Catch Up

I have decided that Blogging has become my new white whale, my Moby Dick. I will defeat it... im sure of this.

Before i start catching up i want you to say a prayer for the current AIMer's..... im sure they would appreciate any/all prayers you could send towards them. cause the time to pick fields is drawing near.

HHHHMMMMMM...... time to play Catch Up.

Questura-(Police station)- So i finally got my appointment with the Questura to get fingerprinted for my Permesso Di Soggiorno which will allow me to volunteer in alot more places. because some people wont let you do any work with out the Permesso because they need to know that your legal...... i was suppose to go in a 8:45 so mike said that i need to get there atleast an hour/ hour and a half early.. so i went at 7:30 and there was a long line already so im waiting and waiting and end up waiting for 3 hours and i finally get to ght front of the line... and that was just the line to get in the line on the inside... and i got sent to the back of the line... later i found out i was sent to the back because they thought i was albanian.... so i wait for another hour and get inside and move through the line decently quickly... so then i got sent to the back of the line again.. but this time it was cause i wasn't chinese so i waited another hour.. one of the officers came and asked for my passport.. and he said.." oh your american... come to the front of the line and i was done with the fingerprints in 3 minutes... and so i waited six hours for something i could have had done in ten minutes.... next time ill make sure that they know that i am american when i go to pick it up in December. So i am very excited to get my permesso.

In september we went to Vicenza which is a town about 3 hours north of prato to visit a family that tracie met when she went to help the church with an event that they had... they are a family of four. James and Angie have two kids Caleb and Jared who go to school on the military base there in vicenza. Getting there was way harder than it should have been. our van isn't the most dependable vehicle so Mike was nice enough to lend us his car for the weekend. We fill up the car and get on the road well about two and a half hours later... the car just quits and dies on us.. so we get to the right side of the road and we are looking... we still had a quarter tank of gas.. so we checked the oil.. the oil was fine.. so next we checked the battery.. all the cables were attached properly and tightly. so we cal mike and he asked us what kind of fuel we put in the car... it was a small car so of course we put unleaded gas in it. Only to find out that it was a diesel car.. my initial reaction was aren't big manly trucks supposed to be diesel... and aren't you supposed to hear them coming down the street? but then i thought... oh yeah this is europe... things are completely different here. so we get towed to a garage so that they can drain our gas tank... the guy that towed us was really nice and gave us the $100 tow for free cause he felt bad for the Americans but we finally got everything straightened out... and back on the road... two hours and a hundred dollars later.... by the time you add all the gas from the first tank they drained and the second fill up.

But when we got there everything picked up and was good and great and wonderful. started off with it being a friday night going to an early OKTOBERFEST on the military base. Enjoyed some good German food, and watched some German competitions... like log sawing..didn't know that was German... but i guess it is. also got a chance to play some american football with some of the kids there... enjoyed that so much. when we got back to the house that night i got to play videogames with the kids which was a really good way to connect with the them. On that saturday morning the younger son Jared who is 11 had a soccer game... and they crushed the other team 8 to 0. it was my first soccer game to watch. i enjoyed it so much. The rest of the day we spent on base... i had Taco Bell!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so good... it was just a good day to be with the Hughes and get to know them a little better. Then on suday morning we went to church with the Hughes... and of course i only understood some of it. after that we went back to the Hughes homestead to prepare for a cookout for some of the church members there.. they were so much fun and James made some really good food. then a little later that night we had to go home. It was overall an amazing fun filled weekend.

My friends -we have a small group of friends that we hang out with on a regular basis... there are about 4 of them missing in this photo. While most of them speak english.. they are starting to speak more and more italian to us. which has been so helpful for me in learning... cause when i try to learn italian from a book... it just gives me a headache....not saying i dont learn from the books... but i learn better from actually speaking and listening to it. i enjoy hanging out with these guys so much. we don't talk a whole lot about the bible with them yet... but very slowly we are mentioning things. Hoping that they are going to ask more and more questions.

Church Unity- One of Mikes goals here is to try to establish better relationships between the churches in Italy. To do this you of course have to visit other churches. So mike took us down for a nights stay in Rome to be with the church. we got there on saturday night and had pizza and a meet and greet and a devotional. then we went to our host families houses... me and brandon stayed with a certain Giancarlo and Ana Balboni... we had some espresso with them and talked for a bit.... going to bed soon after. woke up the next morning to go to church which was interesting cause there were 4 speakers all from different churches.... so that was really neat.... each of them had about 10 min. it was really encouraging to see them working together to proclaim God's word. after church we had lunch with our host families.... which with italians lunch can last anywhere from 2 to 4 hours..... so around 5 pm we headed home on the three hour drive... its a good thing that mondays are my off days.



New Naif Cooperativa- This is a place that helps people with physical and mental handicaps learn skills they need to get jobs. I go twice a week... once on monday mornings and Friday mornings. I love the people their the workers and the students both. they such have such happy go lucky spirits. if you want to know the honest truth i think they help me out more than i help them... they really put things in perspective for me. They don't lead what everyone thinks of as a "normal life" that they are "special". but they have more pure and true joy... than anyone i have ever met in my life... despite being "special" or not "normal"... there are lots of lessons to be learned from these guys... and im lucky God has given me the opportunity to work with these guys... God always finds a way to keep me humble.


I recently went into a bar( here in Italy a bar is somewhere you eat) and got a glass of a drink called spuma.... which kinda taste like flavored sprite.. that was in the morning.. the guy behind the bar was really nice... so i went back later that night for another glass and the guy asked me what i am doing here in Italy.. cause i look American and sound American when i speak Italian well i told him i was here to work with the Church of Christ... and i told him where it was... and i finished my spuma and left. Me and brandon went back the next moring for coffee and a pastry and as we were getting ready to leave he asked me ... so what is the difference between your church and the catholic church... and i told him there are lots of difference and he said like what..
and i felt bad cause at that point i had to tell him that i needed a few days to get it all straight in italian in my head... and he gave an amazing response and said... ok just come back when your ready and we will talk about it. So im currently working on that to talk to him... I so much look forward to it as it will be my first study i will have had since ive been here... so please pray for that.... that i can say whats needed for him to hear the truth.. that i don't somehow offend him cause of my broken Italian.

I hope that everything is all good and well with you guys... i miss you guys so much and it will be such a long time till we are together fellowshipping together.... but it will be worth the wait.... cause i have work to do here.... i want to thank you guys again for just how simply amazing you guys are and how encouraging and loving of a congregation yall are. Continue to spread that love to others.

AIMing to Fulfill the Great Comission,

Evan Wayne Williams