The Basics
- Ashley Howell
- Feb 12, 2017
- 3 min read
It's been three weeks since we moved to Italy!!!! It feels like it's been wayyyyy longer! We are loving being here! Sit back, buckle your seat belt, and enjoy the read, because we've been so busy and accomplished so much that we want to tell you about.
Since our last post we've:
Sat in on more of other peoples classes, started our own classes with students, began attending Thursday night English lessons at the church building, had morning devo with the team, continued attending Monday night English devo, had a church potluck, went to the Harding Villa for devo, bought student bus passes (TOTALLY WORTH IT), bought school books, started Language School, had Italian lessons with Raffaele, worked on Physical Friday, (Ashley) signed up for a womens' conference, (Nathan) attending band practice, signed up to help teach classes at the local library, had a game night for our students...........................................
Really the list could go on and on of more things we've done with the program and things we've explored and done on our own (when we've had time off of course!) Right now, I'm going to outline the things that will be a constant in (at least the next 3 months) anyways!
Language School
We've been in language school one week. As you can imagine, moving to a country that's primary language is not yours, can be difficult. So starting school is exciting! We will be taking three classes in all. Each class is a month long. We (along with our other newbies, Meredith, James, Becca, and Harlee (and other two students in our class: Hannah from Germany and Britt from Holand)) have class from 9:00 - 1:00 every week day. It is pretty intensive and we have to study a lot to keep up with the teacher! Thankfully it is already starting to help us with our students, ordering food, understanding bus lingo, and the people in general!
Sunday worship with the Florence Church
Attending church while we are in Florence is necessary for all of us! (Of course!) We attend the Florence Church of Christ as a group, along with the Italians and Harding's, Faulkner's, and Libscomb's study abroad groups. So far, we've loved going with such a diverse group of people coming together to worship our Lord. We look forward to forming a relationship with these people!
Monday Night English Devotional
The Bible School provides an English devotional every Monday night at 7:30. We also provide dinner for all who come. The church in Florence is invited to come, along with all our students. This gives our students a chance to get to know other Americans besides their teachers, and talk more about the Bible! Right now we are studying 1&2 Samuel!
Thursday Night English Classes
The Bible School workers head to the church building in Florence every Thursday night to provide English classes and dinner for church members and anyone in the community who is interested. We have teachers for beginners, intermediate, and advanced classes. Nathan and I are hoping to get plugged in with the advanced class, and eventually take over when the current teachers leave.
English Classes
Nathan and I have already received some students! While we are in language school, unfortunately, we have less students than we will afterwards. For now, we each have three, but that number can go up! Nathan has Mateo, Brian, and Giovanni. I have Sofia, Francesca, and Carla. Nathan has met with all of his students and is very excited! I haven't been able to meet with one of mine and the other is new, so I'm looking forward to doing that this week. We meet with them at least once a week for an hour! We can, if we want, meet with them other times and also invite them to all our events!
Morning Devotionals
Last but not least, we have morning devotionals with our team. Since six of us are in language school and have to leave close to 8am, they start at 7:30am. It is not always the same person giving the devo, which allows us to focus on different topics each morning and learn! We'd love if you would pray for our team members by name!
Our directors: Zak, Aleece, and baby Adelena
Interim assistant directors: Milo and Karen
Been-here-a-little-while people: Bethany, Erin, Hannah, Claire
Newbies: Meredith, James, Becca, Harlee, and us!
Obviously, I can't fit everything in one post. Soooo if you are unhappy (or happy and just have a question....or a praise) with the information provided so far, pleaseeeee ask us questions! Send us an email and we will get back to you or post in in our next blog!
Ciao for now!
-A&N
(Pictures: Duomo, Nathan's band concert, the dog George, the church building, first day of school picture, eating with Harding study abroad group, us and a view, my friend Becca)
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