Come to the Table

Jun 6, 2017
4 min read

Every time I sit down to write, I remember how much I have to talk about from the last time I wrote to now. And let me tell ya, this blog is a biggie! The amount of things we've done is CRAZY! But first, of course, let me talk about something that's been on my heart.

Breaking Bread Together

The words to the song "Here in this Place" have been stuck in my head for a while now. I'm not sure why and it took me a good 10 minutes to even remember the name of the song! Particularly the beginning part that talks about the table:

"Lay your burden down, every care you carry

And come to the table of grace, for there is mercy..."

I also just finished reading a book that my good friend, Zak, recommended for me. It discusses how the table is the most intimate way we share ourselves with others. Breaking bread together becomes how we give and take from one another, good or bad. The table can represent such wonderful memories or times of pain and conflict. Either way, it becomes a place of peace. Giving ourselves as bread to the world fulfills our desire to be food for one another. No wonder the table means so much when I'm with my family, my friends, and especially my husband. It's a place of unity in Christ we share with each other. This table aspect has become more on my radar while here in Italy. Italians love spending so much time at the table, sharing with each other. I love how it slows me down and makes me appreciate others more. I dare you to spend a little extra time this week at the table with your family and with your friends. Witness how much more you are filled and how much more everyone else is too.

What We've Been Doing!

My goodness we've been all over the place! Not really, but we've been doing many things!

April 28th-May 1st Nathan and I went and visited our dear friends, Richard and Caleigh, and the church in Rome! It was so wonderful. Neither of us had been to Rome before, so they showed us around while we got to spend time encouraging them and being encouraged. On Sunday we got to spend some time with the church (in Rome, I mean how cool is that?! You know, the church Romans is written to?!).

May 5th Our last library lesson :( We were sad to end, but very hopeful that our students want to come to classes with us in the Fall! They were all wonderful and even gave us a small gift!

May 9th Nathan and I went to lunch with Giuseppe!!! We love him!

May 12th We had our end of semester bash! I helped plan it and wow it was way bigger than I thought it would be! I'm just going to say we had over 100 people come to the Bible School, eat with us, and watch some people (not me) make fools of themselves singing karaoke. My Nathan did all the grilling. We call him the grill master now because he spent about 3 hours grilling everything. I made my Memaw's cookies! Shout out to you Memaw!!!

May 13th Girl Scouts came to the Bible School to learn more about America. Of course I was in charge of decorating (pictures to come) and my dear friend Becca was in charge of, well, everything else. It was a hit. They love us. (Maybe.) Hopefully they will be interested in coming back! How could they not when we feed them burgers, mac and cheese, cookies, rice crispy treats, and coke. We watched the Parent Trap too. How American I know?! It was great!

May 13th-15th Our Avanti Italia Team went on a Retreat! It wasn't planned too far in advance, but it was needed for team building and encouraging each other's spiritual gifts. Pictures to come! It was so good to get away for a little bit, sleep in a big bed and not a twin, AND spending time with my friendssss!

May 15th-19th Our last week of classes with our students until the fall :( On the bright side, we can spend time with them throughout the summer when we have time!

May 22nd-26th Nathan attended a men's missionary retreat in Austria with Zak, James, and Richard. All I know is that he has a great time, learned a lot, and says I HAVE to go to the girls one next year. If you wanna hear more about it, ask him! I, during this week ALONE (just kidding I wasn't alone), I watched Adelena!!! She loves me and we have fun together dancing, eating, and playing in the water.

May 31st Nathan and I celebrated 3 years of marriage! That, my friends, is Blog worthy ;)

THE END, but not really because there are a BUNCH of pictures. I'll try and keep them in order with the writing. They also have captions if you click on them. Food for thought... at our Blog table. lol.

Ciao for Now!

-Ashley