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! :)
Our traditional pyramid in a random, open piazza somewhere in Venice.
Sam and I are so excited to be on the water taxi, heading toward Venice! :)
The first sights of Venice! See the Venetian arches above the windows? They're more pointy at the top instead of curved, like Roman arches!
A lovely bridge by one of the TONS of canals. :)
Looking out to the sea... what pretty gondolas! (or gondole, in Italian?) :)
The square/piazza by Basilica San Marco.
The entire piazza was flooded because of the heavy rains in the recent past, so some of us chose to purchase these yellow "boots" for 10 Euro that fit over your shoes. They were great... except a couple of my teammates' "boots" ended up LEAKING... :( So God bless them, they were stuck with cold, wet feet all day. So next time you're in Venice, make sure to wear your good rain boots/galoshes from home, and *don't* count on the cheap plastic ones to save your feet!
This sounds so touristy, but "LOOK, a real gondola driver man with his hat with a little red ribbon and striped shirt, just like in the movies!!!" was the thought that ran through my mind when I saw this... haha. :)
Le miei belle amiche!!! On the bridge that overlooks the Grand Canal: Jenny, Kerry, Kanda, April, me :)
So... Chris thought it'd be fun to pose like a band.. like how some bands pose for the cover/liner photos when they make CDs. Problem was, we tried to get random Italians to take our picture, and this didn't always work out. It took about 3 takes, and this was the best out of all of them (and even here, it's just kind of......weird?....... haha. But it was a really fun/random moment shared by all 9 of us... so therefore, priceless, and completely worth it.) 
This picture is NOT from Venice.. but it's from Wednesday, Oct. 29th, right before we left, when the 9 of us decided to do "reverse trick or treat" to the Agape staff families here in Rome. We wanted to be a blessing to the Staff families here in Rome, and their kids, by randomly dressing up and running around the city with candy, knocking at people's doors (or more like buzzing at their apartment buildings:), and saying "Trick or Treat!!!" Then, they'd let us in and we'd visit a little, give them candy, and move on to the next house. One little problem: it rained that night. Not just rained, but absolutely POURED... like hurricane style. So here we were, running around the city, walking through the streets, aka fording the RIVERS like oxen on the Oregon Trail.... BUT having a blast while doing so. :) You can see myself and April & Kerry- dressed up as the Three Blind Mice (hence the sunglasses & whiskers).. and Jenny is the Farmer's Wife who cut off our tails with a carving knife. :) Chris dressed as a Roman soccer player, Sam is a traditional Roman in a toga-type outfit, Jimmy was a tin-foil covered robot, and Kanda & Brian were.. homies? for lack of a better word. LOL. :) But everyone looked stellar, for throwing our costumes together in 5-10 minutes.. and we had a really good night of riding the public transportation and getting a lot of weird looks, and running in the rain and having fun in the city. :) I just praise God for the rain, but also that it doesn't happen every day. :)
