Tutto è compiuto.

By some miracle, I have been allowed a window of opportunity to post my last blog update. I have been home for 6 days now, and have been more busy than anticipated. As I thought would happen, my return has been sweet yet sad. I have been back to work two days now, and so much has changed there. I didn't realize how long three months was until I reflected on what has happened at home while I was gone; people have been married, babies have been born, and friends have gone home to be with Jesus. I am sad, but in many ways jealous because they now see the face of God. I also want to see the face of God. I know that someday I will, but for now, I am here to do the work that he has for me. 

Wednesday 9/21/11

I really cant believe that my trip is drawing to an end. I am in a Plane bound for London trying to remember all of the things that have happened to me in the last 15 days or so. We finished the festival strong. We had battled the Napoli Soccer team for attention. I think there were three games that were happening while we were having the festival making a noticeable drop in attendance, I don't think it lessened the effectiveness of what we did because I know that everyone God intended for us to reach during this trip heard what God wanted them to hear. We had a wonderful last night. I was able to visit all of the tents, take some pictures, participate in some amazing worship, and then it was time to clean up the grounds and start packing all of our things. We stayed at the festival grounds until 11:00 or so. The team did a great job stacking chairs, moving tables, picking up garbage. Julie Neidert and I even went so far as to sweep the entry area outside the park. She and I talked about how cool it was to be able to come and not only serve the people of Casoria and Arzano, but to serve the city as well. I think just being there for people to see that you care and will do something like picking up their garbage says a lot about who we are and about God who sent us. I heard Brian Heerwagon say that there was a mention of what a great job we did for the community in the local newspapers. Naples seems to really be looked down on by most of the people that live in central and northern Italy. Just this morning I was talking to a lady that works for British Airways.. she asked me how long I stayed in Italy. When I told her 60 days, she looked shocked. She asked me where I have been and what I have seen, and when I told her Naples, she said, “and what did you think of Naples?” in a sarcastic and almost disgusted way. I told her that “Naples has a lot of Garbage, but when you get beneath all of that it is beautiful, and the people are wonderful.” She just smiled and went back to getting me my tickets.

After our final Festival day, I chose to stay in Naples with the team and do some of the excursions that they had planned. I wanted to see the places, but they also needed another driver so it worked out just fine. I took a group to see the Naples underground downtown on Monday, and then Tuesday to see the Amalfi coast. The underground was really amazing. I didn't pack my camera with me, but I saw a lot of really cool things. As we drove up the Amalfi coast we stopped at a few coastal towns that are built on the cliffs, they looked very much like the pictures I have seen of Cinque Terre. I don't know that so many people have those southern coastal cities on their radar when they go to see Italy. I had a great time winding back and forth on the narrow road dodging tour buses and rock shear walls. There were several moments when we had to fold the mirrors back and squeeze through spaces that allowed probably a solid half-inch of room. There were a few moments when Bruce Neidert would barely put his hand out the window and pick a flower off the rock wall.. I got to eat some wonderful seafood, put my feet into the Mediterranean, and spend time with new friends. The sun started to go down and it was time to head back to the Hotel, so we started our trip back to the hotels and away from the cliffs.

I had to get up around 4:50 this morning in order to make an early train to Rome for my flight. I made it with plenty of time, it was so nice to not be rushed through an airport. Last night I told Brian and Monte that it was time to head back to reality. Then I paused for a moment; what I have been doing for the last three months is reality. What I do when I am at home is more of an illusion than any mission trip I have ever been on. I am so distracted by the things of this world when I am home. I struggle at home to see beneath the surface of the veneer of lies. Our world has become so believable that everyone sees what is on the surface and can't see the truth that waits beneath. I know when I get home that I will want to save my money for things that I do not need. Things that may serve no purpose other than to steal me away from time that I could spend on becoming closer to my God. We become slaves to our own desires. I am not coming back to reality, I am coming back to an Illusion. Serving God removes the veneer and reveals what the devil does not want us to know; The Truth. I was asked to write one word that could describe what serving in ministry in Naples did to my perspective. I thought about it for a while and what I ended up with was a word that I got mixed responses for. My word was “revealing”. Working in Ministry opened my eyes to the struggles that the People in southern Italy are faced with on a day to day basis. I saw kids not older than 13 years old lighting cigarettes or working very diligently at becoming extremely intimate with other children in public. I could see that Evangelism is viewed as a cult by the Catholic church rather than something that teaches people more about Jesus Christ. I could see how desperate people are to add meaning to their lives. I could see the crust that was over peoples hearts preventing them from hearing what we had to say.

Thursday 9/22/11

I made it back to Seattle. Now I am on the train from Seattle to Portland. I don't have anyone in Portland to pick me up, so I will probably have to find my way, or call people until I find someone that can pick me up. I cant help but think about my new Italian family. I swear I have never connected better with anyone than I have when on a mission trip. There is something about serving God that fills me up. There is an unconditional love that can not be broken. I wish that everyone could know the depth of that love, Unfortunately, it is deeper than we can comprehend... At the same time it's not unfortunate at all, but amazing, breathtaking, unbelievable, and undeserved.

I have gotten so familiar with trains. It is actually quite nice to ride the train back from Seattle to

P-town. It gives me nice time to reflect on my last three months. There is more comfort than an airplane; more leg room, the seats are bigger, and you can look out the huge windows.. I also have an outlet at my feet and WiFi. This train isn't crowded, so I can put a bag on the seat net to me. There are not as many tunnels that the train goes through, so you don't get the pressure in your ears like in Italy. I think that our trains appear to be a little better maintained so maybe the seals between cars are better. The trains here don't go as fast and I'm sure that that has something to do with it as well. I am going to need to check out the bathrooms. I have a feeling that our toilets don't open to the tracks like they do in Italy. I cant say I prefer one way over the other, but I can say that the wind on your backside is mildly thrilling... I loved looking out the window in Italy at the landscapes. I would always think of how beautiful it is. Now that I am home, I look out the window and see what I have seen my whole life. It doesn't seem as beautiful to me because it is what I know. I'm sure that Italians would come here and say that it is so beautiful here because it would be different from what they know.

My return is definitely bitter sweet. There is always sadness mixed with joy when mission trips come to an end. I have never felt like mission trips were a job or a duty to me... Even though you could look at them as a job and a duty. It is me working for the Lord and through that comes amazing joy and satisfaction. I must thank everyone who has been keeping up with me the last three months, and I pray that following my journey and sharing in some of my moments with God have not only kept you interested, but given you some spiritual food at the same time; food that will help you grow. That is my prayer. 

Festival is moving fast!

Tuesday 9/6/11

Shawn and Greg Strannigan arrived in Rome today. We kept them walking. Shawn said that she didn't sleep on the plane at all, and Greg said that he slept for 4 hours... Plane sleeping is ¼^th as effective as any other kind of sleeping, so you could say that they had been up for at least 24 hours and now they were working on their last 12... I have to say though they weren't zombies, they were actually communicating with us in words.. We showed them what Dennis and I had seen the other day.. Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Novella.. (or something like that)

When we rode the metro back to the hotel, we went down to the platform, and there were a million people standing there all waiting for the same train. Greg, Shawn, Dennis, Karen, and Micah snuck onto the train near the middle of the crowd in door #1, and I barely got on in door #2. I swear the door shut and pushed me into the crowd... Compressing everyone so that they would fit. We only had 1 stop that we needed to go. I was so crammed that when I would look down I couldn't see my feet. I looked to my left and I could see everyone else tucked into the train huddled around the middle post. I looked to the right past a few armpits and there were about 4 faces staring back at me. I just tilted my head back and imagined the doors opening and all the pressure being released as I backed out of the train. We came to the stop, the door opened; but it was the door on the opposite side of the train. I swear not a single person moved. I saw Dennis and everyone sneak off the train, so I had a little giggle a little smile then started to squeeze through the sardine can to the other side. I swear people did not move. It was as if they wanted me to miss the stop. I made it to the middle of the train where there were a few arms stretched out clinching the middle pole.. they would not let go, so I had to duck and sneak under them. I ended up taking the shape of a diver with my hands together and my head down as I then popped out the other side in a spiraling motion.. Finally, I was out!

Tuesday 9/6/11

Made it to Napoli, had a wonderful lunch with the Delta Ministries team, and checked into the Hotel. The room is probably big enough for a family of 10, so Micah and I should be very comfortable. Tonight we meet up with a few of the pastors from here for an anniversary celebration. Should be a rockin' time Italian Style. :) Be praying for the safe arrival of the rest of our team!

Tuesday 9/13/11

I cant even believe that a week has gone by already I think I have had a total of five hours of down time, not including the time that I have been sleeping in my bed. Driving has been fun and exciting.. there are plenty of moments each day in the car that remind me how close close can be. When there is a knob on the inside of the door that will not only adjust the mirrors, but also fold them back against the van for those tight moments; you know that you are in for a ride. I have actually become quite comfortable driving here, which maybe is a good thing, maybe not.. When I am at home, and I get nervous about how close I come to a car.. It just doesn't really compare. Take those moments and add 15 miles per hour into it, and remove a few inches, and you get Italian driving. If you look at a map of Naples, it looks like a dish of spaghetti.. There are so many tight spots, and a ridiculous amount of signs that make you tilt your head to the side in wonder of what you are supposed to do. My favorite is when you have a stop sign right next to a green light.. All stop signs are treated as yield, and if you are a nice guy and let people go ahead of you, you will either never get a chance go, or someone behind you will drive around you in the oncoming lane and force their way into the traffic. It really is a crazy thing; driving in Napoli.

The festival has just finished its third day. I have been running security and driving people back and forth from the Festival grounds, the hotels, the church, train station, airport, and from people's homes for Pranzo (Lunch). I have worked a night shift at the grounds, and spent so little time awake at the hotel room that I eventually ran out of clean underwear and today sported a pair of swim trunks in their place.. Not the most comfortable thing when you are walking most of the day.

I think I should fill you in on some of what God has decided to use me for. I have been invited to share my testimony to the churches here, and I even was asked by Doug Valenzuela (Lead Pastor/Missionary and founder of both the Arzano and Casoria churches) to share it during the festival on the main stage. I don't know if he was serious, but I know that God wants to use me in ways that may not be my first choice, but really, my testimony is not my own.. It is His testimony, and He gets to use it in whatever way he chooses. I am just a vessel; a servant who wants only to serve Him and carry out his desires that he places into my heart. I have shared my testimony for the Arzano church, and Greg Strannigan shared his testimony at the Casoria church. Again, I am amazed at what he does with my testimony and how it affects the people that hear it. I start to feel like I just repeat, repeat, repeat, yet people continue to come up to me and tell me how God used it to speak to them in different ways.

The festival has been amazing so far, the music, the booths, the people that have been coming. As far as security has gone, I have had to wrestle about 14 people to the ground, and spray 2 people in the face with mace...

but seriously, that was a joke, and what trouble we have seen has been minimal.. Plus, those are the people that we would love to have around so that they can hear the message of Jesus Christ. Just as a doctor does not come for the healthy but for the sick, so Jesus came for the lost. the Festival wouldn't be very effective as an out reach tool if it were only Christians that attended. 

A typical day starts early and ends late. I have to drive a load of people to the church in the morning, and then we usually carpool to another destination. Since the festival doesn't start until around 6pm every day, we have the morning for outings.. and then Pranzo... but someone has to drive them. When Festival finishes up, it is somewhere around 10:00PM, and we start taking everyone back to the hotels. I take a load to my hotel, and then if needed another load to another hotel that is a little farther away. Seems like every night there is a little something different that goes down. For instance tonight, Dennis and Karen went to have dinner at an Italian's house.. I had to pick them up around 11:00pm at the festival grounds, then take Alessia, a friend and interpreter, back to her house which was some other city that I cant remember the name of.. if you think directions are hard in the US... try taking them in an Italian city.. first of all.. none of the road's names matter, because they are not labeled... or at least I don't know where to look. Second. there is no structure as to the direction a road goes. Just as I said before, a road map looks like spaghetti. At least in the US you could go to 4^th street.. or 5^th street.. its one block over from 4^th street.. yea, doesn't work that way in this place. I finally got back to the hotel around midnight.. last night was largely the same time wise, if you exclude the 3:30am to 8am security shift that I got to work at the festival grounds... What I have remaining on my agenda for today is to shower and go to sleep. My day starts at 7 tomorrow for more driving!! In case you have gotten an impression from what I have said that I am not really excited about what is going on here, I just want to let you know that it is not what I am intending to show you... I love it here. The people are so wonderful. Their hospitality is remarkable, and their love is sometimes overwhelming and driving around is better at waking you up in the morning than caffeine. I'm sorry that it has been a week since I have updated, but this is really one of the first opportunities that have gotten to type... I don't really have that many pictures either...

Firenze to Roma

Wednesday 8/31/11

Today we have to make runs around town returning things that we have borrowed to prepare for our trip to Napoli. We have the guitar and projector from the Florence Gospel Fellowship, and we have 3 bikes that were lent to us by the pastors of the Methodist church who lets us use their church for worship. Our days in Florence are coming so close to an end.. I met a girl named Annelie yesterday that told me a story about when she first got here. It was December, and she hadn't met any christian friends that could encourage her. 

She was praying that God would show her to a place where she could be with some. God put into her head the song “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet”. She said that it was in her head all day, and that evening she went for a walk down where the Christmas decorations were and heard the same song in the distance. She followed the sound to find a Latin congregation worshiping together and they welcomed her in. She struck me as someone who leans very much on the strength of the Lord; It was so awesome to hear how God had provided for her needs. I thought it was a wonderful story of someone allowing God to step in and lead her to a place where there is comfort; leaning not on her own understanding. The song that he gave her was his word and it was a lamp unto her feet and a light unto her path.. It led her to a place where she could be encouraged and strengthened. I love that.

Thursday 9/3/11

I started to pack up my things, I don't have a whole lot to pack so it didn't take very long, but I spent most of the morning reading the in John and Romans. I took a (platonic) walk with Annelie in the afternoon, we ended up walking for the rest of the day. We talked about anything and everything. I got to know her and she is a girl that walks with Jesus everywhere she goes. We read the bible together at Palazzo Pitti, and walked all over the city. We met up with Dennis, Joubert, Aniola, Mary, and Albiola at 9:00 to get Gelato and to say our goodbyes. Annelie wanted to walk up to Piazza de Michelangelo afterward so she and I walked some more. Everyone else in the group decided to stay. We prayed together for friends, for family, and for each other. It was really wonderful to be with her that night.

Friday 9/4/11

We packed all that we had left into our bags, settled our bill with the Landlady, and Joubert helped us over to the train station. We said goodbye to Joubert, and headed off to Rome. I have to say that I didn't really feel like smiling very much. All of the friends that I have made in Florence have made me not want to leave. I don't know how I can keep from coming back. Dennis and I checked into our hotel and then it was pretty much nap time, so the hotel room shut down. I didn't really feel like sleeping, so I went outside to what turned out to be the smoker's lounge with my bible and read the rest of Job. I had a few people come out and smoke here 

and there, but for the most part I was oblivious to them; just me and God... and the occasional breath of smoke. After a few hours I went back into the room and rousted Dennis out of bed so we could go for a walk. We went and walked by Trevi Fountain, and then over to the Pantheon where we sat down for dinner. When we were finished we went started to head back to our hotel.. we turned the corner to go down the stairs into the Metro, and they had closed the gates... We couldn't take the metro. I was totally disoriented, so we took a taxi back. Luckily Dennis speaks enough Italian to explain where our hotel was.

Saturday-Sunday 9/5, 9/6

Karen and Micah are now with us, so we are all four in a single hotel room. I love being cozy. They have a double bed, and then twin sized bed over in the corner that actually is a bunk bed which collapses. I chose to sleep in the bottom bunk, assuming Micah would want the top. I was right, Micah wanted the top. So I must tell you about this bed. It is a child's bed. I have never had a problem fitting onto a mattress before. 

Since it is the bottom mattress of a collapsible bunk bed there are large gaps around the edge of the mattress so that the hinges have a place to go when it is collapsed. I cant tell you how many times my foot or knee has slid down into these things. Not to mention that it is encased in a hard laminate board. The board goes up above the level of the mattress, so if my arm flops off the bed in the middle of the night, my arm bone (Ulna?) on the outside of my wrist collides with this board and it feels like running into something with your shin. If that does not wake me up my hand goes numb because it holds my hand above my heart. ...or my ankle will get pinched down in the crack between the mattress and the board right on that bone that sticks out, or I get to wrestle with the metal spring/hinge that is on the other side of the mattress and is always very cold... On top of all of this, it squeaks every time I move. Don't roll over in the middle of the night, or you might wake everyone up. I think it might be more comfortable just sleeping on the floor. The bed is a very creative design, but I wouldn't score it so high in satisfaction. I don't mean to complain just because I think it is ridiculous, I think it is actually quite comical. So maybe you all can enjoy that at my expense. :)

"Hey Bob? If you want to talk, you are going to need to come in here, I'm a little busy."

We have been walking Karen and Micah around to try and keep them vertical. I think they are doing pretty good. There are no shortage of beautiful churches to see when you walk around. I swear we were not even walking in an overly touristy area and we kept running into them. We meet up with Shawn and Greg Strannigan tomorrow, so we will have to do the same for them.. Got to stay vertical! Get over that trashy jetlag.