Day 10 5/29/10 Milano

Sorry for the lack of update, since we arrived in Milan we have been busy every moment. I am trying to remember when we first arrived and can’t even remember. It’s all a blur. Everything moves so fast here. I guess to start the gypsies here are more obnoxious than Florence. Also Milan looks a lot more like a modern Italian city versus Florence that was the epitome of Italy. We have an apartment floor in Milan. In my room are Kari and Caleigh. I think we complement each other really well. I am a neat freak, Caleigh likes to cook and Kari just keeps us in check. So Caleigh cooks, I clean the dishes then Kari is in charge of music, cleans and cooks a little. So it’s the perfect balance.

So the day after we moved in we went to Statale, Milan University. A friend of the Milan team, Davide gave us a tour of the campus and showed us some cool sights. He was very patient with our group, we have the tendency to be late to everything and take forever looking at things. After our little tour he and Ryan went to go buy a guitar and the rest of us began our first day sharing the gospel with Italian students. Let me tell you, it was an experience. I was partnered with Sarah. We have a tendency to, screw around when we partner up so it was probably a bad decision but it was well worth it. We talked to a few people but didn’t see any results. Then we got incredibly lost and that’s when we met Chiara. She explained to us what she did for a living and what she does for fun as we continued a great conversation after she showed us where we should go. She was trying to explain to us that she taught 5^th graders creative writing using her hands with interesting hand motions. As she did this Sarah tried to guess what she was trying to say and goes, “Oh you teach sign language.” Chiara gave her a really weird look as I guessed correctly that it was creative writing. The rest of the day Sarah and I laughed hysterically that those hand motions could have possibly had an ounce of a chance at meaning sign language. [Maybe it’s another you had to be there or something I need to explain, but it really is funny and not just to me.] So we ended the conversation because she had to go work and I got her contact information. So we had another conversation with an Atheist that didn’t speak English very well. We couldn’t figure out why she kept answering the questions we asked her the exact same way, then later Sarah and I ended up laughing about how we realized we had asked her the exact same question 5 different ways… oops. We finished the day and met up with the rest of the group. We said we got lost and Davide said some of his friends saw “two American girls who looked lost.” We laughed at that too because where they saw us was in the court yard when we weren’t lost. We were just laughing about the dumb things we had done during the day.

The next day we didn’t have a tour guide and we went to Bacconne, the very prestigious private business school in Milan. I was partnered with Kat today. We decided to do a survey on the university to initiate conversation. We had two conversations the first wasn’t very productive but the second we talked to a girl named Giulia (Julia). She explained how she had no friends at the university and didn’t agree with the church because she thought they were hypocrites. She didn’t like how they would not practice what they preach. We ended up exchanging contact information as well. I hope to speak to her in the future. Back at the apartment that night Davide came over with his two friends, Elise and Salla. [two girls] They were so sweet and we played a game called snaps then sang to the beautiful stylings of Ryan on guitar. It was a new thing for me, worshipping with three non-Christians. It opened my eyes sort of that why should we act differently in front of people who don’t believe the same way? They ended up staying until 2am.. well I talked to them until 2am some of the others went to bed.. who knew I was such a talker? But the girls and I really hit it off and they decided they would meet up with us the next day to go shopping. Elise wanted boots. We surfed facebook for a while too and I joked with Davide that his profile picture looked sharp because he was wearing a suit. He goes, “Oh , you like men in suits?” I said I did and he goes, “Okay I wear suit tomorrow.” I thought it was funny.

SO finally it’s today. [Saturday 5/29/10] We met Davide at the Duomo in Milan and he gave us a tour. Sure enough when we walked up to him he was wearing a suit. “I Promised.” He said. Sarah could not stop giggling, apparently it was the funniest thing in the world that he actually wore a suit hah. So we saw the Milanese Duomo. It was breath taking once again. It took 400 years to build and was incredible. We took some great pictures in and on top of it. After that some of the group went back to the apartment and the rest of us went shopping. Elisa and Salla met up with us as we went to the shopping area. We quickly grew tired of shopping because it was so hot and everything was a little over our budgets. Elisa ended up finding boots she liked and then we decided to head back to the apartment. So the three of them and Cenia went to the bar [coffee bar, not bar bar] and Whitney, Pat, Kari, Caleigh, Sarah and I came back. Kari and I passed out as soon as we got back. When we woke up we ate dinner and received some sad news that Kat’s husbands best man had passed away that morning. We all tried to band together to help her but there’s always little we can do. I then got on skype and got to talk to Anna [my roommate for next year and one of my best friends] and my parents [shar shar and poopsie]. I miss them all so much and it was great to talk to them. I felt there was so much I wanted to say! Sarah talked to my parents with me for a bit, she thinks I look a lot like my mom J . Then two guys Kari and Whitney met came over, they’re actually still over but I needed to write some of this down. Ryan actually just came in to tell us tomorrows plans were changing. Elise said she wanted to go to church with us tomorrow, but…. As Ryan just told us we can’t find where the church we are supposed to go to tomorrow is……. So we are going to have our own worship service tomorrow. Caleigh and I laughed so hard. Ryan seemed so bummed that he couldn’t figure out where the church we were supposed to go is. I hope Elise still comes and hangs out in the morning. I think I covered the majority of some things. OH and I got to see my kitty on skype.. I got so excited and may have teared up a bit. Love my kitty. Sorry these thoughts are so unorganized I hope you get the gist. Night and continue the prayers!

-love always,

Britt

Day 6 5/25/10 “I’ve seen those nips before.”

The last day in Florence consisted of more preparations and lots of sightseeing.

Session 1

A speaker from Pisa named Scott came and spoke to us in the morning and afternoon. He started by explaining the Agape Italia in Pisa and that Pisa is famous for two things, the tower of Pisa and a prestigious university there. He then said, “It’s kind of like the Indiana University of Europe.” I immediately raised my hand and told him I was a boiler. He was shocked. I later found out he lived in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We had a bible study with him and much to my bias already he was one of the best speakers yet. We discussed Exodus 34:29-35. [Moses, his shiny face, and the veil.] The veil can only be removed by believing in Christ. It was very interesting and definitely something to think about as well as true. He was very encouraging about our future endeavors in Milan.

Session 2

Scott continued talking about Italian culture and a little about their social networks. Italians have low outer walls and high inner walls in regards to their emotions and opinions. The other interesting thing about Italians is their group of friends. Their group of friends is their network. When you are friends with one of them you are friends with the whole group. The main difficulty here is, though you may talk to them for hours upon end and think you are friends, you are not friends with them until you are introduced to the group. There are common misconceptions regarding Italian students. They do not live life on campus. They come on campus for class then they leave. So much of our ministry to students will have to be off campus. The key to success is getting inside networks and bringing in the gospel as soon and as sensitively as possible.

After the sessions we went to lunch at another amazing restaurant. I had some fantastic pasta, again… I later talked to Scott and found out where he was from. I said how Italy really intrigued me and we would see where God leads me in the future. He said, “There’s a lot of staff from Purdue in Rome. A degree from Purdue would help you a lot there, who knows if it would help you in life, but definitely Rome.” Much to my dismay he turned on his heel and left, so no retort for me.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Florence, taking lots of pictures and visiting some sights. There are countless hilarious quotes from the day. Of course, we are in the city of art and culture so there are statues everywhere. We went to an area by the fake statue of David with many statues of the Greek Gods. There was a lot of nudity, mainly male nudity. So we finely came across the Greek Goddess Aphrodite and I made the racy comment of, “Finally some girl nips.” And Sarah replies, “I’ve seen those nips before.” She is such a quiet soft hearted girl so to hear that from her was ten times as funny as you can imagine. She of course meant that she’d seen Aphrodite before.

After going to see the bridge, dealing with loud street vendors, and more gypsies we had to meet at the bus station to go to Gary’s house for dinner. [The Florence Agape Italia Director.] We had split up earlier in the day because some wanted to sight see and some wanted to sleep. The plan was to meet at 6:00 at the bus station. Some of us got there a little early so we sat in the park and had a group prayer. It was pretty cool and we definitely got some people’s attention. At 6:00 the rest of the group showed up, except Cenia. She was nowhere to be found. We looked everywhere, but nothing. The girls stayed in the center of the bus station as the guys walked around looking for her. It’s amazing how difficult things are without cell phones. Finally at 6:30ish we decided to pray for her then get on the bus to head to Gary’s house. He took us to the top of the hill overlooking Florence, just if not more beautiful than the Duomo. We went to his Italian Villa where wife, two kids is and taffy awaited our arrival. His two kids Courtney, 15 and Davis, 12 had been to Italian schools for three years now and were not fluent. It was incredibly impressive. Taffy, their hilarious and sweet Golden Retriever helped me eat the Bruchetta that I dropped on the ground. No worries, the ground was stone. So we ate an amazing Pesto dinner and had excellent conversation with the Runn family. Cenia called eventually, she had gone to the train station instead of the bus station, miscommunication but thank God she was safe.

After a long evening we went back and crashed. We had to rest to go to Milan the next day! Andiamo! Arrivederci.

Britt

Day 5 5/24/10 Beware of Gypsies.

As of today the free will counter stands at 4. I have been keeping track of how many times someone in Sunday school would yell free will, Carson would love it.

So jetlag isn’t a joke. Everyone in my room crashed at 12:00am, or 6pm Indiana time and I was still somewhat awake. I tried to go to sleep and eventually fell asleep. I woke up at 4am wide awake and could not go back to sleep so I starting reading with the help of the light from my iPod touch. I had the headphones unplugged because I use it as my alarm clock. The speaker was on and the sound was on loud. With the girls sound asleep in my room I accidently clicked on a song. So at 4:30am Italy time some random country song blared at full blast from my iPod causing all the girls to immediately jolt awake. Sorry… I eventually fell back asleep at 6 then had to wake up at 7, woo.

Session 1:

We walked to the Agape Italia (Campus Crusade) building a few blocks away for our first session in Italy. We were once again welcomed by Gary Runn, the director we had met the previous day. He began explaining Florence and gave us some interesting things to think about. Florence was known for the renaissance, as everyone knows renaissance means rebirth. There’s a more important rebirth to take place in Florence that should be better known, the rebirth of its people. I enjoyed this irony.

[side note, just looked out the window in our hotel room and there’s a cat that looks identical to my cat on the window across the street, approx 5 yards away, I yelled kitty.]

We had a bible study during the first session and Gary continued to encourage us saying we can’t mess up God’s plan for salvation; we are given the privilege to step into God’s plan. All he’s asking for us is faith. We began talking about 1John and the two errors that many had been taught. I can’t remember if I talked about John 17:26, but it was again brought up into the session… The main thing Gary talked about was that Italy/Milan’s greatest need was equal to our greatest need; they needed to experience the real Jesus. We are not self-righteous people, we are in the same place as the people we are trying to share with. We all need the same thing. We need to experience Jesus as much as they do. “Your need is as great as their need.” WE ARE IN NEED OF THE SAME THING WE ARE SHARING.

Session 2: Culture

After sitting in the briefing room, a briefing room in Italy is not the same as America I promise, we had a quick break and went to the café. I had a freshly squeezed half blood orange, half orange juice. It was fantastic. Quick fun fact, in Italy when you get a coffee you stand at the bar and drink it quickly then pay and leave, usually espresso shots. There is a fee if you sit down. Upon return we began talking about Italian culture. Which is easier said than done. Each region of Italy has different culture. We were told we were not longer permitted to say Italians are like…. But Milanese are like… Milan is our mission field and we need to focus in on that area. Milan is known as the melting pot of Italy and there are all sorts of different rules and customs. Two most important things to know is that Milan is predominantly catholic and politically predominantly right. 53% Right, 17% Extreme right 30% left (communist) Milanese love sharing their opinions and love talking about politics. This helps us as we try to reach them because it means they are more willing to talk than say a Purdue student with headphones in, cell phone out and a huge ‘talk to me and die’ sign tattooed on their forehead. They preached use your home and food for the gospel, the best way to reach people is through fellowship. Fellowship=food. Two of my favorite fun facts were colored people and squillo. The girl explaining culture to the team was Nicole. She was black and explained how people in Italy called her colored. She was hilarious and spunky and said, “I’m sorry but you do not walk into Harlem and say look at all the colored people…. You will die.” The other thing is called squillo. Squillo is a way Italians save money on their cell phone bills. If Italians just want to say hi, want to say they are headed over, or want to say they are at your house they will let the phone ring once then hang up. I think that’s so cool. If someone just calls because they are thinking of you, they call once then hang up. I might start doing that. Sorry if I squillo.

After culture we had an hour long English lesson then we went to lunch. I had something nasty for lunch, that’s all I know. After lunch we had the rest of the evening for sight seeing. First and foremost we went to the Duomo! [ The huge cathedral in Florence ] I probably could not explain this sight if I wanted to. Yeah I took pictures, yeah I took video, but there’s no way you can understand the feeling of seeing this giant structure. The idea that someone created this building without modern machinery was one thing, but then add the detailed interior and exterior architecture, art, stained glass windows, paintings, ect, no words can describe. The ceiling of the Duomo was another sight in it’s self. It took the painter 7 years to paint it. As Ross put it, that’s devoting your entire high school and college career to a painting. Given it’s the sickest thing I’ve ever seen, but that’s a long time. After we went in, it was time to go up. We each paid 8 euro [ sorry dad ] to climb to the top of this monster. 700 steps up, 700 steps down, totally worth it, simply breath taking. I could see all of Florence and what someone told me was the entire Tuscany Area. Incredible…

Went back down after an hour and we milled about for a bit around the Duomo. Someone ran into my right side where I was holding my wallet-purse thing, I don’t know what you call it. My first reaction was to throw my elbow directly to the temple of whoever was trying to touch me. I didn’t I just swept my billfold to the opposite side. Sure enough, a gypsi had tried to push it out from my hand.. What an idiot. I’m sure Jesus loves her too, but a thief without an ounce of brains is almost as dumb as an Italian man wearing Bermuda shorts with a polo, scarf and aviators. [Tool]

After this we went back rested, I got internet for the first time in what seemed like forever. Then we went to dinner at a pizza place. It was definitely better than ordinary pizza. Then we had gelato again and came back to the hotel room where I could see the kitty across the window! I am quite pleased if you can’t tell. All we see are big fat dogs that smell like cigarettes on the streets, though we did see a puppy today. Tomorrow is our last day in Florence before we head to our final destination of Milan. I have learned so much in these few days and I have a stronger spiritual connection than ever. Thank you Lord. The other thing I have learned about this… I’ll call it a place… I have almost died more here than I ever have in my entire life. Everyone knows I do some pretty stupid things, but I’ve never actually thought I was going to die. All you have to do in Florence is walk on the sidewalk and your life is in danger. Hard to explain without lots of hand motions, loud noises and jumping from side to side. Hope you get the idea though. I thank you all once again for all your support. I know God is going to reveal himself in Milan and I cannot wait to get started. Ciao.

Brittany

Day 4 5/23/10 Florence

This afternoon at 1:00pm Italy time we made it into Florence. I was asleep so I missed it on the flight from Munich to Florence, but Caleigh took a gorgeous picture of the Alps as we flew over them, I hope to add that soon. [Credit goes to Caleigh Trottier] So we landed in Florence and I immediately saw some sort of mountains. They were gorgeous. We stepped off the plane and had to ride a bus to the terminal. Once we were there the Florence CCC director was there to help us get to the Hotel. We missed the 1:30 bus, imagine that? We seem to be late to a lot of things, I love this group! So we went to the ATM got money out then by the time the majority of us got Euro we were ready to get on the bus. We keep joking that Euro is play money because it is so pretty. Ryan continues to express how it’s easier to spend because it feels like monopoly money. So I’ve been very careful already [you’re welcome daddy].

We switched buses and had to walk about a block and a half to the next bus. After we got off that bus we had to walk 10 blocks to our hotel. I insisted upon taking my Nike duffle bag which has a one strap so I had to carry a 32 pound bag 10 blocks, and according to the director Gary was the hottest day yet. I am still glad I did because everyone else struggled with their rolling suitcases on the narrow brick sidewalks. We finally got to the Hotel Arizona. [Yeah, odd huh?] Then we went to our rooms to shower and relax. In my room is Caleigh, Kim and Kari. The other girl room is Whitney, Sarah, Cenia and Kat. Then the guys are all in one room Ryan, Pat and Ross. Yes my room is guilty we all fell asleep for a nap. The beds are so comfortable. When we woke up we went to dinner.

We met the Florence Stint team who work alongside the permanent team in Florence. They were extremely encouraging because a few years ago they were in the same place as we were. They explained how international projects have 4 phases.

Phase 1: Summer Project [realizing the spiritual need and beginning to plant seeds]

Phase 2: Stint team [ a temporary team to work in the country to continue networking over a greater period of time]

Phase 3: Permanent Team [a team moves to the destination and develops the organization in hopes of finding locals to take over]

Phase 4: International team [a local team, in this case Italian, join staff and begin crusade such as we now have a Purdue]

Milan is in stage 1, and according to the stint team [one of the girls was in one of the original trips back in 2006] they are in stage 4! They are so proud of all the work God has done in Florence and is continuing to do. They have an Italian couple taking over when they leave here in a couple months. Stint teams still exist even during phase 3 & 4; at least that’s what I got out of it. The restaurant was fantastic. I had penne ala pesto. Definitely no olive garden and so much better than I could have imagined! Everyone is so curious so we shared a lot of our foods together. I took a picture of Ross’s Alfredo; I can’t remember what it was called. We left and got gelato. The stories are true, I have a crazy sugar rush right now! I got a 2 ‘scoop’ [more of a 2 spoonful but it seemed like a lot more]. I had hazelnut and berry. The hazelnut was basically nutella flavored ice cream but so much richer and the berry was indescribable the texture even had the berries real seeds in them. [Kind of a pain] Now we are back for the evening and going to bed. Exhaustion is beginning to overwhelm us all. Tomorrow we are going to the Florence office; we got to see the outside of it today one of the pictures is at the bottom.

Arrivederci! - Britt

---- i'm going to post pictures on facebook, its a lot quicker than this. atleast for now while we're in florence.

Day 3 5/22/10 Ciao.

Last Day in the states we are at the Boston Airport as we speak. I messed up on the last posts date because i was writing so late today is Saturday. The third day of the trip. Pray for us as we travel! Love you all,

britt

Day 2 5/22/10 “I thought it was a demon.”

Day 2 5/22/10 “I thought it was a demon.”

God works in mysterious ways. I’ve known my team almost 24 hours at this point and they are not only family but some of them probably know me as well as some of my good friends. I’m so blessed that God has placed me on a team with such amazing people that bring so much to the table.

Morning Brief:

Much to my dismay, we woke up at 8:30 for breakfast. I kept reiterating that there was a typo on the schedule, but no, 8:30. So we ate then returned to the conference room for a morning brief. We brought all our checks from all of our support. (Thank you again So much!) We also had the privilege of speaking to the Milan Director John Vampatella. [I learned this yesterday, but just like Purdue is kind of taking Berlin as their main area for ministry after big break and such, the Northwest region’s main goal is Milan. So the Staff members are from Boston and Connecticut.] John was in the first group to visit Milan. They went for a week and knew there was a need for ministry there. John told us about the city and what to expect. The city of Milan has 2 million people. Milan is known as the ‘New York City’ of Italy, as well as being the fashion capital of the world. The people are predominantly catholic but have little known knowledge for the Christian faith and no understanding of a personal relationship outside of church. He also told us, the ultimate goal of this team is to do what CCC has done in Florence and other large cities, which is create a permanent team and ministry to bring people to Christ. John has steps along the way, but basically our goal is to find around 4 people who will take a year in Italy investing in launching a ministry in Milan; a ‘stint’ team. But our summer goals are to Grow in the Lord and explore campuses in Milan and challenging Milanese people to look at God without looking through the lenses of the church and possibly even raise people from this group to spend a y ear in Milan for the short term ministry.

John spoke of our project and how some people may call it a “fool’s errand”. Most mission trips focus on the physical needs and serve in third world countries, but this project is focused on spiritual need. The dire need for spirituality everywhere is often times forgotten. John went to organize more checks and such and we had a morning bible study. We studied A little in Luke. Luke 11:1-4; discussing the desire to keep God’s name holy and for us to recognize who He is, He is God. We often forget how amazing God is, and to keep him Holy. Kari made an interesting comment how we maybe spend a total of 48 hours dedicated to walking in his word. God created us- loves us -and offers us the eternal gift- and she’s right, we don’t give much time to him if any!

After the bible study (which was much longer, all of this is the condensed version) we walked to lunch. Here’s where things get interesting. The retreat center we are staying at is very, interesting. It’s the Evangelical Christian center in Ashford. It’s incredibly nice, it’s so beautiful and the housing is fantastic, but it’s not only a retreat center, but what the sign says “Home for the Aged”. Plenty of elderly are walking around everywhere, and some don’t have it all together. (NOT JUDGING) So we all walked to lunch and Ryan and Ross came in 2 minutes later. They were dying laughing. Ryan later told us they were walking and a little kid jumped out at them and tried to scare them. Ross’s first reaction was “Ahh I thought it was a demon.” Which Ryan thought was hilarious and so did we, because who thinks that? It was incredibly random. But as soon as that happened and old lady with a walker was in front of them and looked at them, Ross said hey how are you? The old woman cocked her head to the side and starting speaking in a foreign language they couldn’t understand. Very confused they quickened their pace and walked into the dining area. You might have had to be there, but the random events that happened within 2 minutes of them walking had us rolling on the ground.

Session 2 Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Cenia was in charge of the second session where we were administered the Myers personality test. I was an ENTP, Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Perceiving. My description I don’t know if I quite agree with it but most is accurate. Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems, adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people, bored by routine will seldom do the same thing the same way apt to turn to one new interest after another and easily distracted. We then got with people who had similar personality types so we could decide what we have to offer the team and the ministry. Then (my favorite part) Cenia gave a short, kind of joking prayer about each personality type.

Mine was, “Lord help me to say more task focused.. oh a bird!” I immediately started laughing and caused a scene as usual, and they asked what was so funny and everyone who knows me, Purdue’s campus has a lot of bunnies on it and every time I see one no matter if I’m mid conversation or whatever I will stop what I’m doing yell bunny! Then chase the bunny. Especially once I was driving with Robby we were rocking out hardcore head banging and everything totally into what we were doing and I saw a bunny out of the corner of my eye and just yelled BUNNY! Stopping what we were doing. It was quite funny. See I’m getting off topic.

Session 3 Soularium

Third session we discussed the way we would be talking to others about faith. We are using what is called the Soularium. Not a solarium, but a SOUL-arium (get it). Its 50 images used in a similar way as the ink-blot test is used in psychology. Check out mysoularium.com for more. So using the soularium we ask a person if they have time for a survey then proceeds to ask 3 questions. Pick 3 images that best reflect your life, then pick 3 images that reflect what you don’t have but hope to, future aspirations, and what 1 image describes what you think God is or is your idea of God. From there sparks great conversation and we use also what’s called back-story which can help answer most questions if we can’t. We got to ‘practice’ on each other one pretending to not believe e in God and the other acting as themselves. I was partnered with Whitney and we kept running across the same problems, how do you explain God to someone who may not understand? ----Some big guy that created the world, us and everything in it, he loves us and wants us to worship him, but we can’t talk to him because sin separates us from him so he sent his son to be sacrificed so we might be able to have eternal life. By Jesus dying he took all of our sins away, but though Jesus is the son of God he is actually God in human form…..---- Whitney and I kind of stopped and laughed. Explaining God is not simple and explaining Jesus is even more impossible especially for someone who has no prior knowledge. So Ryan came and helped us, but we have a lot of work to do. Then we had a language lesson. Then unfortunately Sarah and Cenia weren’t feeling well so they went to get some medicine. We sat and talked for a while then played manhunt, sardines and all sorts of games just to get some exercise we’d been sitting too much.

The three males in my group seem impressed that I know what the world cup is, that a touch downs worth 6 points, that Brett Favre is no longer on the packers and four recent quarterbacks from the broncos. (Cutler, Plummer, Orton---- now tebow.) Pat asked me if I was a tom-boy growing up. My brother got a kick out of that one.

So we ended the night with lots of great conversation and fellowship.

Day 1 5/20/10 Andiamo! (which means lets go.)

“with hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take god out of the pledge of allegiance?” Jay Leno

Before meeting the team I stayed with a family in Manchester, CT. The Hobson family where I received the most amazing hospitality I have ever witnessed in my life. A family I had never before met. I was picked up from the airport by Samara Dave and little Angela Bowne. They drove me to Samara’s home because I was let’s go with 6 hours until the brief! (Thanks dad) but no really thanks dad because I met some of the most amazing people. We drove to Samara’s mom’s home where we stayed and hung out on their back porch and just talked. We sat out there like we had known each other forever. The mom ( I can’t even remember her name, long day) had so many kids! It was basically a foster home for anyone who needed the help and kids with autism.

So we sat on the porch and talked Samara had the cutest daughter Angela she entertained us for a bit until it was time for a nap where I asked if I could join her. I felt so rude because I wasn’t very lively in conversation because I was so exhausted. So Jessica let me sleep on a couch in the basement she got me a pillow and I put my head phones in and I was out. I actually had a dream I got a text that said Ryan Spooner was in an accident and was at the hospital having his burns treated and he wouldn’t be at the briefing. I think I might have told Jessica this then went back to sleep she never said anything but I think I might have.. It was odd. Oh by the way I walked into the men’s restroom at the airport in DCA yeah I was that out of it.

So Jessica woke me and we had dinner with the family. A delicious dinner. It was almost angel hair pasta with a thin cream Alfredo sauce with chicken, peppers and broccoli. C’est très magnifique! So after we helped clean up this amazing dinner Jessica drove me to the briefing which was about 45 min away. Jessica and I had a great talk. I found out I was mistaken and Jessica wasn’t a part of the family. She lived with them because they stood beside her and helped her through her walk when her parents don’t approve of what shes doing. This girl is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. In the talk in the car I found out she graduated from uconn with a degree in civil engineering. This girl is not only smart but she has such a fire for the lord. We had the most amazing conversation I’ll never forget it. The main thing she taught me was when god talks, listen. You may not like what you hear but God is going to challenge you. Step up to the challenge. A lot we talked about in that conversation was just amazing So I hope to hear from Jessica Bliven soon.

So I finally met my team. We are a team of 11. One had to drop L.

We have: The always energetic beautiful and so darn cute Kari Taylor who is from Colorado and will be a junior next year at one of the small schools out there. She plays d2 soccer. Next is Whitney who is sleeping next to me, she is from North Carolina and she is such a doll! I love her accent it makes mine stick out less but when I’m around her mine comes out real bad! Yal know what I mean. Then there’s Kim who is the cute ‘hugger’ of the group as soon as we met she greeted us all in a hug. She’s from California but goes to Boston College. Pat is the only guy in the group not on staff. He speaks Italian well and he’s from New York. Then there is Sarah who is from New York. She is so nice and so quiet but when she talks she always has great things to say. Opposite of Sarah is Caleigh she is from Maine and goes to Wentworth where she is a junior there. Then there are four people on staff: Ryan, Ross, Kat and Cenia. Ross and Ryan are from Uconn and Kat is on staff at Brown and Cenia is on staff at Boston I believe.. not exactly sure.

So there’s the team. 4 staff members 7 students

Whitney, Kari, Kim, Pat, Sarah, Caleigh, & Me. Ryan, Ross, Kat,& Cenia.

The Brief

The briefing went very well. Ryan had folders and journals for the team and we had some great conversations for ice breakers. Why did you choose the Milan Summer project? What are you most scared of? What are you most excited for? The main consensus was we chose to go to the project because of personal reasons and to serve in Italy out side of the US. The fears ranged from communication because of language, being yourself, to not getting too distracted by the city, and rejection of people.

Ryan shared with us his ‘Lord of the Ring’ style vision he had whish ended in exodus 14:14 The Lord himself will fight for you.

We ended on that and were free to talk to the others and get ready which is what I am doing now… to bed. Goodnight! In Christ, Brittany

First Post

Hey everyone... and mom & dad. This is just to keep everyone updated with my future endeavors in Milan this summer. I'll try to keep everyone posted with all of God's amazing work over there. I'm starting it now just so my mom can get all excited and cute and send it to all her friends on email... :) Love you guys and I'll be in touch. In Christ. Britt