First Christmas in Italy!
Hello Everyone, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Now almost a year in, our life in Italy is finally getting some definition and we're very excited for all that God is doing and all the potential that is here.
The video above is about what is happening in our lives here and how we're settling into our lives in and near the town of Feltre. If you can't watch it now, here's a BRIEF summary of the video:
We have been welcomed into the church community wonderfully and have received great support from everyone. It makes the job of leading even easier.
There has already been some church events, evangelical and fellowship focused that are beginning to lay the foundation for what is next.
We are learning the languages much faster now that we are completely immersed in a church where we are nearly the only ones who speak any English.
We are so grateful for the love and support of all of you this last year! Thank you for praying for and financially supporting us so faithfully!
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
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.
A friend of ours has been praying for a while about joining us in the ministry and has decided to begin taking steps toward that next year! There's a lot of need here so we're encouraged.
Landon's parents were able to come and visit us and we all had an incredible time. It was the most relaxing and refreshing week for us when they were here. We all stayed in our apartment and simply spent time together, it was especially fun for our kids!
God is blessing 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 and the churches in our province (within forty minutes of ours)
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.
