1st Birthday and Anniversary in Italy

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I've been able to write and yesterday I saw that a friend wrote to me and asked me quite a few good questions that I thought I would turn into a blog since others might have the same questions as well....

"How are things going in Italy? Are ya'll having a good response from the locals? How do the kids like it? I know that Harrison was planning on trying to do a teaching job there, has anything come of that yet?"

How are things going? Well, things are going how you might expect for a missionary in Italy that's been here almost 3 months! :) The culture shock hasn't been too bad, but there have been many trials and tribulations. Our support has not come in since we've been here and we don't know the reasons why, but God has been graciously meeting our needs and literally giving us our daily bread. There are bills that will come in this month, and we don't know how they will be paid, but we are trusting the Lord to continue to meet our need. 

As far as the response from the locals, they are very kind here, but also very inquisitive. I'd say the biggest question that keeps coming up is, "Why Italy? Why did you leave your house and job in America to come here?"
Of course that opens a great door to share what we can in Italian about the Lord. Hundreds upon hundreds of tracts are being passed out each week, but on a personal level, the Lord has used my love of crochet to be able to share the Gospel with the ladies here. I will crochet them a little something and Chloe will color them a pretty picture and we include a tract with the gift and we have had great opportunity and have started very good friendships here. I think that the locals are starting to see that we are genuine and truly care about them and we aren't here "on a vacation". 

Our children really like it and have made friends here and learn Italian more everyday. They absolutely love going on walks in the village and saying "Ciao" to every single person they see and of course everyone gets such a kick out of it - they really do bring much joy to the people here and I'm convinced that even though they can't witness as of yet, they play a hugs part in our ministry. The lady that owns the coffee bar in our village was recently saved a few years ago and gives us the pastries that are left over at the end of the day and often includes little toys for the children. So every time the doorbell rings, they say, "It's Alba!" and when they open the door and get their little goody bag, they jump up and down and say, "Praise the Lord!" I'm so thankful that even in the midst of hard times, the Lord brings us fellow saints to minister and bring bright spots in hard days.

As far as English teaching jobs, Harrison does have some lined up for September when the school semester starts again. Until then, he had a farm job lined up for the summer, but the farm hand we think felt threatened by Harrison like he was coming in and taking his work, even though the boss hired him. Since he was the main farm hand, he kept telling his boss that he didn't need Harrison on the days that we was scheduled to work. Harrison would go down to work on the tractor and the man would say, "Come back at noon". So Harrison would come back at noon and the man would say, "I meant 9:30. or It looks like rain; come back tomorrow". But despite that frustration, he did find a small job chopping wood for the pizzeria where he has been helping out for free and witnessing to the owner there. He started the job last week and hasn't been paid yet - we think he will be paid when the job is done, Lord willing.

My baby girl, Claire, had her first birthday on the 6th and the church family had a party for her and gave her her own chocolate cupcake, which was a sweet mess! :) They were very sweet to her in giving her a little party and we are so blessed to have our church family! Claire is walking now and my little boy Clarke is fully potty trained so now we only have 1 in diapers! We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on the 7th as well and we are thankful for a good marriage and to be serving the Lord together.  

As of right now, our rent was completed at our other house, and with no steady income, we had to move in with a lady from our church that lives in the same village. Her hospitality is such a blessing to us and we pray that we find a more permanent home soon as it's hard on the family in such tight quarters. The people here in our village have been surprisingly helpful in looking for homes for us and we pray to find a home soon that is the right price and right location. 

I think that answers all the questions for now and I hope you will pray for us as we pray for you.