Summer Time and Busy

Well, it's finally summer! And it's starting out to be a beautiful summer indeed. It's about 70 degrees right now and cloudy and rainy. But we'll take this weather any day over the blistering heat we experienced last summer! God is so good!

I guess we should catch you all up on what has been going on these past few weeks.

TENNESSEE
First, we had a volunteer team in town from TN. We split the volunteers into 6 groups of 9 to 10 people. Mine and Jason's groups ministered in Vomero in the mornings and in Chiaia in the evenings. The morning ministry involved walking into small shops and attempting to have conversations with the workers. The team handed out several Bibles, Book of Hopes (the gospel of John in magazine format), salvation bracelets, etc.

The evenings were quite a change. The volunteers were out in a park or piazza and were able to interact with kids and adults using whatever means possible to start conversations. The boldness that we saw in these volunteers was amazing! Some would approach people sitting on a park bench and have a nice conversation. Some would bring a ball to a child and offer to play with them. The guys were able to engage several Italians in a friendly soccer game. And these kids were really good! Check out this video:



Through this team of volunteers we now have several new friends in the city. We also now have several life-long friends from TN who we already miss. It was a wonderful group to work alongside and we are blessed to have had this opportunity! We saw three people come to know Jesus this week!! Praise God!

MT. VESUVIUS
We tried to take a trip up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius with our newest team members: Jenae and Brittany. We got on several trains and finally made it to the bottom of Vesuvius, only to find out that the workers were on strike and no one was being allowed past the bottom. We decided not to let this ruin our day, so we got back on the train and headed out to Sorrento (a very cute little city on the edge of the Amalfi Coast). We walked around and shopped and ate at a nice little restaurant where Jason accidentally ordered a seafood pasta. We made a quick visit to the beach and then headed back to Napoli.

ROME...Again?
For those of you who have not heard yet, I'm not particularly fond of Rome. Jason and I had to go to Rome the night before the TN team came to pick them up and get them to Napoli. Then the following weekend, we went back up to Rome to show the TN team around. Then, for the third weekend in a row, we found ourselves on a train headed back up to Rome...again. In all these train rides to and from Rome, I've noticed a pattern. Train rides are an excellent opportunity to share Christ. And that's what we've done the past several times we were on trains. The last trip to Rome had the added bonus of seeing Kim, one our TN friends, before she made her way back to the states.

VBS ENGLISH CAMPS
Almost caught up...This week, Shannon is hosting VBS English Camps. She is teaching young kids English through the Bible. Please be praying for her this week. Pray for patience and endurance. Also be praying for the children she is teaching this week and their families who will be hearing the Bible stories from their kids.

UPCOMING EVENTS
In the next few weeks, we have another large volunteer team coming to work in the city. Please begin praying now for the volunteers and the people they will be speaking to while they are here. Please pray for pleasant weather and lots of energy!