It's been too long...

Well it's been pretty much over a month since I updated. But things have been so crazy, that everytime I sit down to write, I have to go. Things have been CRAZY here. (did i say that enough).

After I last wrote, millions of visitors have passed through the Walti Hostel. :) JJ Leach came for a fantastic visit from Wales. She was SUCH a joy to have here. She is such an example of someone with a heart after the Lord. His joy permeates evry fiber of her being. I will treasure our conversations for a long time. :)

After JJ, came my parents and little brother Alex. Again SO grateful that they are here. Especially that they came in a time when I was still teaching classes, so they were able to sit in on what I have been doing for the past 3 and a half months. Now when I tell them hilarious stories about my students they actually know what I'm talking about.

I am SO grateful they came. I think until they actually saw me teaching they didn't really understand. They also came to class and shared about life in Florida and New York, which was hilarious. The students loved them.

While Mom and Dad were here we had graduation for all of our classes. What a crazy week. I don't know if I've ever communicated my schedule here. Let me give you a break down.

Monday: Meet at 9 am to Study Italian and Do class Planning for the week until 11 or 12. then hop on a train to Valvasone (about a 25 minute train ride) to go teach classes there. From 4-5 Maureen and I have our Bible Study (which is a post in itself, God is SO good!). Classes begin at 6:15-7:15 with a second classes at 7:30-8:30, after which I rush to the train station to catch the 9:11 train which gets in at 9:38, where I wait for the 9:55 bus and get home at around 10:15.

Tuesday: 9am Udine Church Meeting (as ESL teachers we also help with any events or outreachs for the Church here in Udine, we help whenMission teams come with anything they need from cooking to helping groups get around the city, we were also doing a book study on "Charity and It's Fruits" by Jonathan Edwards, which I usually read on Monday night when I got home.) Then from 2:30-3:30, we have what i liked to call "Quiet Times with Ken Wells". Where Ken would meet with us teachers and we would ask any question we wanted, regarding the bible, evangelism, theology, everything. Such amazing times. Then usually I would meet with a student until 4:30 when we would teach 3 classes until 8:30, get the 9:00 bus and be home by 9:30.

Wednsday: Study Italian at 9 am, clean house, and meet with students until about 2, where I would catch the bus to the 2:30 train to get to Valvasone to teach kid's classes at 4:45-5:45, then teach Adult Classes at 6:15-8:30 again, with the same train schedule as on Monday.

Thursday: 9 am at Becky's house, to drive the 40 minutes to Valvasone for ESL Team meeting, complete with bible study (aka Cryfest '09), Italian quizzes, class planning, and scheduling. Then Sherry and I jumped on the train at 2:30, get to Udine by 3:00, walk the half hour walk to the building and then teach from 4:30-8:30.

Friday: DAY OFF or as we like to call it, the day we are supposed to have off, but we never really do, and its totally ok.:)

Saturday: Meet with students, clean the Church at 10 am.

Sunday: Church at SBI in the morning, and then come back for Udine Church at 5:30. Clean the church again after church. Go home and sleep.

SO MUCH FUN! :) and I'm not being sarcastic. We really had a blast. The best thing was meeting with friends, because everytime we got together, they asked us tons of questions about why we are here, etc. So many oppurtunities to share the Gospel, the most precious thing we have. And apart from those times there were the times just walking down the street that a Catholic Missionary or Jehovah's Witness or Mormon stopped me on the street who I had oppurtunities to share with as well (we have a joke about me attracting lots of all the missionaries, I don't know why). God is so gracious to give me the words in Italian. His power is so amazing and so displayed when I was able to speak language I'm really not that familiar with.

Anyway that a really long post and I didn't even get to talk about graduation, where at every graduation we had, we had our boss come and share the Gospel with all of our students, who then asked us TONS more questions. I miss my students SO much. I have continued getting together with some of them, but it's been kind of hard because now we are on family vacation (Georgie, Noelle and Brynn just arrived). But Please continue to be praying for what God is doing here in Udine, Italy. Anyway, miss you all and see you soon! I should have some pictures up soon. Of Graduation and stuff!
Love,
Alyssa

Prayers Please!

Hey Everyone,
I don't have a lot of time to write anything long, but I just wanted to say that the earthquake in Italy this week did not affect my Udine at all. :) I've been getting some emails and calls asking if we are ok and we are fine. But the earthquake did affect many people in l'uquilia, a town east of Rome, from what I understand there is a large group of believers there, who run a Christian camp. So please be praying for them and for all the people affected by this earthquake. :) love you all!

More Birthdays...more amazing Italy :)

Hey Everyone!
It's been a while and things are SO busy. With classes ending at the end of April, things are getting crazy! But so amazingly fun and God is just SO good. :)
I think I mentioned the bible study I am helping with in Valvasone on Mondays. Maureen and I started a couple weeks back and yesterday we had our third meeting. With all three ladies still there...and one more came! It was SO exciting. Now if I haven't explained, these ladies are unbelievers, they don't read their Bibles and basically only believe Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They don't think that the Old Testament is relevant at all. We decided to do this study on the book of Esther, and to my surprise, they had NEVER heard or read the story of Esther. In fact the Bible Stories I've grown up with are totally new to them. So we began the study, and now in our third week everyone is coming back, everyone is comfortable to share, really thinking about it and have asked to extend the Bible Study past 4 weeks!!! It's been amazing. God has been so good to use me to speak Italian words, I've never even heard before. haha! We are so excited! Maureen and I close the door as they leave and just begin to pray together, thanking God for His providence. He is SO good!!! Some of the ladies are so excited about it that they said, "I read the whole book I couldn't wait!!" (Because we are going chapter by chapter). And a friend of Maureens' in Florida is doing a Bible Study on Esther too and when we told the ladies in our study they got so excited, now the two groups are praying for eachother! Also, my Bible has like notes on the bottom, extra things, maps and such, and everytime I share something from there they are amazed that I have a Bible that gives explanations, or that these things really happened in history. We are watching the Bible become a reality to these women and it is such a privelege to watch! So please continue to pray for them!!! Mirella, Liliana, Mikela, and Clara, such sweet ladies who are very close to my heart!
Also just a note:
Last Saturday March 21st was my brother Georgie's 25th birthday. I just wanted to wish him a belated Happy Birthday and say How much I love him! :) He is the best older brother I could ever ask for. He has always been there for me, and I've loved getting to grow up with him to see him grow up from a Ghostbuster to a godly husband and now father. :) He's seriously one of my best friends and I miss Him SO MUCH! His love for music, and the way he uses the talents God has given him is so encouraging to me. I love you Georgie!
Second, today is Miss Hannah Marie Walti's 16th birthday! My little sister, for sure. I just have to say that seeing her today and talking to her today, how God is growing her to be a young woman with a heart after him. To see her maturity these last few months has been amazing. God is truly using her and working in her heart. :)
Well thats all for today! Love you all and miss you SO much!

Birthdays and Bowling.

This was a pretty crazy week. On top of classes we had a missionary group from North Carolina here and we have been helping out with them this week. Also, Friday was Abby Walti's 6th birthday party. It was a blast...17 screaming little children...so much fun! :) The neat thing was a lot of their parents stayed and Mr. Walti got to share the Gospel with several of them. Also that night we had our ESL bowling night, we invited our students out and had a blast! There are so many great relationships developing with them, it's going to be hard to leave. These are just some pictures from the Friday! :) Love you all!







On the left is Sherry one of other teachers and Alessia a student. Then you know me and Beebers...:)

Smile...You're on Candid Camera....:)

So this is a picture post...:) yay! I finally have good pictures. We had a St. Patrick's Day Party in our classes on Tuesday, complete with Irish Coffee (ok no whiskey, we just used green gelato!), green clothes and Leprauchaun bowties. Our students love hearing about things we do in the USA, so we let them read the history of St. Patrick's Day to practice English and learn some new words. They thought the word Shamrock was crazy....and kept trying to translate it into Italian...we had to explain that is comes from an Irish word. But they all had a blast. I love my students! We gave them paper shamrocks in class with the verse "Declare His glory among all nations..." Psalm 96:3. We aren't really supposed to share about the Gospel in class, but we worked the verse in with how St. Patrick was a missionary to Ireland and he shared about God to them. It was neat. :) Well here are the pictures, the first is of our Advanced Class, the second is our Base class and the third and fourth are our Intermediate Class, and the last picture is Sherry and I teaching about the Shamrock, with me translating. Yikes! and all of them are Tuesday-Thursday Udine classes. :) Enjoy! :)

Where to start...

Ciao!
It's been a while, but I have been crazy busy! Between teaching, meetings, class prep, and getting to know students outside of class. It's been crazy, but amazing! :) My Italian is definitely improving, so thanks for your prayers. The other day I was able to have a full conversation about the Gospel with our neighbor, it was such a blessing, I had Italian words coming out that I don't know where they were coming from, except for the God leading me and giving me the words. :) It was really neat.
I've been meeting with students, and getting to know them. All of them are Italian and super sweet. They all want to know why I am here for long, and it's a great way to share the Gospel, I let them know exactly why I'm here...to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Italians. I've had some great conversations with them. It's so hard here because of the Catholic church, one lady told me that in America it's easy to convert to Christianity, but here you have to be Catholic it's tradition. This is how so many of the people here think. Either you are Catholic or you are an Athiest, there is no in between.
Classes are going great. I love teaching and the students are SO much fun. They love learning and love hearing about our lives in the United States. It's amazing how God has given me such a love for the Italians. His love is so sweet, it's unfailing and endures FOREVER. He is the only one who can satisfy the need these people have. They are so empty, when you first meet them, they seem happy and joyful, but the more you get to know them the more the facade falls and you see how much they need a Savior, how desperate they are. The other day I was in Valvasone, walking around, and I saw this Catholic Funeral Processional, first the car with the body and flowers, than men holding a cross, then the Priest then like 100 people, all going through town on the way to the cemetery. It was so sad, you could see the emptiness in the eyes of the people, praying for their dead, not knowing that it is too late for those who have died, but that there is hope for them. Also the bells rang all day long, people pay to have the bells rung for when a person dies, the longer they ring the richer the person and the more likely they are to get out of purgatory. It's so sad. Please be praying for the people here!! They are so lost.
Well I have to go, but I'll leave you with a couple pictures!

On the left: We had a day of park ministry with the students from SBI.
On the Right: Part of the ESL team (missing Bethany) and two of my friends from Valvasone The rest are pictures of the fantastic ESL team. :) At Becky's birthday party, clockwise, it's Bethany, me, Becky, Sherry and Maureen!

busy, busy, busy...

Hey Everyone,
It's been a while! I've been so busy, I hardly have time to talk to my parents, but it's my day off today so I figured I'd post a little update.
Things are going great here, classes are a BLAST! The students are so much fun. Now we are past that awkward nervous stage and they just love hanging out, in fact after class, they just want to stay and talk to us. It's so much fun! I've got a lot of meetings with students this upcoming week, so please be praying for me for many oppurtunities to share the Gospel! :) Latel it's bene really sunny and a huge blessing.
Last week was Carnevale in Italy, It's like New Orleans' Mardi Gras but better. We went to Venice on Saturday and had a blast. It's actually pretty safe, and there were no drunk people running around, or anything, the best part was all the crazy costumes people wear. Bethany, Hannah and I all bought masks and just had a fun time getting out and doing something fun. :) We also went to Trieste last week with the Walti family, and that was great! Trieste is on the Adriatic Sea and it's really beautiful, the castle there looks like the castle in the Little Mermaid.
Also this week the students from SBI, (the Bible school in San Lorenzo), were in Udine for ministry week, where they handed out tracts in Italian, and did mimes in the street. I heard it went well, but Bethany and I didnt get to see them because we had classes, we do get to participate tonight, though, when they come.
All this week I've just been so grateful for the team we have here. The ladies on my ESL team are amazing. We are having a blast. It's just amazing to me that we all come from different places, we are all different ages, but we are united in the body of believers, we are united in Christ. I know that if I am struggling with something they are always there for me. This week there has kind of been this theme running through all of our meetings about the body of believers and loving others more than we love ourselves. It's been really neat. The people on my team are such an example of that, of loving others and sacrificing for others out of love for them and love for our Savior. :) I love getting to watch them do this everyday.
Also as a side note, it's been requested of me (by Mr. Walti) that I let everyone know not to forget about their friends in Italy, or who are serving in other countries. It can get lonely and receiving emails, and letters of encouragement is huge. Some of my friends here have been feeling it, so please be praying for them.
I miss you all tons, today is actually the mark, I will be home in exactly 3 months. Crazy, I feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time 3 months just doesn't seem long enough! Well i love you all a ton.
Love,
Alyssa

P.S. I understand that Titi Donna has been reading my blog! I miss you! :) Just as a side note for you though, A.C. Milan is playing Udine team here in May. Yea you know what I'm talking about...Rinaldo! :) haha, someone told me that the other day and I had to let you and the family know! Love you so much!

God is bigger than the boogeyman....

Hey Everyone,
It's been a while, but things have been really busy here. This last week, we started our ESL Classes! :) Monday the 9th was our first day. It is SO much fun! Our students are all great. I'm working on building relationships with them, going out to coffee and such this upcoming week. Monday, I taught out in Valvasone (this adorable town like 40 minutes from Udine, it's really tiny, but SO cute!) with Maureen (the ESL director). We did Italian together, and then did some class prep, and then I went out to coffee with the Julia my friend from the Tourist Office in Valvasone. I think we are going to try to get together every Monday while I am in Valvasone all day. We taught Base 2 and Intermediate that night and our students are a lot of fun. God is so good, I normally am not the one to want to get up in from of a ton of people and speak, atleast not without thinking I'm going to pass out, or throw up, but the Lord just really filled me with a peace and I was not nervous at all! It was just SO much fun! The students love every second of it and seem to be having a blast. Tuesday I taught in Udine, with Bethany and Sherry, we taught 3 classes that night Base, Intermediate, and Advanced. Several of our neighbors are taking the classes on the Tuesday/Thursday schedule and it was neat getting to see them, and them knowing who I was. One of our neighbors actually gave Bethany and I a ride home so we wouldn't have to wait for the bus. She's really sweet and it's neat because Mrs. Walti has been reaching out to her for sometime, and now we are building a relationship with her as well. On Tuesday we also had our Udine Team Meeting (for all those who live in Udine) and our ESL team meeting with Mr. Well (the head of the Udine Team) and we talked about how best to present the Bible to Italians and answering questions that Catholics often have, mainly they Roman Catholics here only believe Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they think that the Old Testasment has nothing to do with the New Testament, so he discussed the best ways to talk about this and share the Gospel with out Contacts.
Wednesday I was back in Valvasone, with Maureen, teaching 3 classes, a kids class for 8-11 year olds and then Base 2 and Intermediate again. The students really seem to like us, even though we can't speak Italian, haha. They love talking after class with us and trying out their English, one lady in the class wants me to get together with her daughter and talk to her in English, so we are going to see if that can work out, she lives kinda far away, but we'll see.
Thursday we had out ESL team meeting at Maureen's house. We had a really great time. We have this every Thursday, we study Italian and get tested on our book, we have a time of prayer for our Contacts and students, we do class prep and then we are doing a book study with a book called "Praying God's Word" by Beth Moore. I really love those Thursday meetings, because we all share what the Lord is doing in our lives and showing us in studying this book. This week the chapter we read was on Idols, and how we worship other things that aren't God, and how we need to have an accurate view of God, because if we don't see Him as the Lord Most High or try and fit Him into our little box we will bow to Idols. It was really neat getting to read the scriptures at the end of the chapter and just cry out to God for his help. Needless to say, I LOVE our Thursday meetings. :) That night Sherry and I taught alone in Udine, it went really well and I got to talk some with one of the ladies in our Advanced class, she is unemployed at the moment and said she's really bored...so I invited her out for coffee this week. She's really sweet and I'm excited.
It's just kinda crazy everything going on here. If you know me, you probably know I'm pretty scared of most things and the fact that God is just filling me with boldness to step out and go out with these people I don't know and teach these classes without fear, is amazing. God is so good. :)
Well I need to get going, we have Church this evening in Udine and we are leaving early to meet some friends for Carnevale in the city, there is a parade and such. But I just wanted to say I miss you all SO much and I'm praying for you all the time!
Love you all!
-Alyssa

Ce is Ch...uh..what?

Hey everyone, It's been a while, but it's been busy. This week we had ESL Teachers Training, we started out with Monday, where we met at the church and played a game. The game was an icebreaker, called the Change Game, we paired up and had to observe our partner, then we had turn around and change 3 things about ourselves, then turn back see if they could tell what we had changed. Then three more, then finally ten things. We all started using outside objects to help us and asking the other team to help as well. It got a little crazy as you can see in the pictures, Bethany went a little Jack Sparrow on us. :) The other pictures are of Sherry and Becky, the other two ESL teachers. We are having a lot of fun together. We then sat down and did a bible study time and had a time of prayer, then we shared about ourselves, and shared our testimonies. It's so neat to come together and just have unity already because we are all part of the body of Believers. :) Then we learned how to teach a Base 1 (beginners) class. We have three levels for teaching, Beginners (base), Intermediate (Intermedio), and Advanced (avanzato). Becky gave us newbies a lesson on how to teach. That night we had registration from 6-8, it was a lot of fun, and kind of scary. I just kept saying in my head, "Abbiamo tres livelli, base, intermedio, e avansato." (we have three levels, beginners, intermediate and advaced). It was raining that night, but we still got about 25 sign ups. Tuesday we met up at the church again, this time we started with a bible study, and then went over time management, talking about scheduling and being disciplined so that we can make the most out of our time here. Then Maureen had Sherry, Bethany and I each teach Lesson One, for Beginners, I was kind of nervous, but it was actually really fun, having Maureen, Sherry, Becky and Bethany as my students, haha. I'm SO excited for classes now. That night we had registration again and had about 35 people sign up, and I actually had a semi-conversation with this guy about what level he should be in. Typically, if the person says they want to be in Intermediate or Advanced, Becky will say "Do you understand what I am saying?" one guy said he wanted Intermediate, when Becky asked that he gave that total deer-in-the-headlights look, but still wouldn't change to base, so we let him sign up, and he can just find out on Monday I guess! :) Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Valvasone, at Maureens house, finishing up training and doing registration, we did registration in the Tourism Office of Valvasone, (which by the way is the sweetest little town, where everyone knows everyone, it's great). We got to hang out with the girls who work there and they were really sweet, I think one of the girls and I are going to go out for Coffee next week when I am in Valvasone. So pray for oppurtunities to share the gospel with her! :) The last picture is of me, Bethany, Maureen, Julia and Daniela (the two girls from the Tourism Office), and I have to add that Hannah wanted me to say that "An aging process was done on Alyssa to make her look like she was 50." To Which I say "Oh Hanone, if you looked half as good at 15 as I do at 50, well you would be very lucky." I'm just kidding, everyone, but I do look like I'm 40 in this picture. I promise I'm still 20. :) lol. Love you guys so much. Please be praying as Maureen and Sherry are both sick with bronchitis, please pray for their healing, and for protection from sickness for Bethany, Becky and I. We start classes on Monday, so please be praying for a lot of people who are excited about learning and open to our friendships and to the Gospel. Love you all!! Love, Alyssa

Gettin' Ready, Gettin', Gettin' Ready

AHH! Hey Everyone,
So lots has been going on here. We spent last week handing out fliers for our ESL program all around Udine, mainly putting them in mailboxes, and leaving them in bars. So pray that we get a big response.
This week we also had our SEE staff retreat out in San Lorenzo, at SBI. It was a really fun time, where we talked about what our end goal is and not getting lost in the means. I got together with my ESL team, Bethany, Maureen, Becky and Sherry, and we talked about how our end goal is evangelizing and how our means is teaching english, and learning Italian, it was a really fun time.
This morning at 7am, Clare and my mom left for Florida. I got to say goodbye to them but I already miss them.
Well I dont have a lot of time, I'm a little sick, so I've got to get some sleep, but I just wanted to update you all on a little bit of news I just got, I applied for the Valencia Community College Nursing Progam for Fall 2009, I ended up having to go to a meeting the day I left for Italy. The meeting was at 10am and my flight was at 1pm, so there was a big debate about if I could go or not, and if I would have to leave early. Well our earlier flight ended up getting cancelled and we left at 5pm instead. So I got to go to the meeting, and had extra time, where I found out I could apply for the Nursing Program that very day which I did, well I got my LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE TODAY!!!!!!!! My dad just emailed me to let me know. I am SO EXCITED! And so amazed by God's sovereignty with our flights being changed so I could go to the meeting and find out that I could apply that day! :) Well I am so excited, and I wanted you all to know! :)
So I will talk to you all soon!
Love,
Alyssa

"...'Pace A voi, Pace A Voi', disse cuesto Salvatore..."

Hey Everyone,
It's been a little while, we've been pretty busy though. This past week, after getting home from Paris, Bethany and I had some stuff to do. We got our bus passes, and worked on getting me a cell phone. Friday night to went to a party, hosted by the Well's a family from the Church here in Udine, for the party we went to Citta Fiera (the local "mall") and had a scavenger hunt where we were broken down into teams and had to search the mall for 4 people, who would look different then normal. It was pretty fun, I got to meet a lot of new people, and had A-may-ing pizza. One of the people I met was Beth an R.D. (resident director) at SBI, the school. She very graciously drove us to and from the party. She totally reminds me of my cousin who I'm really close with, Alaina (miss you Lanie!). Yesterday was Bethany and my first day of work. We had to be at Becky and Sherry's (the other two ESL teachers, they are so great!) apartment where we got together and handed out flyers for the classes (Beth and Pete helped us out) we walked all over Udine putting flyers in mailboxes and trying not to get locked into apartment complexes (on Friday Bethany and I handed out flyers in out neighborhood, a different part of Udine, and we got locked in an apartment complex and were contemplating jumping a fence when an Italian man walked by and hit a button that opened gate,he had a good laugh at us). We passed out flyers from 9-1 and then got some pizza, and met up with the Waltis, Clare and my mom, we hung out with them for a while, then Bethany and I walked around Udine until it was time to meet up to do flyers again at 4, we did that for another hour or so and then hung out with Beth until youth group.Youth group was great, it's led by Mierko,(i probably spelled that wrong) and his wife Miriam, they are so sweet, they speak Spanish and Italian, so I usually speak to them in Spanish, the youth group last night was small, about 12 people, but it was great.Mierko spoke on Revival, and how we are part of a body of believers and how we need to wake up, clean up, and get dressed to go out and preach God's Word, we may only be a finger in the body, but we can wake up the next finger till we wake up the hand and so on. he spoke from Romans 13:11-14. He also led worship last night (in Italian), and the title of this blog is lyrics from my favorite song. It means "Peace to you, Peace to you, says our Savior." It goes on to say "No come e mundo da" or "not like the world offers". We have a peace unlike any other! After youth group we went to gelato, and hung out, I absolutely LOVED it. I am so excited to be here with my Italian brothers and sisters. Please pray as I continue to build relationships here, not just with those at the church but with the students. Also, please be praying for the people those who received flyers this week, (we are handing out more tomorow), thats people would be interested and come sign up, that God would bring those he wants, and that God would open their hearts and prepare them for us being able to share the Gospel with them! I miss everyone back home and I'm praying for you guys! :) I'll post pictures soon of stuff here, I keep forgetting to bring my camera out around Udine. bye! :)

Bam Bendy!

Hey Everyone,
It's been a couple of days, but we've been gone, in Paris. :) My mom, Mrs. Walti, Clare, Hannah and Bethany all took a three day trip to Paris (kinda like a mother-daughter/Hannah's 16th birthday trip). We had a blast. It was kinda crazy, because normally when we go to Paris my dad is in control of the map and directions, but since he wasn't with us (I missed you Daddy!) we kinda had to figure it out for ourselves. Which led to many funny times, such as our first night trying to get to our hotel, we asked 2 men on the street for directions, all of the sudden 6 french men are surrounding us, we were very confused, until we come to find out that they were meeting 6 girls at the same spot and they thought we were them. Interesting. Our hotel was very sweet, and we enjoyed our nights there, whenever we came back to the hotel, we would sit and talk in one of the rooms, and look out the window. We actually got into some really good conversations about the Catholic church, which is so prominent here. We went to Notre Dame one day, and saw a women on her knees on the cold hard marble, praying to a saint. I was so saddened. Because she looked so hopeless, she was praying to this saint with a thirst and desire you could just see in her eyes, for something more, she was looking for a hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ. Yet here she was in this hollow, dark, and hopeless church. I just prayed silently for her (i know like two words in French, seriously), and I couldn't help but be so sad. At the same time though, I was SO grateful that Christ has saved me, that the scales have been removed from my eyes and I know the Hope, Peace, and Joy that can only be found in Christ, I have been brought into the light, and how much I want others to know this great Salvation I have been given. If anything it made me SO excited for the ESL classes and this oppurtunity I have.
We had some other crazy times in Paris, like me getting stuck on the wrong side of the Metro (subway) turnstile, and having to sneak under it, while wearing a trench coat, boots, while a man behind us was hitting a button for Security to come get me. The Metro was quite an expierience, as signs took us to nowhere land, and sometimes we had to push to get on. It was nice coming back to Udine and not having to superhero leap to make the train. I also fell down the Metro steps helping Hannah with her bag and I got frisked at the airport. This was just one day(But you know me I just laughed) . We also had a stuck in the bathroom moment (faulty door mechanics) and silly new catchphrases that came from lack of sleep. Oh and if speed walking ever becomes an Olympic Sport, sign me up.)It was so great though being together, getting to be with mom, and everyone, and just having fun together. It was a really sweet time together. I miss everyone back home, and will update soon, Bethany and I have bus passes, cell phones and other things to get in the next few days, we also start work soon. I'll definitely be updating less when that starts, but I'll let you know how it goes. Love you all a ton!

Udine!

So yesterday we had our first tour or Udine. We were able to sleep in (very exciting)! After that we bundled up and headed out...Clare, Hannah, Bethany and I all walked to the bus station, with our tickets (I didn't know where the ticket went and got a little confused). We took the bus into the center of Udine. It was very interesting, people stare at us because they know we are Americans. We walked around all over learning our way around the town, we stopped at one of the Walti's favorite hang-outs Sabrina and Luke's Bar, and I got an amazing coffee thing. We then met up with the rest of the Walti's and my mom, for lunch at Pizza Jolly. We then met up with some of the Walti's friends from Italy. I really miss everyone SO much back home, it's still not real to me that I'm going to be gone for so long. I'm really excited to get started with the ESL classes. But also really nervous. Whenever I've gone on missions trips I can always speak the language, here I'm kinda lost. I understand a lot of Italian but I'm not confident in speaking it. It's a bit of a challenge overcoming fear of man and just speaking the language (the only way I'll really learn). Please pray for me as I try to learn as much as I can, also, for homesickness. I know that the Lord has sent me here for a purpose and it's definitely not for me to be scared and fearful. Please pray that God would give me a boldness to step out of my comfort zone. There's a song on my blog called "I'm Letting Go" it talks about that very thing. Anyway...I'm so excited to be here! Love you all sooo much (in a non-awkward way) and miss you all.

Reunited!

Hey Everyone,
Here I am in Italy!! With the Waltis! We arrived in Venice Italy today at 2:15 pm (Italy time so for your Americans it was 8:15am. It was so good getting to see the Walti's again, unfortunately two of your bags were lost in transit. They had been left behind in Paris (where we had a connecting flight). So AirFrance gave us 100 euros (like 150 dollarsish) to get what we needed, so in spite of our lack of sleep, we headed to the local piazza to get some clothes. I even got to try out my Italian on an unsuspecting fitting room attendant. :) It didn't go too bad! We are supposedly getting out luggage tomorrow, so we are praying it arrives! Other than that our travels were pretty uneventful, other than random Justin Bobby look-a-likes at the airport, (for those of you who don't know who Justin Bobby is, don't worry), the occasional man trying to enter the ladies room, and some funny movies on the plane, we had a very peaceful trip. Thanks for your prayers! It's now 10 pm in Italy and I am extremely tired and about to turn in, in my amazing loft room that I share with Hannah and Bethany, I already set out my book area and put up pictures. Talking with the Walti's in person face to face has been great, getting to see the places they talk about all the time, and just getting to talk to them about the ESL classes has been great. I am so excited for the classes to start and so in faith for what the Lord has planned! I'll update more tomorrow about Italy. love you all! :)
P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who has been praying for me, and those who came to me with encouragment my last Sunday at church and at the Prayer Meeting. Also to everyone who came to Crane's Roost Monday night to say goodbye and pray, Thanks so much! I got on the plane to Italy so encouraged by all of you and so thankful for God blessing me with such a wonderful church family!

The Trip!

So, for those of you who don't know (or do), I'm going to be moving to Udine, Italy for 5 months! I leave January 14th and am so excited! How did this all happen? Well about 3 years ago this crazy family named the Walti's moved to Orlando, FL and began attending Metro Life Church, (my church :) ). I remember my mom coming home from home group saying she met this woman named Jeanette who told her , that her bean dip looked like rotten guacamole. Soon after I was introduced to this sweet woman and her family, Lee (her husband) and her kids, Bethany (now 18), Hannah (now 15), Jacob (now 13), Elijah (now 9), and Abby (now 5). God quickly knit the hearts of our families together. Hannah and Bethany became like sisters to me, pretty much every week the families got together and hung out, at our house, their house or Portofino (yea like Italian, weird huh?) resort out by Universal. Last spring the Walti's began going through some changes and were led to move out to Italy and serve in a ministry out there called Saints Equipped to Evangelize. They left September 7, 2008, with me promising that I would come visit for vacation sometime the following year. I had no idea how this whole trip would develop. But as I began talking to the Walti's they told me about oppurtunities for me to serve the ministry. One was to teach English to Italians, as an outreach program for the church out there. The teachers develop relationships with the students and through those relationships share the Gospel. I liked the idea, but wasn't sure how it would all work out. As it turned out I was finishing up my pre-requisites for the nursing program and would have a free semester before I could start the Nursing Program. So I had the time, now it was just time to take the time to pray and see if this was the Lord's will. As I began praying about it I began getting more of a vision for this trip. God has given me a heart to serve the nations and I had always had a desire to go on longer term mission trips. Money was the next thing, plane fare, living expenses, so on and so on. My mom began looking at flights for me and was able to find me a ticket for free with out families frequent flyer miles! Ok, one down what next? Well the Walti's graciously offered to let me live with them while I worked with ESL, for much less than if I had lived somewhere else. Ok great! Then I needed to actually apply for the program, and I got accepted! At this point I began to feel a real peace about the trip. On Thanksgiving the Twining's (our Worship Leader and his family) came over, we had a time of worship towards the end of the night and prayed for me as I made the decision to go on this trip. It was amazing, I began to actually get excited, finally seeing that this trip was becoming a reality. Fast Foward to today, I leave in 3 days, with lots to do, but I am very excited for what the Lord is going to do in me and through me on this trip. The fact that He would so graciously allow me to go and serve His purposes and bring glory to His great name is so amazing to me! Please be praying for me in this last few days before I leave!