Ministry Structure in Rome!

Dear friends,

Forgive me that this blog will be a lot of writing and not tons of pictures. But for those of you who are interested in what ministry structure is like over here, I'd LOVE to share with you on what ministry looks like with Agape Italia (Campus Crusade for Christ in Italy), because things look even different than they did last year--- for those of you who are familiar with how ministry looked in Rome last year.

I have the pleasure to be part of 3 different teams/groups of people. Let me briefly talk about each one! :)

1) The STINT team: My STINT team (stands for Short Term INTernational) -- is composed of 9 people: myself, Kerry, April, Kanda, Jenny, Brian, Sam, Jimmy, and Chris. All 9 of us are interns, who are on staff with Agape, but we are only here for 1 year (as opposed to the International Campus Staff, who are here for multiple years at a time). Chris is our team leader and Jenny is the assistant team leader; Chris & Jenny lead our STINT team and give us all direction and encouragement. On Tuesday mornings, the 9 of us meet together as a STINT team to study and discuss Scripture, talk about how we're doing in Rome, and etc. On Wednesday evenings, we have dinner together (a very important thing to do in Italy-- to center around the table [la tavola] and enjoy great Italian food!). My STINT teammates are also my family here--- the girls are my roommates and we spend time over at the guys' house, too--- It's fun to be one big family with these 8 sweet people. :)

The Arco team (arco = Italian word for bow -- like a bow & arrow) is supposed to be like a strong bow, and the Missional team is supposed to be the arrow. The bow is for support and to drive and propel the arrow forward. The arrow (missional team) shoots forth and penetrates Rome (particularly the university campuses) with the Gospel. Kind of a cool analogy, huh? :) So:

2) The Arco team: the bow, my 2nd family. This group is a community/Bible study group where we hang out, do life together, and get in the Word together. Every Friday morning, I spend in "Arco" time. My Arco consists of 12 adults and 8 children (kids of the staff members here!). Most of the time, the kids are at school on Friday mornings, but the 12 of us adults get together at someone's house to read and study Scripture, have a time of praise & worship through song, eat great food, pray together, and etc. Arco groups are a way for the short term STINTers and the long-term staff to integrate lives together and support each other. The other Arco group is also composed of interns and long-term staff, and they meet Friday mornings as well. I enjoy being around the staff families in Rome; I love getting to spend time with them and their children. I know God is going to teach me many things through these wise adults who have been walking with Him longer than I have! I really love and appreciate their wisdom and passion for Jesus.

3) The Missional team: My missional team consists of 4 people: me, Sam, Alyssa, and Steve. Alyssa and Steve are married and they are long-term staff in Rome, and Sam and I are both STINTers who are only here for one year (as for right now, haha). :) All four of us go to campus every day, and we spend half of our time at Citta Universita (the main campus of La Sapienza Universita), and we spend the other half of our week at Roma Tre. There are 4 different missional teams who go to campuses to meet and befriend university students to share life with them, and also have conversations on what they believe and what we believe. My missional team has initiated a lot of new friendships with students, as well as keeping existing relationships going. All the missional teams got together last Thursday to throw a "Festa Autunnale" (Autumn Festival). This outreach was a really fun time for us to invite all of our Italian friends to the guys' apartment to enjoy a good pot of American chili, cornbread, and fun activities like bobbing for apples and carving pumpkins. The Festa was really fun and I got to meet a lot of fun friends at the party! :)

Ministry is ever-changing here in Rome, as the National Staff and the staff in Rome continually wrestle with the challenge of how to really connect to the hearts of Italian students and integrate into their deep and already-existing relational networks. All the staff are wise to saturate everything in prayer, and they continually keep an ear open to the Holy Spirit's guidance & direction, and keep their eyes open in the Word to be rooted and refreshed by God's Truth.

It's really great to be part of ministry here; I feel like I stepped into something that's a LOT bigger than little old me--- something that has already been going and I just jumped on for a ride. It's great to be on staff with Agape Italia in Rome, Italy; I am really excited to have the privilege to participate in what the Lord is doing in the lives of Western European people. What a blessing-- The Creator of the Universe chooses to use me, a cracked jar of clay, to participate in His plan for the people of this city!!! O praise Him! :)

Saturday's Outreach!! :)

One more thing: Be ENCOURAGED, all who read, because last Saturday (October 11) my teammates in Rome, as well as Campus Crusade staff from other cities in Italy, joined together with young people who are believers in Jesus Christ to do an outreach in Rome.

This whole day was SO amazing. Not that we had any super-long conversations with people around the city, or that I got the privilege to see anyone put their trust in Christ... But just seeing young people who are strong, passionate, believers and followers of Jesus Christ was absolutely amazing. Sometimes I hear about/think about ministry in Italy as really hard, as sometimes, it seems like not many students care about the Lord or actually want to give their lives to Him to let Jesus truly change them... but honestly I think that's just bogus stuff in my brain. True, ministry here is hard, and it has its difficulties that are different from ministry in Asia, or America, or etc.... But God IS here in Italy, working to bring HIS GLORY to this country.

I got to see a glimpse of what it's like when young Italians let the Lord change them on Saturday. It was beautiful. :)

Here is a picture from the bus ride from the portion of the city where we were doing outreach, to the Trastevere Baptist Church, where we had lunch.


From the left to right is my friend Isabelle, me, then Jacqueline. Isabelle is from France, but is studying in Italy. Jacqueline is from Germany, but is also studying in Italy. Both girls are pursuing college degrees at Universities in southern Italy, but they came north to Rome for the outreach.

Meeting Isabelle and Jacqueline reminded me that I need to be constantly praying for ALL of Europe (and the world), to know Jesus and make Him known. Italy, even though sometimes it feels like its own little world, is definitely part of the grander picture of all of Western Europe.... a place where all of the countries are different, but also very similar at the same time. I pray my heart is in a position where I cry out for people not only in Italy, but in all of Western Europe, to come to know Jesus personally.

Praise God for His hand on Italy-- and ALL the nations!

Recent blunders in la citta bella... :)

Ciao ciao my dear friends! :)

Hello from Rome! I pray with all my heart that things are going well for you wherever you are. I pray the Lord is working in your life and you feel known and loved by Him---- cause you are! :)

Things are going well in Rome -- ministry is really taking off. I have met a few sweet Italian girls who have been really welcoming and kind to me. It's REALLY great to see that God loves these Italians so much and that He has been working in Rome for a long, long time.... That ministry here isn't something I'm inventing or creating or starting, but yet, something I'm stepping into and get to be part of. Praise the Lord for this privilege! :)

Here's a picture of the street I live on from our tiny balcony:


Also, when you move to a foreign country, you tend to need things like beds, desks, chairs, a dining room table, etc. so you can fill your house with "normal" house things so you can function and do life. :) Therefore, we have made a few trips to Ikea to purchase cheap, Swedish home accessories that require self-assembly. While at Ikea, I got to eat a delicious dinner of Swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, and Swedish lingonberry sauce. AND-- to top it all off, we definitely heard an "Abba" song blasting on the in-store radio.... hahaha.... That was seriously the cherry on the sundae for my Swedish warehouse experience. :)

Here are some of the guys on our team, having quite the time in the moving van we rented:


And here we are, on Ikea trip #2... When all was fine, until we walked out of the store with all of our bags, into the rain. Not just little rain, or sprinkles, or a mist..... but buckets... cats and dogs... POURING... haha however you say it, we walked for a long, long time with all of our stuff, using public transportation, in the rain. BUT -- Thanks to God's grace, we were able to still have a good time and praise Him even in the storm. :)

This captures the point in the evening when the one brown paper bag had just about had it:


Andd.... to give you one more blunder... Our beautiful, palace of an apartment (Palazzo in Italian)... has had some... problems? to say the least... with its water. We got a note from a very frustrated downstairs neighbor, telling us that because of our water usage, that it was "literally raining" in her apartment. Ahh!! Since then, it's been about a week and a half/2 weeks... and we've had floors ripped up, showers ripped out, water shut off, washing machine/kitchen sink back up... etc. etc. etc.... Hahaha... Life in a new country, in a new apartment, always has its hard times, even in Rome! :)

Here's what one of our showers looks like:

And here is the other one (since this picture has been taken, we DO have a new shower installed! Praise God! But we just can't use it yet).

And... for my favorite picture..... You can see what they pulled out of our drain. No wonder it was raining in that poor woman's apartment--- GOLLY whatever that huge nasty hairball is... that was the problem (I think?). :) We have deliberated in our apartment to decide what it was, and here have been some of the guesses so far:
A) Someone's toupee
B) Someone's old pet squirrel/guinea pig
C) Someone's pet lion's hairball
D) ???

:) Maybe you can come up with a great answer. Whatever it is----- I'm just glad it's out of our shower pipes and out of our apartment.


Praise GOD in the midst for His provision----- I've been learning a lot lately that sometimes I'm only satisfied in the THINGS that God provides (showers, food, money, relationships, etc.)... and while I thank and praise God for those things that He provides... I totally miss the point and forget that the ULTIMATE provision is in HIM --- In the person of Jesus Christ. HE is our ultimate provision! Praise Him for that, and I pray I continue to grasp this more and more!

With lots of love,
Ella :)