Hello from Italy!!!
There have been so many adjustments and transitions for our family since we wrote you last. We can honestly say that it has been incredible to watch how God has gone before us. From being ushered through the airports at every stop, the team here helping us every step of the way with paperwork, and an reasonably priced apartment in the center of town open for us... it has been so clear we've been spoiled by God.
The video above gives you a peek into our lives here.
Here's the main summary...
We've arrived in country and have been here around a month now.
We're have our appointment to finalize our visas here and secure two years permission to live in Italy. The appointment is the first Monday of March.
God has made it very clear to us that the need is so great! We are excited to see Jesus change our lives more while we're here and change the lives of people we meet.
Please write us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We love hearing from you.
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
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FINANCIAL TEAM
Thank you to all of you on this team who have donated already, We had some big one time givers at the end of 2017 and it has made the transition and all the initial costs with our visas much more feasible. Our monthly financial team is starting to come together too! We are praying more people will join us in reaching Italy with the gospel by supporting financially.
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
He went before us and has made this difficult transition as smooth as it could be. We still have hard transitions but they're been made easier.
For an incredible Italian family that has welcomed us in even though we were just some crazy Americans they met at a market. We've been so blessed by them.
God provided for language lessons for both Rach and I! A friend here connected us with someone who wants to do a language swap with Rachel. She is a teacher and will come over after the kids go to sleep one night a week to give Rachel a private lessons. Also, someone is going to pay for Italian private lessons for me. We are so excited!
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓ 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.
Prayer Requests
Pray we would receive our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This would make us legal here for the next two years.
Landon begins teaching a class for the bible college run through the church we're serving with here. Pray the students draw close to Jesus and are encouraged by the time he spends with them.
For our family as we continue to try and adjust to the thousands of different things we need to learn and figure out here. We have a lot to learn!
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity.
Quick understanding and retention of the Italian culture and language as we're starting language study soon. Keep praying for this, we are both making progress, but language school and lessons start this week for us.
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 one, we're so excited to see such a faithful and supportive team being built.
Merry Christmas!!!
We're so grateful this year that Jesus is consistent even while everything else changes.
The video above gives you a peak into our lives.
Here's the main summary...
We've sold house, cars, packed everything, finished up at CrossRoads, and said our tearful goodbye's in California.
We're in New Hampshire until January 15th spending time with Rachel's family, preparing for Italy, and hoping to encourage the church while we're here.
We leave for Italy January 15th and arrive the next day running hard with the church in Montebelluna since they have a missions team there when we arrive, apartment hunting, language study, and teaching a bible college class starting in March.
Please write us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We love hearing from you.
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
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FINANCIAL TEAM
Thank you to all of you on this team who have donated already, God has really been pouring out His blessing and it is amazing! We are always welcoming people to pray about joining us in reaching Italy with the gospel by supporting financially. 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 amazingly supportive people we have in our lives! Our families have been more supportive than we deserve in this season. Thank God for them!
God put the perfect people on our care team (a group of support people at our home church Crossroads). They've been so encouraging and logistically helpful. They share in our heart to reach out in Italy with the Gospel.
Our house sold, one car has been sold, and thanks to family in Bako, our stuff got moved, consolidated, and packed. That was a series of epic miracles!!
Prayer Requests
For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Roger DelTorro... you da man.
For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We want to be able to provide the structure and care for our family that’s needed and and also have extra grace and flexibility as well.
The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. (We just found out the apartment that was lined up for us is now not available)
Quick understanding and retention of the Italian culture and language as we're starting language study soon.
For our financial team that the Lord would lead people to be part of making the work in Italy financially possible.
We're excited to get you up to speed on all that is happening!
When we first moved back to Bakersfield we knew we'd always be involved in missions, whether short or long term, and we also knew that God wanted us in Bakersfield, CA at Crossroads Christian Fellowship. It has been a privilege to serve Jesus, plant roots, and grow alongside our family here for four years now.
We got an email about a year and a half ago from one of Rachel's friends who is serving Jesus in northern Italy that impacted us. This is what she wrote:
"Right now something incredible is happening in Italy, people are getting saved all over (I mean like a few here and there, but all over the country) and contacting our pastor asking for churches. There is one church in the south that has a small body of young (late teens - early to mid 20s) new believers. They got saved and their pastor left. There are all sorts of groups like that: different cities with a few believers begging for a pastor. Some people drive hours to come to a church. Here, it is overwhelmingly true that the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few."
We started praying as a family for these people. The more we prayed for them, the more we sensed God moving in our hearts to be a part of the solution. We've decided to walk by faith by trusting God's leading and have begun taking practical steps toward moving in early December.
If you are interested in joining us by getting involved here's what we recommend:
Pray about being a part of "Team Italy" which is our prayer team and/or financial team.
If you feel led to pray for us, subscribe to this blog to stay up to date with all the prayer requests.
If you are called to financially support, go ahead and read through our donate page link at the top of our site.
There are more details and a bit more of the story in our video if you haven't already watched. We'll answer FAQs in our next video update so please send us any questions you have!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, & Holden
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PRAYER TEAM
We are increasingly grateful for the prayer warriors in our lives. It makes us so happy watching God move in real and practical ways all because people are praying! Please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
For the amazingly supportive people we have in our lives! They've brought diverse wisdom, encouragement, challenge, and refinement through the whole process. This is a really good thing!
For the fact that God has been challenging our family to trust Him and follow Him. It is a mix of emotions, but we are excited God is moving.
Our home church CrossRoads has been so loving and supportive of us as a family!
Prayer Requests
For God's continued direction as dates, details, and decisions are currently being planned.
For our CARE team that will be a liaison to our home church once we leave. The team isn't formed yet but meetings start in September. Pray God provides the perfect people called to partner with us!
Pray for all the transitions that will be taking place in Montebelluna and Bakersfield, that God will meet the needs of the ministries we're heading to and from.
Pray for our family, immediate and extended, as we all transition into a new reality.
