Fotos

Here we are in the centro the campaigners on the night that they arrived. We had such a great time just catching up and showing them around Prato.

Cinque Terre at it's best!!!! This the 4th City, Vernazza. This is shot from the actual vicious hiking path! It was a total killer, but isnt the view gorgeous?!!?!

Me and my sweetie on the hike, The coast was soo beautiful! If you know me, you know how important the ocean is to me. I was in heaven with the sea so close!

We found out while we were there that Italy was Playing against France that night so we found a restraunt with a tv and watched the game with the Italians. It was a blast because the natives are crazy when it comes to soccer! They yell and scream...hahah.... but I guess thats what makes it soo fun huh?

This was taking during one of our puppet shows this week. I am the "conductor" of the gospel train, and here I am leading the kiddos around the park. Quite fun! The love it, esp. when I spend the train up to running speed.=)

After the week of death

Hello everybody!!! Im alive! Back in the land of the living. Sorry it has taken entirely too long for me to update the blog, I've just been a mess. Like Aaron said earlier, a big mean stomach virus came along and took me out for a whole week. I felt like a prisoner in this house and it was miserable. Good news is, though, that Italians do have good medicine. Who knew?=) So anyway, after the week of pain, great things started happening again. The Italy campaign finished that same weekend, and they made their way up to Prato to see us for a night. That was a blast, we got to hear all kinds of amazing stories about the work that was going on in cities all over Italy. It was nice to be reminded , after a week like I had, that there is soo much going on, so much work to do here. It was definitly a pick me up to see them. The best part about them being here is that we were able to plan a day trip together to go to Cinque Terre (a series of 5 smalls cities on the coast). We went first to Florence to catch up with the Daggett family on their way through Tuscany, and that was amazing. It was soo nice to be around people that we knew loved us and that could offer us some encouragement. They were great about telling us that they think we're doing a good job and to keep it up. They really encouraged us not to loose heart and to work even harder this last month that we have here. They gave us some ideas of new things to be involved in and ways to make new relationships. That was soo needed and totally priceless to us, because we had been getting a little down. We feel renewed and refreshed and ready to work, Thank God. We have realized how important relationships are. Sometimes when the work is slow or we feel like we aren't making a difference, it's good for us to remember that relationships are the reason we are here. Through forming relationships we can encourage, teach, and comfort. We intend to spend a big part of our time doing just that, forming relationships here. The Christians in the church in Prato are so closed off from each other, and they dont open up to each other. What an opportunity for us to be what they need while we are here! =) Anyway, thats been really on my mind, sorry about the soapbox=) Outside of spending time with the Italian families we have been hosting puppet shows in parks around the city all week and thats been fun. Really HOT, but soo fun. The kids love it. Sooo many actually come out and sit through the 2 hour show! warming all over the place! There is a ridiculously vicious hiking path the runs to/ thru each ofOh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys about the actual trip to Cinque Terre! It was soo stinking fun! WE loved it there! I'll post pics, but the cities are in the mountains right along side of the Med. sea. They are super quaint and cute, with tons of tourists swarming the cities. There is a ridiculously viscious hiking path that leads through each of the cities and it was fun/exhausting to do that with the campaigners! We couldn't have asked for a better end to the "week of death". Before I go, I just wanna say how much I miss you guys. SO MUCH! I am having a bit of a hard time with being so far away. I feel completely excluded from your lives, and its killing me. PLEASE, please write me updates on you. Let me know the new and exciting things that are happening in your lives! I love you all soo much, and pray for you daily. God bless you all this week!

p.s. This Wed. coming up (the 25th) is a very special day. It will be our 3 year anniversary!!!!!!! We are taking an overnight trip to Venice to celebrate and we are soooooo excited!!!! Pray for everything to go well please, so that we can start year 4 with a bang!! =)

One Month

Dear Family,
I hope you all are well and enjoying your summer as much as we are. As I sat down to scribble out this post, I was reminded that this week is our fourth here in Italy. We have roughly six more left. It’s hard to believe that we are nearly at the half-way point for our time here. In some ways, it has flown by. We are learning so much Italian and have become pretty well adapted to the way things work here in Prato, at least in our little circle. So, in that respect, it seems as though we’ve been here a while. Then, when I think about the fact that one half of our time here is nearly over, and that one third of our entire summer is gone, it seems that time is flying by!! But, all in all, it has been a great month overall, except for the fact that we have been sick for the last few days. Josie and I both seem to have gotten a stomach virus that is going around, so we’ve been in bed for the last couple of days. Especially Josie; she’s had it pretty bad. I’m confident that we’re on the better side of things now, and we’ve finally gotten some good medicine that seems to be helping. So, no worries about us. We’re in good hands. :)

Up until our illness, we were staying quite busy with the activities in the church and other things. As for activities with the church, we’ve been able to visit with some of the members quite frequently, going to their homes and hanging out, and getting ice cream together. Also, a couple of the members of the church here had birthdays last week, so we threw them a part that practically the whole congregation attended. As for our group’s (the Mahan’s, the AIMers, and us) activities, we all went into the mountains Sunday night to sing for a conference held by a local battered women’s support group. As a show of their appreciation for our singing, we were invited to dinner, which was a four-course meal that lasted over two hours! We as a group are also doing singing and puppet practice, getting ready for those activities later this week. For Josie and me personally, we got a chance see some friends from the States when the Wilson’s came through Florence as part of their European backpacking trip. It was good to see old friends, and to experience Florence together with them. We also have been working on Italian, both in private lessons and in everyday conversations with church members and people here in Prato. It was a lot of fun going to the pharmacy to get Josie some medicine, and trying to explain to the woman there what I was wanting! I have a hard enough time doing that in the States, much less here in a language I really don’t know!! But I made it through, and learned a few new vocabulary words as well. :)

We have yet to get a chance to do much traveling to some of the really beautiful and scenic towns here in Tuscany. Between bad weather and illness, we’ve basically been in Prato the entire time. We hope to venture out for a couple of short day trips in the next week, and maybe a couple of over-night trips to visit with other missionaries here in Italy later in the month. We should be back in Florence with the Daggetts and some of the campaigners this Monday when they come through. It will be such a blessing to see them again, and hear about all their adventures from the last month. We had hoped to be with them this week while they were in Naples, but it just didn’t work out. So, we’ll settle for Monday, since even a little visit is better than none at all.

We miss you all dearly and pray for your well-being constantly. We also ask for your continued prayers for us and the work here. May God continue to bless you and your work for His kingdom in your everyday life, and may he bless our brothers and sisters here in Italy as they struggle in the same effort.

Love to you all,

Aaron

This is what the Piazza at the Center of town looks like. This is where you will see everyone hanging out on a typical afternoon. We pass this on the way to church. It's pretty huh

He He He. ok, ok, this is just me being silly, but take a look at what's behind me. That is the river side/mountain side of Prato. It's gorgeous. Aaron and I have bible time over here often. It's what I always imagined Tuscany would be like....

Here we are singing at the Nursing home. This was soo much fun. We sang some Christian songs and some Tuscan folk songs. They loved it! Notice... one of the little old ladies even got up to be with us=) Sooo cute!

Here is "La Chiesa di Cristo" on a Sunday morning. There are about 25- 30 members at the church in Prato, and they are all great.

Prato

Ciao tutti! It's me again! I miss you guys, but life here is swell.=) God has helped us to really get involved and feel a little more at home. We have been a part of alot of different activities this past week and a half and that has been great because it's created alot of opportunities for us to reach out to the church members as well as the AIMers. Right after we got in town we dived right into puppet practice to prepare for a big puppet show in the park later on in the summer. The church here in Prato really likes this form of outreach because is non-intrusive and kids from all over can come out and be entertained, all the while creating contacts with parents. So yea, we did that and then we got to do my favorite thing of all so far. We went and sang at a nursing home one morning for a couple of hours. It was amazing. I love going in to visit and hug people that spend most of their days in solitude. They yearn for touch and smiles,and it felt so good to be able to make their day. We got to hear awesome stories too. We have had several church get togethers also, birthday parties and fellowship meals. Those have been great for our Italian because we are forced to speak it just to communicate with the church. It's been great though, not as hard as I thought. We've even be able to make plans with several members of the church to have lunch, or garden together, or just hang out--- so I say we must be doing really good=) Seriously though, its been awesome how they have just accepted us as one of them. We've only been here a week and already have plans to spend time with almost all of the families at church. That has been good for more reasons than just Italian learning, it helps us to feel like we have purpose here and like we might be able to make a difference while we are learning.

On a personal note, I have been attempting to cook like the Italians do. Kinda tough, but I think I'm getting it. It can't be that bad, cuz I have been watching Aaron's belly grow =) Aaron and I have also been trying to create a schedule for ourselves so that we don't get into the bad habit of sitting around. We are creatures of routine and setting up a daily schedule has been great for us. We get up and have bible time, stop by our favorite bar for a pastry, and then head out. We either go to the Mahan's for Italian lessons or to whatever "appointment" we made for the day. That has helped alot. Also, because we live with 3 other girls and are almost constantly around people, we decided to take one day a week just for us. Kinda like a date day. On those days we are going to head out to one of the small towns that surround Prato- in Tuscany and enjoy time alone sightseeing. Train tickets here are like 1 Euro, so its a pretty inexpensive way for us to keep our priorites straight and having fun while we're doing it=)

Thanks you guys for keeping in touch and letting us know that you love and miss us. That means soo much to us. Italy has been great, but I'll be honest, the one thing missing is all of you. Being away from home is really hard when you are away from your friends and family. God bless you all this week.

Love always,
Josie