Getting my feet wet

A lot of people have been asking what I'm doing in Italy and how it's been going. It's a hard question because moving to another country is nothing like moving to another state and the way to do something in one country, with of all its comforts and ease of living, is quite different in another.

For example, for the month of August, Italians go away on holiday (i.e. vacation), usually to the beach. So here in Collegno (the part of Torino where I am living), there is hardly anyone around. This weekend should begin the mass migration, but life as it is normally will not be until Sept 7th or so. What this means for me is that if a nearby shop is open at all, it will close sometime after lunch. I can see the mail mounting high in most of my neighbors' mailboxes. I haven't seen a soul in the building. I pass very few people on the street... and yet I live on one of the main streets outside of downtown...

Well, the exception to the store closings in August are the bigger malls and stores which take about an hour or more to get to. Sometimes, like when we went to IKEA, we had to take THREE different buses. And the wait for the bus was MUCH longer than the actual ride.

And factor in the fact that other than IKEA, I can't really research prices online. I have to actually go to Carrefour and look at prices there. Then OBI across the way to compare. Then make it out to Bricofer and wherever else. All because I don't want to spend an arm and a leg for something I can get much cheaper somewhere else or settle for something ugly when there's something comparable and pretty somewhere else. And I don't know the reputation of the brands and the stores to really know things like we know our own stores and brands.

And then theres the paperwork that needs to get done, like getting my tax code so that I can set up the electricity and sign up for discount cards. Getting my permission to stay so I don't have to leave when my visa runs out next August. And getting internet and phone at my apartment so I can continue communicating with the outside world once I move out of my team leader's place.

Oh, and jet lag which wipes me out my mid-day so that I couldn't get so many things done as on my check-list...

So here's my list of things that count as "getting my feet wet" or establishing myself in Italy. It is not exhaustive and it's in no particular order but the firing sequence that went off in my head as I typed.

(x) Get over jet-lag - not sure: Aug 27/28??
(x) Apply for tax code - Aug 21
(x) Apply for permission to stay - Aug 24/Sept 16
(x) Call to set up electricity in apartment - Aug 24
(x) Get electricity in apartment - Oct 1
(x) Set up phone services - Sept 17, waiting for them to start
(x) Unpack - mid-Oct
(x) People return to their normal lives in Italy
(x) Clean apartment - Aug 22
(x) Spackle & sand apartment Aug 25 & 28
(x) Tape up baseboards and doors for painting - Aug 28 & 30?
(x) Prime walls - step 1: adhesive paint step 2: prime white
() Paint
() Make friends - in progress
() Meet neighbors -in progress
() Learn bus routes
() Get a map in my head of the city
(x) Check out cultural center in Collegno
() Visit college campus in the city
() Team's arrival (!!!!)
() Be fully supported
() Recover the language that I've forgotten
() Learn more Italian
() Move out of my team leaders' place (prereq: a bed, closet & kitchen) - have everything but kitchen & electricity !

Rebels & Yankees

The tension and stereotypes between the South and Northerners actually exists. Think of the differences between Mississippi and Massachusetts. It's real. Part of it has to do with warm and cold climate cultures. The difference between a Latin community and a German. One is even-oriented, the other time-oriented. Another difference is shame vs guilt. Group versus individual. Etc.

In Italy this cultural distinction between north and south also exists. The south is more agricultural, the north, industrial. Southerners are known to be more friendly and hospitable. Northerns tend to be more impatient and curt.

I spent six weeks in Salerno, south of Naples, which is in southern Italy and found the people to be super friendly and helpful, patient and kind. I thought southern Italy was where I wanted to be. It was impossible not to find help or not to make friends, even with completely different-minded people.

But it's the north that is more spiritually desolate and parched without the gospel. So, to the north I came. And though I've only been here a week and there is hardly anyone here in the country, I have found my share of rude, rude people.

First, there was a lady at the post office when I went to apply for my permesso who was just plain cranky. She was short with me and where I had left things blank (like signing and dating or the page numbers) on purpose to make it official or to make sure it was correct, she would tell me "you have not finished!" "this is not complete!" Instead of just saying, "could you sign and date this?" or "oh, you left this part out." Social niceties are not very common around here. There was another lady that same day huffing and puffing and slamming things because it was a little warm in the building. It was far from intolerable.

But worst of all was at the small paint shop we entered. I needed to buy spackle to repair the holes in the walls the construction workers left (yes, brand new place, needing spackle!). We were still trying to figure out the paint system (they dilute their paint and there isn't such thing as 'primer' per se). Team leader Paul and I were inspecting some tubs of paint and trying to decipher the language. The handle was on the front side of the paint, so I moved it to the back and let it drop.

BAD IDEA!!!

The handle hit a rail behind it which was not screwed in properly and VERY flimsy. And on top of the unstable railing was propped up a canvas with a layer of paint. This was on the window display where below were other painted knickknacks. So the handle that I moved hit the flimsy gate which wobbled and knocked down the canvas which proceeded to make the BIGGEST clatter known to mankind. And of course, the whole store went dead silent... except for the lady owner who came over to me YELLING and proceeded to CHEW ME OUT in Italian. I didn't understand anything she said expect for something about it being "bad for business." This seemed to last for eternity and I was COMPLETELY mortified! I turned bright red and got hot and sweaty... but it wasn't even my fault!

I was looking to purchase merchandise from her and bring business. It wasn't my fault the paint was right up against the gate that wasn't screwed in. It wasn't my idea to place a canvas on an unstable flat surface! And then decorate the floor below it! I was sooooooo upset! And my look of embarrassment was probably confused with guilt. And I did feel bad, but really, it wasn't my fault!

I left there very perturbed, hoping it would fall again and she would see that she had no right to chew me out and feel all bad about yelling at a foreigner.

But as I got to thinking - Jesus was falsely accused! And He didn't say a word! I would have given her a peace of my mind, had I been able. But all I was able to say was a sheepish "scusa, scusa..."

The people here don't know the joy that Jesus gives. They have never experienced His love. They have no idea what peace from above would even feel like. These people can only rely on themselves and their business to bring them what they are looking for. When really, the Answer to all their wants and needs is in Christ.

Paul wants to go back to that store and befriend her and her husband - she will surely remember him (she proceeded later on to reprimand his wife, Beth, for looking around)! Maybe it wouldn't be the best for me to poke my head around there just yet, but who knows what may come of this. It's these unforgettable moments that sometimes make the greatest impact... Maybe she'd been having a bad few days and she just let it ALL out on me. Better me than someone who could snap back at her. Someone who can't remind her of all the nasty things she said. I was her best audience to lose it on.

So I trust that God is doing something bigger than me. That He is preparing hearts and making every move so perfect. And I've got a tough crowd up against the message - but I also have a God in whose hand is every heart!

Nothing good does He withhold

Team Torino member Ken quoted that verse (Ps 84:11) in an email he sent out this week testfying about the way God has worked in providing at every step on the way to Torino.

We know God has orchestrated our change of date because:

1. My apartment is still in construction
Recently I wrote about how I have entered into negotiations on an apartment. This apartment is unlike many others because it is:

a) in our price range;
b) near public transportation (in fact, these are on one of the main arteries of Torino!);
c) most of the team with me a stairwell or short walk away; and
d) brand new (not necessary, but helpful)

All of the other apartments available right now only meet one of four above. This apartment (and the rest of the building, where other Team Torino members may live) are still in construction and will not be ready until August - if we were to have arrived now in June, we would have to pay for two months of (expensive) temporary housing while waiting.

2. The perfect place for a large family
Team Torino members Ken & Mindi have a large family and have also been looking for a place. Finding a place to live from across the ocean is nearly impossible, as meeting the owner is essential to putting in an offer. Not only that, but finding a place suitable for a large family when Italians usually have just 1 child, and finding a place that would not isolate them from the rest of the team has been a daunting task. On Tuesday afternoon, word came in from Italy on the perfect place, where they will be in the same complex as another family, near a direct bus route to the rest of their team -- and the owners accepted a price LOWER than their minimum. And they have never met! It could only be God.

3. God is our Provider

To put it plainly, support "ebbs and flows." That's what I've thought of it; that's what Team Torino member Cristi said of it. And it's true. For 4 months I stalled just under 50% pleged. Other times I have sometimes JUMPED 20% in a matter of weeks. I've kept doing what I had always been doing. But while the responsibility to be faithful to what God has called me to do remains with me, the responsibility to provide perfectly, lies with God. And He has chosen to keep us as a team from being fully supported up until now.

The Silver Lining

Tom, who lives in Bologna and will be moving with our team to Torino, lined up a reasonably priced bed & breakfast for himself and Team Torino leader Paul in our target area of Torino, when Paul went to visit to line up apartments for our arrival. 

It was a two bedroom, two bath apartment where the owner lived and opened up his home for guests to share the space with him.  When they arrived, the young owner, Mario, introduced himself saying he found out they were protestant ministers by checking online (he must have researched online from Tom's e-mail address) and proceeded to tell them that he was an athiest, but not in the strict sense, but rather in the Italian sense of having rejected the religious God of the Catholic Church.  He said he was into New Age and some Buddhist ideology, and enjoyed being at peace with the Creator through the peace and tranquility of His creation. 

By day's end, it was evident that God was at work in his life as an unexpected event left him rather disturbed and not sleeping for most of the night, as they would find out the next morning.  At breakfast, conversation turned to God and religion, and Tom briefly explained the difference between religion (i.e...man's futile attempt to answer the question, "What must I DO to be reconciled with God?") and the Gospel which declares that God did everything to make it possible for us to be forgiven and reconciled with Him through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  At this point he was moved to tears and began to open up and share some more.

Mario said that he wants us to keep in touch and tell him as soon as we get into the area and start having meetings, because he wants to come and be a part of what we are doing when we get there! Mario accepted a Bible and was encouraged to begin reading in the Gospel of John.

Praise God!

Church at IKEA

The following was written by Team Torino member Cristi McEwen and originally posted on her blog: When Souls Collide

In Italy it isn’t uncommon to share a table with someone you don’t know. So today at the café at Ikea, when a woman pulled up a chair next to us and set her bags down between Thomas and her chairs, as a divider of sorts, we thought nothing of it. We continued eating our couscous, pasta and very yummy “dolce” (Italian for dessert).

As I was nearing the end of my chocolate crunchy cheesecake bliss, I asked the woman, in Italian, if she spoke English (I had a very important question to ask her). She said, “yes” without so much of a hint of an Italian accent and so I asked her if she knew if the mall next door was open today or not (apparently most things are closed here on Sundays). She answered me with a wonderful British accent, which took us into the next question travelers always ask: “Where are you from?” We exchanged our answers and then began asking (and answering) the next set of questions regarding marital status, children, work, length of time in Italy, etc.

This all spawned our conversation into something of a very spiritual and intense nature. It was way beyond the moment. I knew just by what felt like a force field around our table that this was holy…this was Jesus answering this woman’s cry for help. She didn’t go into detail but told us that she and her (Italian) husband of twenty years were separated…that everything had seemed to fall apart as of late. This very beautiful and kind woman who looked like a friendly sitcom wife said that in the car on the way to Ikea she had been questioning whether or not she was “possessed” because everything in her life had been going so terribly. She couldn’t believe how strange her encounter with us was, given the conversation didn’t start with this intention. Given she was seemingly desperate for some sort of answer to the questions burning in her soul.

We shared about our marriage and God’s redemption and Jesus’ love and abundant grace. At the beginning of the conversation, when it started taking on a more spiritual tone, she mentioned that, having grown up in a home where one of her parents was Catholic and the other a mix between Protestant and Jehovah’s Witness, she thought it was ridiculous that people would fight over little things regarding this one “God.” She mentioned Buddha and Ala in all of this and so we got the opportunity to share the difference between these religions (which was fresh in our minds given we talked with a Muslim man on the plane for about two hours regarding the differences in our faiths). We talked about the assurance of salvation Jesus offers because of his death and resurrection on the cross. The man on the plane said that by doing good works, he “hoped” to get to heaven. In this moment, with this woman, I re-lived my salvation experience, realizing that I really am sure that if I died this very moment, I’d be with Jesus. Not because of anything I’ve done, but because God chose to send His only Son to die for me. It’s because of this that there is anything holy and good that dwells in me and allows me to do “good works.”

At the end of the conversation, Thomas asked if he could pray with her. “Please do,” she said, a woman not too proud to pray in this very unreligious and overcrowded restaurant of sorts. We all closed our eyes and Thomas put his hand on her. We all felt it. I know. It was a rare and beautiful moment of the sweet presence of God. When we opened our eyes, hers were filled with tears. She got up from the chair and we rose to hug her. I felt like I was hugging my sister.

We exchanged information in the midst of all this and I told her that we should keep in touch. “Yah,” she said. “I’ll tell you in an e-mail why this is all so strange.” With that she turned to leave and looking back, she let out a deep breath, as if weight had lifted from her and said, “Well. I’m going to be thinking about this all day.” She smiled, her eyes dry now, and walked away.

I believe she walked away knowing that God is big enough for her questions. Big enough to seat her next to two foreigners who simply wanted to know whether or not the mall was open. Foreigners who God has asked to go to this place, to encounter people like her, to give answers to those who are seeking…to harvest these seeds that have been planted in the hearts of His people. His sons. His daughters.

This is church. Yes, even at Ikea.

Recycled Air

I often feel that recycled or conditioned air stifles Jesus. I know it's not true. But I often feel like it is.

I meet Jesus outdoors. In Chicago I would regularly go to Navy Pier during the winter as it was the closest thing to outside I could get without freezing my fingers and face off while trying to read my Bible.

Days where I've been inside most of the day I get a headache. I feel weird. 

Days which go by without talking to Jesus, I get snappier. I feel dirty. Though it's the days that I'm outside that I end up smelling like "outside" or "sunshine" or, even better, sweat. It's most often those days that I can offer up to God the sweet-smelling aroma of a living sacrifice - myself.

The anthropology (doctrine of man) of the Old Testament is that we are bodies and we have a spirit. Not that we are a spirit and we have a body. The way we communicate with the world is through our bodies. We use our mouths and brains for speech, our bodies for nonverbal communication, our hands to work, our legs to travel, etc. We must remember that we speak to God not just with our spirits in prayer, but our bodies and minds in action. We close our eyes to shut out any distractions. Sometime we open our eyes to keep from distraction. We can pray aloud. We kneel, we stand. We write, draw, and cry out our prayers. This is how we know to communicate. Some need a busy place. Some need a quiet place. I need fresh air. I don't need a beautiful beach or a scenic mountain view (though they are always nice). Usually a park with a handful of people around is perfect. 

So do you have a place where you meet with Jesus? For me, I take my Bible, Blanket, Bug spray, and (Black) journal to the park. Now I have a green journal, but the "b" thing worked before :-) If you don't have a place, or even a time, start. Take ten minutes, the Gospel of John and a pencil. Read from bold heading or number to bold heading or number at a time. Circle things that stand out. Underline powerful verses. Write in questions in the margin. Pray about what you read before and after your read. 

Just make sure you spend time not just talking to Jesus in prayer, but listening to Him through His Word. How else do you expect your faith to grow? Your blessings to increase? Your relationship with Him and others to deepen? 

Go! Go outside if you need to, with a glass of ice water or a warm blanket. Get somewhere with good lighting. And read your Bible and meet with Jesus.

Feeding of the 5,000

The current economic crisis has made support raising seem like an impossibility to many - who can raise $3,462 in monthly commitments in less than a year? I can't. But God can.

During missions conference and the week following, God supplied nearly 100% of my out-going support (which buys my plane ticket, shipping of earthly possessions and furniture once I get there, like a bed, dresser, etc)! Only God could do something of that immensity in that short period of time! In this way God showed His blessing and reconfirmed that this indeed is what He has called me to.

This is one way I know that God has called me to this. How else could I have gotten over $700 in a one-day garage sale? That day the most expensive thing we sold was $30 and we only sold 3 or 4 things near that price. It was as if the dollar bills multiplied in our fanny packs like the bread and fish did in the hands of the disciples! And that was only one day of five that God provided for this ministry.

God provided nearly double the amount I need on a monthly basis (which is $3,462) in six days - don't you think He can can provide half of what He did in six days on a monthly basis? Do you believe it for your own life?

There were five days out of eight where I received one-time gifts. These gifts help me to physically get situated in Italy. But without monthly commitments, I'll never get the go-ahead from the administration at Avant to actually buy my plane ticket. 

God really does provide. I've seen it with my very own eyes. And recently. 

And this is God's will for me. To go. To keep fixed on this plan. He has given me no reason to think differently, and, as a matter of fact, given me more reason to KNOW that I must keep moving forward. Even though I linger below 50% of monthly commitments (I need 100% to get the go-ahead!) - I know that God's timing is perfect and He indeed has the resources to get me there... now it is a matter of finding those through whom God will provide and waiting for Him to move in their lives. 

5,000 men, not including women and children were fed a total of five loaves and two fish. And TWELVE BASKETS FULL were left over (Mt 14).

Do you believe God multiplies His resources even in "a tough, economic crisis"? I believe He provides and sees His will be done! He's done it even now!