Words Verse Actions

Matthew 5:37 states "Simply let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no","no"; anything beyond this comes from the evil one"

For me this hits hard and it hits home... because for the last year and a half i have made a promise that i haven't kept....i had promised to keep this blog up and i just haven't done it... i don't come offering excuses or even reason for this.... cause nothing i could say could be a legitimate reason for not keeping my promise. but i come admitting one of my biggest flaws as a human and asking for your forgiveness... especially to anyone who helped me financially. I didn't hold up my part for our deal...and i had the easy part of the deal. provide information as to what i was doing each month... so that yall would know where your hard earned money was going. I also wanna thank yall for keeping your part of the bargain and continuing to support me, even when you had every reason to stop.

ive heard some people in my life say that a man is only as good as his words....but if that were true there would be lots of good people that got nothing done ever. Ive learned that a its the man's actions behind the words that proves what kinda person he is. My actions haven't matched up with my words lately. Jesus was a man of his word... anything he has ever said has come true, and he expects no less from us. not only our promises to each other but our promises to him... because anything beyond that comes from the evil one. there is no place in a Christians life for empty promises...

thoughts, comments i would love to hear them all

from a work in progress,
Evan Wayne Williams

Catch up

Ciao tutti,

It has been way to long since i have written and shared my life with the people who deserve most to hear about it.

I love living in Italy and getting to experience the European culture, which is so different from the American mindset on things. As much as i love it though it has been difficult at times to wanna stay, with so many people and places that i miss and long for. I never really told anyone how badly i was homesick for awhile... mainly cause i viewed it as a weakness... i mean im 20 i shouldn't feel the need to see people that bad. Luckily my view on that changed and realized it was a good thing... meant i had something at home worth looking forward to when the time came.Yet im still here, because the reason I'm here is far greater than those things. No amount of homesickness was going to stop me from doing what i came to do. I just thought you as my family should know that i love this place... but it will never outway my love for my home land and the amazing people in it

Italy is a tough place to minister for two very simple reasons
1. Older people are too rooted in their Catholicism even though most don't practice, they just claim Catholicism cause that is what they were born into. Catholic is all they have ever been and most of them don't see the point in changing.
2. Younger people love having fun too much to believe in God, and most believe strongly that you can't do both.

NEW TEAM

I recently have had the pleasure of welcoming 6 new AIMers to the team... which means 8 people are now living in this house.... and i would trade it for anything i love having these guys. so i just ask that you pray for these guys. These are some wonderful People with amazing hearts.
1. Matt Tracy
2. Ryan Jarboe
3. Jackson Esco
4. Shae Baker
5. Osiris Hernandez
6. Josie Collins

KITTEN
no where near as cool as the new people, but the team got a Kitten and its name is Garbage. Its a definite handful.

ENGLISH STUDENTS

I have had call after call from our flyers for english lessons but only one person actually show up when something was scheduled... but he to i guess gave up... didn't show up to lessons and didn't answer my calls. Then i had another student named Milania who lived a few doors down. I would meet with her on Saturdays and help her with her English homework, she is now going into her senior year of highschool and she wants to be a linguist. So for her i was more of a tutor than i was a teacher. She was in the process of reading Macbeth by Shakespeare and she would read it to me and i would correct her pronunciation if necessary which wasn't often, she read it well and if she took her time and didn't try to speak to fast she also spoke it really well. i ask yall to pray for her that she can go on to university and accomplish whatever it is she wants to do with her degree.

BIBLE STUDY
I have only had one bible study the entire time i have been here (doesn't mean i haven't talked to people about God). There is a bar that i like to go to from time to time cause they make a really good sandwich that i like. One day when i was there the Barista whose name was David began to ask me why i was here, and after i told him he asked me how my church was different from the Catholic church. I imagine I light up like a christmas tree, and asked him if i could have a few days to prepare some thoughts and get it together in italian.... and he said of course. So i went back about three days later and had supper with him and we discussed the difference. and i haven't had any other studies with him but we still talk about God often when I go in there. There is a woman that works with him that i just found out that her and David are getting married. So if you would pray for them as they are fixing to start their lives together.

KIDS CLASS

Anto had recently decided that my Italian is sufficient to teach the Kids Class by myself. so about a month ago i taught from Exodus 33. I think i did pretty well considering my grammar isn't great. The kids really seemed to enjoy the class and i had alot of fun doing it.

NEW NAIF

New Naif has been the one continual thing that i have had since ive been here. New Naif is a Cooperativa. It is a school for the mentally retarded. I absolutely love being there with the kids, and even though most of them are twice my age i call them kids.. cause that is what they are like. I have poured lots of time into getting to know these kids and they other teachers. Its such a humbling experience to work with them. I will miss them so much, cause i love the absolutely genuine friendship i experienced with them. Please pray for them. they are some of the most amazing people i know.

MENSA

Mensa is a shelter/food kitchen for the homeless. Meals are prepared and served and those that need it are also provided with a place to stay.

COMING HOME

I am slightly sad but also pleased to announce that on Friday October 27th i will be coming home!!!!!!!

FUTURE PLANS

I will be attending Sunset School of Preaching in January which is a two year program

SUPPORTERS

WOW! yall are so amazing to me. your willingness to help me accomplish something that i couldn't do on my own. yall have been a great part of God's work here in Prato, Italy. I want to apologize again for being horrible about communication with yall. Yall deserved so much more than that, and im sorry that i didn't keep my end of things. I promise that it is something that i will work at for when i do mission work in the future because it is absolutely essential for supporters.

On the note of support

While Sunset is a tuition free school, i will still have living expenses. I will get a job while im in Lubbock, but i know i wont be able to work enough hours and have enough time for schoolwork so i will be needing some assistance... as far as what my income will look like i can't say for now. but when i find out i will make sure i let everyone know. I absolutely hate asking for help cause i don't like the idea of living off of support, although the fact that i will get a job makes me feel slightly better about it. If you will be able to help with that or know someone who will i would greatly appreciate it.

JUST A THOUGHT

I was reading in proverbs this morning and ran across a verb that i really really love

Proverbs 19:20 reads
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

I feel like this is something that we as people have a hard time doing. accepting advice from others is not always easy especially if it is hard to swallow. Its something that i personally have been working on, because in my mind i don't always allow others to be right. If they contradict what i think about a situation they must be wrong... why did i think this way?.... because i hate to be wrong. but guess what, ive been wrong more than once in my life... can you believe it? well its true. ;) point being realize that other people just may know more than you do and you can use they knowledge and wisdom they pass on to you to help others in the future


Thats all i have for you now i will write again at the end of August to tell you how that went

i love yall,
Evan

Lazarus Part 1 - Lazzaro Parte 1

Remember the woman who poured perfume on Jesu's feet and dried them with her hair?( Her name was Mary)

Ricorda la donna che unse il Signore di olio profumato e gli asciugo i piedi con i suoi capelli? (Si chiama Maria)

Her brother Lazarus is sick, so Mary and her sister Martha send a messenger to Jesus saying "Lord the one you love is sick"

Lazzaro, suo fratello, era malato, dunque le sorelle mandarono a dire Gesu "Signore, ecco, colui che tu ami E malato."

I loved Jesus' response to this statement "This sickness will not end in death. No it is for Gods glory that God's son may be glorified through it." Some of you may be thinking 'wait, that first part can't be right... Lazarus died! I ask you to read it again "This sickness will not end in death..." and it didn't it lead to death. However Christ busted right through that death and gave Lazarus life again for the glorification of God. Thats the on reason Lazarus died was so that God would be glorified when he was raised from the dead.

A me piace come Gesu responde "Questa malattia noe e per la morte, ma e per la gloria di Dio, affinche per mezzo di essa il Figlio di Dio sia glorificato." E possibile alcuni di voi pensate "sperta Lazzaro e morte!" Leggi un altro volta "Questa malattia non e per morte..." Questo e vero perche la malattia non finisce nella morte, solo guida a morte poi Gesu rompera attraverso ed da vita a lui per la gloria di Dio. Questo e perche Lazzaro e morte solomente sia glorificato di Dio!

Greater Love Has No Man...

I have been thinking about the way people use the word love. A lot of people i have talked to about it lately have said that they think the word love has been devalued. I don't neccasarily agree with that fully or completly... but i do to a certain degree, and here is why. There are a lot of things that i love, for example I love my parents, but i also love my iPod. The iPod does nothing except provide me with entertainment, whereas my parents have provided me with everything that i could have needed or wanted. my iPod couldn't do that.... but i love them both. Now am i equating my parents to an iPod..... No! does it cheapen or devalue my love for my parents? Not in the least. because if I was given the choice of getting red of my iPod or never getting to see my family.... the iPod is going out the window rather quickly. Why? because my love for my parents is so much deeper and so much stronger.. and they are so much more important to me. I believe that there are varying degrees of love. I don't however believe that there is a universal scale. Not everyone will value all things the same way or manner as you do. But there is a love that according to God trumps all other loves. Iv'e been reading John alot lately and it has quickly become one of my favorite books and within it i have found one of my favorite verses.. John 15:13 says "Greater love has no man than this, that he lays down his life for his friends." Jesus continues to amaze me. He doesn't say.... has his life taken... he says.... lay it down. Making a conscious choice to put others as more important than you. I don't think that this only stops with our life... but aspects of our life as well. Take pride for instance, are we willing to lay our pride down and admit that maybe.... just maybe someone can do better it better than you, whatever It is. or what about time....are people worth your time are yhou willing to give up a little time doing something that you enjoy... to spend with someone else... if it means bettering a relationship. Jesus also fascinates me in another aspect of this. He again goes above and beyond what everyone else does. He doesn't stop at laying his life down for his friends... but the people who hate him and rejected him as well.. Take a minute... and think about that..... I know that in a heart beat i would be able to lay my life down for my family and friends, but someone that has hurt me or mistreated me..or someone i don't get along with or consider a freinds.... i struggle with that... yet Jesus was totally unbiased in his decision... he didn't say he was willing to lay it down just for the apostles or disciples, he didn't say for everyone but this group or this group of people. but for the sins of the world... not the sins of a few. like i said i struggle with with doing to same for my enemies.... but i take comfort in the fact that the verse says... greater love has no MAN.... which Jesus was so much more than mere man... that tells me that i will never be able to love the way he did... at least not to the degree he does..does that mean i shouldn't try... no not at all i should give it my absolute best... but that also means that i will never be hated and rejected to the degree that Jesus is by some. Just wanted to share some of my thoughts. i would love to hear your thoughts and comments.... or even disagreements... I love y'all (in your respective degrees of course)

I Love You This Much

I'm not sure how many of you like country music or not. I've been listening to alot of country lately for two reasons... 1) i just really like country music 2) because it gives me this feeling of nastalgia, of when i worked with my dad, reminds me of home. One song in particular has made me do alot of thinking lately. Jimmy Wayne sings a song called "I Love You This Much" (Watch the video here).

The Song is about a boy who desires nothing more than his dad's (i think this is an inappropriate term for this man) love. The boy is constantly trying to get his fathers affection says with tears in his eyes and his arms stretched out as for as they go " I love you this much... and I'm waiting on you to make up your mind... do you love me too, however long it takes, I'm never giving up, no matter what, I love you this much."

Story goes on to the father's (i think this is more appropriate) funeral, where the boy now aged into a young man is staring at a statue of Jesus hanging on the cross. "He said "forgive me father", "when he realized, that he hadn't been unloved or alone all of his life, His arms were stretched out as far as they'd go, nailed to the cross, for the whole world to know... "I love you this much and im waiting on you to make up your mind, do you love me to, however long it takes, I'm never giving up no matter what, I love you this much."

Do you ever feel unloved and alone, like no one cares? John 3:16 says "for God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal........ Wow!! thats love... i don't understand this love, the willingness to give up a child to me is unfathomable..... but am so very thankful that God loved us enough to do it....

I cannot read that and not feel loved. Its so easy to forget that God is omnipresent therefore God is always with us... makiing it impossible to be alone... ever...

I hope that this post will remind you just how loved you are and that God is always there. God never turns down an opportunity to spend time with and talk to His children.....

Sealing Your Own Fate

If you have seen the movie "Premonition" this post may make more sense to you than if you haven't. if you havent seen it.. im going to give you a quick run down of the story and i mean quick without much detail... so if you don't want me to ruin the end skip to the next paragraph..... right now! hurry! A woman is waiting for her husband to return from a business trip, she answers the door it was a cop with the news of her husbands death...after she tells her two daughters they all go to bed... she wakes up the next morning laying next to her husband so she figures it was a dream..... basically it goes back and forth between her husband being alive one day then the next day being dead. so she eventually makes a calender of that week and the events so that she can avoid all the events that lead to his death. so one day she chases her husband down the highway in her car to catch his car to have him turn around before he gets the mile marker she was told his death occured in. she calls him and has him pull over before that mile marker and she convinces him to turn around so he turns around and is starting to head back towards her when his car dies and he cant get is started.... and a semi truck is careening towards his car and jacknifes as he tries to slow down. he reaches for the seatbelt to get out of the car.. it wont come out.... the semi hits him and explodes cause it was carrying natural gas.... all that to say that in trying to help him avoid his death she actually caused it. she caused what she tried so hard to avoid...

Ok so onto the biblical application of this....
John. 11:49-53
49.Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50.You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the wohle nation perish." 51. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52. and not only for thatnation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

To give some background on what was going on right before this that brought these statements about... Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead...(thats another blog for another time... i have some thoughts for that.) In verses 45 and 46 it says "therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. The Jews were still divided in what to think about Jesus, so many people were going to the Pharisees with questions so much so that they called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. the Sanhedrin was the supreme court of olden days for the Jews. If these guys got together on your account you were in some serious trouble. The Sanhedrin was scared that if they allowed Jesus to live that everyone will follow him, and that the Romans would come in and take thier "place" being there position in the Roman Government.. also that the Romans where going to come in and conquere them and become part of the Roman Empire... meaning no more nation of Isreal(note about this later in the blog).

after this Caiaphas (one of the High Priest) against his will (and according to God's) said " You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish" He just prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the entire nation of the Jews... so that they wouldn't have to perish, so that the scattered Christians would also be able to come together to be one...... and what was their response to that? "So from that day on they plotted to take his life"... What!?! Were they listening to Caiaphas? Did they not just hear that Jesus was to be a sacrifice? They were the chosen race...Why would they kill off the man that was going to die for them? They believed that if they killed Jesus that it would stop people from following him and then Rome would have no reason to take over the nation(Which takes place in 70 A.D.) So eventually when they do crucify and kill him..... They actually cause what they were wanting to avoid..... The Jews sealed their own fate....
All this goes to pointing out that you can't stop something that God has planned.... no matter what you do.. no matter what circumstances you change, as much as you would like to there is no way you can outsmart God.... it just doesn't work that way...

Just something for you guys to chew on......

Trying to Fulfill the Great Commision,
Evan

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