My Happy Place

This is Lake Como. Thus far, in my 35 years of life, it is my very favorite place in all of the world. I am so glad God made it. I picture Him delighting in it every morning as the sun rises (and in the case of this picture, as the sun sets). It is about an hour and half train ride from Bologna (just east of Milan), and we hadn't been there since our Florence Summer Project trip three years ago.

This past weekend, I went there all by myself. I spent two nights staring at the water and mountains, taking a boat ride to Bellagio and exploring it for an afternoon, reading, praying, processing and just being refreshed. I slept until 8am for probably the first time in over two years.

I'll be honest and say the Lord is doing some hard things in our lives right now. He is digging deep into our hearts. It is infinitely good, and the other side is going to be an incredible experience of health. But the process is exhausting. And sometime painful. I had reached a place of feeling completely worn out. So my sweet husband made a way for me to have a retreat. I do not take his sacrifice lightly! It was a perfect weekend and exactly what I needed.

This is Bellagio. It's a small, quaint gem of a town.
It's set on some hills, so as soon as you get off the boat, you start walking UP.

Lake Como is one of three lakes in the "Lake Region." Como is the biggest city on the lake, but it is still pretty small. That is where I stayed. I loved being close to the lake! Water is one of the most relaxing things I know. Just watching it breathed refreshment into me. And to be surrounded by mountains at the same time! Como is only 15km from the Swiss border, and when it's clear, you can see the Swiss Alps. They are just incredible.

Can you believe this is real?! There were several places around the city where the ivy was changing color, and the colors were absolutely brilliant. I couldn't get enough pictures.

God met me in such a sweet way during my weekend away. I have never taken such a retreat, and I was a little nervous about investing the time and expense and returning in the same place I went. God did not let that happen. He really filled me up and spoke His rest to me. I am so thankful.

This is a street in Como. They had already begun hanging Christmas lights and putting up Christmas decorations--it was just beautiful (in Italian we say, "Che Bella!"). I loved that this street also included a red carpet!

Our Crazy Little Family

In an effort to take a Christmas photo, the troops ended a little restless. This is the best photo we have to offer! I keep waiting for a sunny day, but once November hits, they are few and far between.

I thought I'd share about our weekend. It was pretty typical, and shows a little more what our life is like. On Friday, we went over to Fabio and Alyssia's for dinner. They invited us "early" this time--7pm. We had the typical Italian meal. The first course was soup with homemade broth (a staple in most Italian cooking) and homemade pasta that were short little pieces about as thick as speghetti. The texture was similar to dumplings. So, so yummy. The second course was the shredded meat that came from making the broth, mixed with garlic, capers and yellow peppers. On the side were the potatoes and carrots also used to make the broth. Afterward, we opened some dessert wine and ate hot castagne (chestnuts), right off the stovetop. Castagne are everywhere right now and are a typical merenda (snack). Again, so yummy.

All was followed up by ripe clementines. The kids began melting down around 9:30, so we headed home. The highlight was Fabio's excitement over the Italian Bible Cody gave him. He had been thinking a lot about their conversation the previous week--even talking to his co-workers about it. Please keep praying for the time they will get together to begin talking about what he's read.

On Saturday morning, our tradition is to make homemade pancakes. Before importing syrup, we topped them with Nutella. We also recently discovered real American-style bacon, which is also greatly enjoyed with our pancakes. Afterward, the whole family spends the morning cleaning our apartment. This past Saturday, we went to our local McDonald's for lunch because we saw that Happy Meals are Star Wars themed right now. Such a little thing, but it's amazing how much fun that little treat was for the kids!

Saturday afternoon is spent working on homework for Hannah. Often her homework can take 3-4 hours. It's an event. This weekend, it wasn't too bad. That night we made homemade pizza and it was an early bedtime for the kids since we were out late the night before.

On Sunday morning, we have church together as a family in our home. Because of the lack of space available for protestant churches, our church here is not very family-friendly. So we have church at home and then Cody or I take turns walking the four blocks down to church to worship. This week at home church, we spent the majority of our time together writing a letter, color pictures and praying for the Compassion child we sponsor in Rwanda.

We finished homework in the afternoon and played the Wii a little. We got the Wii last winter when we were stuck inside for months. It has been so much fun for our entire family, and it provides a little exercise during the months when it rains for days on end.

Finally, we made cashew chicken (from a packet I imported) and egg rolls last night for dinner. Yum, yum, yum. We ended the weekend with extra reading before bed and an episode of Battlestar Gallatica for Cody and I after the kids were tucked in.

We turned in early, in preparation for a long week. A good weekend.

A Bonus Entry

I saw something this week I just had to blog about. . . if only I had had a picture!

Obviously pizza is big here. :) Usually, you order one pizza per person. They are about a foot in diameter, but the crust is really thin and toppings aren't very dense. They're always cooked in a wood-burning oven. Common pizza toppings include: sausage, prosciutto (ham), bell peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, and salami. You can also get toppings such as potatoes, sardines, egg, tuna, and hotdog.

Well, this week our team went to a new restaurant, where they offer a pizza for three. I've never seen this anywhere else. It was as big as any pizza I've ever seen in the States and it had a much, much thicker crust than the typical Italian pizza. It comes with buffalo mozzarella, garlic and cherry tomatoes, but you could add any topping you wished.

Upon leaving, we passed a table where they had ordered the pizza for three topped with hotdogs and french fries! Yes, hotdogs and french fries! And they weren't McDonald's fries either--we're talking huge steak fries (actually, our STINT gal from the Netherlands said they're Belgian Fries). Wow. Definitely a first. Can't say I'll be trying it any time soon. . . but I know where you can get it if you're interested!

Living the Gospel

There is not a day that goes by that I don't pray for our friends Fabio and Alyssia to put their faith in Christ. They have become so dear to us, and I want so much for them to understand how much God desires to have a personal relationship with them.

In the past month we haven't been able to hang out with them because of commitments Fabio had at work out of town. It's also been in the past month that Cody and I have been knee-deep in the hardest place we've ever been in personally. God is working so much out in our lives, but it's also just really, really hard.

This past week Cody has been fasting, and wouldn't you know they called to see if we could come to dinner. We said we'd have to hold off this time, but Hannah could come over to play with Alice. When Cody went to drop her off, Fabio was so concerned for him and for us. We had decided that we would share as openly as we were able with them, and use the opportunity to demonstrate to them how we're trusting God to provide true, lasting healing.

In what Cody shared, Fabio was really stunned at the depths of which Cody was going to hear from God. (Ironically, his words were, "You are such a good person for that doing this" . . . what a great opener to share how just the opposite is true, and that is why we so desperately need God!) The rest of the evening was filled with spiritual conversation and ended with Fabio wanting to read the Bible. He and Cody are going to get together this week to start talking about it. Praise God! We trust that God will speak mightily to him through His Word.

One of the central issues Fabio is struggling with is how the church (the Catholic Church) can know the motives of people's hearts, thus being able to declare them "good enough" for heaven or not. What a great question!

We also learned even more about the still continual influence of the Church. I had mentioned in a previous post about how they had just enrolled Alice in catechism. We were honestly shocked because we had never heard them talk about church before. We learned that parents feel "forced" to do catechism because of the ramifications for their kids when they grow up. For instance, one day if Alice wanted to get married in a religious service, she would have had to have gone through catechism.

Please continue to pray for this precious family! Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be working powerfully in their lives. Pray against the schemes of the enemy to distract them from pursuing God's truth. Pray for their eyes to be open to the God who wants to know them personally.

Our First Italian Road Trip

This past weekend was our first chance to take the car out on the open road and experience a "road trip" Italian style. Our annual Fall Staff Conference was held in Pomezia this year. Pomezia is a small town (almost a suburb) just south of Rome and is roughly 450km (280mi) from Bologna. So, we packed up the car like we've done in years past and headed out.

The first new experience for us is that almost all the major freeways (autostrade) in Italy are toll roads. So, from Bologna to Rome and back was roughly $65 just for tolls. Also, because the Autostrada is a closed system, there are only so many places you can pull off the road for food and gas. For Jen and I, these were noticable differences which required some adjustments, but for the kids it still boiled down to the unviersally asked question, "Are we there yet?" It's been a little over a year since our kids have "road-tripped" and have subsequently lost their roadtrip muscles. I don't think we had even left the Bologna area before Gavin began to verbally wonder when we'd arrive.

While the more famous German "Autobahn" is known for it's high-speed access, the Italian varient definately has limits very similiar to the States. 130km (80mph) is the max speed in most areas though it varies. But, unlike the States, there are very few stretches of straight road. For me, it's really a joy to actually "drive" versus pointing my hood in the right direction and setting the cruise control. For the rest of family, motion sickness is becoming a more common friend. :) The stretch from Bologna to Florence is very twisty and snakes through various mountains.

Once we arrived in Pomezia for the conference, our family had a great time. It is such blessing to gather with other missionaries and be encouraged by sharing stories of similiar experiences, hearing from the Word, and a enjoying a little downtime. This time is especially encouraging for our kids, as they get to play with their "American friends" for a few days. One afternoon is dedicated entirely to the kids, as all the staff put together a "Fall Carnival" full of games, food, music, candy, and fun. For Jen and I, it's a time to gain focus and encouragement as we move forward in ministry. We are only together with all the other Italian staff twice a year, but those times really are a breath of fresh air for us.

After receiving such rest and input, it was a huge blessing to be able to get back into our car and drive home, instead of taking a shuttle to the train station, occupying kids for a three hour train ride and then bussing back to our apartment. We actually arrived home not physically exhausted! We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Gavin went at a Knight but got transformed into Spiderman at the face painting booth.


Is he not the cutest little pirate you've ever seen?

The Parent Meeting at School

I wish I had some pictures of this event! But alas, that would have been obnoxious.

Last week was a parent meeting at Hannah's school. All of the parents came for a meeting led by her teachers (she has three), where they discuss the curriculum for the year, field trips they have planned and any issues they have concern about. Oh, and we elect a parent representative, who is then the go-between, between the parents and teachers.

So though we all know each other (Hannah stays with the same students and teachers throughout all five years of elementary school), the election of our parent representative had to follow strict protocol. Even though there was only one person who wanted the job, we each had to fill out a ballot, put all our identification information on it (i.e. our passport information) and put it in the voting box. Very official.

Last year I attended this meeting, but since we'd only been in the country one month, I quite frankly didn't understand a word that was said. This year, I understood a lot more. We did talk about the changes to their teaching style this year, but the majority of our time we talked about. . . you guessed it, food! Were the kids eating all their lunch? Were they eating their veggies too? Are they picky? Do they eat too fast? Can my child bring a toothbrush to use after lunch?

You know, sometimes it's been easy to look at the centrality of food in this culture and roll my eyes a bit (OK, a lot). But I confess that perhaps I'm becoming converted. Food is the venue for relationships. It is a great example of how Italians love to give their opinion. Food is common ground.

I knew this was changing in our lives when I suddenly became picky about the type of pasta I bought (only sun-dried--it allows sauce to cling better), when I began to discern what type of sauce goes on what shape of pasta (for instance, meat sauce is better on long pastas like spaghetti or linguine and pesto is great on farfalle but not penne), and when Cody suddenly decided we could no longer use Grana Padana to top our pastas with, only Reggiano Parmigiano. Yep, we're Italian foodies now.

So getting back to the parent meeting, we again have to thank God for just how incredibly He answered so many prayers for Hannah and her school situation. We think her teachers are great. They think Hannah is great. Hannah, in less than one year, is fully fluent in the language. Italians can not tell she is not a native speaker. Praise God! School has also proven to be our best venue for developing relationships in which to share the gospel. The parents are a pretty close group, since we're all together for the next five years. We're so thankful for the in-roads God's provided.

As I left this meeting, I thought, "Wow, what a normal thing to do." Granted, we probably wouldn't spend near the amount of time we did talking about food at a meeting in America, but we wouldn't have had a meeting like this in America. I love the community-based culture of Italy. And we're fully participating in it. God shows me daily just how much He has done in the past 13 months.

A Mommy/Ben trip

Last week Ben and I took a trip to Leiden, Holland ( just south of Amersterdam) to be with some friends from Houston who moved to the Netherlands last April as missionaries and had their third baby a couple of weeks ago. They obviously don't have family around, so we felt like it was a great chance to go serve them during this really precious time in their family's life.

It was a great trip all around! It was quite the adventure. We flew Ryan Air, since that was really the only way we could afford to make the trip happen. What a deal though! We both flew round trip for 50 Euro total. It did make it a bit more exciting though. We had to fly into Brussels, take a shuttle from the airport to the train station and then take a train from there into Leiden, with a train change at The Haag.

Ben did such a great job traveling. It was so fun for me to have five days to hang out with just him! As the youngest, he hasn't had that opportunity much. And the friends we went to visit have a little boy that is only a month older than Ben. It was a new experience for him to play with someone his own age. Mostly it was a ton of fun. Of course, they definitely had their moments. . . :)

(Ben with Whit and Annabelle--baby Elijah was snuggled in his stroller)

Here are a couple of pictures around Leiden. The Netherlands were just beautiful. I loved the water everywhere. When we were there trees were just hinting at starting to change color. Right in the middle of Leiden is this windmill, which I thought was awesome. One day, I was walking with the boys down a bike trail/sidewalk (the bike culture in the Netherlands is a story worthy of a whole other blog entry in and of itself!), when we passed a man in his 30's, dressed for the office, walking in wooden clogs. Our friends have assured us in the six months they've lived there they have never seen anyone wearing clogs. . . it was a priceless moment I wish I could have gotten a picture of!

This other picture is from one of the many bridges in the city showing the canals that run all over the country. The city is full of them. They add such a lovely backdrop to daily life. Though I hear a lot of cars end up in them by having to park right next to the water.

One of my questions about the Netherlands was "what exactly is Dutch food?" The answer is that there isn't much. Mostly they eat every other ethnicities' food. I came back with a ton of great asian spices! But one night we went to an authentic Dutch restaurant that I think has been around for something like 100 years. What do they serve? Pancakes. It was awesome! I had a pancake that was probably 18 inches in diameter that had bacon, mushroom, onion and cheese in it. It was very thin, but slightly different than a crepe. Ben had an apple, sugar and cinnamon pancake. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

It was a great week. Great to hang out with Ben alone for such an extended period of time. Great to get to love on our friends at such a sweet time in their lives. Great to just be with such like-minded friends on such a similar adventure as ours. It was a deeply refreshing trip.

A Guest Writer

Last week Jim and Linda Allen flew in from the States to join our team for a week of prayerwalking around the city, in preparation for the launching of our ministry this week. It was an incredible, if challenged, time. I asked them if they would write about their impressions of Bologna and Italy for the Blog, so that you could read about an "outsider's" perspective. This is what they shared:

The last week of September we had the privilege of joining Cody and Jen in Bologna to pray for Italy in general, and for the university students in particular. It was a daunting task to “stand in the gap” for so many people – what can a few people say to an Almighty God that would actually make a difference for a whole country? Yet He tells us to call to Him, and He will answer us, and tell us great and mighty things we do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3)

We got to see that God is at work in Italy. He has burdened the hearts of two small evangelical churches in Bologna to pray for an outreach to the university students. In answer to that, He is clearly calling workers to go there to share the gospel – the Phipps family being one example of that.

Being in Italy helped us to understand the context in which Cody and Jen are working. It is a different culture to which they must adapt in order to build the social networks necessary for communicating spiritual truths. It’s a culture with a tradition of religion that doesn’t promote the gospel of grace. And, like in much of the world, there is a focus on materialism and humanism that ignores the need for a deeper life. These are the obvious obstacles that Cody and Jen face daily in their ministry. However, the greatest and often less obvious obstacle is spiritual attack from Satan. We experienced it in the short time we were there. Of a team of 8 people, 5 were unable to join the prayer walks for most of the week because of health problems they encountered. What an affirmation that prayer for Italy is vital – it’s threatening the enemy’s territory! Our discussions with Cody and Jen reaffirmed this fact. Missionaries on foreign soil deeply need prayer and encouragement from the body of Christ.

On another note, our trip to Italy had personal significance for me, Linda. My father was in Italy during World War II. He participated in the campaign that brought liberation to the Italians. Understandably, it was a grievous experience for him – one that affected him emotionally and spiritually for life. Over the years I heard so many of his war stories and descriptions of Italy that I suppose I adopted some of his grief. As a result, I never had a desire to visit Italy. So what does the Lord do? He sends us to Italy! Even though we didn’t visit the specific sites Daddy did, I sensed a significance in just being in the same country. Part of it was that my bias against Italy was dispelled. But also, the Lord has been showing me a bigger picture: He is at work to complete what the Allied army began over 60 years ago. They brought military and political liberation to Italy; now God is working to bring true, lasting spiritual freedom. Daddy’s grief is rendered powerless and I am allowed the privilege of being, through my prayers, part of God’s redemptive plan for Italy!

Often we can feel so overwhelmed not only by the task at hand but by the opposition we encounter relentlessly. During our week of prayer, I was reminded often of the verse in Matthew where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God "forcefully advancing." I pictured that happening tangibly that week. It brought countless blessing and encouragement to our whole team.