La Piazza Press

La Piazza Press is our newsletter that we use to keep everyone informed of our progress as missionaries with Saint's Equipped to Evangelize in Valvasone, Italy.  Our vision is to see the piazzas (town squares) filled with evangelical Christians.  Would you be willing to share in that vision?  If so, please click the Subscribe button above to receive our newsletter.  For more information, you can visit our website at www.littlesitaly.com

Ministry Highlights - December 8, 2010  

When all else fails, we can rest assured that God doesn't!  As we reflect back on this last semester, we can surely see God's hand at work accomplishing His purposes.  September started out with all the challenges of moving including loosing our internet for several weeks.  In the midst of this Maureen was training an all new ESL staff and lamenting the lose of her right arm, Rebecca, who returned to California to pursue a master's degree in ESL. Despite the challenges, ESL started out with a bang...45 adults and 30 children. A few weeks later we began 2 new classes in Casarsa located 5 miles from Valvasone.  We added 28 adult students there which gave us a grand total of 103.

This semester was packed full of fun activities, outreaches, and a Ladies Bible study with our students.  In October, we held two dinner parties, a Mexican dinner for our Advanced students and a Fall Feast for our beginner students.  We played 3 Facts and 1 Fib at both parties with facts about Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation, and other Christian historical events.  This led to some good conversations about the gospel.  We also started a Ladies Bible study covering the story of Rahab in the Book of Joshua.  Here are some of the key points of the study:

• God cares for us even when we are sinful.

• God's providence is not a coincidence.

• It is impossible to please God without faith.

• Worship is more about relationship than ritual.

In November, we held our annual Thanksgiving Outreach Dinner with 98 Italians and 22 Americans in attendance.  Two Italian members from our church shared their testimonies and Sam, our director, presented the gospel.  We also distributed a Christian periodical and 2011 Calendars with Bible verses.  We invited our ESL students and our church members invited many of their unsaved friends.  We are now following up with these contacts and praying for fruit.

We had two graduation celebrations, one for our kids classes and another for the adults.  During the kids graduation, we built a fire outside the library and taught them how to make S'mores.  They sang Christmas carols in English and we gave them Candy Canes.  (They don't have S'mores or Candy Canes in Italy and they were a big hit.)  During the adult graduation, our two new ESL teachers shared their testimonies and Sam presented the gospel.  We also taught the adults Christmas Carols in English and enjoyed singing them together.

This week has been full of follow up activity.  Maureen baked brownies and cranberry-pistachio biscotti's.  We've been using this opportunity to visit our contacts loaded with these goodies as well as Christian literature and 2011 Bible verse calendars.  Please prayer for the people listed in the praise and prayer request section below.

Personal Highlights

We had lots of company this semester beginning with the Otto's from Jacksonville, FL, the Landes' from Quakertown, PA, and Pastor Andrew and Marty Phillips from Atlantic Beach, FL.  They had the opportunity to experience our ministry first hand and to participate in our ESL classes which is always a welcome treat for our students. 

We had two Thanksgiving celebrations this year, our typical Outreach dinner and a Staff/Saints Bible Institute Thanksgiving. We hosted the staff/S.B.I. student dinner at our house, 22 people total.  Maureen cooked a 30 lb. turkey and made the dressing.  Everyone else brought a covered dish.  It was great to be able to celebrate this holiday together with friends and fellow co-workers.

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to get away to Salzburg, Austria and visit the Christmas Markets.  It is hard to believe, but it is only a 4 hour drive from here.  It was cold with lots of snow, but beautiful.  It really put us in the Christmas spirit and gave us a much needed break. 

December/January Schedule

This month Maureen will return to Florida to spend Christmas with her mother and visit supporters.  Tom will remain in Italy completing his year-end administrative duties and attending a Christmas Dinner on December 26th at our church plant in Udine. Maureen will return to Italy in January to begin the ESL winter semester.  We have a new teacher, Jeremy Walck, coming from Pennsylvania.  We are very excited about this new edition to our teaching staff as we have been praying for 3 years for a male teacher that would be able to relate to our male students.  Thank you Lord!  Please pray that he will be able to raise the support he will need for this semester.

Support Update

We are at 78% of our monthly need and are encouraged by the increase.  There are two ways that you can support our ministry, first through prayer and second, financially. Please review our specific prayer requests below. Also, please let us know how we can pray for you. It would be our privilege to do so.

If you would like to support our ministry financially, you may make your check payable to Saints Equipped to Evangelize, put our names on the memo line, and indicate whether it is a special or monthly gift.  All contributions are tax deductible.  Please mail your check to:  

S.E.E. - P.O. Box 587 - Bradenton, FL - 34206-0587

If you prefer, you may click on the web link below to pay through Paypal by follow the instructions.  Your donation is tax deductible.  We look forward to your partnership.

http://www.seeteams.org/paypal/MakeOnlinePaymentStep1.php

Praises and Prayers