A Little Bit of Life.....

Wednesday is the open air market. From one of our skylights upstairs we can peer down into the center of town and watch the ordeal take place. However, what is even better is actually walking through.

If we need to go anywhere on a Wednesday this is absolutely unavoidable, since the whole center of town  becomes alive with stalls, booths, a myriad of smells, and practically the whole population of Montebelluna. I think people become more alive on Wednesday mornings because they know they'll be getting fresh air and a bargain. Perhaps also because it's an extra morning off! Most of the shops in town are shut for the morning because of the market.

THIS is an artichoke- how did I not know?

There isn't much that the market doesn't offer. The merchandise can range from a common kitchen pan to a pet turtle so we love walking though just to browse. The options are endless. Personally, though I feel that the food stalls are unrivaled- but perhaps that's because I love food...


Tuesday and Thursday nights we have been going to Italian classes. These have been very helpful in helping us to understand better sentence structures and also increase our vocabulary. We are making progress- slowly but surly! I feel that James has really been grasping the language a lot faster than I am.... which of course doesn't bother me even though I might be a little bit competitive :)

Our class and teacher Giovanni

The majority of the class is full of Chinese- many of which have been in the country for a long time (some even as long as ten years) and are still struggling to learn the language. A few weeks ago the topic of religion came up and so our teacher was teaching us how to say the different religions in Italian. I believe that only two of our other classmates (one of which is a fellow missionary) claim to be Christian. The others are either Buddhist, atheist, or Muslim. I think our teacher would claim to be Catholic but whenever we begin to talk about religions he doesn't seem to know the real truth about Christ. All that to say- they all are definitely in need  of Jesus!

James painting at the church

The Bible College semester is beginning on Monday so life is going to get a lot busier! Over the past few months we have been able to help get a lot of practical things done around the Church and the student housing. James has been doing some painting both at the church and the girls dorm. Caryn, Tracey, (also missionaries involved with the Bible college) and I have been able to get a lot of organizing and cleaning done at the dorms. The students have already begun arriving and we are looking forward to a full three months! James is going to be overseeing both the Christian Ministry class as well as an independent study and I will continue to be involved with worship and the womens discipleship course.
This semester we are going to have Friday afternoons are reserved for outreach opportunities. Also, we are going to be involved in hosting an English club called English Time! This program will allow people who know some English to come and practice speaking with mother tongue speakers through games and activities. We are really looking forward to this since so many people in the area are interested in speaking English. We hope that it will not only bless people in the Church but also act as an outreach to the community.

Prayer

"With God we have freedom of speech. He is always listening, more ready to hear than we are to pray. We never need to force our way into his presence or compel him to pay attention. He is waiting for us to come." 

- That Jesus would remain the center of our marriage and all that we do here!
-Unity in the staff team throughout the semester as well as the student body.
- That we would be a light to our classmates and teachers as well as learn the language.