The story of Thanksgiving

As many of you know, we've had a lot of difficult decisions going into last night's Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to go ahead with the rental location so we could invite more friends.

We ordered 3 turkeys from the nearby butcher, which was surprisingly easy since turkey is hard to come by in Europe. They were even de-headed, cleaned out, and not frozen. Everything seemed to be going as planned... seemed...

We arrived at the butcher yesterday morning to pick up the turkeys and our mouths gaped open at the enormous birds placed in front of us - the smallest being 32 pounds! I guess we only needed two...but since they were specially ordered for us, we were stuck. Not only are turkeys hard to come by in Italy, but they're rather expensive (I'll keep the exact details to myself).
When originally planning to cook the birds, we had a couple friends that offered to let us use their ovens. Due to the monsters the birds were, we were unable to use one of the ovens! So at 4:00 yesterday we were searching for an oven large enough to cook at 30 lbs turkey and it to be done by 8:00! Long story short, after a few trips around Salerno with a large turkey, we were able to cook it at the same place as one of the other birds - a restaurant.

Skip ahead to 8:30, the beginning of the party. A few close friends are at the bar.
9:30 a few more close friends at the bar (probably 15 people)
I start to worry and catch myself doing so. I silently pray to God that I would be ok with however many people He decided to bring to the outreach.
9:31 40 more people walk in, followed by 20 five minutes later....
9:36 I thank God for His faithfulness
9:40 the line for the food forms
From here on, I go into event planner mode and constantly walk the length of the room ensuring everyone is doing well. The food is a big hit (this made me very happy because we spent 2 days cooking it!)
10:40ish we begin to gather everyone in the back room to hear about the history of Thanksgiving and our guest speaker Haswell - he is on national staff with Agape (CCCI) in Florence. This is when 80 people cram into a room made for 40 and listen attentively to how thanksgiving ties into the gospel. After about 30-40 minutes of speaking in Italian, Haswell closes the night with an invitation to fill out a comment card and handing out Four Laws booklets. After his talk, many people approached us, wanting to be a part of what we're doing, wanting to attend any meetings we have - an extremely positive reaction! Everyone that turned in comment cards wrote that they would like to hear more about spiritual things - 100%! I'm excited to get back on campus next week and follow up with everyone! Thank you all for your prayers and support as we prepared for this huge event. It was a great success! It's amazing what God is doing, we just have to open our eyes! (Pictures to come)

From fainting to the Plague

Thurs-Sun was our All-Italy conference of Agape staff. It was the most amazing time of encouragement and vision casting. God is at work in Italy, and we are only a part of it. Following the conference, our team took a day trip to Siena before heading home. Sunday night we were all feeling fine, enjoying our time in Piazza del Campo and a completo (a meal with 4 courses). We returned to our hotel to watch Rick Steve's recap of Siena so we'd know what to explore the next day.
Once the video was over, we girls headed to our room. Lacey Mai expressed that she was not feeling well then ran to the bathroom. The plague had begun. She was up nearly the whole night, sleeping near the bathroom. Of course, I start to think that I'm sick too - darn thinking. The next day, we forged the city - feeling a bit queezy. We decided we'd stay another night to allow Lacey Mai rest. We went up in the tower, did a self-led urban trekking tour, and then we began to slip into the grips of the plague. Nathan fell first, then Mario, then myself. By the next morning, we felt ok to travel, though still a bit off. I began eating again slowly. At this time we were aware that Agape staff in Florence and Rome had fallen ill too. Rick fell the morning of our trip home.

The bad news:
the plague has not finished - it is still traveling through the Florence teams

The good news:
if we're being attacked (like we knew we would be), it means we're doing something great!!
the team is getting better! Only Mario and Rick missed campus due to illness and now feel well.
Katherine never got sick! (continue to pray for her health!)
Lacey Mai is healthy and on the way back to the USA for a wedding she's in
even with the illness, Siena was still a refreshing trip for our team!
close friends of ours are seeking out God - not directly related, but amazing anyways!

So many Blog ideas, so little time

Blog Idea #1:
Ok, so we all know about the sterotypical accordian player that sings "traditional" italian songs... Well, it's not as much fun when you awake to it 3 mornings a week as he strolls down the small alley next to your window. There are many such musicians around Italy - some with small African drums, some with guitars, and some with saxaphones. Awaiting the bus to go back home after church, a saxaphone player (complete with microphone hook up and speaker on wheels) was strolling down the street in Battipaglia. Now, this is not the interesting part: the interesting part is the little old lady with a cane that got up from her bench, began walking, but periodically took a couple seconds to shake her groove thing as best she could to the bachatta that the musician was playing. (We couldn't help but smile and giggle. I love little old Italian ladies!!)

Had enough of musician stories? too bad, because here's another.
That same day, during church, Pastor Antonio is talking about trumpet calls used in the Bible - always used to summon the coming of God or his presence/power. While he's speaking, we begin to hear some music. I immediately thought it was a cell phone, but it grew louder. Then a pause in the sermon, we realize the song that we hear is from a passing accordian player. And the song is... Drum roll please... Ave Maria! (It was beautiful, but it did disrupt the sermon as everyone got a short chuckle.)

Blog Idea #2:
In the last couple days, I've developed a cold. This is bearable, but I tend to be tired at the end of our time on campus. Today, we boarded a very crowded bus (pretty typical on the way to campus). Unfortunately, this bus had very few windows and I was in the aisle surrounded by people. Then we hit traffic. It got very warm on the bus. I believe the bus driver turned on something like air conditioning - but it smelled wierd and didn't help at all. So I started to feel a little light-headed. A couple of the guys got off the bus and walked to the next bus stop (since the traffic wasn't moving.) The bus moved eventually, but I was still feeling off. I was hopeful that wind circulating would help. Unfortunately, we only turned the corner and stopped again. At this point, I tell Katherine that I will have to get off at the next stop. My vision was starting to blur a bit and my hands were shaking. A few feet later, I tell Katherine I may have to get off before the next stop. At this point, people are starting to see that I am not feeling well and am looking pale. Thankfully the stop was only another half block away. The bus stopped, I climbed off as quickly as my blurry vision would allow me, and sat against the storefront on the sidewalk.
Good news: I'm ok. I was probably about to faint, but now I know my limits (I'm not as tough as I think I am.)
We learned that Italians believe taking a caffe can fix anything. That was the first piece of advise we received from a passing lady. Then another told me to drink fruit juices. My teammate brought me a glass of water with a sugar packet in it (it's what the barista gave him when he heard I was feeling sick). I personally believe sitting and drinking water helped a lot. 5 minutes later we were back on a bus - a much less crowded one - and on the way to campus!! Forza!

My STINT curse

Ok, they told us it would be difficult living overseas, adjusting to a new culture, and learning a different language - but they didn't tell me that I would be unable to control emotions.

My STINT curse - I cry at least once every two weeks. Now, please know that this is not because I don't want to be in Italy, or because I'm extremely homesick. It happens more during discussions at team meetings, typically when discussing how we relate. This bothered me at first - feeling unable to control tears that in the States I could deal with. But now I've decided it's ok to be emotional and it's just how I deal with STINT. Some people withdraw, some jump right in, and I have less control over my waterworks. Gratefully, my team is ok with this aspect of my processing, and are very supportive. (I think it's because they weren't the first to crack - but their time will come.)

On a different note - we gave out over 2000 flyers on campus the last 3 days publicizing Ognistudente.com (check out everystudent.com for the english equivalent). It's amazing how exhausting passing out flyers can be. We put a sodoku puzzle on each flyer - which helped keep people from throwing them away. When we showed our friends at MLK, they all gathered around to teach Luca how to do the puzzle... it's was so funny! They would spend 3 minutes explaining, then ask if he understood... he would respond with a simple "no" and the explanation continued. This happened for about 10-15 minutes.

Pray that students would check out the website and be challenged in their ideas on spirituality and accept Jesus as their savior!

Adventures of Tiffany & Lacey Mai continue...

Ok you thought the pudding story was interesting? Here's another:

We are in the process of moving the guys from the apartment next door to their new place about 10 minutes away. The large part of this move took place Friday. A friend, Leonardo, helped us by loading up his car with the guys' stuff while two of our STINTers carried their couch down the streets of Salerno.

Lacey Mai and I stayed behind to clean the apartment (because being a guys apartment, it was disgusting). We're cleaning and listening to music and then we hear it "slam!"...

**background info: There is one door that allows us into both the guys and our apartment, then individual doors for each apartment. Wind tends to come through open windows and blow our apartment door shut. This is not a problem, as long as you have keys to get back into the apartment. We've often said "one day that door will close and we will not have keys" **back to the story

Lacey Mai and I stare at eachother.. both of us asking the other if she has keys... fear shows it's face. Ok, no big deal... we'll call the other STINTers... problem: our phones are in the apartment. Ok, so we'll just walk over there... problem: both of us are barefoot.

If that wasn't enough, we were hungry and we had just cleaned out the guys' fridge.

Having finished cleaning, and our teammates still not returned, we decide to try to watch First Knight in Italian with English subtitles - aka language learning. About an hour into the movie, the computer dies... no cord to charge it.

So we get resourceful. We still had internet access and about 6 minutes worth of battery on my computer. We facebooked (similiar to Myspace but less creepy) everyone that we knew in Italy, asking them to call our teammates and tell them the situation.

9:45pm (3 hours after they left) Our teammates return - with pizza - but not for us.

They had tried calling us - too bad we couldn't answer.

After a fast "THANK GOD" and explanation as to why they were shortly going to be receiving numerous phone calls from other STINTers in Italia, we headed off to the closest restaurant to feed our growling stomaches.

First Couple Days on Campus

We started on campus on Tuesday - time to actually take action. We each had a list of contacts from the summer project to start with. We took most of Tuesday to call people (and some of Wednesday). I connected with a few. We used the letters summer projecters has written to them as our connection. No real conversations were initiated the first day - it was difficult just to call everyone. Wednesday was a little different. We kept calling people that we had on our list (there were about 300 names), and just when we thought we were done, we weren't.

Mario and I were feeling a bit overwhelmed by 3:00pm Wednesday. We have a schedule to stay on campus until 4, but we weren't feeling up to initiating conversations. So we sat on the grass in a popular part of campus. I felt a bit guilty not initiating, so I told God -"If you want me to initiate a conversation, I will, but you have to put the person right here because I'm not moving." Then Luigi decided to sit next to us on the grass. What can I say, God works fast. I asked Mario if we should talk to him, and he agreed. So we got talking and asked Him what he believed. We were able to talk through the Gospel and have a great conversation. Some areas are still fuzzy, but he seemed excited to see us again soon.

God provides even when we're pooped and don't want to do anymore. It was an amazing way to end a day and be reminded of why we're here.

Pudding Part II

Later that evening - we found out that our "pudding" was actually Italian hot chocolate....

Making Pudding

Okay, so pudding should be easy enough to make, right? Not when Lacey Mai and I are left to do it on our own with Italian instructions.

I don't remember the exact instructions on a Jello instant pudding box, but I don't remember having to heat it up... But we did according to the directions.

FYI: don't use babelfish to translate instructions - it will just confuse you more. Go with what you know.

So we heated it, then heated it some more, then we got distracted and next time we looked, it had bubbled over the side of the mixing bowl and was dripping all over the microwave.

there is good news: it actually tastes good! (though I prefer mine cold)

Festa di San Matteo

Friday was a holiday in Salerno - the festival of San Matteo, the patron saint of the city. We attended language class in the morning, rested in the afternoon, then came home to see things being set up for the procession. Earlier in the week, Lacey Mai and I had met a shop owner, Vincenzo, and his granddaugher (we think), Maria Grazia, at their store. They invited us back to watch the procession from their shop Friday at 6pm.

Being in Italy, we thought that if we arrived a few minutes late, it would be ok. Whoa, were we wrong. There were masses of people blocking our path. Only after several minutes, back roads and "permiso.. scuza..." were we able to get to the shop. Then it only got more interesting. The parade was lining up right in front of the shop. We met Micheala, Vincenzo's daughter (we think) and then realized this may be a difficult time. Neither Vincenzo or Micheala speak English...and we speak horrible Italian. Sooo after a few short charrades games, we watched the procession without speaking.

I had always heard of these processions but never seen one. It took somewhere between 20-30 men to carry the different statues of saints down the road. There were so many people in this parade - seemed like every priest, nun, etc were in Salerno. Check out the pictures.

Reflections:

If this is such a big deal, I wish we could have a parade for Jesus. Isn't He the coolest ever? We got to thinking, this procession was a rather boring event, just people walking, different marching bands for the different saints represented, but mostly just a peice of entertainment for locals. Everyone in Salerno and visiting towns showed up, but how many actually understand what is happening - or care? I don't exactly understand the role of patron saints, but I've decided I want to be in a parade for Christ. It would be the largest, most festive parade ever! I want to be a part. Shoot, I want to just see it! Instead of statues, there would be stories - stories of what God has done throughout the world, stories of lives changed because of Jesus. Each "float" would represent God moving in the world. Just think of it! It gets me so excited. Granted, it may be because I took classes in event management - but I believe it goes even deeper - a desire to make God known and celebrate His work. Let's be a part of the parade!

What a week! Arriving, settling in, cleaning - and of course, eating. If ever traveling in Salerno, Gerry's is the best deal on gelato: one euro for 2 of your favorite flavors! So good.

Today we went to church in Battipaglia, a smaller city about 20 minutes from Salerno. Due to train schedules, we arrived nearly an hour early which allowed us to stop in a bar (cafe) for cappuccinos and cornettos (pastries). This church is why there is a STINT team in Salerno. One of the national staff in Florence met the pastor during a trip and the pastor encouraged Agape Italia to look into Universita de Salerno. He is also very involved in MLK - the other student organization that is evangelistic.

I absolutely adore attending worship services in other languages/cultures. It is a constant reminder that God is so much bigger than the English language and the United States. Then, singing praise to "How great thou art" in Italian just put the icing on the cake. How great is our God!

As a team we did a 24-hr celebration of God allowing us to do ministry in Italia. We ate at a fabulous restaurant and took a Saturday trip to Amalfi where we hiked (lots of stairs) and then relaxed on the beach. It was a great excuse to get out of the city and spend time as a team.

First Day - or is it second?

Thank you for all the prayers!!! Travel was incredibly easy. I don't believe it's ever been this easy getting to Italy. We were able to load and unload luggage from trains, planes, and buses relatively quickly! (of course, we're all a bit sore today as a result) We have arrived in our apartment.

Perhaps the funniest occurance yesterday was trying to stay awake. Don't attempt this while sitting on comfortable couches. Our team took turns waking up and then waking up others. We ate at one of my choice little restaurants for dinner - Il Caminetto -my choice because it was my birthday. We ate faster than anyone else there - and then again tried to stay awake for the bill. Then we headed to the best little gelato place in Salerno - Gerry's. I got my favorite strattietella and nutella flavors, and went back home after a little walk along the water.

Then we proceeded to sleep for 12 hours. That would be until 1:45pm local time. But man, did it feel good. Now we're working up to lunch and introducing the teammates who have never been to Salerno to the city.

Ciao for now!

Tiffany

Word of the day(s): doppotare - to go (ordering food to go)
generally food is 1/2 price if you order it to go!!

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