All Roads Lead to Rome
The month of July has completed a circle. We are ending where we started! The first few days of July, Nathan and I were holding down the fort while our directors went on a short retreat and are doing the same now (read on to find out). We were happy to have a few visitors during that time! It's always exciting getting to see who will come stay at the Bible School! On the 4th of July, we headed to the Harding Villa for their party. Nathan was asked to be a van driver. The villa only has so many parking spots at the top of the hill, so Nathan was kind enough to use the van to haul people from the tram stop up the villa for most of the party. I, on the other hand, got to enjoy a nice hamburger, great company, and listen to the live music. As I was getting ready to leave around the early hour of 10pm, my sweet student asked me why I was leaving, because the party was going to last another two or three hours. He was right, but I explained to him that I needed to prepare for a trip we were leaving for the next day. He was more than understanding. I'm sure, though, that him and his friend were one of the last ones to leave the party. I imagine they had a blast staying till the end just because they were invited and love life! I might add, that I'm pretty sure my student and his friends' ages add up to be more than 150. In the end, I think a good time was had by all!
Rome/Roma
The next day, Nathan and I headed to Rome! This was our second time visiting the Eternal City. We went to visit the Chiesa di Cristo di Roma and to see our dear friends Richard and Caleigh. We arrived on a Thursday and left the following Monday. We did a lot in that time! It was also sooo hot. Thank goodness for box fans, underground metros, and free water fountains. Without those, I'm not sure we would have made it back to Florence. Caleigh and Richard are still having classes with their students and wanted to have a party at the church building for their students but also for the church members. We helped them make a lot of yummy food and get it to the building for Saturday night. It was fun meeting their students and seeing church members again. I think the potato skins were the most liked food at the party! We tried to do a mix of Italian and American foods. It was a hit! Everyone loved it! Caleigh came up with the idea to do a spelling bee. Let me tell you, spelling in English is HARD. But the Italians did fantastic! I don't think I could do as well in Italian as they did in English! Sunday morning we attended service. Richard was asked to speak that Sunday, just a few days before. So they allowed him to teach in English and have a member translate for him. It's always nice to hear a sermon in English, and Richard didn't disappoint. This was also a great idea, because it gave them a great opportunity to invite their students to practice English more! They had a few show up which was wonderful. Sunday lunch we ate a few doors down with Caleigh, Richard, a member of the church, and her friend. I think we all took an afternoon nap after the long night before. Then, they took us on a late night walk around the city, which is never a bad idea in the summer. We left Monday morning to head back to Scandicci!
Visiting Group
After we returned from Rome, we started preparing for a big group we hosted from Montgomery, AL who was on a Barnabas trip. There were 17 of them!!! That is a lot of extra people to house here. We definitely have enough beds, we just have to rearrange them so we could have families together. Like I said before, we never know what to expect when hosting a group, but I think this was one of my favorite groups! We cooked for them twice, which is a lot of work, but it was so much fun having so many people again! Usually it's just us, another couple, a toddler, an Italian, and a dog. It can be quite lonely in such a big building. It was delightful having a group who wanted to spend time with us, play board games, and get to know us. They were so sweet to do some work for us like painting the entry way (it's harder than it looks), pulling weeds in our garden, and cleaning up our yard. We were sad to see them leave so soon, but they were headed to Rome and then Catania, Sicily!
Naples/napoli
The group headed to Rome while the Kelleys (Zac, Aleece, and Adelena) headed for the States for a few weeks, leaving us to hold down the fort for a while once again. Nathan and I had already planned a trip to Naples so we packed our bags (again...I'm not complaining) and headed south by way of a very long train ride. We finally arrived in Naples and stayed with some of our friends from the church. We also visited with some of the members of the church, along with one couple who is moving to the States this week. I know the church is sad to see them go, (especially since he lead singing every time they were in town!) We also got to see where Steve and Karen work on the Navy base in Naples. I haven't been on a base in a long time, so it was weird being in a little America. Funny story: Steve works at the Navy golf course (thats in a volcano!) and I thought it would be fun to bring my brother back a golf ball since he enjoys playing so much. So I walked up to the counter to pay, got out my 1.75 in euro ready to pay. The cashier says, it will be 1.50 in euro. I looked at him very confused. He said, we take USD and euro. You can pay with either. I had forgotten I was on a military base where people use American money. Don't have any of that here, so I paid in euro! I think I got a steal paying in euro and not USD! Saved .25 cents. Just kidding, I know that's not how it works. Makes you feel good though!
The fort
Now we are back, having come full circle as it were, in the very hot Scandicci watching George the dog, holding down the fort, and trying to drink enough water! August is an interesting month in Italy. Everyone goes to their beach houses on the coast! Nathan and I will be staying here, inside! Also, trying to figure out the stores' holiday hours so we can buy food and eat. We will be spending this time preparing for our classes and working on preparations for when we return in T minus 4.5 monthsish.
If you are a regular supporter and have not read our email we sent out about two weeks ago, I ask that you do that soon! As we do prepare for our return to the States, we have a few requests of you. If you didn't receive the email, or would like to, please send a message our way and we will get that to you! Thank you so much to everyone who supports us and prayers for us. We couldn't do it without you. Ciao ciao for now!
-Ashley
