Italy Bound!

Tomorrow I leave for my short term mission trip to Torino, Italy. I am so excited about our team. Jenni (pictured above with me) and I who work in the GCM office and two girls from Missouri are going with a team from Texas. Some of our team will be doing English Club outreach and some will be doing Muslim outreach. I am excited to be doing English Club outreach. Jenni & I are partners and we will be teaching Beginners. I have never taught beginners before on past mission trips but I've had many cool times just hanging out and talking with beginners during free time. I love them! My heart melts for them! I feel like I have a natural ability to slow things down for them, patience in listening and understanding them and I just plain ole love to encourage them.

I think this trip will be good for me in a lot of ways. One way in particular is that this will be the first time in 3 years that I will not be returning to Poland. I love Poland so much and have had such awesome experiences there and been so blessed by God on my mission trips there. I had prayed for 3 years about moving to Poland to be a missionary but this year the Lord told me that it's not in my long term plans. I grieved that for a while and I am really OK with it now. God has given me great peace about it and has also opened up some pretty huge doors to other great things in my life.

When the opportunity came about to go to Italy, I was really struck with this thought that was so overwhelming......... "You know what, God loves us so much and desires for people everywhere, of all nations, tribes and tongues to have a relationship with Himself through His son Jesus Christ." I want that to be so fresh in my mind every single day for as long as I live. Jesus is the Living Hope. I have that Living Hope in my life. I want to share this with others. I can no longer possibly even imagine living this life without God. I am so glad He came to save me. I am so glad He came to love me and set me free.

Here are some facts about the city of Torino:
* Torino is the fourth largest city in Italy with its population nearing 2.2 million, of which 94,000 are students at the University of Torino.
* Although Italy has a rich Christian history, sadly many Italians have abandoned their country’s foundational Christian roots. For many Italians, the Bible has become obsolete and irrelevant.
* Cults and occultism have engulfed their society, making Torino the second largest center for occult activities in the entire world.
* By trying to fill their spiritual void with materialism and sensuality, many Italian families have been severely damaged or completely torn apart.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to go and be a light to Italian students who:
* Are agnostics or atheists and disillusioned with organized religion.
* Come from dysfunctional families where parents provide little moral or emotional guidance.
* Are convinced truth is relative.
* Believe friendships are important, but rarely experience close relationships.

Over the years I have asked God to help me to love people more like Jesus loved them. Although I am a very loving person, I realize how hard it is for me to love like Jesus loved. His love for us took Him to the cross where He took our rightful place and bore our sins upon Himself and died so that we might have life eternally with the Father. This was His greatest act of love. I want people everywhere to know how much God loves them. “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” (Romans 10:13-15)

Please join me in praying that God would be preparing the hearts of those in Italy that we’ll encounter, that their ears would be open to hearing the Word of God and their eyes would see Jesus-The Way, The Truth and The Life! One thing that I am specifically praying for is that God would bring some girls my way that are very broken. I have such a heart for broken people whose lives have been ravaged by numerous things, whether it be by abuse, addictions, loss, etc. I have experienced God's miraculous love, healing, forgiveness, hope and restoration in my own life and would love to share with them that Jesus loves them and hears them. His heart and my heart breaks for them. I want them to know that just as Jesus restored and redeemed my life that He can do the same for them.

Please pray for our whole team, for fun and sucessful English Clubs and Muslim outreach, team unity, that we would be an encouragement to the missionaries laboring in Torino, safe travel and good health, awesome connecting times with students, boldness in sharing the gospel, salvations and that God would do a mighty work in us and through us. One thing that I am praying for myself is that God would accomplish in me whatever He wants to accomplish. I am praying that He does something new in my life and renews me.

I pray that His will be done, Amen!