Piano Piano

Ashley Howell
Mar 22, 2017
5 min read

---Paino means slowly in Italian---

Wow Wow Wow!!! We have officially been in Italy for two months now. It feels like so much longer and shorter at the same time? A verse/topic that I've been thinking about lately, is 1 Corinthians 3:9.

"For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."

Let me tell you, this whole thing isn't easy. When people heard we are going to Italy, they often said, "that will be fun" or "it will be like going on vacation." While it can be fun, and we very occasionally get to do vacationy things, we are hard at work!!! We are working on the field here in Italy. We are planting the seeds and watching them grow... piano piano of course!

Since the last time we talked, we have done SO MUCH! Let me tell you about it!

Language Learning...Piano Piano

We are now in our second month of language school. Let me tell yall, it's hard! If you haven't learned a second language, you should! It opens up your mind to a whole new way of thinking and a new culture. Yeah, sure, I studied French a tad in high school and Nathan studied Spanish, but learning Italian now, is FOR REAL. We are learning to order food, read what something is at the store, and just communicate with the people we meet! From just (almost) two months of learning, we are both understanding our students more when they speak to us in Italian and just around town. So we are improving! We'd, or mainly I, would loveeee to call ourselves "fluent", but let me be honest, we are wayyy off the mark! Every day we are learning something new, and growing our knowledge and vocabulary. We will get there!!!! Side note, Duolingo says Nathan is 18% fluent soooo yeah :)

(I have no pictures for this... Sorry)

Visiting Churches...Piano Piano

Last month we were able to visit the church in Ferrara, last weekend we visited the chuch in Pistoia, and this weekend we are going to visit the church in Padua and Vencinza!! Slowly, we are visiting the churches in Italy. While it is so fantastic to stay here in Florence, it's just as exciting to visit other church communities. We go to encourage them and give them strength. We end up leaving with just as much encouragement as we came with for them!

Before we arrived in Italy, I knew the churches here would be different. Obviously, they speak a different language, they live in a different country, they serve a different community. While we have only been here two months and been to 3 different churches, I can see the beauty of the church here in Italy. If you can, come and see for yourselves. It is a beautiful thing! The way the different churches work together, communicate, serve one another is amazing. They truly are a family. Most of them have an agape (kinda like a potluck) every month!!! And most of the time, this is when we get invited to come. It's a wonderful chance for us to get to know them better. In Ferrara specifically, we were able to have a meeting where we asked about the church. It turned into a session on thoughts and actions to grow the church, spread the Word, and prosper together! We will give you an update after this next trip too!!

Getting to know other women...Piano Piano

As I talked about in my last post, I (Ashley) signed up for a women's retreat. Well now I'm on the other side. It happened! The other 8 girls living at the bible school, and myself traveled to outside of Roma for the convention. It was a beautiful camp with a fantastic weekend scheduled for us. I was in charge of the ice breaker games. I'm not sure why I signed up for this, but I'm glad I did! I think they were funny and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Our focus was on the struggles we go though and how to get through them and see the good in them. I learned a lot. Shout out to all the very VERY helpful people who translated for me. I hope next year you won't have to! Another shout out to my sweet roomies, Rebecca, Mereidth, and Caleigh for having good chats at night.

Another woman's thing I've done lately is gone out for Festa delle Donne. (Otherwise known as Women's Day!) Everyone here celebrates it, and it's fantastic. One of Bethany's students here organized an aperitivo (small appetizer buffet dinner kinda thing) for us Avanti girls and student to go to. There was a huge group that came! I felt like it was a great meeting point and we had a lot of fun!

Other thiings happening...Piano Piano

Nathan is still playing in the band, and loving it. He got invited to be in the jazz band, and of course, is loving that just as much! We were also able to meet with a guy named Phil Jackson from Mission Resource Network out of Texas. We were able to sit down with him and discuss life on the mission field. People like Phil are needed here, as both encouragement and sources of wisdom. He is knowledgeable, encouraging, helpful, and just a stand-up guy. I walked away wanting to meet with him again! I also walked away having new perspectives on mission work and things to chew on.

Our one on one classes with our six students are going well too. Please pray from them to each have an interest in the study and not just the English learning. We are getting to know each of them better and their hearts. Pray for continued friendship to grow!

Nathan, Rebecca, Meredith, and I started a group conversational class at the public Scandicci Library. It was not our idea, which I think is fantastic! People just want to learn. They really want to practice their English and we can do that for them. We do not use the Bible for these classes, BUT by the end, we know there will be some people who will want to continue learning with us one on one here at the school. It's a great way for us to plug into the community, meet more people, and talk!!!

I'm sure there are many more things I could say, but we will leave it at that. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or praises, LET US KNOW! We loveeeee hearing from our supporters on the other side of the pond. If you could keep us in your prayers, we would be eternally thankful.

Scroll down for more pictures!!! ps, pictures are my love language. You might just learn more from them than reading all of this...maybe. Sometimes I forget to take them. Also, you can find more on Facebook and Instagram!

Congrats for making it to the end!!!

Ciao for now!

-A