A Protest, Walks around Colosseo, & Steve's Birthday Bowling Bash

1) A Protest

When our bus stopped in the middle of its route, we wondered what was going on... especially when we saw the crowd of people begin to develop outside.

Kerry and Jenny wonder what's going on?...

So... I walked off the bus to see what was happening, and lo & behold, a man was sitting in front of the bus, having a sit-down protest, not allowing the bus to move forward. Even though I still don't truly understand exactly what he was protesting, it was really interesting to be in this situation. It was yet another moment where the Lord reminded me to be in prayer for the people of this city-- that they will walk with Jesus and therefore experience PEACE... even in times of frustration, saddness, and trials.

2) Walks around Colosseo, with lots of sweet friends!

From L to R: April, our Italian friend Lucia, Kerry, and myself. Lucia picked us up in her car one night and we drove to the Colosseum and took a little walk. The night was beautiful and we had a lot of fun with Lucia!

On the walk to the car, April and I found some trees, and being curious as usual, I asked Lucia what kind they were... and she explained that they were Laurel bushes/trees--- to make Laurel headbands like Caesar used to wear! SO COOL! So April and I decided to pretend we were queens of Rome for about 2 seconds for this picture. :)

When Kerry's friend Holly came to visit Rome for a week, we took a walk around Rome at night with Lucia again. It was so sweet! (me, Lucia, Kerry, and Holly in a lovely piazza). :)

Those huge smooth stones under my feet are HUNDREDS of years old--- they are original ones that haven't ever been redone/torn out of the ground. How amazing. Every time I walk on them, I think of the thousands, maybe millions, of people who've walked on them before me-- and think, "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News"!!

In this last walk around Colosseo on a different day, I met up with my friend Lizzy (in the pink/purple shirt)-- she was in my cohort at Miami-- we had all our education classes together over the four years we were there, and worked on a TON of projects/papers/etc. together! It was SO fun to see her again! :)

3) Steve's Birthday Bash, at "Bowling Roma"!! :)

Me & Kanda having a great time at the bowling alley--- "Bowling Roma" :)

Steve-- the birthday man!-- looking fierce and intense! He was the overall bowling champion of the evening! Yay!

Holly and Kerry! (Kerry's friend from home who came to visit!)

Team Wild Cats!!! :) Ella, Amy, Brian M., Brian E., & April :) Such fun friends!

The scores after Game 1 for "Team Wild Cats" :)... Lynx = Amy; Tigre = Brian E.; Puma = April; Leo = Brian M.; and Cougar (Representing VWHS even though I was in last place, haha) = me. :)

Maratona di Roma!

On Sunday, March 22, Rome had a marathon through the city, and FIVE of my teammates and friends ran it!! -- Jimmy, Sam, Chris, and Kanda here in Rome, and also a friend who is on STINT in Salerno: Halley. It was SO FUN to watch the race and cheer on our friends! What a feat-- 26.2 miles throughout a city full of difficult cobblestone streets-- but they did it! :) :) Praise God! :)

Jimmy was the first of our friends to blaze by!!! Woo woo!! (Jimmy is in the pack with the yellow shorts, gray T-shirt, & white headband).

Haha, typical Sam. Having fun and coming up on about mile 24-25 in STYLE. :)

You can see Chris coming over to the side to chat with us for 1 second -- he's right behind the guy in the red/orange shirt.

Here comes Kanda!

Halley, Chris, Jimmy, Sam, & Kanda. Each one of them, just like Gladiators in the Roma Marathon!!!! :)

All 9 of us Rome STINTers-- The fans-- with the signs we created to cheer on our friends, and the runners-- looking victorious! :) :)

Spring Break madness/magic :)

A tree on Via Pisa in Rome--- check out the new life springing forth in this city! PRAISE JESUS!

At the beginning of March, Alyssa made some soft, warm pretzels for the snack at our missional team meeting! The choices for "dips" in the blue bowls were: melted Velveeta (WOO HOO for yellow cheese! so fun!), melted butter, and a mix of parmesan cheese & oregano. So delicious! I need to learn how to make these! :)

Before Spring Break started, a few people visited a local Middle School (I LOVED THIS!) for "America Day," which the students were celebrating. The students had been studying American History and Culture for a period of time before the "American Day" celebration. The students worked in small groups to present various topics, which included things like: the geography of the U.S.A., a presentation about marshmallows (they don't really have them here!), and the history of the Revolutionary War & the Civil War. Even though I, myself, am American, I for sure learned things from these Italian middle schoolers about my own country that I didn't know before! :)
*WE as American guests were there to do presentations for them about America. Chris did a presentation about American Football; April & Kanda talked about American holidays; and I did a presentation on what High School is like in America. It was SO fun to be a teacher again, even if it was only for a 5-minute presentation. How GOOD of the Lord to grant me a day in a middle school here in Rome! :) :) :)

Okay, this picture seems a little weird, but if you look closely, you can see that on top of the white radiator heater, you can see a silver measuring cup. That measuring cup is full of butter (for making cookies or whatever we were doing at the time)---- and the recipe called for softened butter. If I were more prepared, I would have left it out to get soft, but I didn't. If I were in America and in this predicament, I would have just used the microwave to soften it. But we don't have a microwave here... so we have found ways to be creative. :) Thus-- you can see that we invented a little butter-softening system by placing it on the heater for about 10 minutes. Works GREAT! :) Haha. :)

Another great part about early March-- Sam and Chris came over one night to install KITCHEN CABINETS for us!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! We had been living in this apartment from September to March with NO kitchen cabinets..... not the biggest deal in the world, but no cabinets with FIVE girls in one apartment kind of makes for a crazy kitchen. PRAISE THE LORD FOR THESE CABINETS!----- THEY ARE A HUGE BLESSING FOR US!! :)

Woo HOO-- Spring break is finally here! Here we're in a piazza in Trastevere (an area of the city next to the Tevere [Tiber] River here in Roma) with dear, sweet friends from Miami! (from L to R: Matt, me, Vince, & April). April & I live here in Rome as interns here, Matt is a 5th year student @ Miami who is really involved with Campus Crusade for Christ there, and Vince is an intern with CCC at Miami. YAY friends. :)

Our missional team of myself, Steve, Alyssa, and Sam was expanded with Miami students and Miami CCC staff! :) Here is a picture of our missional team at dinner on the last week of their spring break week. It was such a fun blessing to be in the mission with these friends!

Connections!! Myself with two very sweet friends from Miami!-----Jenny (my Bible study leader from my senior year at Miami), and Kim (I got the privilege of meeting with her for discipleship last year @ Miami). SO FUN to reconnect with these dear friends. :)

Also-- can I get a what what for students and staff from Ole Miss--- they were here during the 2nd week of Spring Break, and it was great to labor alongside them in this city!

During the 3rd and final week, our outreach was called "Aperitivo di Speranza" -- which means Aperitivo (a time to have appetizers/hang out) of Hope. It was an evening of appetizers which featured things having to do with the Arts that showed HOPE. We made play-dough, had canvases and paints for painting, paper for coloring, and lots of photographs which demonstrated hope. Here, you can see me contributing to the "community painting" that was a large canvas that everyone could paint on throughout the course of the evening. This was a GREAT outreach to do during the 3rd week because a lot of our students were from the Colombia Art School in Chicago-- and they loved it! The sweet friends from Kent State University also were so fun to have during the 3rd week! :)

The finale - The last dinner with our friends from the 3rd week of Spring Break. Jenny & I sit on the left, while you see our friends Matthew, Dan, and Alicia from Chicago. :) What a great group!