Hello everyone, so much has happened in our church and around the world since our last update.
The video above is all about what God has been doing during the quarantine, how we're handling the transition into a more normal life, and renovating the new building:
We lived through a very strict quarantine the last few months but the family did well.
Even though we weren't allowed to leave the house, we were busier than ever with the church through zoom and facebook live with church services, prayer meetings, administrative meetings, and small group fellowship.
We are now transitioning out of the quarantine and God is providing some beautiful opportunity to talk with people and share the gospel.
Our new building is purchased and the renovation has begun. There is still a large project ahead of us to get the building ready but we are so excited for how this location change will open so many doors into the heart of our city.
Please write us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We're so grateful for you!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
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FINANCIAL TEAM
We're so grateful for you the faithful people who make the ministry here possible financially. It is encouraging to see God answer our prayers so practically through you.
People have asked if we still need support now that I'll be pastoring in Feltre. Valid question and the answer is absolutely yes. We will be serving a very small church. The church's giving keeps the lights on and pays rent, but not much more than that. We're so grateful that we can devote our time fully to discipling, teaching the word, learning the language, and our prayer is that God raises up these local Italians to reach their people in cities surrounding us in Feltre. The journey is just beginning!
If you have been praying about giving and haven't yet, you can check out our donate page for more logistics or click here to give online now or set up automatic monthly payments.
PRAYER TEAM
Thank you for praying for us... please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
We received our new visas so we officially have permission to live her until 2022
Every other spring our kiddos were sick for months but praise God that both of our kids WERE NEVER ONCE sick during the quarantine?
Instead of feeling more distant during the quarantine, because of zoom services on Sunday, fellowship small groups on Thursday evenings also on zoom, and nightly prayer on facebook live we've all actually gotten even closer as a community.
We see a few different people praying about moving to be a part of the ministry that God is doing here. There is such need and we are excited to see what God will do.
God is continuing to bless our church and the believers with unity!
Prayer Requests
Pray that God opens many doors for the gospel!
Please continue to pray for the building renovation for precise and efficient work by the contractors.
Pray for Landon as he re-starts the process of getting an Italian drivers license. He has to take the test in Italian and it is quite difficult.
For the transition into meeting in person because with all the restrictions some aren't able to be here in person with us and things aren't the same. Pray that we are able to serve the church (the people) well from afar and do our best during the transition.
Pray for our family and Jenna (who serves with us) that we can continue to learn the language and run hard in the work God has given us here.
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity.
For our financial team who supports us that God would continue to provide for them and even bless them even in this economic difficulty.
Continue to pray for unity within our church as we begin to structure and organize things better to more effectively minister the gospel within our church and to the lost.
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓God provided a large donation that completely covered the purchase of a building in central Feltre. THANK YOU JESUS!
✓Pray for a dear friend who decided to minister alongside us in the work in Feltre. Pray for God's leading as they prepare and seek the Lord.
✓We praise God for His direction in our lives and for leading us to Feltre to serve Jesus with those people. We are so excited!
✓ We found a great car to purchase with the money from the cars we sold before we left. It has already changed so much of how we do things and all the documents lined up so we purchased it three days before we really needed it... after a six month wait.
✓ We received our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This makes us legal here for till 2020.
✓ For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Believers bought both of our cars before we moved!
✓ For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We had such amazing hosts, thank you to my fam, Rach's fam, and the Librings!
✓ The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. We show a short clip of our place in the video! We love it and its beginning to feel like home.
✓ God has really blessed the class Landon has taught this spring '18 semester. His students were very engaged and worked hard.
Hello everyone, we have some big news from the church here in Feltre!
The video above is all about what God is doing here in regards to a new church building. Along with that it has also been such a fruitful season of ministry in every other area and there's a lot to report. Here's the summary of the building video if you aren't able to watch it right now:
Through an unexpected turn of events, we're purchasing a building that will put our church in the center of the city life and culture here. God continues to bless in ways we didn't expect.
Crazy enough, the building will be purchased entirely with one HUGE donation that was given specifically with this building in mind.
There is still large project ahead of us to get the building ready but we are so excited for how this location change will open so many doors into the heart of our city.
If anyone wants to make a special donation toward the church project the information is below:
Donate online by writing "Italy Church Fund" in the comment line along with your donation amount at this link: http://www.lighthousecalvarychapel.com/give/ or...
Write and mail a check to Lighthouse Calvary Chapel (865 Second Street Unit 8, Manchester, NH 03102) and be sure to write "Italy Church Fund" in the memo line.
Please write us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We love you so much!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
--------------
FINANCIAL TEAM
We're so grateful for you the faithful people who make the ministry here possible financially. It is encouraging to see God answer our prayers so practically through you.
People have asked if we still need support now that I'll be pastoring in Feltre. Valid question and the answer is absolutely yes. We will be serving a very small church. The church's giving keeps the lights on and pays rent, but not much more than that. We're so grateful that we can devote our time fully to discipling, teaching the word, learning the language, and our prayer is that God raises up these local Italians to reach their people in cities surrounding us in Feltre. The journey is just beginning!
If you have been praying about giving and haven't yet, you can check out our donate page for more logistics or click here to give online now or set up automatic monthly payments.
PRAYER TEAM
Thank you for praying for us... please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
For the huge donation that has made this new building purchase possible.
For the team from the states that helped us with a two day VBS last month and worship night at our church. God did some powerful ministry through these teams, it was so encouraging for us.
God has been really blessing us with unity as we're getting things in order at the church administratively and in the different ministries. There's still a long way to go but we're encouraged by progress.
We live in a small town called Pedavena, only minutes from the church and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. We feel so blessed to live in a small and safe community with our babies.
We see a few different people praying about moving to be a part of the ministry that God is doing here. There is such need and we are excited to see what God will do.
Rachel's mom is coming to visit Wednesday and that will be such a blessing and encouragement for our family! It is so fun to see those we love and our kiddos love being with their grandparents.
God is continuing to bless our church and the believers with a sweet unity!
Prayer Requests
Pray for our church as we continue to get ourselves and now a new building ready for the work of God. There was a lot to organize before this project became a reality, now we need some serious prayer for wisdom and the right people to help with the project.
Pray for the owner of the building we are purchasing, for his physical healing and for a chance to share the gospel with him.
Pray for peace and good relationships within the body as sometimes renovations can be a strain on relationships... we don't want any drama and we're trying to safeguard from that.
Pray for our dear friend Jenna Wirshing who is moving to Italy from the states to serve with us long term here in Italy. She moves in September and we want to see the Lord bless her as she's making a big step of faith in her life.
For our family as we continue Italian immersion as we move to a church and town that doesn't speak hardly any English. We are making progress, but this will be a big focus for our family the next few years.
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity
For our financial team that the Lord would lead people to be part of making the work in Italy financially possible. Keep praying for this are, we've seen God provide and want to be consistent to continue to ask.
Continue to pray for unity within our church as we begin to structure and organize things better to more effectively minister the gospel within our church and to the lost.
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓Pray for a dear friend who decided to minister alongside us in the work in Feltre. Pray for God's leading as they prepare and seek the Lord.
✓We praise God for His direction in our lives and for leading us to Feltre to serve Jesus with those people. We are so excited!
✓ We found a great car to purchase with the money from the cars we sold before we left. It has already changed so much of how we do things and all the documents lined up so we purchased it three days before we really needed it... after a six month wait.
✓ We received our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This makes us legal here for till 2020.
✓ For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Believers bought both of our cars before we moved!
✓ For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We had such amazing hosts, thank you to my fam, Rach's fam, and the Librings!
✓ The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. We show a short clip of our place in the video! We love it and its beginning to feel like home.
✓ God has really blessed the class Landon has taught this spring '18 semester. His students were very engaged and worked hard.
Hello Everyone, Happy New Years... and Valentine's Day for that matter!
We've officially been here for a year and are really encouraged how it's feeling more and more like home. This New Year began with discouragement but we've been given such hope and direction for what God has called us to do and be in this season. As a church and a family, things are going well and we're so blessed by your continue support through prayer and giving.
The video above is about what is happening in our lives here and how the ministry is beginning to take shape this next year. If you can't watch it now, here's a BRIEF summary of the video:
We have seen some outreaches and events the church has done over the holidays begging to already bring fruit in a few families lives. People are hearing the gospel and that is encouraging.
This year will be a year of the church getting in order and preparing for what is next. Our theme verse is Titus 1:5 "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you". The first step is ordering our church and the next step (in who knows how long) is to begin to reach out to the cities near us.
There is immense need in the cities around us for bible teaching fellowships. There's a 30 minute radius in every direction (one and a half hours to our west) where there is not another church. It is very overwhelming, but also encouraging to know this is why our church is here, placed strategically.
Please write us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We love you so much!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
--------------
FINANCIAL TEAM
We're so grateful for you the faithful people who make the ministry here possible financially. It is encouraging to see God answer our prayers so practically through you.
People have asked if we still need support now that I'll be pastoring in Feltre. Valid question and the answer is absolutely yes. We will be serving a very small church. Their giving keeps the lights on and pays rent, but not much more than that. We're so grateful that we can devote our time fully to discipling, teaching the word, learning the language, and our prayer is that God raises up these local Italians to reach their people in cities surrounding us in Feltre. The journey is just beginning!
If you have been praying about giving and haven't yet, you can check out our donate page for more logistics or click here to give online now or set up automatic monthly payments.
PRAYER TEAM
Thank you for praying for us... please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
We live in a small town called Pedavena, only minutes from the church and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. We feel so blessed to live in a small and safe community with our babies.
We see a few different people praying about moving to be a part of the ministry that God is doing here. There is such need and we are excited to see what God will do.
Rachel's mom is coming to visit Wednesday and that will be such a blessing and encouragement for our family! It is so fun to see those we love and our kiddos love being with their grandparents.
God is continuing to bless our church and the believers with a sweet unity!
Prayer Requests
For our family as we continue Italian immersion as we move to a church and town that doesn't speak hardly any English. We are making progress, but this will be a big focus for our family the next few years.
Pray for a dear friend who decided to minister alongside us in the work in Feltre. Pray for God's leading as they prepare and seek the Lord.
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity
For our financial team that the Lord would lead people to be part of making the work in Italy financially possible. Keep praying for this are, we've seen God provide and want to be consistent to continue to ask.
Continue to pray for unity within our church as we begin to structure and organize things better to more effectively minister the gospel within our church and to the lost.
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓ We praise God for His direction in our lives and for leading us to Feltre to serve Jesus with those people. We are so excited!
✓ We found a great car to purchase with the money from the cars we sold before we left. It has already changed so much of how we do things and all the documents lined up so we purchased it three days before we really needed it... after a six month wait.
✓ We received our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This makes us legal here for till 2020.
✓ For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Believers bought both of our cars before we moved!
✓ For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We had such amazing hosts, thank you to my fam, Rach's fam, and the Librings!
✓ The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. We show a short clip of our place in the video! We love it and its beginning to feel like home.
✓ God has really blessed the class Landon has taught this spring '18 semester. His students were very engaged and worked hard.
