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 San Lorenzo, 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 - March 8, 2009

February was a busy month for Tom.  A two week trip to the “states” began the month.  McGregor Baptist Church held it’s annual GIC missionary conference and he was invited as one of their home grown missionaries.  It was a great time of fellowship and time spent with old and new friends. At the conclusion of the conference, he started his drive north to Philadelphia and was able to see some friends, supporters, and family along the way. All in all he was able to visit with a lot of people and a few churches. The result of the trip was coming back to Italy physically exhausted, but spiritually encouraged and renewed. During the 2 weeks in the US, he was able to tell a wide range of people about our ministry efforts, the ministry organization,  the Bible school that is part of the ministry, and our church plant in the city of Udine. Many thanks to all of you that he was able to meet with and he is sincerely sorry to the one's that he didn't get to see.

Maureen has had a full schedule as well.  We are holding 13 bi-weekly classes with around 150 ESL students attending regularly.  Their ages range from age 4 to 70.  We have 5 teachers this semester including Maureen.  Maureen not only teaches, but has been busy updating curriculum, holding a weekly Bible study and training meetings for the teachers, meeting with contacts, attending Italian lessons, and preparing a Ladies Bible study for Italian women. 

Recently we met with Fabrizio and Eleonora for dinner.  Fabrizio just finished reading the New Testament that we gave him at Thanksgiving.  He told us that just as he was finishing reading the last 2 pages, a evangelical knocked on his door.  He invited him in and they had a lively discussion about the Bible for an hour.  He found that to be quite a coincidence.  We can tell that he is open to the gospel but we must move at his pace.  He said that he plans to read other Christian literature to learn more about the history of Christianity.  He tells us that there is a wealth of books in Italian that he can read.  We are a praying for God's intervention as he chooses what books to read.  We have invited both of them to church and they plan to go with us next week.  Oh how we need your prayers!

Personal Highlights

We had some friends visit us last month from the States, Chris Allan and Cheryl Fullen.  It was a great time of refreshment to have them here, not only because they are friends, but also because they jumped right in and helped us with our ministry.  Chris and Cheryl made 'Texas Chili' for several of our ESL classes.  We had fun telling them about Texas, Florida, and American traditions.  The students loved the conversation and the chili.  Cheryl and Maureen went to the kindergarten and taught five year olds how to make brownies and some children's songs like 'Itsy Bitsy Spider".  It was much fun.  In the meantime, Chris enjoyed cooking and cleaning for us. What a blessing! We praise God for both of you!

March Schedule

Tom will be part of the leadership team that will be assisting two evangelism teams coming from a new church high school team in Fayetteville, North Carolina and a returning team from Corban College in Salem, Oregon.  We have two new members at our Udine church plant due to the efforts of the Oregon team that came last year.  Teams are an important part of our ministry and we look forward to hosting these two teams.

Beginning March 16th, Maureen will be holding a weekly Bible study on the book of Esther.  She has been inviting specific women in the ESL classes that she hopes will have an interest in learning something about the Bible.  Please pray that some of these women will attend with open hearts.

Chiara, our local librarian, has been meeting with Maureen and helping her translate a Bible study, "Apples of Gold" into Italian.  Progress has been very slow as the Lord has used this time for many sidebar conversations into different aspects of the Bible...all good stuff.  Chiara has recently been asked to be a curator at an art show of paintings depicted the common theme of fire and religion throughout Biblical history.  She has asked Maureen to help her as she has very little knowledge of the Bible.  It is amazing to us how God uses 'all means' to draw someone to himself.  We are so excited to see the end result of all these conversations.  Please pray for wisdom! 

Support Update

The U.S. economy continues to affect our monthly support.  Partially due to our trips back to the States, we are now at 77% of our monthly need.  Our short fall is $1,118.  Please pray that the Lord will provide additional monthly support for us and financial help for our supporters. 

To become a part of our financial support team, 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.  Mail your check to:  

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

Praises and Prayers