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!