First tears

It's been a week of goodbyes, beginning with Wednesday night. It's been a bit of a whirlwind because my sister and friends were in town for part of the week, along with trying to meet with as many students as possible. This generally meant late nights and early mornings. Wednesday night we celebrated one year of the "capella universitaria" (the evangelical chapel near the university) being open for one year. This also coincided with goodbyes to my friends Emiliana, Annamaria, and Maria Teresa. For the first time, things were starting to sink in... that I was leaving. The next day we spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to handle bills and spending time with our friend Anto. Hoping to see her the next day, I suppressed any sadness (also because she's planning on coming to Florida in August!!!). Friday I met with a friend early in the morning and was able to pray with her - that she would be a light on campus to her friends and classmates. That night I told Andrea I would be praying for him as he travels to Malawi for a month with Agape Italia.. Saturday we made our way to the small town Oliveto where our friend Renzo lives. He showed us everything from the olive trees to the water buffalo used to make the famous mozzarella di buffala. Back in Salerno, we went out with friends Matteo and Vinesa. More goodbyes. A trip to the boys' place to say goodbye to Nico Zanzara and a stop by our favorite pub (Easyriders) to see Andrea Mandato and others one last time started putting things in perspective...
I am actually leaving. I actually had an impact. It's amazing how much you don't even realize it while you're "doing ministry". These people have been a huge part of my life here. They are why I came...
This morning we went to my last day at church. The pastor asked us to come up and say something. One of my team leaders, Rick, thanked the church for being so encouraging and supportive this year. The pastor asked the rest of us if we wanted to say something. I simply signed to him that if I spoke, I would cry - it got me off the hook. I lasted through church, but with another goodbye to Guiseppe and other MLK students, I lost it. It took me until goodbyes were finished at church, but I regained control of my emotions.

My biggest fear right now: coming to the realization that my time in Italy has ended halfway across the ocean and having a sobfest next to strangers.... Hopefully God will help me through it.
In the words of Rosita today "Non vai solo. Con Gesu." I'm not going alone. I'm going with Jesus.

History and Culture

Last week we had the priviledge to visit a winery with our friends, Nico (that's right, there's two of them). Viticoltori De Conciliis is the name of the producer, located just south of Salerno in Paestum. Their Donnaluna is found in practically every wine shop in the region and is available in NY and Cali. First, we received a tour from the owner of the winemaking facilities then had a quick tasting of light bubbly wines (because it was so darn hot outside). It seemed like a normal day at a winery, but Nico had more in store for us. He then took us to a buffalo farm where we had buffalo milk gelato - so good! We played with some kittens then headed off to our next destination - where, we weren't sure. We pulled up into this long dirt driveway stopping in front of a home... Nico's grandparents' home! When we exited the car, his grandparents led us to a worn-down shelter near their garage. They explained to us that it used to be a caffeteria for the American soldiers during World War II. Still showing on a couple of the walls are paintings of airplanes used during the war. The couple then told us we are most likely the first Americans to be back in the building since the war.
Following the short tour, we sat down at the kitchen table for some home made snacks and limoncello - excellent! It was simple munchies that you would find around Italy - but they were scrumptous and had just a bit more wonderfulness to them!
We wandered outside to discover their land was a small farm, growing everything from cucumber to apricots. Not to mention Grandma had every flower ever created by God in her garden.
My favorite moments in Italy have been full immersion in culture and hospitality of the Italian people. It's not the food, it's not the atmosphere, but the people that make Italy truly amazing. We were welcomed like family and Grandma and Grandpa showed off their home and land with pride. I know even the southern region is very different than the northern, but if it means giving up days like that, I'm never want to leave south Italy.

Looking back

Yesterday we spent the day packing up our apartment... a strange feeling when you have 2 weeks left in the country. Two of my teammates leave Friday to return to America. How has the end of our year come up so quickly? It seems like yesterday we were in language class figuring out how to say "I work for a Christian organization called Agape Italia".
In fact, I found a slip of paper while we were cleaning out everything that said "Posso ordinare tre turcini per la data 22 di Novembre" - "Can I order 3 turkies for the 22nd of November?"
That's right, the three HUGE turkies from Thanksgiving. What struck me as strange is that I had to write down the sentence and take it with me to the butcher! Seeing how far we've come in our language ability shows me just how much I've learned this year without even realizing it. I talked with a girl on campus today, going through the Gospel and then discussing the Holy Spirit - I never would have been comfortable discussing these things in Italian 8 months ago, now, it's completely normal. I've really settled into life here. I was given the opportunity to go to Florence with Summer Project for the weekend, which helped me to process part of the year with my boyfriend, Richie. As we sat on a bridge over the Arno River, we discussed how normal it was for me to be in Italy, and how it will be strange now for us to see each other in Orlando. He asked me my favorite and worst parts of the year and so began my individual "debriefing" - my time to process through all that's happened in the past year. I wanted to let you in on some of this debriefing. Throughout the next few weeks I will be posting thoughts on ministry, life, and random events that have made my year. Enjoy the journey.

God works in amazing ways.

The last few weeks we've had a group called Summer Project with us here in Salerno. It's been great to have fresh energy and more laborers working on campus. But it's the last week that I want to talk about now. My team had our debrief to start wrapping up the year last weekend. While we were there, we received a text informing us that 2 people had accepted Christ! One of them was actually my friend, Ilaria! Fast forward to even more conversations and end up at our barbeque last night. I was able to do ministry alongside my boyfriend, Richie, at the barbeque. We talked with a group of guys he had met at the university and then his friend Vincenzo arrived. Earlier in the day, I had met Vincenzo with some other girls that we had actually met previously in the year. We encouraged them to come to the barbeque and Richie expressed his desire to talk about the Gospel again with Vincenzo. So when he arrived at the barbeque, the two of them sped off on Vincenzo's motorino (vespa) and when they returned, Vincenzo had made a decision for CHRIST! Read more about Vincenzo and the others at http://www.salernoproject08.blogspot.com/.

It's been such a blessing to do ministry with people that I will be working with at UCF next year - seeing their passion for the Lord and their desire to learn how to clearly present the Gospel. Praise God for what He's doing!