Day with the Lord.

Greetings.

Our team just came back from a New Beginnings conference near Grossetto- Fattoria Il Santo. It was such a joy to connect with teams headed to different areas of Italy, and discuss what it looks like to really dive into the lives of Italians. We talked about what it will look like to practically launch movements among students.

One of my favorite points of the weekend was hearing what has worked in the past- Italians that had surrendered their lives to Christ shared what made them want to cross over from death to life. These things included: being exposed to Christ centered community, exposure to large sections of Scripture, hearing someone's life changed story, and having a few of their burning questions answered. I cannot wait to join with my team in making sure that every student we invest in sees these 4 aspects.

Currently, I am learning to have a more accurate perspective on the glory of God. At the Fattoria [which is a working farm] we were surrounded by beauty- from the Tuscan hills to the vast skies blanketed in stars- and I found myself feeling small and insignificant. But that is not the right perspective at all. The Lord is great, vast, worthy, and infinite. When I see His beauty and soak it in, my thoughts should be about His glory- these things exist to glorify Him. I want my life to be the same.

ci siamo.

i [along with my two teammates] have officially arrived in firenze!

we were greeted at the airport by the rest of our team- praise the Lord all of our suitcases made it safe and sound. ems, my luggage tag even beat out the airline- he's still as cute as ever.

today was a big day in italia- abigail and i now have cellphones! it's almost like starting life all over. there are so many things that you don't think about have to "re-aquire", and to do them while living in a jet-lagged fog is quite an experience.

and speaking of jet-lag, i had a grand notion of writing a very excited and quite witty post, but let's be honest, the creative juices aren't currently flowing. all this to say, life hasn't changed too much. i'm still avoiding reality [aka unpacked suitcases] by checking email and facebook- same same but different.

ciao!