Gesù disse: "Io sono la luce del mondo..."

This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

A candle inside Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.

This song was a favorite of mine from my childhood. As I've wondered what to share in this update, I have just had it stuck in my head for some reason. I've also thought of the verse, in John 8:12... "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

If Jesus is the light, what does it mean to abide in the light? What does it mean to follow Him, and have the light of life?

I definitely think I need to remember when Jesus also tells us, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house."

I was reading Psalm 119 today, and was encouraged again by this theme of light as the psalmist writes, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Then I continued to read and meditate on Psalm 119, and walked away with a new perception. Manytimes, when I read Psalm 119, I walk away thinking of how wonderful God's Word is and how I should strive to keep it, and how it should be my delight, etc. While all these things are true, I circled the words "give me life" many times throughout the psalm.

vs. 25 - "...give me life according to Your word!"

vs. 37 - "...give me life in Your ways."

vs. 50 - "...that Your promise gives me life."

vs. 88 - "In Your steadfast love give me life..."

vs. 93 - "for by them [Your precepts] You have given me life."

vs. 107 - ..."give me life, O LORD, according to Your Word!"

vs. 149 - "...O LORD, according to Your justice give me life..."

vs. 154 - "...give me life according to Your promise!"

vs. 156 - "...give me life according to Your rules."

vs. 159 - "Give me life according to Your steadfast love."

God's Word... the LIGHT to our paths!... isn't just intended to be this encyclopedia of information... but it is rather a story, a story of God, who He is, and where we, as His creation, fit into it--- as people He's created because He loves us, and He has a plan & purpose to allow us to participate in His redemption of His world. Praise Him for that! His Word isn't a guidebook... but a story. A story of redemption and love, that gives us life.

I praise God for giving me life each new day, and for giving me the blessed privilege of participating in His plan for Rome, for Italy, and for the world. Let us go forth and let the light of Christ shine out from us, and let His Word illuminate our paths!

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Random & recent pictures...

The countryside somewhere outside Florence, where we had our fall staff conference.

The inside of the duomo (dome) of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

The outside of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

Some friends & I, exploring Florence, in the hour we had between trains on the way to fall staff conference.

Philippians 1:27

I'm going to a staff conference for all of Agape Italia; we're leaving tomorrow on a train for Northern Italy. The verse that the conference will be centered on (for lack of a better word?...) is Philippians 1:27:

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel..."

Feel free to meditate on this verse with me. Let's think and pray, together, how the manner of our lives can be worthy of the Gospel.
What does that mean?
What things/ideas do I need to lay down before the Lord in order to make that more possible?
What areas do I need to see the Lord change/grow in me to make that more of a reality for me?
How can I seek Unity in the Spirit more, in the Body of Christ, to be bonded with believers "in one spirit, with one mind"?
What does it look like to strive "side by side"?

Any thoughts, feel free to email me.
ellamanken@gmail.com

Love y'all------ and prayerfully there will be many more thoughts after the conference. :)
St. Peter's Basilica at night... I pray its splendor will continually allow me to know and grasp the glorious splendor of the Lord throughout my year here!

Venice! :)

"A picture is worth 1000 words" some may say..... SO... please enjoy the following pictures of our recent trip to Venice, Italy. The 9 of us STINTers (interns) went away to Venice to bond, travel, and get to know each other better. We are continually figuring out what our "STINT team" even looks like---- as far as what we can "team around", so please continue to keep all of us in Rome in your prayers as we figure this (among lots of other things) out. Grazie, and enjoy the pictures!! :)

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. :)