Last week turned out to be quite the busy week. The one thing that did clear up was my schedule on monday and wednesday as no one really showed up for the scheduled english class. As Ive said before, Im learning more and more that one of the main things God is teaching me through this trip is some good old patience. However, this past week, i had six out of the twenty people signed up for the course show up and that was a bonus so the english course is on its way.Last weekend was when there was a lot going on. Our church hosted the 20th annual Mennonite Churches of Italy conference. There was a group of American missionaries living in Bari that came down for this as well. Saturday morning there was a Mega Incontro (Mega Meeting) which was a meeting for the youth from all the different churches in the area. It was a lot of fun. Two representatives from an organization called Vision for Youth came and shared their vision for the youth in the world, and specifically that of Italy and their possible involvement in upcoming ministry. They also shared on something that I had been praying about and wanted to be able to give a message to my youth group. They talked about being a shining light for God in their everyday life with their everyday friends. It was really great to see the response to this message.After that was over that afternoon we all went back to the church where the conference was getting started. It was a really wonderful time of worship and heartfelt messages from the different pastors. These are all the pastors that were there this weekend.
The conference continued on Sunday as well and me and a few young guys actually did a little short skit in front of everyone. It was pretty fun. It was a little difficult as I was assigned a huge paragraph, and it was in Italian, but we pulled it through pretty well. This is our triumphant picture we took after we were done!!!
As usual, the improptu church dinners continue. Without any planning many people show up and we all eat and spend time together at the church. Those are some of my favorite times! This was the last most recent one, with pizza and pasta...what more could you ask for!!!
