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 - May 29, 2009

The Lord continues to bless our ministry in Italy and our church plant continues to grow.  We have added 4 new members and had 3 baptisms this month, one being a man named Antimo.   We met Antimo last summer when McGregor Baptist Church sent an evangelism team to work alongside our church plant.  Cosmin, a McGregor team member, witnessed to him in the piazza and invited him to our church.  He has been attending ever since and has been discipled by our church planters.  He also attends our English classes.

Our winter semester of English as a Second Language (ESL) ended April 30th with 119 graduates.  During the graduation we ask each student to say something in English.  To our surprise, Carlo, the man who accepted Christ last year, shared his testimony in English.  He is a very quiet and private man.  Afterwards we told him how very proud we were that he had the courage to share this with his fellow students.  He quietly responded, "I was very nervous but I think I did the right thing."  Sam Spatola, the head of our mission, concluded the evening with a gospel presentation.  The next day we held our May Day picnic for our students and their families.  It was an all day affair with well over 100 in attendance.  Throughout the day you could witness one spiritual conversation after another taking place.  It was truly awesome and amazing to be a part of it all.  Many seeds have been planted and we await God's timing on the fruit. The Lord continues to bring us new contacts through this ministry as well as many returning students.  We offer three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced which allows us to develop long term relationships with our students.

Women’s Bible Study Update

We began a Ladies Bible study on Esther in March which concluded May 18th.  We had 6 women come every Monday, 4 Italians and 2 Americans.  I could write a book about this Bible study and answered prayer. We prayed for 3 women to attend...God provided 4.  Every Monday we would pray that the women would return and that our Italian would be sufficient...and every Monday they did and it was.  We prayed that at the conclusion these women would have a hunger for God's Word and an understanding of personal prayer...and again God answered our prayer.  At the end of Esther,  Michele said, "I would like to read the Bible.  I never knew it was so interesting."  The other women agreed.  With that I gave each of them an Italian Bible and encouraged them to begin reading it this summer.  They asked if we could do another Bible study in September and of course we agreed.  Each week at the conclusion of the study we asked them to pray and they did.  For 3 of the 4 it was there first attempt at spontaneous prayer.  It was difficult...it was labored...but it was beautiful!  I am anxious to return to these women next fall and begin again.  Oh, how we praise God for the opportunities he has given us!

Personal Highlights

Our daughter Brittney and her husband, Stephen, came to visit us in May.  This is the first time family has been here and we had a great time!  Our son-in-law is an avid soccer fan and attended 2 AC Milan games.  Brittney enjoyed the shopping and the beach but most of all she said she loved Valvasone.  We picked them up in Milan and spent the day sightseeing.  The rest of the week we spent in our region traveling from Venice, to the mountains, and to the beach...all within an hour's drive of Valvasone.

June Schedule

Tom is planning and preparing for the summer evangelism teams that will be arriving in July. This year we will be trying something a little different as one team has expressed an interest in doing a VBS style program, spending most of their efforts in the parks with children. We will use puppets, Christian storybooks, balloons, and games to show and tell the children and their parents about Jesus.

Maureen is in Florida visiting her mother and meeting with supporters.  She will be spending the summer in Pennsylvania with our daughters and grandchildren and setting up appointments with potential supporters.  Tom will be going to Pennsylvania in August joining Maureen to meet with our financial supporters and future supporters. 

Support Update

The U.S. economy continues to affect our financial supporters and us but PTL, the Lord has added a few more supporters this last month.  We are at 79% of our monthly need.  Our short fall is $993.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide additional monthly supporters and also provide financial help for our supporters. 

To become a part of our financial support team, you can 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