treasure

Salve!

I've been thinking about treasure. About God as my treasure--not my means to my own brand of treasure. This came from a sermon I was listening to from back home (Mark 10:17ff). Yesterday, after a difficult week with both students and staff, I remembered the verse, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Seriously it PAINS me to think of all of the phrases, looks, stories, songs--things my students say and do and learn that can never be re-played! I always wish God had a videocamera recording these precious moments to replay in a montage in heaven. It was just a good reminder to take every opportunity to love. To take every opportunity to treasure things--people--that really matter. The things God calls treasure. My pastor asked a great question in his sermon that week: Would you accept heaven without Jesus? In other words, are you striving so much after the gift that you don't know the Giver? I don't know... I want to be more mindful of these things. Missionaries are viewed often through false lenses. But I am even weaker here. May we all seize each moment to love and treasure, not embitter and hoard.

UPDATES:

* Michi, Marco, Tania have agreed to meet together to pray and encourage one another as the young adult community here at the Frascati church. It is a hard thing to meet together when the attendees are simply your own family members, but I know God wants to work a mighty work to bond us and model a familial community to our zone. Of course we pray this group expands one day, but it is an answer to prayer that we will begin meeting on Mondays for the sake of love, unity and accountability.

*Lorenza has asked me to find a day I can come help her out with the kiddos. My schedule is insane, please pray this is a sweet time and we work something out in the next few weeks.

*The Albano girls- inviting them to hang out next Saturday. Pray they come and find a place they can be honest and loved.

*Emilia- forgot to mention her last time. She's our amazing, loveable, chatterbox land lady. We've already had a few spiritual convos with her and she is quite open about her life and its troubles. Pray God continues to bless our relationship with her toward her salvation!

*Tania- would love prayer on helping her through some things right now.

*Connected to Tania and the NEW CHURCH LOCATION we are praying for this year, is the dream to open a Christian bookstore/coffee shop. It has loooong been the dream of Tania and her dad, and ultimately a dream one day I would love to leave my job and commit to as well. Of course projects like this involve lots of paperwork, money, organization--it is a grand task! But we see so much potential for reaching Frascati and the Castelli, so please pray for God's will and progress toward this end.

Thanks! God is always moving on His behalf and listens when we pray.

 

buon anno!

 

Happy New Year friends!

Yesterday was my first day back at work. Mariarosa--my ridiculously adorable student continually FULL of advice--and I were doing a counting game:
Her- 1 is for Class 1, like Ms. Raffa's class!
Me-Yes and 2 is for Ms. Allie's class!
Her-Yes, yes--the nicest one...

Not a bad welcome back ;)

DECEMBER UPDATES:

Our house party went really well and my two non-Christian friends L (Rome) and F (here in the Castelli) came out along with 3 of the 4 baby Christian girls from our Albano study. Tania had some other non-Christian friends as well. I loved listening in on conversations about life as I bounced around the room. My siblings gave us an awesome private concert and my mom made some amazing food :) We pray our next event includes more of our friends--our heart really breaks for these people!

The boys remained a few days after the rest of the family before I sent them off to India on New Years. It was sweet. You can follow their journey at www.corianchai.com :)

THE NEW YEAR:

I'm not one to make resolutions. Just take each new season as it comes with the 'trouble of its own.' But now that I am 'settled' into Italy, with a big holiday season behind me, I am a bit overwhelmed with the opportunities in front of me. As we've been discussing vision collectively as a church, I've been reflecting personally. Sorry this got a bit long, but here are some things to take to the Lord's heart with me:

Church:
Lorenza- the young single mom I've discussed before. She is not easy to penetrate but by God's grace we are bonding. Her 6 yr old son came up behind me when I was in the kitchen at church Sunday and pressed in to give me the sweetest hug. Holding her newborn girl is my reward at the end of a long week (Friday night bible study). Precious. Last week I told Lorenza I would love to help her with the kids/house anytime I can (she lives 45 mins away, I have no car, work 6 days a week...but). She was really touched and also brought up the fact that she really wanted to learn English. Pray we can work out a way to spend more time together, that God helps my Italian improve, that Lorenza reconciles relationships in her life and grows in love and knowledge of Christ.
Giulia- 13 yr old girl in our Sunday School. She comes to my house every now and then for English tutoring. She has a split family and is battling Leukemia. Pray I can be an encouragment and example to her.
4 Albano Study Girls- praying for more ways to reach them/how to encourage them as they live 45 mins away and no one has a car/we all have busy schedules. They are ages 16-22 with dysfunctional families etc...
Young Adults- needing direction on how to meet needs of the 4 of us in the church while also reaching out to our non-Christian friends... community/discipleship vs. evangelistic needs....
Teams- who does God want to send here to work with us this year? What does He want to do?
Sunday School- needing good Italian curriculum. Praying for wisdom and creativity with multi-age Sunday school (from 2 months to 16 years)!
Location- praying for strategic new building for the church. By Easter Lord?

Personal:
Work- LOTS of internal drama that can be stressful at times. Trying to stay above reproach. Want to be a good friend and witness to each one of my colleagues and bless my students and their families. More opportunities and boldness to speak God's truth.
Friends- On the one hand--I just miss my friends back home. It's hard 'starting over' and just missing the people you know and love...wanting someone 'like you.' You can pray with me for more friends in general. Also for my non-Christian ones especially, that I can speak boldly, honestly, and compassionately with them as we grow to know each other. I want to be a more caring friend--more sensitive, thoughtful and hospital with my time. I need wisdom as I meet people all the time, to know who to invest in. For now, F, L, A are forefront....
Home- God give me wisdom to encourage Tania/continue to bless my relationship with her.
Book- dragging my feet. Gotta get it published.
Singleness-amazingly, I have not been bombarded too much more than expected with questions, stalkers or people trying to set me up, haha. Italy is ridiculous when it comes to this. God is faithful as always to give me peace. I just want continued prayer that he keeps me safe, that I maintain healthy relationships with my male friends here, and that I know how to handle challenging situations.
Language- progression with ITALIAN!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PRAYING! I NEED IT SO VERY MUCH. May God be glorified in all things, not my stinky putrid flesh. Amen. Write me and let me know how I can pray for you.

xo, Allie

Top-Christmas breakfast joined by A who had no family to go to

Mid- Sunday School

 Bottom-Fam at Christmas :)