Gothic Line Part Two - Day 6

We had great expectations for this day and we were not disappointed.  We started out for Mount Stanco and it seemed that it would be just a little hill top at just 719 mt. but when we arrived there was an alter, a cross, and recent memorial activity, so we too had some activity as we put our foot in that place and claimed it back for the Kingdom and proclaimed His glory and had church.

 Mount  Salvaro was our next destination.  With the help of some awesome locals,  we were on the right roads and we arrived to the base of the mountain in a very short time.  This mountain topped out at only 826 mt.

 We walked up for awhile and saw so many scars from the war on this mountain  which was repeatedly bombed and there were foxholes everywhere.  The initial Gothic line that we walked last year from Viareggio to Rimini,  mostly had lots of trenches, bunkers & or gun turrets constructed in cement or rock, but this portion of the Gothic line which was the fall back line had so many more foxholes and bomb holes.  You can see more of  a last minute defense line versus the well laid out purposeful Gothic line that the allies first encountered.

When we arrived to the top there was a cross and a geocaching box so we
wrote a message of hope and claimed it for the kingdom. Of course we waited to see what scripture the Lord had for this place, wrote it and staked the ground.  This walk feels much different as we stated before, the atmosphere is different and there is more activity of visitors, maybe because the elevations are lower.  We certainly didn't come across a lot of crosses & alters on the higher mountains.  It's nice to know that prayer has been bathing these spots already.
 





 

 

 After this we made our way to Mount Sole.  Mount Sole was not only a German stronghold but it was the site of a horrible massacre of women and children. We found some difficulty in finding the right entrance path to the top of even though we were standing right in front of it.  A monument was erected in 1953 for the innocent victims who died in 1944.  A brutal reminder of all the pain and suffering that has been locked in the hearts and minds of the Italians.

  This little sign basically said to stay on the path because they were sure all the mines had been cleared from there but could not guarantee outside the path.  Yeah very scarry thought.  In all the time we have walked, we have never seen a sign  stating this.  A little unknown fact, every year they still find caches of bombs and weapons and in fact people are injured every year by explosives that are found in the rivers and in the mountains.  These thoughts are always in the back of our mind as we sometimes wonder off the trail .  Today though it really seemed the enemy did not want us up there and was trying to put fear in our hearts so we wouldn't be up there doing what we do which is taking back territory that belongs to the Kingdom of God.

The climb turned out to be a hard one due to it being the last one of three on the day but it was just a hard  walk, but when we arrived  there were butterflies everywhere again. We prayed, claimed, staked, broke bread,  asked for grace and mercy and forgave the Germans and the Italians for their role in the war and repented on their behalf for what they did in the war.  .   After a long exhausting day physical ,mentally and spiritually we made our way off the mountain and returned home for a much needed rest. .

Gothic Line Part Two - Day 5

March 18th, 2014

Our day started with a drive up to Montese.  Here we encountered a beautiful mountain city with breathtaking views.  The people here were so nice and the place had a very peaceful spirit to it, which was really refreshing. This place has a war museum which we did not visit because it was closed but we found a Memorial Park that had been dedicated to the Brazilian Army and Air Force as they were the ones who played a crucial role in the liberation of this city and the region.

It was at this park, overlooking the valley that we decided to pray and release His grace, mercy and forgiveness.  After this we took a very small tour of the city and took in the breath taking views before moving onto Rocca di Roffeno.







Rocca di Roffeno basically was in a bowl of a valley filled with rock on all sides and a plateau in the middle.  It really wasn't anything special except it was a stronghold of the Germans so we went  there to release His glory back into this place. I love that the Lord each day also gave us scriptures at each place we prayed.  We certainly don't know all the history of these places nor do we know exactly what the Lord is doing, but He knows what He wants to release so we would wait, and then write down the scriptures and drive those stakes into the ground.  Breaking bread and speaking spiritual freedom was such an amazing life force prayer.  All we know is we feel an urgency to get this done so onward & upward amen.

Then we were off to find Mount Pero.

We had a bit of a challenge finding access to this mountain  but with the help from some surveyors and a jogger we got on the right track.

When we  arrived to the peak of the mountain it was full of scars of the war.  It really is incredible that after nearly 70 years that foxholes, bunkers and bomb holes are still so visible.  We spent some time just taking in the remnants,  and then we prayed and took possession of the place and released His grace and mercy,  broke bread and made our way back down the mountain.


The next two stops were in the town of Vergato & Castlenuovo.  On the first stop we found a spot to pray and break bread, gave thanks and went onto Castlenuovo which was a hill top town with a spectacular view oif the surrounding valley.  We walked around a bit looking to see were the Lord wanted us to pray.  We finally  found our spot and gave Him all the Glory for the day.  We are always listening to the see if the Lord has anything special for the area to pray about.  He seems the Lord just wants to heal the wounds of the past and bring newness of life.  He so loves Italy and it was such an honor that He gave us this wonderful time to pray and release healing and liberty over these areas.




(This map shows the Gothic line running coast to Coast.  The Black line was the line we walked in 2013.  The Red line & the black line running almost together, is also considered the Gothic line and is what we are walking now, again coast to coast..

On the way back down the mountain there was a cemetery with a plaque honoring the Brazilian forces which we stopped at and then came back home. Joyce had a butterfly land on her finger and there were butterflies all around us, such a wonderful picture of new beginnings.

It seems that as we write these that we just went up and down and it didn't take very long and we didn't do very much while up there but it took time, all day in fact from early in the morning out of the house to drive an hour or two away, to then walk a few hours up to each place.  Walking to the top of a lot of these places you could feel the weight and sadness that still remained.  Thousands upon thousands of people died here and few people know that fact except those who lost loved ones and the military who come from time to time to honor those lives or the communities who every year place wreaths.  Only the Lord felt it important to have people come up here and repent and forgive and speak life and freedom over these places.  We have wept the Lord's tears on many of these mountains and have felt His pleasure as we have spoken life.  It has taken a toll on us to do this physically,  but it has brought us such joy to be a part of something historic.  It now is a challenge for us to get this done and to do it well.  With each day that passes we feel the Lord preparing Italy for something great.

Gothic Line Part Two -- Day 4

Day 4 Pianosinatico

This day we had set out to do some high mountains even though they were above our 1000 mt. mark, there was the chance that they wouldn’t be covered in snow.  Who knows, maybe we will be driving to the top, there are cities on some of these,  maybe some of these would be like that.  On the way we stopped at Pianosinatico and prayed for grace as well as healing and forgiveness.  There wasn't much to it, just a little town nestled in the hills, charming and small like all the rest, containing a Church, Bar, Store, Butcher shop, Hardware Store, Bakery, Post Office and a few other odds and ends shops.  It was hard to believe that this little town was part of a strategic war strategy but since it was again on a mountain top and had full range view of mountain tops all around,  I guess that made it an idea place to set up camp.  This town like all the others, has a monument.  We haven't tried to focus on monuments or even museums, this war was very intense and even now the Italians are really coming to grips on what happened here and more and more documentation and interest in the history is coming to light.  Each community that

was effected has stories to tell and things they remember but our focus has not been about the history naturally in the sense of war history as much as what happened here spiritually and what doors were opened to the enemy of our souls.  This is what the Lord wants to redeem, the ground, the fiber of the nation to which the people live on.  To release them from unforgiveness, from suffering from the pain and sorrow.  From the hatred that still is there for the German people and those who carried out the Nazi agenda, or the Fascists or the Partisans.  People were effected and although 69 years have passed, this is still a lingering thought.  This is the history we are interested in, how were the people effected, not the museums with war artifacts or tactics used or the ideologies of Hitler.

Our goal is for spiritual freedom to come and a joy and peace to be released, a setting free.  For King Jesus to take His place in each and every community.  That His Spirit of grace & mercy would flow and that as far as the eye can see and every place that our foot touches would become ours and part of the Kingdom of our Lord.  Bathing this land in prayers, tears and sacrifice..  Trust me, it is a sacrifice to climb these mountains, as beautiful as they are, this is not my number 1 idea of fun, but I know it is on the Lords heart.  The scriptures are full of people going up to the mountain, Jesus went up on the mountains, He was transfigured on the mountain, He died on a mountain.  Satan always took the high places and set up alters and God always had them go up to the mountains and pull them down and set up alters.  Since we are now the tabernacle of the Most High, we go up to the high places and pray.  I don't understand it, but the Lord has told us to do it and so we go with great expectations that it is making a difference.  He looks down to see if there is any standing in the gap for the people and we stand up on the mountain and say we are Lord, send us to the Nations, we want them as our inheritance, we want to enlarge the Kingdom, we want the people to be free.

So with all these ideas and thoughts going through our minds, we drive our stake in the ground and took communion.  Across in the distance we could see a whole mountain range, covered in snow of course but with little towns dotting here and there.  From a distance they don’t look so very dangerous but then again we didn’t even know of these were our Mountains or not.   After asking around to some of the locals we headed across the way and found ourselves climbing the mountain in our car along small one lane roads that were at times stuck to the side of the hill.  There wasn't any snow on the roads and not very many people around as this area is mostly abandoned until June-September, when this area will become alive with tourism.  After taking our car up as far as we could go in height, we found a dairy farmer who told us that the road we wanted to take was back down the mountain about 1 km and to the right, but the road was not in great condition because of the snow  and just the day before they had to go and help a couple who got their car stuck in a mud rut.

  They told us June was the best time to climb and that from that point in the road it would be about a 2 or 3 hour walk up to Mount. Tauffi , 1799 mt. & then over to Mount. Spigolina 1827 mt and Mount Lancio at 1540 mt. to finish off the day.  This should be fun.  Well not a bad scouting day.  Back home to regroup for another leg that is not in this area.  11 Mountains that should have been walked out  first, will now end up being walked out last.  It does say He saves the best wine for last, maybe it will apply here as well, as the Holy Spirit flows across this land.

To be continued.....

Gothic Line Part Two -- Day 3

Day3 Monti d'Anima - Mountain of the Soul

Due the fact that there is still snow on many of the mountains over 1000 mt., we decided after our adventure a few days ago on Mt. Altissima to skip 11 mountains in the Apennines.  This little mountain at only 897 mt. was not hard to find nor difficult to climb and was completely snow less and seemed it was long forgotten and overgrown, although after the winter everything looks this way.  This day the lord gave the scripture Joshua 4:9 where Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priest who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood.   One of the things that is so fun about this prayer adventure is that we have to always as the local people, how to get to these places.  Always amazed at how well everyone knows their surroundings even up in the mountains.  

 This was just a steep road up to a closed Bed & Breakfast, park the car and walk up a private road.  We came to a house out in the middle of this mountain that conveniently had Mt. Anima written on it, so we knew we were here.  Directly in front of this house was a steep climb of about 200 mt. more and across the crest.   

House in the middle of nowhere.

This one wasn’t too horribly dangerous once on top.  There were a little signs of war, some fox holes, but really not much to see except an excellent lookout point.  We gathered 11 stones of marble and then I (Joyce) had grabbed some smooth marble stones from the beach in Massa so I took one out of my backpack and wrote some scriptures and stuff on it and added it to the pile along with us carrying the glory of the lord we took possession of the mount and released His glory in the land... 

 What we noticed on this climb was that there were all these beautiful flowers everywhere, God had decorated the paths with all of these wonderful flowers and only if you pass by will you see them.  We were spoiled that day with His beauty.   This was a light prayer day in comparison with our K2 Mt. Altissima experience.   

Part Two Gothic Line -- Day 2

Day 2 – Our K2

Mount Altissimo, literally translated Most High Mountain.  Really there are few words that can describe this day and climb other than breath taking.  We were not expecting what was before us.  Joyce looked for days on sites about how to approach this mountain and after reading decided on a path that was described as the most taken and of medium challenge, not extremely difficult but with some hard climbs.  Yeah right..  We started in a marble quarry, one that Michelangelo was said to have taken an excursion or two here to look for marble slabs for his works.    

Joyce was so excited when she saw the one little patch of snow that she planted her foot in it and I followed suit.  Little did we know what was awaiting us. We then went up the side of a small hill and onto an abandoned mining road which came to a fork in the road and according to the map we printed out,  we were to go to the right.  Unfortunately it took us around to the other side of the mountain with no access to get up.  We had to track back 1/2 hour and were stumped, there was no other road we could see at the fork.  Finally I spotted at the ground level a rock that someone had painted the words Mt. Altissimo with an arrow on it.  Apparently many people have made that mistake. We then went straight up the till to the left until we hit a very active mining road, which went completely silent by the time we reached it.  Lunch time, ha ha.  There our trail marker picked up again and we walked along the road till it ended in the quarry.  The road had been plowed of snow, which was nice because from the small patch up the side of the hill was a little deep in places.  We walked along the plowed road for a bit and then it stopped.  The snow was now up to our knees.   This was a little more of a challenge but still seemed relatively safe.  Then the trail got very steep, straight up until we hit the crest but the snow actually helped in that it packed down nice and wasn't as deep.  

We then arrived at the top and it then felt like you were walking on a snow covered tight rope with sheer cliffs on one side and straight down fall with some trees on the other, that being the side we just walked up. We never once lost our paths which were very narrow and snow covered but then it got more interesting, narrower and extremely scary.   It was all in awe and shear obedience to continue until the bad feelings started.  

 There was a fully intact machine gun turret on the other peak, no clue how they got there, it is shear mountain.  Maybe 70 years ago the landscape was different but there is no way to get there now.  We also passed another gun area and a small cave built into the hill.  It was just past the cave that there was an opening in the crest area to sit down.  We wanted to continue to the peak which was still another 1/2 hour but the path was all disintegrated so we turned back after about 30 ft. stopped and prayed at the opening.

While we were praying Joyce looked at me and said she felt she had a prophecy, but it wasn’t for me or her, but in general, so I told her to let it rip.  The Lord basically was saying that He had longed to pull Italy to His bosom but that it would rather follow idols but this generation was crying out to Him and He had heard their cry and He was pulling off the chains, setting them free, they would no longer be slaves, pulling off the chains of generational curses and sickness.  That this generation would stand up and shout across this nation and into the other nations.  It was really cool.  We drove our stake, took communion and then sat on the edge of the summit and ate lunch.  

 Afterwards we slid down to the base like little children playing in the fresh snow with our daddy and His creation.   When we got back down to the mining road we read the trail marker sign again and we noticed the EE on the sign.  Joyce was like, what is that for,  European Excursions?  When we got in the car we Googled it and found out that it meant extreme excursions.  It was a no joke excursion for us, hardest to date.  In the future, we will not be going up on those trails.  If we can’t get up to the peak because of it, we will stop and pray right there.  We also found out after that, that many people have died on that mountain.  Thank you Jesus for angels and protection.  This mountain was 1589 mt. and sits in a mountain range along with 11 other mountains that we will be walking but in June as they are all above the 1000 mt. mark and covered in snow.  Wisdom tells us to wait.  To be continued......