisa students. I pray that the vision to create spiritual multipliers will be grasped over time. We desire that students with the message of Christ that God has entrusted to them will in turn entrust the same message to others who will in turn entrust it to other faithful men. It was a very exciting and encouraging night to see these students take some ownership of the ministry. It was after midnight when we all headed home.

25th Birthday

Not too long after arriving in Italy I had my 25th birthday. I wasn't really sure what to expect and I was a litle depressed leading up to the day. I wanted it to be fun and to have people celebrate with me but we did not have too many friends after just 2 weeks. But to my delight a favorite staff friend, Nicole, came up from Florence to celebrate the day with me and my roommate. We have a great time picnic-ing at the tower and playing around Pisa before stuffing ourselves with some of Pisa's best pizza at La Scuderia. Yummy. Later in the night Amanda planned a little surprise get together of all our friend fromm the cafe across the street. They came over after work around eleven and celebrated with me. We ate some yummy chocolate cake that Amanda made. Here in Italy it is custom for you to make your own birthday cake and throw yourself a party and cook dinner for the guests. I am not really a fan of this tradition. I prefer the American way of birthday parties. Looking around the room made me smile as there were 5 Italians, 2 Albanians and a girl from Czech there to celebrate. They even bought me a birthday gift with a card that read welcome to pisa and welcome in our hearts form the bar roma team. I am excited at hte days ahead as we get to know them better and they become more and more like family away from home for us.

Last Hoorah

Just a little pic from my last weekend in the states. I had a great time visiting with all my coollege friends that I never get to see. It was like a great reunion. My cousin married one of my best friends from college. I had the fun of setting them up. Congrats Josh and Amanda. 

Thoughts on Italy

A Word from Habakkuk:

Habakkuk complains to the Lord about all the bad happening around him and asks why the Lord does not work. The Lord answers Habakkuk:
"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told" Habakkuk1:5

I think of our trip to Africa back in November and how hard the ground seemed. It reminded me so much of how we labor in northern Pisa, Italy year after year and it seems to us like nothing is happening. But after you read this newsletter you will see that the African ground has changed and ground in the south of Italy has changed. You see the harvest of 75 in 2 weeks in Gambia and the harvest of 41 in 5 weeks in Salerno, Italy. As I look at going back to Pisa in the north for 3 years I am hopeful that God is working like Habakkuk 1:5. I am reassured that God is working even in spite of my frequent unbelief and doubt. It's crazy that God says look even if I told you you still wouldn't believe me. So I must learn to trust. I have to take God at His word and choose to be obedient to the call. Habakkuk 2:3 gives me guidance and a hope for the future of Italy. It is God's answer to Habakkuk's second complaint about the evil among the nations. The Lord answers" Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits it's appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." I am told to run, to write down and display it among the nations what God has shown me. It gives me a vision for what we seek to accomplish in Italy. We want to make the Gospel clear to Italians so that when they read it, when they get it , and when they have Christ in their hearts they can run. I long to see the day when Italians run. But until that day I will hold fast to God's call to wait for it and His promise that it will surely come. It may not come in my lifetime or my days serving in Pisa but it will come. I am anxious with great joy adn energy to move to Italy. I dream about my days there meeting with students over an espresso in the early afternoon at a lone table in a sidewalk cafe. As the day of my move draws closer, image after image of my time in Italy 3 years ago flash through my mind. The faces of lost students, the words spoken, the seeds sown and the hope granted.

Gambia Newsletter Stories:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZjg5RrGD18

My team's heart was to give these people a hope and a joy that goes beyond their vast poverty. We spent 9 days upcountry in the villages. The days began with breakfast, worship and time in the Word. At 5:30 p.m. each day we loaded up our 3 vehicles for follow up and film showing. We showed the film twice each night for 6 nights in different villages. One group visited the villages from the night before to answer any questions they might have. I have never been in a ministry environment like this. People were ready to hear and wanted to be taught. We saw almost 75 people come to know Christ.

The Gambia, Africa

The Gambia, is a place like none other I've ever visited. The people have an uncommon friendliness and hospitality that I'm not even sure the South can match. As you walk along the dirt roads you see countless lives being lived for what purpose. My team's heart was to give these people a hope and a joy that goes beyond their vast poverty.We spent 9 days upcountry serving in the villages. Each village was just as curious as the next to know why we came so far to spend time with them. The days began with a small breakfast followed by worship and time in the Word. In the afternoon, we walked into town or to a nearby viallge to visit with people. I enjoyed this time of building relationsips with the people. At 5:30 p.m. evening we loaded up our 3 vehicles for follow up and film showing. We showed the film twice each night for 6 nights in different villages. One group visited the villages from the night before to visit with the people and answer any questions they might have. The ground proved to be very fertile adn ready for harvest on this trip. I have never been in a ministry environment quite like this. People were ready to hear and wanted to be taught. In all we saw almost 75 people come to know Christ personally in these two weeks. We saw people hearts for their viallge and those nearby. One man in particular touched my heart. He had been a Catholic since a very young age. I shared my story of coming to know Christ during one of hte film showings and afterwards he came up to me and the people gathered in close to hear what this man had to say. It was very dark so I couldn't see his face but he held my hand and said thank you os much for bringing this to our village. Thank you for sharing this with us. People want to know but no one comes here to teach them. This is your village and you are welcome to come here anytime. He stressed the need of a church in these villages to teach new believers. My heart broke as I listened to this man's words adn the agreements of those around us. I saw firsthand how few the laborers are. I saw how few are willing to go out to the hard places. Pray that these new believers can become rooted and grounded in their faith despite the lack of teaching. Pray they can band together as a fellowship of believers. Pray for Pastor Paul as he being one man goes out to these villages to follow up with people.

My Italian Hometown

The view from a night time stroll in Piazza dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) in Pisa. This is my favorite time to visit the tower and enjoy its beauty.


How I Got To Italy:

The University of Mississippi has a partnerhsip with the University of Pisa, Italy. The spring of my sophomore year I took part in a vision trip to get a taste of the ministry in Italy. It was during this one week trip that God gave me a vision for reaching the world and specifically the Italian students. I returned home from that trip with news that I would be taking my junior year off from college to go on a one year mission trip to the University of Pisa. At the age of 21, I moved halfway around the world not having a clue what to expect but it was there that I met God like I never had before. I was broken beyond belief and at the same time built up in the Lord far more than I could have ever imagined possible. While serving in Italy I had the unique opportunity to travel to 12 countries and take part in ministry in each of them in different forms ranging from Jesus Film/Bible distribution in Africa to teaching English Camps in Croatia. When I returned home, I knew that God had me going overseas again in the future. I pushed as hard as I could to finish up college early and while doing that I felt God's call to begin praying about joining staff with Campus Crusade and returning long term(3-5 years) to Italy. After a few months of prayer I received a definite yes from God about pursuing staff with Campus Crusade for Christ and applying to go back to Italy long term to provide much needed stability to the ministry there. Romans 10:13-15 spoke to my heart about taking the message of Jesus Christ to the nations

Day One

Alright, so I finally gave in to the blog craze. I thought this might be a good addition to my ministry website. It will be easier for me to post rambling and such here. I do enjoy writing thought it's not often very profound thoughts. Enjoy!