Finally we have put together a video so that you can show it to all your pastors and youth leaders. The goal is to get as many people possible excited about what the Lord is doing in Italy & Europe and to gather workers to the harvest. The Lord told us we would have a team, people are now starting to ask us where is our team so we believe it is time for His words to form legs. Please take a look at the video, if you have any suggestions or even photos of us to add, please leave us a comment. These are great days we live in and they are only getting better as the Lord begins to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Thank you all in advance for your continued love and support, there is too many of you to add on this video but we know who you are and continue to give thanks to the Lord always for your kindness and love.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
God is Faithful all the time
We have been here in California for 1 month on Tuesday and already the Lord is doing great and might things in our lives. It is our greatest joy to announce that we will be returning to Italy on January 26, 2010 and will not be staying here the 8-12 months that we thought. We have been able to hook up with old friends, make new friends and basically reestablish our connection to the church body. We are always truly amazed at how awesome the body of believers is and the love we have for one another. We are also so blown away at the connections we made in Israel last year and how those connections have led to other connections (divine appointments) for the future of Italy and Europe. The Lord really is rising up a heart for Italy and Europe where just 5 years ago everyone was asking “why are you going to there”. The Lord truly loves the nations and has heard the cry of the people. Yes they had their season but amen in the Lord He will always come back around to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation.
We currently are looking for work so that we are doing something besides promoting the missions and have been a little taken back about how impersonal the hiring process has become. You can’t just walk in the door and talk to someone until you have filled out an application online and some of those can take up to an hour or more to fill out. Our society has grown away from personal contact for a more stream lined, safe procedure of hiring. What ever happened to being hired because someone liked you when they met you and sometimes even if you weren’t qualified for the job because they felt they could work with you? It truly is a crisis and frankly I think these new hiring practices aren’t helping the situation. Our brethren who have been dislocated in this shifting economy need our prayer for patience and that the Lord would push pass the overly complicated process and grant them favor, placing them in jobs that He wants and not what some 3 hour psych. Test on drug use or anger issues dictates they should get amen.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner on Thursday and we want to extend our love and gratitude to all you our friends. We will be at New Life in the morning till noon helping them feed those in need. Salvation Army has supplied all the cooked food and we will dish it up and bless those among us who have fallen on hard times. We are believing that the Lord will be glorified and people will be blessed and touch by His great love and affection for them. From there we are off to friends and will be picking up Kyle who will be coming up for a few days. Please keep Guido & Kyle in prayer as they work through all the normal dad, son issues that they haven’t been able to properly do, due to the distance that separates them (Italy/Cal). We had a great time with him at Disneyland and were thankful for the Lords provision for the time. We made our way from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara via Greyhound bus where we picked up a car from our son. It is a 23 year old car but has been a very faithful blessing for our time here. Our son was afraid it wouldn’t make it up here but it has been plowing away without all the problems he said it had. Hmmm, I wonder what happened to all those problems? Thank you Jesus you make all things new, even old cars.
Anyhow we send you all our blessings and our love and thank you for your continued support and prayers. We are literally here without jobs and/or money as Guido was sent a letter before we left that he would not be getting any unemployment and just last week they informed us his injury was not qualified as a work injury. We have been living here in Tracy with our friend Tom who has opened his home to us without any obligation and people keep handing us money, total strangers whom we have just met who have no clue of our needs. We want you to know that the Lord is mindful of all your needs and will not ever fail you. We serve a living God who loves us and watches over our lives at every turn. Be encouraged and don’t lose faith He really is able no matter the circumstance.
For His Glory Alone
Joyce & Guido…
Don & Faith from Modesto whom we met in Israel last year. They took us to a conference here and our lives were transformed. We met other people who are friends of some of our friends. Never look at a chance meeting as being a chance, it is usually divine and with a purpose. Ask the Lord and He will make it clear.
Joyce & Guido…
Don & Faith from Modesto whom we met in Israel last year. They took us to a conference here and our lives were transformed. We met other people who are friends of some of our friends. Never look at a chance meeting as being a chance, it is usually divine and with a purpose. Ask the Lord and He will make it clear.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
We are here , we are we are here!!!!
Hello everyone, well we finally made it to California after a pretty uneventful plane ride, unless you call dropping 12,000 ft. in about 30 seconds and I started crying uneventful. The pilots hit a pocket of turbulence and they being the professionals did an awesome job dropping us below the stuff but I left my stomach up there. Never have seen the stewardesses drop to the floor and have the passengers hold them their either. United Airlines is a really awesome airlines. Finally arrived in SFo and got our rental car and finally made it out to Tracy to Tom Amato's home.
Wow cars have come a long way in such a short time. This thing was loaded (Kia Soul), you could even plug in your mp3 player, computer and something else I'm not sure of however, it drank gas even though it was the economy model. So the next day we drove back to a rental agencyin the area to get a smaller car. So different than Europe where an economy car is a Fiat Panda that gets about 50 mpg. We still ended up with a midsize car but it gets 32 vs 24. This thing is manual everything, doors, windows, squeeks and pulls hard to the right. It's a total bucket however, compared to driving around Italy with a scooter anything is an upgrade.
Sunday we went to New Life Christian Church to see our church family. So many new faces, so many new opportunities to make new friends. Always a blessing. Pastor DuBuyonne asked us to get up and share a little and do the communion. It was such an awesome time to share about our Lord and His love and to encourage one another in the faith and to break bread and remember the awesome love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and to thank Him for setting us free. We are so excited to be here for 3 months because this time, not like the others we will have so much more time to see everyone and hang out. We started with hanging out with Tina and Herm. I forgot how much food comes on a plate in America. And how many different types of plates you can order, I couldn't decide. In Italy it is pretty simple, menus don't vary much from ristorante to ristorante and you never feel like you have over eaten when you leave. It is a little different when you go to family dinners, there they stuff you until you can't walk, but that is like our Thanksgiving day meal.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, it is just right around the corner. Still don't know what we are doing as we have been invited to many places. Can't clone ourselves so were going to put your names in a hat and draw them out. Just kidding. Really we probably will house hop and see who has the best pumpkin pie, ha ha. This is such an awesome opportunity for us to volunteer and feed some homeless. We can't do that in Italy, just open up the doors at the church and feed people off the street unless you become licensed to do it (not a simple as filling out forms) . No handing out sandwiches in the park or setting up a barbecue and feeding the passerby's. New Life is doing such an awsome job at this, reaching out to their community and touching those in need and making a difference in the lives of others.
We went up and saw Nick and Lisa Cruz and had dinner and just an awesome time of fellowship. They wanted to bless us with warm friendship , and apologize for not being email persons. We just want you all to know that when we send out emails, newsletters, blogs and share with you our life and our needs that you our friends always cover us. We are all different and we all have different gifts, strenghts and abilities and even if you don't respond or just send a one liner saying your praying, we never ever feel that we aren't being cared for, loved on or provided for. People are busy, have lives and you let us into those spaces of your life and we so appreciate it. All of it goes towards sowing into the lost of Europe and reminds us always that the Lord is at the center of all of it. We appreciate all you have done, all you will do and all that that you are required by the Lord to do in regards to us and this work. Please never let the enemy keep you away from us because you feel you haven't done enough becuase it isn't true.
As you know we are off to Disneyland tomorrow for 4 days (We won this trip, all expense paid). What you don't know is that I've been flat on my back for the 2nd day with a bum hip. Can't even bend down and put on my shoes. I'm off to the Chiropractor today and hoping to putting that hip back in place will help, if not I'll be seeing Disney through a wheel chair. Yes it is that bad. Faith & Don Gerlach from Modesto called yesterday and prayed for me and it was an awesome time of prayer however I have not been healed YET however the pain has dimished and I can sit now in the chair but long lines of standing people isn't going to be possible. We met Faith & Don when we went to Israel a few years ago and they called to invite us to a conference next weekend and then to their church on Sunday. This is part of that network of people that have come alongside of us and pray and bless us. It is truely awesome to have family everywhere.
Well we will sign off for now and we will keep you all posted as to our where abouts, and adventures. Again we need you to let your Pastors know that we are in town and should any of them want us to come and share about Italy and Europe and the needs there we would love to come and share. You can call us on our cell, I have posted that number on your email and facebook. If you need it again please send us a message and I will resond. Love you all.
Joyce & Guido
Wow cars have come a long way in such a short time. This thing was loaded (Kia Soul), you could even plug in your mp3 player, computer and something else I'm not sure of however, it drank gas even though it was the economy model. So the next day we drove back to a rental agencyin the area to get a smaller car. So different than Europe where an economy car is a Fiat Panda that gets about 50 mpg. We still ended up with a midsize car but it gets 32 vs 24. This thing is manual everything, doors, windows, squeeks and pulls hard to the right. It's a total bucket however, compared to driving around Italy with a scooter anything is an upgrade.
Sunday we went to New Life Christian Church to see our church family. So many new faces, so many new opportunities to make new friends. Always a blessing. Pastor DuBuyonne asked us to get up and share a little and do the communion. It was such an awesome time to share about our Lord and His love and to encourage one another in the faith and to break bread and remember the awesome love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and to thank Him for setting us free. We are so excited to be here for 3 months because this time, not like the others we will have so much more time to see everyone and hang out. We started with hanging out with Tina and Herm. I forgot how much food comes on a plate in America. And how many different types of plates you can order, I couldn't decide. In Italy it is pretty simple, menus don't vary much from ristorante to ristorante and you never feel like you have over eaten when you leave. It is a little different when you go to family dinners, there they stuff you until you can't walk, but that is like our Thanksgiving day meal.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, it is just right around the corner. Still don't know what we are doing as we have been invited to many places. Can't clone ourselves so were going to put your names in a hat and draw them out. Just kidding. Really we probably will house hop and see who has the best pumpkin pie, ha ha. This is such an awesome opportunity for us to volunteer and feed some homeless. We can't do that in Italy, just open up the doors at the church and feed people off the street unless you become licensed to do it (not a simple as filling out forms) . No handing out sandwiches in the park or setting up a barbecue and feeding the passerby's. New Life is doing such an awsome job at this, reaching out to their community and touching those in need and making a difference in the lives of others.
We went up and saw Nick and Lisa Cruz and had dinner and just an awesome time of fellowship. They wanted to bless us with warm friendship , and apologize for not being email persons. We just want you all to know that when we send out emails, newsletters, blogs and share with you our life and our needs that you our friends always cover us. We are all different and we all have different gifts, strenghts and abilities and even if you don't respond or just send a one liner saying your praying, we never ever feel that we aren't being cared for, loved on or provided for. People are busy, have lives and you let us into those spaces of your life and we so appreciate it. All of it goes towards sowing into the lost of Europe and reminds us always that the Lord is at the center of all of it. We appreciate all you have done, all you will do and all that that you are required by the Lord to do in regards to us and this work. Please never let the enemy keep you away from us because you feel you haven't done enough becuase it isn't true.
As you know we are off to Disneyland tomorrow for 4 days (We won this trip, all expense paid). What you don't know is that I've been flat on my back for the 2nd day with a bum hip. Can't even bend down and put on my shoes. I'm off to the Chiropractor today and hoping to putting that hip back in place will help, if not I'll be seeing Disney through a wheel chair. Yes it is that bad. Faith & Don Gerlach from Modesto called yesterday and prayed for me and it was an awesome time of prayer however I have not been healed YET however the pain has dimished and I can sit now in the chair but long lines of standing people isn't going to be possible. We met Faith & Don when we went to Israel a few years ago and they called to invite us to a conference next weekend and then to their church on Sunday. This is part of that network of people that have come alongside of us and pray and bless us. It is truely awesome to have family everywhere.
Well we will sign off for now and we will keep you all posted as to our where abouts, and adventures. Again we need you to let your Pastors know that we are in town and should any of them want us to come and share about Italy and Europe and the needs there we would love to come and share. You can call us on our cell, I have posted that number on your email and facebook. If you need it again please send us a message and I will resond. Love you all.
Joyce & Guido
Friday, September 4, 2009
Well we have some good news and not so good news on this blog. I will start with the not so good news or at least it is sad news. Our friend Sergio from San Gimignano past away a few weeks ago. We have prayed for him to be healed and Pastor Dennis in March prayed with him as well. He went to the USA for a genetic cure but it didn't work. We spoke with him last month and he said he was too sick to visit so we went this past weekend and found his wife busy working away at the ristorante where she broke the news to us. We had to leave so we wouldn't all break down in tears. We returned after 30 minutes and had a nice lunch together. Patrizia said it was a miracle he lived for 8 years after he was diagnosed and was thankful for that time together. He also leaves behind two daughters 14 & 16, he will missed as he was such an awesome husband, father and friend.
As for other news, I suppose good because it is in line with the direction we feel the Lord is taking, we have our tickets and will be back on October 27th to the USA. We have no clue now where we will be going as the job fell through and might or might not open back up in a few months. We aren't concerned though because we know that we have many other opportunities. We are sad to leave because we leave behind Jami & Chloe and our bunny and all our new friends as well as all our possessions, which isn't much these days but about a closet full of boxes, ha ha. We know the time will pass by fast though as 5 years have already gone by and it seems like just yesterday that we arrived.
2 weeks ago we went to Switzerland to meet back up with David & Isabella and what an awesome time we had. We were able to meet up with a group in Constance Germany who we truly believe are key to what the Lord is doing in Europe and specially here in Italy. We are looking forward to the next several years as the Lord enfolds his plans and purposes and are truly convinced that this is the European network that the Lord wanting to build us into. Johannes & his wife have an awesome home church movement going on and have been key in praying and have many awesome and strategic plans from the Lord for the future.
We were surprized by Pastor Freidl of Dave & Isabella's church who invited us to speak at the Sunday Service. Not just speak, but actually do the service. We were going to say no because well hey that isn't our thing yet, but we figured if you don't start you never learn. Guido spoke for the first 15 minutes and I followed up. We both spoke on the Fathers love and had a ministry time before (during worship) and after we spoke. Well I think we did pretty well, many said it was a new message and were touched and they needed it. David said I should have shared something from my life, but I was afraid that if I started talking about my life it would eat up the 15 minutes and more. Next time I will ask the Lord for a specific since it seems my life has been a mini series haha.
What was wild was that they paid us which basically paid for us to go and come back. The Lord is good all the time. Not only does He call you to something that you may or may not be qualified to do, but than he equips you as well. This has been the most awesome on the job training program ever, and certainly the most expensive, but hey He owns the cattle on a 1000 hills so if the military can spend 100s of 1000s of dollars making our service people top notch warriors, the Lord too will spare no expense or resourses to do the same in His kingdom.
We are off to Croatia on Monday and will be back in a week. This will be our last European vacation for a while. We are going to miss being able to fly somewhere for 30 euro's roundtrip for 2 people, yeah that's right 15 euro's each after taxes. How crazy is that, we can't even get a train from here to Rome (2.5 hours) for less than 160 rountrip and yet we can get to a friends house in Croatia for 30. Southwest Airlines has NEVER been this low. A week of laying around at the beach and making our lists and plans for leaving here and getting there is the order of business. It actually serves another purpose as Guido is on medical leave due to his hands.
After many visits to various doctors it appears that Guido has tendonites in one hand, extreme amounts of liqued in both hands inside the joints which is causeing all the pain and swelling and onset of Ostio as well. It appears that all the work in the freezer at -18 has done this. The warm water will go a long way in the cure, which is why they approved this trip be covered. If they don't get this under control and back to normal it can lead to arthritis. Wow you would think a Canadian who was born and raised in this kind of weather would have no problems working in a freezer. Go figure. Although they aren't sure if that was the cause or not. Of course we are asking the Lord for a total and complete healing, hands are needed for everthing, not just to work with.
This bring me to our next request from you our friends and family. We have no more travel miles to use for free ticets and the standby tickets we had offered to us fell through since there are no seats available until after the 1st of the year so we had to buy tickets and unfortunately they aren't 30 euros. The total cost for the tickets came to 1539. which we squezzed onto a credit card that has to be paid within 30 days. If you so feel led to contriubute, please do so by hitting the donate button on the upper left hand side of the page or send your checks to New Life Christian Church with a note with our names on it. If you don't have the address please email me and I will send it to you.
Ciao Tutti
Bye all
Love ya
Joyce & Guido
As for other news, I suppose good because it is in line with the direction we feel the Lord is taking, we have our tickets and will be back on October 27th to the USA. We have no clue now where we will be going as the job fell through and might or might not open back up in a few months. We aren't concerned though because we know that we have many other opportunities. We are sad to leave because we leave behind Jami & Chloe and our bunny and all our new friends as well as all our possessions, which isn't much these days but about a closet full of boxes, ha ha. We know the time will pass by fast though as 5 years have already gone by and it seems like just yesterday that we arrived.
2 weeks ago we went to Switzerland to meet back up with David & Isabella and what an awesome time we had. We were able to meet up with a group in Constance Germany who we truly believe are key to what the Lord is doing in Europe and specially here in Italy. We are looking forward to the next several years as the Lord enfolds his plans and purposes and are truly convinced that this is the European network that the Lord wanting to build us into. Johannes & his wife have an awesome home church movement going on and have been key in praying and have many awesome and strategic plans from the Lord for the future.
We were surprized by Pastor Freidl of Dave & Isabella's church who invited us to speak at the Sunday Service. Not just speak, but actually do the service. We were going to say no because well hey that isn't our thing yet, but we figured if you don't start you never learn. Guido spoke for the first 15 minutes and I followed up. We both spoke on the Fathers love and had a ministry time before (during worship) and after we spoke. Well I think we did pretty well, many said it was a new message and were touched and they needed it. David said I should have shared something from my life, but I was afraid that if I started talking about my life it would eat up the 15 minutes and more. Next time I will ask the Lord for a specific since it seems my life has been a mini series haha.
What was wild was that they paid us which basically paid for us to go and come back. The Lord is good all the time. Not only does He call you to something that you may or may not be qualified to do, but than he equips you as well. This has been the most awesome on the job training program ever, and certainly the most expensive, but hey He owns the cattle on a 1000 hills so if the military can spend 100s of 1000s of dollars making our service people top notch warriors, the Lord too will spare no expense or resourses to do the same in His kingdom.
We are off to Croatia on Monday and will be back in a week. This will be our last European vacation for a while. We are going to miss being able to fly somewhere for 30 euro's roundtrip for 2 people, yeah that's right 15 euro's each after taxes. How crazy is that, we can't even get a train from here to Rome (2.5 hours) for less than 160 rountrip and yet we can get to a friends house in Croatia for 30. Southwest Airlines has NEVER been this low. A week of laying around at the beach and making our lists and plans for leaving here and getting there is the order of business. It actually serves another purpose as Guido is on medical leave due to his hands.
After many visits to various doctors it appears that Guido has tendonites in one hand, extreme amounts of liqued in both hands inside the joints which is causeing all the pain and swelling and onset of Ostio as well. It appears that all the work in the freezer at -18 has done this. The warm water will go a long way in the cure, which is why they approved this trip be covered. If they don't get this under control and back to normal it can lead to arthritis. Wow you would think a Canadian who was born and raised in this kind of weather would have no problems working in a freezer. Go figure. Although they aren't sure if that was the cause or not. Of course we are asking the Lord for a total and complete healing, hands are needed for everthing, not just to work with.
This bring me to our next request from you our friends and family. We have no more travel miles to use for free ticets and the standby tickets we had offered to us fell through since there are no seats available until after the 1st of the year so we had to buy tickets and unfortunately they aren't 30 euros. The total cost for the tickets came to 1539. which we squezzed onto a credit card that has to be paid within 30 days. If you so feel led to contriubute, please do so by hitting the donate button on the upper left hand side of the page or send your checks to New Life Christian Church with a note with our names on it. If you don't have the address please email me and I will send it to you.
Ciao Tutti
Bye all
Love ya
Joyce & Guido
Monday, August 17, 2009
Our God is an Awesome God
Just wanted to give you an update of what we have been up to these past few weeks. As we are making our plans to leave this country we are still very active keeping our lines of communication open. Checking on our friends and contacts to make sure they are ok, in need of love and fellowship or prayer and still continuing to make contacts that will we know be beneficial in the future for bringing Italy closer and closer to Jesus.
This past weekend we went to Rome to see our very good friends Alessandro and Kristin along with their children Andrea and Gabriella. It is a chance for us to catch up, vent, share and grow in this friendship. They have been here for 3 1/2 years and have found themselves at the boiling point in regards to living here in Italy. Italy is not an easy country to make a living in and many families have to make huge sacrifices to find work, sometimes leaving them all week and coming home only on the weekends. You have to be so careful at times or find yourself in debt and nothing is worse than that, as you can most times just get by. We were able to share with them the things we have gone through and encourage them to really work together as a team and to push forward. It's so great to know that in the 5 years we have been here, we really did learn something experience wise and can pass it on. Isn't that what it is all about, helping one another to the next level, never leaving anyone behind.
Than on Sunday we went to see Laura. If you all remember Laura is the young lady we prayed with last year when we went to the church to meet Christa from Israel. In that connection we met Sorpressa Sithole from Africa, Clint from California and Brian from California as well. These have all developed into awesome friendships that we have actually been able to hook up with again since that time (except Clint because he is in a country I can't name now, but we keep in touch and pray and encourage each other with posts and music and stuff from time to time. Him more than me because he is awesome at blogging and posting).
Anyhow Laura is the young lady who from the age of 15 till 20 didn't talk due to some traumatic things that happened to her and than at 20 she started speaking in multiple voices but none were hers. We all prayed for her, who we had just met as well for the first time (talk about making first impressions, Hi I'm Clint, come out in the name Jesus, where are you from, Father set her free, wow how cool your from California as well, ) at a church that all of us had been at for the first time including Laura. After 2 1/2 hours of prayer and counseling her mom about taking spiritual authority, fasting, praying, etc. and more prayer and her mom getting filled with the Holy Spirit and more prayer, Laura finally spoke but for only about a minute or two and than went back to the voices. Well to say the least her mom broke out crying saying she hadn't heard her daugher's voice in 10 years.
Anyhow her mom called us about month after this to give her testimony that Laura no longer was on medication, was no longer screaming all night and was now sleeping. We sent her a Bible on cassette in Italian and told her to play them all the time and to throw out all the idols in her home, which she gladly did since they weren't hers and had been brought to the house by the grandmother.
She calls us about every 3 or 4 months and finally we were able to go to their house and hang out with them. As soon as we saw Laura we didn't recognize her, she was smiling and Laura was there, present, talking. She still has a ways to go as it seem in the past 3 or 4 weeks she is lapsing back into the voices and she hasn't fully gained back all her speech or mental sharpness but her recovery to this point has made somewhat of an impression on her father who is an Agnostic. Basically if we can prove that their is a God he will believe. I asked him what he's going to doing when she is totally healed and he is walking her down the isle at her wedding. He said he would go to church twice a day. I told him that wouldn't be necessary, just his heart given to the Lord would be sufficient.
We spent 7 awesome hours with this family talking and sharing. After a time I went in with Paola the mother and Guido hung out with Dario the father and we both just shared liberally and openly about the Lord. Paola is so hungry for the Lord and the truth and a relationship and it seems that she has yet to find a fellowship home. Guido shot from the hip as usual and walked away feeling like Dario was an awesome righteous and just man who just needed the Lord to reveal himself to him. Kind, generous and loving is this family. At the end we took communion (not Dario, but he hung out and watched us pray together for the communion, over his daughter who kept trying to leave the room (the other voices were a bit agitated for sure) but he kept lovingly pulling her back for prayer. This is a man who has exhausted every avenue and has found no cure for his daughter. He asked Guido what he ever did to Jesus that He would do this to his daughter and Guido was able to explain that he didn't do anything and Jesus didn't do this to her. He even took her to an American doctor who ran ever possible test and this doctor said there is nothing medically wrong with his daughter, they haven't even diagnosed her as mentally ill, so Dario indeed is a man who is stumped by the fact that he doesn't believe and yet everything is pointing to this being something spiritual and in need of a spiritual cure.
Paola grew up with some pretty hard core guilt, fear and hypocrisy in regards to religion. It is religion mixed with superstition and pagan traditions and Dario wants nothing to do with that if that is what people say is God. Paola wants to be free to know this loving God, this saving Jesus, this powerful Holy Spirit and so everything we share with her from the Bible she just soaks up like a sponge. Even Dario noticed that she is more calmer when she has to deal with the grandmother of Laura who keeps bringing prayer idols into the house. She just throws them away. She asked about pictures, books, devotions, even the music, if it was good or bad. She wanted to know how she would know it was really God speaking do her and not the devil. They shared their hearts with such openess and honesty it was pretty humbling for me and Guido.
Than to top off the whole awesome time, they told their part of the story about the church we met at last March. It seems her mother heard that there was going to be a guest speaker (Sorpresa Sithole) at this church and she wanted to go and see him and asked Paola to come with her. It is a charasmatic Catholic church (which Paola said the Vatican has recently shut it down. I will check that to see if that is in fact the case) t and I guess when she got in there and saw all these little nuns dancing around, singing Jesus is risen, and just having a awesome Holy Ghost time, she wanted to split. So they (Paola, her mom and Laura) went to the car to leave and the car wouldn't start. So they called Dario who said he would come over and check it out and pick them up if necessary. They came back into the church where I guess Laura started manifesting and she was taken into a room for prayer (enter Brian, Clint & us into this story as Christa who knows all of us asked us all to come and pray. Don't know where Grandma was because only Paola and Laura were in the room with us. Dario than called Paola to tell her that his brand new tire was flat and that he couldn't come. Than as this thing went on and on she told him to wait and after the 2 1/2 hours she went back to the car which started back up. Now that Dario knows the whole story and not piece by piece, he has some thinking to do.
So Thursday we are off to Switzerland again to meet up with Bella and David whom we met at the conference back in June. They are going to put us in contact with a group from I think he said Argentina who has started a whole home church in the area of Lake Constance. They recently told Bella (Italian born in Switzerland) that they had a real heart for Italy and would probably be doing some prayer stuff there in the near future. They contacted us shortly after to let us know and I felt we needed to hook up with them before we left Italy to insure that we leave no loose ends and that possibly a connection for prayer (very specific, strategic prayer walks, warfare, etc) in future is established amen.
We still are looking to do our prayer walk of the Gothic line but as the Lord is starting to unravel this, it seems a bit big for us to just knock out in a few weekends. We did pray the one end of it several months back and we are going to the other end which is near us to pray as well, but we may have to wait till we get back to really pray into the communities that were impacted by the last assult by the allied troops in Italy. August 10th and 11th I was in Cesena with Emily and Eric and had the most awesome priviledge of watching their son while they worked. He was awesome and I got to read almost 1/2 of Frank Viola's book "From Eternity to Here". If you haven't you should read this book. Awesome. Anyhow when I spoke with Guido I told him I though that the City were were staying at was on the map as one of the Cities we needed to pray in, I mean it is 300 km. of area we are talking here and so many cities start with a C I couldn't be sure. So he said pray anyway while your there, it can't hurt.
So when I came back to the room after lunch it was raining and while Zick played I started praying. As the rain came down I just said Lord, use this water to wash away all the blood that was spilt her, heal all the wounds, just flood this area with your presence. Than it starting raining really hard. So I brought Zick to the open window to watch it because he was a little frightened of the thunder and the sound of the rain which was so forceful. We watched as some people had arrived and the women wouldn't get out of the car because the rain was big drops now and heavy. The man with them ran with his umbrella to the room but he was soaked just in the few minutes he was standing there trying to get them to come out of the car. Normally it just rains a few minutes and than stop. All of the sudden a huge wind like a downward blast came blew the bathroom window shut, picked up a chair and blew it accross the yard next to the park car. Than another giant strong downward gust and another. This chair I was for sure was going to slam into the car. Zick now is really crying and I decide I'm going to run out there and get that chair but the wind is so hard I can't open the door and than I think I'm going get soaked and Zik is going to freak out if I run out of the room. It looked like a tornado wind wind pushing down huge gusts for 20 minutes and than stop, calm.
When I got home I checked our map and not only was this a city but this was a German occupied stronghold city and this city took huge casulties. They said it was a freak storm. I just found it interesting . I took a train back to Montecatini that afternoon, which I missed by a few seconds again, but the next one I waited for got me there at about the same time as the train I missed so it totally made up for the 5 hours train diaster from my trip to Amsterdam. Thank you again Emily and Erik for your generousity to us and your love and your friendship and for bringing Chloe all those Golden books.
Amsterdam with Debby at the end of July was awesome. I love that woman, what a woman of God. Keep her in your prayers for those of you who know her as this is a real time of change and she really needs the Lords healing and direction and for those of you who don't, pray anyway, because the Lord knows how to have you pray for her amen. Who would have though french fries and maynoise could be so good. Yeah I know it is totally un American but hey when in Holland do as the Dutch. I loved it, it was beautiful and the only sad part was that it was so short. We will be back for sure. Met some awesome people, Cory you know who you are, ha ha. Visited Debs church where I was invited to come down and introduce myself (first time they asked a new visitor to come and introduce themselves, I always seem to be the first at something new and than churches end up setting a standard after that. That's a ha ha Ps. Dennis if you get my drift.
Mr. Guido is at the middle of a bunch of tests on his hands. He seems to have something really wrong happening since he started working in the freezers. He has had and x-ray, electro magnetic, he will have in a few weeks some sort of hand imaging done and a meeting with the Rheumatologist. Pray that they get the source of the problem as he is in intense pain 24/7 and his hands are swollen. We already had to have his wedding ring enlarged once and it is getting tight again. He didn't wear it for 3 months because he hoped it would go down and resized it because he has never not had it on since we were married. Yeah he's a sap but I love him for it. Yeah I know some of you other guys out there like that, you know who you are Dean and.......
Love you guys, keep us in prayer as we do lots and lots of travel. Pray for an open time slot to catch a plane that we will be taking it looks like on standby from Frankfurt. Dave B. has gotton us some passes but it has to be from Germany and he said we might have to wait a few days. Pray the Lord directs us to the right time so we don't have to wait to long. Target is still end of October if the creek doesn't rise or the Lord pulls off that financial miracle were waiting for. Should we go fishing?
This past weekend we went to Rome to see our very good friends Alessandro and Kristin along with their children Andrea and Gabriella. It is a chance for us to catch up, vent, share and grow in this friendship. They have been here for 3 1/2 years and have found themselves at the boiling point in regards to living here in Italy. Italy is not an easy country to make a living in and many families have to make huge sacrifices to find work, sometimes leaving them all week and coming home only on the weekends. You have to be so careful at times or find yourself in debt and nothing is worse than that, as you can most times just get by. We were able to share with them the things we have gone through and encourage them to really work together as a team and to push forward. It's so great to know that in the 5 years we have been here, we really did learn something experience wise and can pass it on. Isn't that what it is all about, helping one another to the next level, never leaving anyone behind.
Than on Sunday we went to see Laura. If you all remember Laura is the young lady we prayed with last year when we went to the church to meet Christa from Israel. In that connection we met Sorpressa Sithole from Africa, Clint from California and Brian from California as well. These have all developed into awesome friendships that we have actually been able to hook up with again since that time (except Clint because he is in a country I can't name now, but we keep in touch and pray and encourage each other with posts and music and stuff from time to time. Him more than me because he is awesome at blogging and posting).
Anyhow Laura is the young lady who from the age of 15 till 20 didn't talk due to some traumatic things that happened to her and than at 20 she started speaking in multiple voices but none were hers. We all prayed for her, who we had just met as well for the first time (talk about making first impressions, Hi I'm Clint, come out in the name Jesus, where are you from, Father set her free, wow how cool your from California as well, ) at a church that all of us had been at for the first time including Laura. After 2 1/2 hours of prayer and counseling her mom about taking spiritual authority, fasting, praying, etc. and more prayer and her mom getting filled with the Holy Spirit and more prayer, Laura finally spoke but for only about a minute or two and than went back to the voices. Well to say the least her mom broke out crying saying she hadn't heard her daugher's voice in 10 years.
Anyhow her mom called us about month after this to give her testimony that Laura no longer was on medication, was no longer screaming all night and was now sleeping. We sent her a Bible on cassette in Italian and told her to play them all the time and to throw out all the idols in her home, which she gladly did since they weren't hers and had been brought to the house by the grandmother.
She calls us about every 3 or 4 months and finally we were able to go to their house and hang out with them. As soon as we saw Laura we didn't recognize her, she was smiling and Laura was there, present, talking. She still has a ways to go as it seem in the past 3 or 4 weeks she is lapsing back into the voices and she hasn't fully gained back all her speech or mental sharpness but her recovery to this point has made somewhat of an impression on her father who is an Agnostic. Basically if we can prove that their is a God he will believe. I asked him what he's going to doing when she is totally healed and he is walking her down the isle at her wedding. He said he would go to church twice a day. I told him that wouldn't be necessary, just his heart given to the Lord would be sufficient.
We spent 7 awesome hours with this family talking and sharing. After a time I went in with Paola the mother and Guido hung out with Dario the father and we both just shared liberally and openly about the Lord. Paola is so hungry for the Lord and the truth and a relationship and it seems that she has yet to find a fellowship home. Guido shot from the hip as usual and walked away feeling like Dario was an awesome righteous and just man who just needed the Lord to reveal himself to him. Kind, generous and loving is this family. At the end we took communion (not Dario, but he hung out and watched us pray together for the communion, over his daughter who kept trying to leave the room (the other voices were a bit agitated for sure) but he kept lovingly pulling her back for prayer. This is a man who has exhausted every avenue and has found no cure for his daughter. He asked Guido what he ever did to Jesus that He would do this to his daughter and Guido was able to explain that he didn't do anything and Jesus didn't do this to her. He even took her to an American doctor who ran ever possible test and this doctor said there is nothing medically wrong with his daughter, they haven't even diagnosed her as mentally ill, so Dario indeed is a man who is stumped by the fact that he doesn't believe and yet everything is pointing to this being something spiritual and in need of a spiritual cure.
Paola grew up with some pretty hard core guilt, fear and hypocrisy in regards to religion. It is religion mixed with superstition and pagan traditions and Dario wants nothing to do with that if that is what people say is God. Paola wants to be free to know this loving God, this saving Jesus, this powerful Holy Spirit and so everything we share with her from the Bible she just soaks up like a sponge. Even Dario noticed that she is more calmer when she has to deal with the grandmother of Laura who keeps bringing prayer idols into the house. She just throws them away. She asked about pictures, books, devotions, even the music, if it was good or bad. She wanted to know how she would know it was really God speaking do her and not the devil. They shared their hearts with such openess and honesty it was pretty humbling for me and Guido.
Than to top off the whole awesome time, they told their part of the story about the church we met at last March. It seems her mother heard that there was going to be a guest speaker (Sorpresa Sithole) at this church and she wanted to go and see him and asked Paola to come with her. It is a charasmatic Catholic church (which Paola said the Vatican has recently shut it down. I will check that to see if that is in fact the case) t and I guess when she got in there and saw all these little nuns dancing around, singing Jesus is risen, and just having a awesome Holy Ghost time, she wanted to split. So they (Paola, her mom and Laura) went to the car to leave and the car wouldn't start. So they called Dario who said he would come over and check it out and pick them up if necessary. They came back into the church where I guess Laura started manifesting and she was taken into a room for prayer (enter Brian, Clint & us into this story as Christa who knows all of us asked us all to come and pray. Don't know where Grandma was because only Paola and Laura were in the room with us. Dario than called Paola to tell her that his brand new tire was flat and that he couldn't come. Than as this thing went on and on she told him to wait and after the 2 1/2 hours she went back to the car which started back up. Now that Dario knows the whole story and not piece by piece, he has some thinking to do.
So Thursday we are off to Switzerland again to meet up with Bella and David whom we met at the conference back in June. They are going to put us in contact with a group from I think he said Argentina who has started a whole home church in the area of Lake Constance. They recently told Bella (Italian born in Switzerland) that they had a real heart for Italy and would probably be doing some prayer stuff there in the near future. They contacted us shortly after to let us know and I felt we needed to hook up with them before we left Italy to insure that we leave no loose ends and that possibly a connection for prayer (very specific, strategic prayer walks, warfare, etc) in future is established amen.
We still are looking to do our prayer walk of the Gothic line but as the Lord is starting to unravel this, it seems a bit big for us to just knock out in a few weekends. We did pray the one end of it several months back and we are going to the other end which is near us to pray as well, but we may have to wait till we get back to really pray into the communities that were impacted by the last assult by the allied troops in Italy. August 10th and 11th I was in Cesena with Emily and Eric and had the most awesome priviledge of watching their son while they worked. He was awesome and I got to read almost 1/2 of Frank Viola's book "From Eternity to Here". If you haven't you should read this book. Awesome. Anyhow when I spoke with Guido I told him I though that the City were were staying at was on the map as one of the Cities we needed to pray in, I mean it is 300 km. of area we are talking here and so many cities start with a C I couldn't be sure. So he said pray anyway while your there, it can't hurt.
So when I came back to the room after lunch it was raining and while Zick played I started praying. As the rain came down I just said Lord, use this water to wash away all the blood that was spilt her, heal all the wounds, just flood this area with your presence. Than it starting raining really hard. So I brought Zick to the open window to watch it because he was a little frightened of the thunder and the sound of the rain which was so forceful. We watched as some people had arrived and the women wouldn't get out of the car because the rain was big drops now and heavy. The man with them ran with his umbrella to the room but he was soaked just in the few minutes he was standing there trying to get them to come out of the car. Normally it just rains a few minutes and than stop. All of the sudden a huge wind like a downward blast came blew the bathroom window shut, picked up a chair and blew it accross the yard next to the park car. Than another giant strong downward gust and another. This chair I was for sure was going to slam into the car. Zick now is really crying and I decide I'm going to run out there and get that chair but the wind is so hard I can't open the door and than I think I'm going get soaked and Zik is going to freak out if I run out of the room. It looked like a tornado wind wind pushing down huge gusts for 20 minutes and than stop, calm.
When I got home I checked our map and not only was this a city but this was a German occupied stronghold city and this city took huge casulties. They said it was a freak storm. I just found it interesting . I took a train back to Montecatini that afternoon, which I missed by a few seconds again, but the next one I waited for got me there at about the same time as the train I missed so it totally made up for the 5 hours train diaster from my trip to Amsterdam. Thank you again Emily and Erik for your generousity to us and your love and your friendship and for bringing Chloe all those Golden books.
Amsterdam with Debby at the end of July was awesome. I love that woman, what a woman of God. Keep her in your prayers for those of you who know her as this is a real time of change and she really needs the Lords healing and direction and for those of you who don't, pray anyway, because the Lord knows how to have you pray for her amen. Who would have though french fries and maynoise could be so good. Yeah I know it is totally un American but hey when in Holland do as the Dutch. I loved it, it was beautiful and the only sad part was that it was so short. We will be back for sure. Met some awesome people, Cory you know who you are, ha ha. Visited Debs church where I was invited to come down and introduce myself (first time they asked a new visitor to come and introduce themselves, I always seem to be the first at something new and than churches end up setting a standard after that. That's a ha ha Ps. Dennis if you get my drift.
Mr. Guido is at the middle of a bunch of tests on his hands. He seems to have something really wrong happening since he started working in the freezers. He has had and x-ray, electro magnetic, he will have in a few weeks some sort of hand imaging done and a meeting with the Rheumatologist. Pray that they get the source of the problem as he is in intense pain 24/7 and his hands are swollen. We already had to have his wedding ring enlarged once and it is getting tight again. He didn't wear it for 3 months because he hoped it would go down and resized it because he has never not had it on since we were married. Yeah he's a sap but I love him for it. Yeah I know some of you other guys out there like that, you know who you are Dean and.......
Love you guys, keep us in prayer as we do lots and lots of travel. Pray for an open time slot to catch a plane that we will be taking it looks like on standby from Frankfurt. Dave B. has gotton us some passes but it has to be from Germany and he said we might have to wait a few days. Pray the Lord directs us to the right time so we don't have to wait to long. Target is still end of October if the creek doesn't rise or the Lord pulls off that financial miracle were waiting for. Should we go fishing?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Hello Everybody
We just want to let you know that Guido and I have decided that due to our debt and the incredibly difficult task of paying it back, are going back to the United States for about 8-12 months. Don't know where we will land for work yet, but Guido has a job offer in Santa Barbara . If something opens in the Bay Area we might come back there. It has become increasingly hard to make ends meet and continue to pay the debt on the loan. We do not feel that it would be a witness nor do we feel good about filing bankruptcy even though the debt is basically attached to the club, and it is no longer open. Right now even though the economy is a little rough, there stil is work to be had in California and that might not be the case another year or 2 from now.
Please put this situation in your prayers for us as we make our plans and the Lord directs our path. We don't feel grieved about this decision and in fact feel It is time to do something to take control of the finances. We are praying for a financial release or miracle to be exact. Basically the debt averages out to about a 450. euro a month shortage of the 1500 Euro (not including what it cost us to float our business that was about another 500-1500 a month) necessary to have lived in Europe for the past 60 months. Our monthly support has basically averaged out to about 150 a month for the past 60 so you see we pretty much have payed out of our own pocket to have a business and to do ministry work and to live, pockets which the Lord liberally filled for us to come to Italy in the first place so we are thankful we were able to sow ALL our finances into this work and than some. We believe that He will open another door either with generous giving from you our friends and family or with jobs when we return or both. Remember you can always use the donate button on this page if you want or send the money to our church, which is than put into our account
Guido's work contract ends in September, and than we have on our schedule a trip to Croatia and London in October so that would put us back in the States in November. Again we will keep you posted if that changes. We have a few prayer walks we need to finish up here in August & September as well, which we will post on our blog and we need to go down to Rome and check on our first convert Daniel and our little gal who hasn't spoken in 5 years. Her mom said since we prayed she has been free of all medication, sleeps through the night and no longer has screaming fits. Oddly enough we can go to London and back on a plane for less than renting a car, gas and tolls to Rome. Her mom is willing to pay us to go, but we don't want to charge for services rendered, although normal, it is also offensive to them as well.
Let us know what you think or feel about what we have shared, as we only see in part and having others examine our lives keeps us transparent, in safety and from error.
Love you all
Joyce & Guido
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friday June 19th we went to Switzerland to be with Giancarlo & Catherine Elia of Light to the Nation Ministries while they did a conference for the Revival Training Center. This is an awesome ministry as every year they take students who are leaders from different countries and train them further for their leadership roles . This is no small task as they have 3 children, homeschool, church and many conferences where they bring in sp
eakers from all over the world and travel to some of these countries as well. When we arrived at nearly 11:00pm the school had just finished a meeting and so we went off to stay in their music center where they have a few very comfortable guest rooms, kitchen and bath. The next day we were off to Pastor Tom & Lisa's home where they have a training center and church. 
Giancarlo had an awesome message and then ministry time with the students. We were so blessed with the countries represented in this school. 3 African men, Martin from Uganda, Martin from Zi
mbabwe and John from Kenya, Ellora & Rita from India, Bella & David from Switzerland and a few others as well. It really was an International school. The students have only to get there and the training center pays for everything else for the next 3 months. They rely on the Lord and His people to financially support them as well as sell puppies, and whatever else is needed for this endeavor. We were really quite impressed with the whole ministry. Then we all sat down and had a very nice meal together, packed up and went to a Christian Retreat up in the mountains. This is when the conference began and families from Germany, Austria and Switzerland came together to worship and hear about the Fathers love. There were lots of fun things to do as well, swimming (too cold for me), ping pong, hiking, etc. It really was a beautiful building that once
belonged to the Salvation Army but was bought by a private party and Revival Training Center has made an offer to buy it. This would be a great facility for the work they are doing in this region. There are rooms for singles, married couples, bathrooms, showers, large industrial kitchen, dining hall, conference rooms, etc. If any of 
you feel so lead to give into this adventure, please contact Tom & Lisa. This second link is in German but you can read some things in English. They also do speak English if you wish to contact them. So Friday evening we started the conference on the Love of the Father. Giancarlo has such a heart of the Father and delivers the message in such a loving and tender manner that makes you want to know this God. He is humorous, loving, tender, kind and powerful when he speaks. You are completely wrecked when he is done sharing. You want more and more and you see as ministry time starts that people's hearts are open for the love to be poured into them. Saturday we started with 3 meetings stopping for lunch and dinner but after each message the people were going deeper and deeper into the river of love. There were many who cried, laughed, soaked and were he
aled emotionally. By Sunday we were really beginning to feel the effects of being so emotional involved with people in ministry. The Holy Spirit just broke our hearts as people came with their pains, their confessions, their desire for more, their repentance, regrets and the Father and the Lord just melted away all the past with Mercy, Grace and Love. It is for sure no one will ever be the same, I know we won't. It was such an honor to be a part of this work that was done in the region. People were encouraged, inspired, released, healed, loved, equipped and confirmed. As Guido put it "God showed up and all love broke out". Pastor David thanked us for coming and loving on the people, which for us isn't too hard since we love the body of believers and believe they are our gift and treas
ure. Pastor Martin from Zimbabwe said he wanted us to come and give this love away because he said they need this in Africa. He is setting it up for Feb/Mar. when they have their leadership conference and he wants to take us around to where all their churches are. How exciting. We are always so blessed that people see our hearts and know we aren't here for us but truly really for them to bless them, however we walk away so much more touched ourselves and convinced that this, mixed with discipleship would set the world on fire for the Glory of the Lord and would indeed set the captives free, open blind eyes and raise the dead and be a true witness to the world that the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit are alive and love them. We made some awesome contacts and made new friends that we are sure will open other doors in the future. We have such an awesome body of believers, this family that we so often take for granted. Yes we are a little quirky at times, I think peculiar was the word the Bible
uses and sometimes obstinate and hard headed (stiff necked) but we are also the representation of Christ Jesus on the earth. It is such an awesome thing to meet up with total strangers and yet be as close as if you were raised together in only a matter of hours simply because you both share the bond of love given to us by our Father and paid for by our Lord Jesus on the cross. We can pray for one another, encourage, love and just hang out together. We have so much to 
give and so much to get from one another because we are all tapped into different aspects of our Lord. He is many faceted and we only see in part but when we get together we can see so much more. We are ever learning and growing and changing and where better than among fellow brethren. As for me and my household we will serve the Lord because in doing so we inherit 
such treasures, we inherit you. Even though some did not speak English, the language of love is understood. Turns out that many of them could speak some Italian, how funny is that. We met Bella & her husband David. She is Italian but was born and raised in Switzerland but you wouldn't know that by talking to her or the way she is dressed. She is cento per cento (100%) Italian. David is from the UK and they are students at the school. They received prayer and wo
rds over their lives for various things, one being for a baby so we are believing along with them that next year they will be three. This couple is up and coming in the Kingdom and we believe they are going to play a very vital role here in Europe and abroad. We have invited them to come and stay with us as they are currently in transition from the school and awaiting the Lord's direction for the future and we felt led to bless them and refresh them. Her sister Daniela came to the conference and we are believing for a Godly man to come into her life. It is so exciting for us to meet other Italians since our love and passion is to the Italians so these are our people, it's like meeting extended family and even more so Christian extended family. Giancarlo & Catherine are just a blessing to us and we feel so privileged to have met them back in 2002 when we went up to Toronto to meet John & Yvonne Pressdee about doing
a prayer walk in Italy. Giancarlo was born and raised in Italy, was an attorney who went to work in London, got saved and then met and feel madly in love with Catherine who is Irish from a very large family and speaks 4 or more languages. The two of them travel extensively in the world bringing the Fathers love and are a testament that you are never too old to get started in ministry. They were in their late 40's. They have some of the most awesome testimonies and experiences that you could ever want to hear and all because they said "Yes Lord give me more". They make serving the Lord fun and possible because of their simplicity. They love the Lord and they love people.
Friday, June 19, 2009
PRAISE REPORT
I just wanted to send this little praise report out while I remembered. In our blog talking about praying in the Valdineivole you'll remember that we met a young man named Daniel who we prayed for and lead to the Lord at the City Gate of Montcatini Alto. You also remember that after 3 days he left and didn't want to give us his contact information.
This was our first person that we lead to the Lord in Italy, our first baby. We have prayed for people to be healed, to received the infilling of the Holy Spirit and other things but this was our first true baby. Anyhow we pray for him always that he will do well and that the Lord would continue to work in his life but since May 1st we didn't know where he was. Everyday I pass by a parking lot where his car was parked and I think where are you Daniel.
Today I said out loud to the Lord, where is Daniel, where is the baby we birthed, our first in this country, he is all alone without us, please have him call us. That was about 3:30 as I was on my way to pick up my grand daughter at school. About 4:30 Daniel called us, can you believe it. He sounded good, clear of mind and now we have a contact and will keep in touch with him and will for sure go and see him. He said that he is reading his Bible and the material I gave him when he has time.
Guido said see, ask for parking spots, financial blessings phone calls, etc. Father God delights to answer us. Ok parking spots versus souls, I try not to bother him with trivial stuff but after today I'm going start asking for a lot more regarding the lives of the people here because He is listening.
This was our first person that we lead to the Lord in Italy, our first baby. We have prayed for people to be healed, to received the infilling of the Holy Spirit and other things but this was our first true baby. Anyhow we pray for him always that he will do well and that the Lord would continue to work in his life but since May 1st we didn't know where he was. Everyday I pass by a parking lot where his car was parked and I think where are you Daniel.
Today I said out loud to the Lord, where is Daniel, where is the baby we birthed, our first in this country, he is all alone without us, please have him call us. That was about 3:30 as I was on my way to pick up my grand daughter at school. About 4:30 Daniel called us, can you believe it. He sounded good, clear of mind and now we have a contact and will keep in touch with him and will for sure go and see him. He said that he is reading his Bible and the material I gave him when he has time.
Guido said see, ask for parking spots, financial blessings phone calls, etc. Father God delights to answer us. Ok parking spots versus souls, I try not to bother him with trivial stuff but after today I'm going start asking for a lot more regarding the lives of the people here because He is listening.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Love Oxford
May 15th we went to Oxford to see Heidi Baker. She came to St. Aldates for the Love Oxford event. For those of you who don't know, this is the church where Gordon Hickson is a vicar. Him and his wife Rachel Hickson of Heart Cry Ministries are dear friends of ours and we had the awesome privilege of staying at their home while we attended the many festivities of the church. Unfortunately Rachel was in the USA so we didn't get to see her, but Gordon treated us with special sit down dinners at their home even though he was extremely busy with all the events. Frankly I don't know where that couple gets all the energy to do all the things they do. We must pick up the pace. Also Rachel has another few books out that you might want to pick up and read. Check out her web page for all the info.
We spent the first day passing out fliers to a free barbecue that St. Aldates was having in the center square where worship and ministry was going on and also fliers for the Love Oxford event in South Park. That night Heidi spoke on orphans and adoption. It was a very powerful and inspirational challenge to draw closer to our Father who adopted us.
The next day was Love Oxford where many of the local churches got together for corporate worship and prayer for Oxford. The gathering was quite impressive and the weather held quite nicely as it had been raining on and off for a few days. We were joined by our good friends Lorenza from Italy who is in London for studies and her fiancee Peter. Peter and Lorenza were just engaged the day before. They make a lovely couple. Talk about people who have given their all for Jesus, spending all of their youth following the course the Lord has laid out for them to finally in their midlife find each other. What a awesome testimony of the Lords perfect timing. Check out Peter's blog, he is a wealth of information with quite a testimony. It truly is a blessing to have brethren in all parts of the world. It blesses us to be a part of the body with the same goal, to see Jesus high and lifted up and all men saved.
We spent the first day passing out fliers to a free barbecue that St. Aldates was having in the center square where worship and ministry was going on and also fliers for the Love Oxford event in South Park. That night Heidi spoke on orphans and adoption. It was a very powerful and inspirational challenge to draw closer to our Father who adopted us.
The next day was Love Oxford where many of the local churches got together for corporate worship and prayer for Oxford. The gathering was quite impressive and the weather held quite nicely as it had been raining on and off for a few days. We were joined by our good friends Lorenza from Italy who is in London for studies and her fiancee Peter. Peter and Lorenza were just engaged the day before. They make a lovely couple. Talk about people who have given their all for Jesus, spending all of their youth following the course the Lord has laid out for them to finally in their midlife find each other. What a awesome testimony of the Lords perfect timing. Check out Peter's blog, he is a wealth of information with quite a testimony. It truly is a blessing to have brethren in all parts of the world. It blesses us to be a part of the body with the same goal, to see Jesus high and lifted up and all men saved.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wow time is flying by, can you believe it is already June? We put out a newsletter in March and since then so much has happened. We started our prayer sites in the Valdinievole area of Tuscany. This was quite exciting as we felt really led of the Lord to go to the old water sources (wells) from the Medieval times and pray that healing waters would flow into the communities. As many of you may or may not know, this region since the beginning has been fought over by the surrounding territories. Some of these communities have their start as far back as 1100 AD, so that is a long history of fighting and many years of wounds and unforgiveness. Some of these communities have only in the past 100 years been released from rival territories to be their own governed communities. Then you have the very fresh wounds from World War II. So off we went to the 11 communities starting with the furthest.
This region use to be under water or marshland, in fact you could sail a ship from Larciano which is inland about 60 km. from the sea on the waterways and all communities were on the hilltops until the very powerful Medici family started the waterways projects which dried up the marshes and allowed communities to move into the valleys. Pretty amazing, so finding these wells was quite the adventure, it isn't like they have a map showing where these are. So doing what works the best for gaining information we went to the local bar (cafes) and asked the elderly gentleman (over 70) where they were. Amazing the conversations that are started among them and the directions and stories we got. In case you didn't know, older retired gentleman congregate at the bar and just hang out, talk, play cards and basically stay away from the older woman at home.
We would find these old wells some still working, others had been capped off, some communities didn't have them anymore, others had cisterns where water was stored since they were on rock, others were hidden around the corner and up the hill, but they were all there. Some communities had several where others only had 1. We went to all and prayed and made the proclamation that healing water would flow into the communities, some the Lord gave us scriptures to speak over them (PS. 24). We poured oil and wine over the spots and then took communion together. We just finished Tuesday which was Italy's day of the Republic.
One story we want to share that was just so awesome for us was on another Italian Holiday, Liberation Day. It has been raining here since October and since we are on a scooter we really have to go and pray when the weather is not a downpour and when we are not at work and those weren't lining up to well. This Saturday was perfect, we had already prayed at 5 communities and we were now at ours. We went up to Montecatini Alto and when we past the old gates. I really felt we should stop and pray but decided to go up to the top, to the fort and church and pray, which we did, there was a few wells up there.
Than coming down we passed the gates again and I felt we should stop and told Guido to turn around. There was a water source (all communities have them, water spout coming out of a wall or something). I turned on the water to see if it was working and a young man saw me and asked if the water was drinkable, which it is. He than came over and filled a bottle and Guido told him we were there praying over the water and that just opened up a whole conversation and the long and short of it we lead him to the Lord, prayed for him to receive the Holy Spirit, called a friend and got him a place to stay for a few days, took him to church the next day, or should I say he drove us to church since it was pouring rain. This is one liberation day this young man will never forget.
For 3 days we ministered to him and poured love, encouragement, prayer and teaching into him and than he disappeared. We know that a seed was planted into a young man who came here from Rome for refuge got more than he was looking for. He not only got refuge, he got set free and although he isn't totally out of the prison, at least the chains were broken. He has some work to do but he has our number, he has a bible, he has some teaching and he has the Holy Spirit and we know that the Lord found him. Now were off to pray the Green Line.
This region use to be under water or marshland, in fact you could sail a ship from Larciano which is inland about 60 km. from the sea on the waterways and all communities were on the hilltops until the very powerful Medici family started the waterways projects which dried up the marshes and allowed communities to move into the valleys. Pretty amazing, so finding these wells was quite the adventure, it isn't like they have a map showing where these are. So doing what works the best for gaining information we went to the local bar (cafes) and asked the elderly gentleman (over 70) where they were. Amazing the conversations that are started among them and the directions and stories we got. In case you didn't know, older retired gentleman congregate at the bar and just hang out, talk, play cards and basically stay away from the older woman at home.
We would find these old wells some still working, others had been capped off, some communities didn't have them anymore, others had cisterns where water was stored since they were on rock, others were hidden around the corner and up the hill, but they were all there. Some communities had several where others only had 1. We went to all and prayed and made the proclamation that healing water would flow into the communities, some the Lord gave us scriptures to speak over them (PS. 24). We poured oil and wine over the spots and then took communion together. We just finished Tuesday which was Italy's day of the Republic.
One story we want to share that was just so awesome for us was on another Italian Holiday, Liberation Day. It has been raining here since October and since we are on a scooter we really have to go and pray when the weather is not a downpour and when we are not at work and those weren't lining up to well. This Saturday was perfect, we had already prayed at 5 communities and we were now at ours. We went up to Montecatini Alto and when we past the old gates. I really felt we should stop and pray but decided to go up to the top, to the fort and church and pray, which we did, there was a few wells up there.
Than coming down we passed the gates again and I felt we should stop and told Guido to turn around. There was a water source (all communities have them, water spout coming out of a wall or something). I turned on the water to see if it was working and a young man saw me and asked if the water was drinkable, which it is. He than came over and filled a bottle and Guido told him we were there praying over the water and that just opened up a whole conversation and the long and short of it we lead him to the Lord, prayed for him to receive the Holy Spirit, called a friend and got him a place to stay for a few days, took him to church the next day, or should I say he drove us to church since it was pouring rain. This is one liberation day this young man will never forget.
For 3 days we ministered to him and poured love, encouragement, prayer and teaching into him and than he disappeared. We know that a seed was planted into a young man who came here from Rome for refuge got more than he was looking for. He not only got refuge, he got set free and although he isn't totally out of the prison, at least the chains were broken. He has some work to do but he has our number, he has a bible, he has some teaching and he has the Holy Spirit and we know that the Lord found him. Now were off to pray the Green Line.
We were in Rimini a few weeks ago at a conference and went over to Fano which is the start of the Green Line, which for you war buffs was a supply line for the Germans against the allied forces that stretched from Coast to Coast in Italy, over 300 km. The locals told us that the bridge in their city was the first that the Germans blew up to prevent anyone from crossing. It was bombed also by the allied forces. The Germans destroyed a lot of it when they left. We walked across the new bridge which has a memorial on all 4 sides and prayed and asked that the Lord would send His healing across this land and that a spiritual gateway to Italy would be open and that any doorways of death and unforgiveness would be closed.
Across this 300 km. stretch was the most intense fighting outside of France to occur. Allied forces from many nations, America, Canada, Poland, etc. fought and died along with the Italian Resistance Army who opposed the Germans. It was a blood bath and many innocent non military people were killed during this time. In fact this is a very fresh wound in this region. Many wonder if this isn't the reason for so much spiritual death in the Tuscany and Emilio Romagna zone. Churches just can't seem to take hold here and find so much resistance.
We actually tripped over this information when getting a map at a local bookstore for the Tuscan region as we felt the Lord was leading us to pray in specific areas. This lone map on the battle fields of Italy peaked Guido's curiosity and he bought it and brought it home. We have never ever seen this map before or ever heard about this information. Apparently it is part of the history that many want to forget, but some of the locals have been reviving some of the old history by monuments to the dead, museums and websites so that others might be aware and remember and pray for the healing in this land. If you have information regarding this Green Line (Gothic Line) or know of anyplace we can get more please email us.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
it's been a while
wow it's been active over here aside from our own personel stuff ie family, finances and work.
God has really started to shake the natives in our neck of the woods, local church has reponded to the holy spirit and to teachings. it brings me to tears to see people being freed from chains
i'm not as chatty as joyce but just thought to relay this to you
God has really started to shake the natives in our neck of the woods, local church has reponded to the holy spirit and to teachings. it brings me to tears to see people being freed from chains
i'm not as chatty as joyce but just thought to relay this to you
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Well by now many of you know that we made it back from California where we were for Christmas and New Year. It was a great trip and it allowed us time to hang out with family and friends. We were able to re-touch base with our church family at New Life Christian Church and were extremely blessed by their outstretched arms of love and support. Our friend Tina M. organized a pot-luck calling in friends of ours from the past and present and New Life also extended us a financial blessing during their Change of Heart program where they bring all the change they have collected for the month for missions. Wow did they have a lot of change. We established new contacts and new people were able to put a face to all their prayers. This was an awesome time and we are so grateful for all the love and support. Unfortunately we didn't get out a Christmas or New Years letter as we only had a few opportunities to get on the web and the time I tried to send a nice letter it didn't go. Please know that you are all in our hearts and prayers and we look forward to another awesome year in the Lord. In fact the Lord has shared with us that "It Is Time in 2009", so we are excited for what this year has to offer in terms of the things the Lord wants to do here in Italy. We appreciate all of you so very much and look forward to another year of serving the the Lord in Italy together as we take the land for His Glory.
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