Archive for the 'trips' Category

Rounding Out the Year

Published by Matt on September 20, 2007 in news, trips and vacation. 2 Comments

Well, since it’s been a few days, I probably should temper my last post’s nostalgic sentiment with info on what’s coming up for our final three months here. The first item of good news is that we successfully renewed our immigration papers and health insurance, so we can stay legally! Though what I am not looking forward to is canceling our phone service. ugh.

We have a few trips lined up to go visit places and people we haven’t managed to see. The biggest one is church in Catania, who are really wonderful and it’s a shame we haven’t been down to visit them there yet. They come to many of the conventions and youth camp, etc. which is how we know them.

Lauren’s family is coming to visit in a few weeks, which is exciting. It’s always fun to share what we are doing and play tour guides to wherever we are at the moment. Unfortunately for them (and us as we have less of an excuse to go now), they are leaving right before the largest chocolate festival in Italy–maybe Europe–which take place in Perugia. For shame.

Our biggest challenge coming up is planning for a youth retreat this December. We have done two previously, and God has been benevolent enough to let each be good times despite ourselves…(actually they were very nice!) We definitely need all of the guidance we can get to wrap up our time with the youth in that retreat, and to say goodbye while keeping the focus where it needs to be. More details about that later though…

And now we’re gone for a few days to Paris, a trip that has been at least a year and a half in the making. 40 euro plane tickets are great.

Vicenza

Published by Matt on April 3, 2006 in news and trips. 3 Comments

Last weekend, the the whole group bundled into the Scuola Biblica van and drove off to Vicenza, a city a bit north of Bologna (some might know it as host to an American military base). We went to visit the church there as part of our goal to visit–for the sake of visiting and fellowship–at least one other congregation every 2-3 months.

We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday there, staying with members of the church for the night between. It took about 4 hours to get there, but the drive on the way through the mountains was beautiful.

Our time spent with the church as a whole was very good. We spent most of the evening with church members, visiting and discussing how we might be able to work together in the future. We then spent a few hours that night with some of the youth of the church exploring the city. (By youth, I mean anyone between the ages of 15-35 or so :) ) Sunday, we had worship and stayed for their agape (or potluck. most of the churches in italy have one about once a month).

One defining thing about the Vicenza church is how international they’ve become. Like most of the Italian churches in urban areas, they are host to at least a few Americans–north and south–and other Europeans, but Vicenza also has a thriving Ghanean membership. Many immigrants from Ghana have come to Vicenza to look for work, and the church has been an inviting home for them. They usually have a separate english-language service for the Ghaneans, but when while we were there, they had combined service. Gary preached in both Italian and English.