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