Day 26 6/13/10 Update, sorry for taking so long

I didn’t even get to finish the last entry I posted. We have been crazy busy. Yesterday I actually just read all afternoon so I guess that would have been a good time to update but oh well. So this will be an update of campuses and friends we have made along the way.

STATALE UPDATE:

The first day on Statale Campus Sarah and I got incredibly lost and met a girl named Chiara. We ended up talking to her for over an hour and exchanged contact information and everything. A week later I shot her a message and we decided to get lunch. When we met up with her that afternoon she brought about six friends with her. Sarah and I were in shock but we were so incredibly stoked that we were among that many girls. It was a fantastic lunch we went to a supermarket type store got sandwiches and then went to the park. The water we bought was 21 cents! After the park we walked and got a café then we said goodbye. We didn’t really have any spiritual conversation but we talked about getting together again soon and building friendships is incredibly important. After lunch, Sarah and I went to the mess and prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide us in the rest of the day. We walked out to the courtyard and we saw two girls sitting on the stairs. We approached them and right off the bat could tell communication would be a struggle. The two girl’s names were Marta, and Gemma. They were so sweet and patient with us and our lack of Italian, and eventually we discovered they were believers. As soon as they discovered this commonality they grabbed our hands and led us to a book store on the way we ran into Ryan, Pat and Ross, so they joined us. We went into the bookstore and met some of the people in there and discovered they are all part of a group called the Communion Liberation Movement, which is a Catholic worldwide movement. As we were talking in the bookstore one of the girls we had lunch with walked up to us to say hi, at this point everything clicked. Chiara, Marta, Gemma and all the girls we had lunch with were all part of this group known as ‘CL’ and they are all believers in Jesus Christ. God is good. He put believers in our path that major in language at the university. This past Friday 6/11/10 we went to the CL’s meeting then went to lunch again afterwards. The meeting was interesting, rather than focusing on the bible they read other texts and focused on the meaning behind them. The texts are written by the creator of the CL movement. They seemed to focus more on philosophy rather than theology. [given this is my opinion, and interpretation of the meeting that was translated to me. this was first impression… just a side note don’t get offended] It kind of concerned us a bit because it would be like a youth group at a church focusing entirely on a C.S. Lewis book. So at lunched they asked us what we thought and we explained some of our concerns and wanted to know exactly the intention with the group. They explained how they believe studying the bible is very personal; their meetings consist of over 100 people in three different classrooms at the same time. It makes sense, and there are subtexts that site the bible in their readings. The rest of our concerns were settled as all their answers were connected with Jesus Christ and their purpose was to set a Christ like example. There are 3 main differences between our group and theirs.

1. They are catholic, but we all believe in Jesus Christ which is the main point so it’s ok.

2. They show Christ rather than sharing him. We believe in evangelism and have been going out and sharing our faith with students. They help the community and do more service to show Christ. It’s almost like if we combined the two groups there would be a good balance.

3. They don’t construct their meetings around the bible.

So overall the group is fantastic. We have the majority of the same beliefs and we feel comfortable directing non believing students their way for fellowship and guidance in discovering Jesus as we leave.

I’m getting tired so I’m going to give a quick summary and I can explain more later… Also at statale I met a girl named Beatrice. She is basically like me before I became a Christian and has the same interests as me. It’s really cool and we connect really well. Pray for her and our future discussions because she is such a great girl.

BACCONI

We have a daily bible study and we have met some amazing people on that campus as well. We definitely have some lifelong friends from there and I personally hope to keep in contact with some of the girls I have met there.

Church of Reconciliation

We have been attending this church for two weeks. They speak Italian but some of them can speak English very well. There are also two Americans that live permanently in Italy so their English was very good J obviously. They knew today would be our last Sunday here and it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life. I have never felt God’s presence more in my life. I’ll sum it up because I cannot even begin to explain what happened. So the service started at 10am…. We got back to our apartment at 3:30pm…. Yeah…… The pastor their explained that he prepares two sermons and lets the Holy Spirit lead him to which sermon he should give. Today, he didn’t give either because he believed he was being lead to continue worship and prayer. We worshipped for 2 hours and at the end of the two hours he called our group up to pray for them. [keep in mind this is a tiny church with a faithful congregation] Our group got into a circle and the congregation surrounded us and many of them, without even knowing us, prayed for us. Marsha, one of the Americans translated on the microphone. They prayed over us for 20 minutes. Thanking the lord for us and giving us safe travels home and blessing the people we have talked to. By the end every one of us was crying. 20 minutes of prayer. We were then rushed with hugs and kisses from all of them. I’ve never felt more welcome from the Body of Christ than at that moment. We then got invited to lunch that they hadn’t even planned on having. So immediately following this they made a whole bunch of pasta and bread and salad and dessert and we had lunch together. It was unbelievable, yet it was believable because it happened, in God’s house.

The Lord is faithful, that’s all I have to say.

Day 18 6/5/10 a little mix of mafia, nutella and God’s Grace

The past couple days have been unbelievable, but it’s believable because it happened—to me. So much has happened and so many memories have been made. I don’t even think Chey’s laugh could make me laugh harder than I’ve been laughing this trip.

The girls have now successfully gone through 5 containers of Nutella and 1 can of Spalmella. What’s Spalmella you ask? We don’t even know. We are trying to save some money because we have been spending like crazy and we bought the knock off version of Nutella, knock off it was. All our Italian friends keep making fun of us for the poor decision. Two nights ago Kari decided she would not eat any nutella/spalmella all day until after dinner dessert. We started eating dinner at 7pm and completed dinner at 7:30pm. At 7:45 Kari was eating our freshly opened Spalmella container for dessert. Then Caleigh, who not wanting to eat it sat down and began to try this poor excuse for the delicious hazelnut spread. I saw them eating and decided to have some as well so I joined them. Whitney and Sarah soon joined us from the other apartment. We had five girls around one table with a jar of Spalmella in the middle. It was all over our fingers, our hands, our clothes, our faces, our clothes and even somehow the floor. [keep in mind this stuff isn’t even that good] We ate more than half of one jar in one sitting. At 8:15pm one of us finally had the self control to put the lid on it and hide the container. We weren’t even hungry, it wasn’t even tasty and 5 girls sat around eating it for 30 minutes. After feeling disgusting for eating so much Kari went into the fridge again to get more food and grabbed a carrot. Sarah appalled that Kari was still eating goes,“ you’re eating a carrot now?” It was another you had to be there I suppose but it still is a funny mental image. We are some big girls. J

Our team has a small passion in playing this game called Mafia. I used to play it at Spring Hill summer camps when I was younger. It’s not a very Christian game, but it’s so much fun. Two people are the mafia, one person is the doctor, and one is the cop. There is also a moderator that announces the whole game. How the game works it the towns people go to sleep then the moderator asks the mafia to wake up. They pick one person to kill then return to sleep. Then the cop wakes up and they are asked to guess who they think it is. The moderator shakes their head yes or no, so only the cop knows this answer, then returns to sleep. Then the doctor wakes up and has the option of saving someone or their self, then they go to sleep. Then the whole town wakes up and finds out if someone died that night or if the nurse saved them. No one knows who the nurse, doctor or Mafia is. The point of the game is to find out who the mafia is and if you are the mafia you are trying to prevent anyone from finding out you are the mafia. Sounds more complicated than it is, it’s easy just to play it. Then while the towns awake they accuse someone of who they think it is and each time the townspeople kill who they suspect is the mafia by the majority vote. The game concludes with either the mafia winning or the towns people killing off all the mafia.

[retraction: robby jacks ohio state and purdue cups too, my dad teaches us great things]

Day 14.5 6/2/10 Things to Know about Milan

I decided there are 10 things you need to know before you come to Italy; Important things that will prepare you for a fantastic time in the moto bella city of Milan.

1. Italians practice saving water for the fishes

2. Coffee= tablespoon in a shot glass

3. Don’t look Italian men in the eyes

4. Gypsies are complete jerks

5. Nutella IS a food group

6. Mi dispiache is your new favorite phrase

7. Gelato. Gelato. Gelato.

8. It’s a miracle there are so few car wrecks

9. Italians don’t understand the concept of waiting in line

10. Never wear flip flops or shorts

Time to explain:

1. It’s probably common knowledge that in Europe water is always served to you in bottles, but unknown to me was that your apartment fridge doesn’t come pre-stocked with water. The first few days we were here I swear I was dehydrated because either I didn’t know how to ask to buy water at a tabbacchi or the only water I had was at dinner. THE WORST part about water at dinner is you are given two bottles that’s it and when you’re out you’re out. I am a water buffalo so I have learned the art of water preservation. Oh the other really cool thing is all the glasses you drink out of at dinner, which hold about 2 cups of water anyway, are crystal so I enjoy playing the water glasses at dinner. Also there are no tips for the servers there is a cover charge that pays for the water. It’s usually about 2 euro. For some reason the servers don’t appreciate my musical stylings. So in summary: water is scarce, it is a precious gift be thankful… oh how I miss ice water in those big cups my dad steals from ohio state football games…

2. When you get coffee you stand at the coffee bar- you’re handed a porcelain thimble with what appears to be coffee- you throw it down your throat- set the thimble down then you leave. Woo you just passed the coffee test. There is no such thing as a to-go cup, there is no starbucks and even more horrific you have to drink what they call coffee without cream or sugar because there isn’t enough room in the shot glass! It’s a conspiracy. I have resorted to caffeine in the form of coca-cola which is delicious because it’s made with real sugar. Sarah makes fun of me because she thinks I’m addicted, I have three a day… oops. In summary of article 2: coffee in Italy is not coffee at all, it’s really just coffee beans liquefied.—strong stuff

3. This one’s short and to the point but interesting. Italian men are… what’s the word I’m looking for without being mean and judgmental…. I’ll go with promiscuous. They will whistle at you and cat call you and if you make eye contact they will stalk you. You must always look at the ground because if you make eye contact the men take that as you saying you’re offering yourself.

4. I hate gypsies. It’s really that simple. They’re smelly, greasy, mean, and liars. They walk around with puppies and say give me euro! Okay I’ll buy the puppy but I don’t want to give them money they’ll just use for more hair grease or little gadgets. They ‘help’ you buy tickets at the metro by pressing all the buttons for you then when your change comes out they just grab it. It’s frustrating, but Jesus loves them too. I might have a nice talk with Jesus one day about how he deals with their icky hair, it creeps me out.

5. The 6 girls in my apartment have successfully gone through 2 large and 2 small containers of Nutella in the 6 days we have been in Milan. Oh yeah it really is a feat. It goes on bread, crackers, apples, carrots, yogurt, I think I even put it on pasta, I don’t know but the options are endless and it’s so delicious. They definitely lace it with something.

6. Mi dispiache means I’m sorry. Learn it, love it, use it. Whenever you can’t understand them, mi dispiache. Whenever someone runs into you, mi dispiache. Whenever an Italian creeper man hits on you, mi dispiache. Gypsies creepin? Just say mi dispiache. Some vendor trying to sell you sunglasses even though you have some on---- you guessed it mi dispiache. It’s a beautiful phrase.

7. Gelato will be the death of me, or simply why I will be over 500lbs when I get home. Today I think was the first day we didn’t have gelato, but I did have two cokes.

8. Italian drivers are nuts. Trains are all over the place and those little smart cars zip around every corner. It’s honestly like a bunch of third graders driving go karts around a track that has a turn every 5 yards. Also, you can’t go longer than 10 minutes without hearing an obnoxious siren of some sort. – It’s common to hear a Dukes of Hazard car horn.

9. I literally waited for 10 minutes at McDonalds because people just stand in a mob. Be aggressive and go get our food.

10. If you wear flip flops or shorts you get lots of stares and it immediately labels you as a tourist/American. It’s similar to feeling like the ultimate freshman.

I think those are all my words of wisdom. I love Milan. It’s such a great city and the people are so friendly, maybe too friendly at times but still friendly nevertheless. A vendor tried to sell me something and found out we were American. I spoke French to him and he gave me a free bracelet because he was French. I was proud of me. If you look like a complete fool speaking Italian they’ll just smile and stay stick to English. They’re very encouraging. I know this doesn’t describe much of the ministry going on here there’s just so much going on I don’t feel I would give justice in explaining just how much God is working on the people here. Two days at Statale and Bacconne and we have already met so many people and we have met other Christian organizations on each campus. There are thousands of students and God connected us with the small 12 person group that is trying to spread the word of Christ too, what are the odds? It’s been a magical time here so far. Tomorrow is Italy’s ‘4^th of July’ so we are going to the lake with Davide, Elisa and Salla. We’re pretty excited.

--funny story of the night……… I was really hungry……. 10 minutes ago-ish.. and it’s entirely possible I just made pesto pasta at 12:30 at night Italian time. My stomach probably should get on an Italian schedule…. Eventually. Ciao

-britt