Home

Yes, we're home. Things may look the same to us physically, but in many ways things will never look the same again.

And that's a good thing.

I would not venture to speak for the others on the team, but I would like to follow up with just a few reflections on our week using some verses from Philippians 1. Each morning during our team meetings, Mark Brucato spoke to us from Philippians, and now it seems fitting to go back to these words.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ." Phil 1: 3-6

Prayer. This week was obviously bathed in prayer by so many of you because there is no way humanly possible that so much good could have come out of it. We stayed safe. We stayed healthy. We sincerely enjoyed each member of the team. But more than that, we were blessed to watch God do a supernatural work in the lives of many Italian youth. This is what we prayed for before we left, and God honored those prayers beyond anything we could imagine.

Joy. Our time in Italy could be summed up with just this one word. We saw joy everywhere--from the faces of the kids who came to the camp, to the Italian volunteers who took time to help us all week (some taking the week off from their jobs!) with translation and many other tasks, to the College Church kids who joyfully served with energy and enthusiasm all week long.

Partnership in the gospel. To make this week of camp happen, three churches and Youth for Christ in Bologna worked together, planning, preparing, and executing all the minute details. It was beautiful to see these humble people work together, lovingly, to make the camp happen. Each person had his or her role from shouting instructions through a bullhorn to preparing English lessons (and somehow showing us how to teach them!) to driving us all around. Our students observed true partnership for the sake of the gospel.

Good work. This was the third year that College Church has partnered with the evangelical churches in Bologna to do this camp. It seems, in talking to people who have been involved every year, that the first year was a seed-planting year--friendships were formed with the hope of our kids going back the next year. The second year (2011) was a watering year--friendships deepened, Italian kids wanted to know more about Jesus, and a small youth group called "My Space" was started. This year was a year of harvest as God softened the hearts of many Italian youth. One girl professed faith in Jesus for the first time, another rededicated her life to Jesus, and many others had profound and open conversations with College Church kids. Who knows what God has planned for the future? We don't know, but we can trust that the work He began this year and the preceding years will not end.

Thanks be to God for His good work in Italy. Please pray for the Italian kids who came to camp, especially those who are still searching, that they would truly find a relationship with Jesus.

Thank you for your partnership with us. Please pray for the College Church kids, too, as they reflect on and process this unique experience. May they be drawn even more to the hope that is only found in Christ.

- Shelly

A few photos from our last few days in Italy:

Great conversations

The site of our Friday night "campout"

Giulio, a 17 year old Christian who volunteered all week, giving his testimony at the campout. 

Mark is translating.

The view from our campout site in Savigno, Italy

Basilica di Santo Stefano

Bologna

Sunday night pizza in Bologna

Mark and Machiavelli in Florence

The Duomo, Florence

Quick update tonight (and a bit outdated, too).

Amy and Hank reinstated and seeking revenge for our undeserved forced vacation.

We have now officially finished “Exchange Camp” with the Brucatos. We are exhausted from the long days and the Friday night campout with the kids, but Jesus answered our prayers with great conversations with the Italian youth. Nevertheless the extra sleep and down time over the next couple of days will be appreciated by our team.

The week culminated in a previously mentioned trip to the pool and campground in the mountains. The awe-inspiring views and absolute seclusion provided a perfect atmosphere to share and witness God’s love. It’s going to be a sad day saying goodbye to the kids on Sunday, and we are all going to miss them a lot. This trip has been a life changing experience for everyone involved.

Tomorrow we will visit downtown Bologna and Monday we will tour Florence before we make our grand exit from this grand country.

*****

Shelly again: It's very late on Monday night (Tuesday morning?), and the kids are de-briefing (is that a verb?) right now. They are having a tough time putting down on paper what this week has meant to them, as I'm sure I will as well. 

Today we visited Florence. Plenty of adventures to share later, but it was a great day. Mark Brucato took us on a walking tour of the city, sharing some amazing stories of lesser-known people who have had an influence on modern day evangelism. We all got a lot out of our time there.

Tomorrow we pack up and head home. Pray for all of us as we re-enter "normal" life that will never be normal again because of how we've seen God work this week.

See you all soon!

Camp Day 4

Another quick update from Bologna.

Camp is going really well. Our day is filled with various activities like . . . 

. . . aerobics

. . . lacrosse

. . . and silly games.

During our down time, we're making new friends . . .

. . . and drinking lots and lots of water.

Today is our last day of camp at the community center, because tomorrow we are going to a pool in Bologna and then camping overnight. A few of the kids who have come this week are unable to attend the campout, so we are trying to make the most of our time today.

Yesterday was a great day. We played lots of fun games, including one HUGE camp game of a version of capture the flag in a large park across the street. We had a great time running around and strategizing as teams, despite the hot, hot sun.

Many significant conversations are taking place. Yesterday, Hank, Lindi, and Ollie spent several hours talking to one boy who is very close to taking steps toward Jesus. Please pray that he will make that commitment today, as he is not able to go on the campout with us. Also, as I write this, Nata is sitting with her Bible, explaining the way of salvation to a young girl camper using Susan, a British woman who is a member of the Italy team, as interpreter. As I said yesterday, God is definitely at work here.

This morning we took a group photo. Each face tells a story, and God is at work in each one of us. As you look this over, please pray that His good work would continue this week and into eternity.

P.S. Your kids are doing GREAT! I cannot say enough about how they are so willing to do whatever needs to be done. True servants all!

This is the last you will hear from us for a while because we will not have internet access again until we arrive home. Prayers are definitely appreciated for a smoother travel day on Tuesday than we had last week when we arrived.

Ciao from Italy!

Camp Day 2

The kids are busy, tired, and happy, so it's Shelly reporting in quickly today.

God is at work. We talked about that this morning (Wednesday) as we prepared our hearts to serve and as we reflected on our day yesterday.

Each morning we have a brief (30-45 minutes) Bible teaching/testimony during which students meet in small groups to discuss the talk and ask questions about the Bible passage for the day. Yesterday, discussion stretched to an hour as students were opening up about their lives, asking questions about God, and sharing about their understanding of salvation. This was truly a work of the Holy Spirit because the Italian youth workers were able to learn so much more about where these students are at, spiritually, than they had known before. The Italian kids were asking many deep questions about faith and God and salvation. Many of our College Church students were also able to share some of their stories around the table as well. It was a sweet time in the morning.

The afternoon was filled with games and English lessons, which are also going well. The heat has broken a bit, and it's not as humid, so we're feeling much better on that front. Thankfully, nobody has gotten sick from the heat yet.

A couple of prayer requests:

* Pray for a young girl who visited the camp yesterday, Alyssia. She lives in a home for girls and comes from a troubled background, but her social worker (who came with her) said that in the brief time she was with us her face lit up like she had never seen before. Pray that she would come again today and hear God's message for her.

* Pray for the rest of the kids, especially those who started to ask questions and open up about their faith yesterday. Pray for Amy Tews as she shares her testimony during the big group/Bible talk time.

* Pray for continued protection over our group. We've had a couple minor cuts and bruises, but nothing serious.

* Pray for changed hearts among the Italian kids. Pray that God would truly bring some to faith this week.

Camp is in full swing for the day already, and kids are outside playing games. I'm the water station lady all week, so I'd better go make sure everyone stays hydrated! (My kids will surely laugh when they read this.)

God is at work!

Shelly

Camp Day 1

Guess who?!?! Hank and Amy are back like a pair of bad habits!

FIRST DAY OF CAMP! IT WAS AWESOME!

Waking up at seven was a breeze because we were excited about the first day of camp.  We began with some outdoor games that were a ton of fun and broke the ice with the Italians.

Getting to know the thirty or so kids was a huge learning curve, yet oodles of fun. We did multiple activities with the children including playing games, eating lunch, teaching English, and . . . sweating.  Isaac Stough gave his testimony to the camp, and it was great to see the kids giving him their undivided attention. Even though the heat was oppressive, we all enjoyed the nine full hours we spent with the kids. 

When we arrived back “home” we enjoyed a massive Italian dinner at a restaurant in partnership with the bungalows where we’re staying, followed by some relaxed hangout time.  Everyone is doing great and greatly enjoying our time together.

Shoutouts:

Lyndi: “Miss ya, family! Dad, sorry I couldn’t watch the storm with you.  Love you and see ya soon!”

Audrey: “Mom and Dad—hope life is swell at home. There is no wifi here so that’s why I haven’t been sending you bundles of much anticipated emails. The personalized fan is the biggest hit here. Love you. Miss you.”

Soccer! Always popular.

The water station was hopping in the heat!

Sunday

Amy and Hank coming at you live from Bologna, Italy.

Today we were split up into three groups and visited different churches in the area. We will now give you our accounts of the churches we visited.

Amy: We went to a church with a casual setting of about 20 people. Following along with the passage in English, 1 Corinthians 6:1-20, we listened to a brief message. There were times of prayer for the whole congregation and multiple times of singing. The passion behind the music was meaningful and powerful. There were similar songs from home that made us feel comfortable in the Italian church setting.

Hank: Today my group stayed with our host missionary, Mark Brucato, and visited his church of roughly 50 attendees.  Similar to Amy, my group found the music to be incredibly powerful and moving.  Singing the Italian rendition of Here I am to Worship was incredible. We then listened to summary of the gospel given by Mark’s father-in-law, first in English and then quickly translated into Italian.

(Shelly finishing up here--the kids are suddenly very busy!) The third group visited another small evangelical church on the other side of town. After church, all three groups gathered together at the church Amy attended for lunch with the church members. We really enjoyed our Italian pot luck—lots of good food!—and getting to know some of the church members.

We spent the afternoon in training with Mark Brucato and some of the other workers at the camp. They explained the schedule for the week and some other details, but mostly prepared us spiritually for what we are about to experience. We had a time of prayer before we headed to the camp site to get an idea of where we will serve.

That evening we had a wonderful pizza dinner at a local restaurant, then headed to Brucatos’ church to watch the European Cup soccer championship: Italy vs. Spain. We had a great time with church members—enthusiastic soccer supporters all!—even though the outcome wasn’t what they wanted. (Spain 4-Italy 0)

Today is our first day of camp, so we’ll let you know how it goes. So far the kids are doing great, enthusiastically digging in and ready to serve.

Visiting our camp site after church.

Jack

Our group getting ready to go to the Italy vs. Spain match.

Pastor of Brucatos' church. He loves his futbol!

Nata

First Full Day of Sweating (oops! Ministry)

Amy and Hank reporting for blog duty. 

Ciao! Buongiorno!

After 23 hours and 9 minutes of traveling (approximately), our rag tag group arrived in Bologna happy, tired, and safe. Sleeping 6 to a room with fans and minimal clothing we got a well-deserved night’s sleep. 

Today we woke up late and had a quick breakfast consisting of croissants and fruit. Traveling in a caravan with our lovely leader, Mark Brucato, we toured on foot an ancient fortress city called Ferrera.  With a boiling temperature of 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) we sweated our way through the beautiful city.  

We enjoyed historical lessons from Mark including the statue of Giorlamo Savonarola, a reformation patriarch.  We then proceeded to eat lunch, walk around the city freely in small groups, and eat our fill of gelato. We learned how to order gelato like a true Italian would, “Vorrei una gelato cone chocolate, per favore.” 

Exhausted, soaked, yet content, we journeyed back to our bungalows (our unairconditioned happy homes) and intend on feasting at the Brucato’s on a delicious barbeque tonight.  Everyone is currently on a partial energy high, and henceforth greatly enjoying themselves.

Shoutouts!

Sarah: “Hi mamaaa (and Dad)! Don’t worry we’re safe and I have a zipper on my satchel. So I have not been pick pocketed yet, Love youuuu.”

Nata: “Hey mom, Great News!!! I met a guy, his name is Fernando. Ha, just kidding… Italy’s great! Love you!”