First New Years in Italy!
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
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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.
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.
