Pitiful

Well, yesterday's paperwork adventure was half successful. We were able to get my part of the paperwork into the system to be processed. However, Jason's information has still not reached the Immigration Office. He has another appointment for next week. Please begin praying now for the paperwork to be located and sent to the proper office and that the appointment next Thursday will be smooth and enjoyable. We'll keep you updated on the status of his paperwork.
At this time, we are both sick. We are not sure what we have, but both of us are coughing and running fever. Our supervisors' family is sick as well. Shannon has the flu and the kids have colds. Our other teammate Paul is also running fever. Please be praying for the entire team and our health. Pray specifically for MacKenzie (Paul's wife) who is seven months pregnant, that she will remain well and not catch whatever this is that the rest of us have.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. We love and miss you!!!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, we are returning to the immigration office to turn in our paperwork. Hopefully, this time they have all of the information that was to be mailed to them and we will have all the information and documents they request. Please pray that everything will run smoothly tomorrow morning and that the person behind the counter helping us will be blessed.

Also, we have two new teammates!!! Grace and Cortney are here. They arrived this afternoon. We are all so excited to have them here. Please be praying that jet lag would pass quickly. Also, please pray for a smooth transition into this new life in Napoli.

Skype...

We are looking forward to Sunday when we are going to Skype with our church back home! Can't wait!

Jason...The Electrical Engineer???

Okay...let me be the first to admit, my husband is a man of many talents. But the one that most often scares me is his ability (and innate desire) to take apart an electric powered gadget and then rewire it. This is how it all started: When we tried to plug in the X-box using a power converter, the power supply to the X-box died. Jason's solution: Buy a computer power supply and rewire it to connect to and power the X-box. So, we were sitting in the living room watching a show on iTunes and Jason jumps up and pushes the pause button and gleefully says, "It's the moment of truth!" He plugged everything up and hooked up the X-box to the TV and...it worked. Of course it worked! My husband is an electrical genius! Too bad I didn't get any of that...but that's a whole other story that my husband loves to tell. So...here is the picture of Jason giving a virtual high-five to Charlie (since Charlie dislikes actual high-fives)!!!


On a lighter note, our new teammates will be joining us next Wednesday! We are very excited to have them on the team. Please be praying for Grace and Cortney as they are saying goodbye to friends and family and preparing to move.

Please pray for Jason and me as we are continuing to study the language on our own until we start school again. Please pray that we would use what we know in the neighborhood to meet our neighbors. Please pray that God would ordain meetings between us and the people in our neighborhood and that relationships would begin to blossom.

Upcoming Weeks

We have been back now for three weeks. We attended the church in our neighborhood this morning and had a sweet time of fellowship with some members that we had not met before. There were a lot more people (close to 40) there than were attending in July (10 to 15). Please pray for this church as they attempt to be a beacon of truth in this neighborhood. Please pray that we would find a way to partner with them in reaching our neighborhood (Vomero).

In the coming weeks, we will be out and about in our neighborhood a lot more than we have in the past. Please pray for us as we begin these God-ordained relationships. Pray that God would already be at work in the hearts of the people we will be meeting and that we will not struggle to speak, but that the conversations will occur naturally.

We found out yesterday that we will be able to go back to school for language. We will no longer be taking the intensive courses like we were before. The courses we are going to take will be more spread out and slower paced. We will attend school for a couple of hours, three days each week. We start back on November 9th. Please pray for us as we study on our own before returning to school. Pray that we will be able to recall the language that we have already studied and that we would retain any new information.

The weather here quickly changed from summer to winter. Walking to and from church this morning was a chilling experience. To warm up, we had our first Italian Cioccolata Calda (hot chocolate) at a cafe down the street called Dolce Vita (Sweet Life). The hot chocolate here is not the same as it is in the states. It's thick and rich! So good. The servers were extremely nice and very interested in speaking English to us, even though we struggled to speak Italian to them. With all the cold weather, this will be a nice place to stop and possibly have good conversations. Please begin to pray for the workers at this cafe as we begin these relationships. Pray that God would prepare their hearts and that they would be open to the new friendship.

Children

Have you ever wished you could go back to the days when you had nothing to worry about? No to-do lists, no bills, no future plans, even peer pressure wasn't an issue. Mom and/or Dad did all the hard work, all we had to do was follow. I was reminded this morning that, these are the days.
Matthew 18:1-5

Opinions

I just shared my opinion about a present for a four year old boy with a stranger...in Italian! She first asked me if I knew Italian. And although I answered that I was American (which looking back on the conversation, I now realize that was not what she was asking), she still asked for my opinion. And to top it all off, she actually took my opinion to heart. Ah, the simple things in life.
We are settling in and finally starting to sleep through the night. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. They are appreciated beyond words. Please pray for us as we delve back into the language learning process. Grasping the language is key in sharing the Good News here. Please continue to pray for more encounters between us and our neighbors and that God would give us the words to say.
~Emily

We're Back!

We're back! And we were welcomed with a beautiful "Welcome Back" sign, courtesy of Micah, Emma, Alessia, and Benjamin. We've been home for one week today and jet lag is still causing problems. I was finally able to get a good 6 hours of sleep last night, and it has done a world of good. Praise God! Jason, however, has still been unable to sleep through the night. Please be praying that our bodies will finally adjust to the time change and relax and rest through the nights.

Our newest additions to our team (Cortney and Grace) have completed and turned in their visa paperwork. They are patiently awaiting the response from the consulate. Pray that God's hand would be on this process and that there will be no delays in the approvals.

We are trying to get back into the new language. Hopefully, after somewhat of a break, we will remember all that we had stored from before. Please be praying that we would grasp this new language quickly and be able to get fully into the ministry God has placed us here for. Pray that we would once again be in contact with others in our building. Pray that God would give us the strength and discipline to not only stay true to this calling but to do so with all of our hearts.

We love and miss you all. Thank you for praying for us and being a part of this calling with us!!!