Hello October.

Ashley Howell
Oct 31, 2017
4 min read

Milan, Italy

Here we are at the end of another month that flew by here in Italy. October filled up fast back in August and September! With classes in full swing, Nathan and I planned a trip to visit the church in Milan the first weekend of October. We were fortunate enough to stay at the church building. They own the first and second floor in an apartment building, so it works perfectly for visitors. While we were planning our trip, we learned that one of our couple friends who live in Rome were wanting to visit Milan too! So we decided to visit our friends Marina and Melissa together. We made it into a long weekend, and headed off to Milan! Marina was kind enough to show us around the city. The church building is located very close to the town's center, which makes it nice to get breakfast and meet up with the church. On Saturday night, Richard, our friend from Rome, led a devotional for the church. It was so cool; he spoke in English, which was then translated to Italian, and then into Chinese. It's always so encouraging to see people from all different backgrounds come together to learn the Word! There were Italians, Americans, Chinese, Filipinos, Ecuadorians, Ethiopians, and Romanians in attendance on Saturday night and Sunday morning. They were so sweet, and decided to have an agape (potluck) for us after service on Sunday. Might have been the best potluck I've been to! Can you imagine?! People from all around the world making a dish known to them to share with others. Great experience!

Boanerges

The next weekend, we signed up to attend a camp called Boanerges, which means "sons of thunder" in french. The camp was started last year and it's intention is to bring young Christians (18-30 years old) from all over Europe together to worship, study the Word, learn to be a leader, and make plans to grow the Kingdom of God. It is held predominantly in English to facilitate the numerous nationalities in attendance. It was very encouraging to see everyone come together to worship and grow. We talked about the Kingdom of God, what it means to be in the Kingdom and spreading the Kingdom in our cities. I am very thankful for the time I got to spend with my new friends Caleb and Phil. Both flew all the way from America to be here with us that weekend. They both have so much love for the Lord and for the people of Italy. It's also uplifting to be encouraged by people who know what they are talking about! As the weekend came to a close, we said goodbye to Italian friends and new friends from France and Albania. Luckily, we will be here next year to attend the camp in Albania!!! I'm excited to see what they plan. Please keep all the young Christians in your prayers, as it can be hard to live out your faith in unbelieving places.

some other things

Other pictures you can find below show what else we've been doing! We've continued our Monday night Bible study in English! Some weeks we have more people than other weeks, but either way we are studying through the book of James together.

Nathan has continued to play in the Scandicci band and the jazz band. He loves it so much! I try to make it to every concert, but sometimes it's not possible! The people of Scandicci looooooove their music and have them at almost every town event. The one pictured is Nathan playing in the jazz band at the Scandicci Fair. Let me tell you, this fair was talked up before it came to town! And it lived up to it's expectation. It pretty much took over the whole town of Scandicci for a week. We were very excited that we weren't going to miss it all due to traveling for the things listed above! My favorite booth was definitely the succulent and cacti booth! Since Nathan is so musically talented, he lead singing at Boanerges in English! He also finished the Avanti Italia English song book this month. It's been very useful for our team devotionals and the ones on Monday night. He is definitely using his gifts from God here in Italy!! Our classes are continuing to go well. If you'd like more information, feel free to email us privately! We'd love to share, just not on our blog. BUT there is a picture of my 3 year olds class. They are a hoot.... and wild. But we have fun and learn some English together. Their favorites are definitely the songs and crafts. This past class we made pumpkins from orange plates!

If you are confused about what the picture shows, click on it and it will have a little title!

I hope these blogs are informative and fun to read for all our supporters and prayer warriors. We really appreciate each one of you and need you to be here! As you can see, we love visiting our friends in new places and getting to attend or help out at camps. It can add up fast, especially when there are two of us! If you are interested in supporting one of us or both of us for a camp in the future, please let us know!!! We have at least 5 more camps before we leave that we would looooooove to attend for the first time or again! Each camp averages at 100 euro per person. So you can see, that adds up! So please, think about it, pray about it, and let us know if you can help. Again thank you for your prayers and we love you!

If you have any questions, let us know :)

Ciao for now brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ashley