Well we have been back just over a month and of course right back into a legal battle. Within 2 days of our return, another letter from the Government arrived stating that we owe another 4000 for our employee. Please pray as it seems that we bought a red car but the Pension Board (there are 2 in Italy) wants to make it blue (allegorically speaking since it was a gym we opened and they say we opened a rehab center) so they can collect money we do not owe them. If we are proven to be correct that the car was in fact really red, they will write a letter which we must present to a judge (at our own expense) and than we will be released from this now 42,000 + interest & fines debt ($57,000). Please pray for us to have strength & wisdom to proceed, as this is so time consuming, expensive and frustrating and which keeps trying to pull us from our true call of the lost and broken in the land, not erroneous debts that some government office decides to invent.
On that news however our time in the United States was very fruitful and we returned totally encouraged and recharged for the tasks that the Lord has called us to. We would like to thank all of you who put into our lives emotional, physically, spiritually and financially during our stay. What we came to the USA to do turned out to be totally different than what the Lord did. As usual He had His way and changed our lives in ways we could have never imagined and we came away so much more equipped for the tasks at hand. We met so many new people and ministries and were so totally blessed by them.
We spoke at Land & Sea Missions in Vallejo just before we returned to Italy and were totally blown away by their love, encouragement and generosity. Even had 1 brother write us an encouraging word and sing over us, WOW. We even picked up a few intercessors. In fact the Lord has made it very clear that we need people who will commit to intercede specifically for us while we are here so if you feel you are one of these people, please email us ASAP so we can start to send you specific prayer needs amen.
As usual it is always nice to return to our Church at New Life and see old friends and to make new ones and to keep the fires of friendship alive, encouraging one another and sharing in the daily challenges and visions to which the Lord is inviting us into amen. We were also very blessed to be grafted into another family of believers in Modesto at Destiny Church with Ps. Hank & Linda. It was such a blessing to see so many people moving forward with the Lord and pressing into the things He wants to do in this hour.
One common thread that we kept hearing from people from the many churches we visited was that many of them have had calls in their lives in regards to Europe or even Italy specifically. This was pretty amazing as we see that over the past 20 years or so, the focus of the universal Body of Christ has been the 10/40 window and ironically those nations which the Body has been sowing into are now sending missionaries into Europe. Wow the Lord has a plan and He is now calling those who have had a call to Europe from 20/30 years ago. God’s timing is so amazing.
Another great link for us was the ministry of Don & Cheryl Pirozok from Spokane Washington who is in the Bay Area/Valley/Sac., hooking people up, teaching, training, equipping, releasing people into their destinies regarding California and the role it has for the USA & the Nations. From that initial meeting came so many other divine appointments of people who have direct links/calls/hearts to Italy. The Lord told us this time that He was going to put together a team and it wouldn’t be long and boy he wasn’t kidding.
Upon our return we were introduced to Joan & Marco Caiani from the New York area that has been in Florence for the past 3 years and Stephen & Rose Critchlow from UK who have been here 3 months just down the road about 20 minutes in Prato. These are people the Lord has sent here for a specific work in Italy. In fact Stephen & Rose came to help set up 24/7 prayer and have begun to network from out of the Florence area with many different denominations to pray for Italy for one year starting March 24th, 2010-2011. Just so you know this has never happened here in Italy before that we are aware of crossing so many denominational boundaries and with such earnest for “Such a Time as This” moment. Obviously there has been 24 hour prayer as the convents and monasteries are full of little prayer warriors dedicated to prayer, however this is a prayer movement that includes EVERYONE to pray for this nation.
Stephen & Rose will be at Ps. Marco’s church in Monsummano (the church we attend) presenting this challenge on Sunday and hopefully we can fill our day (Wednesday/Thursday 4 pm to 4 am (or 7am to 7pm California time). Guido & I in faith took this shift in hopes of filling our 12 blocks of 1 hour with at least 10 other people, if not me and Guido will be praying a long time on Wednesday/Thursday. In fact if any of you would like to commit with us to pray for Italy on these times, please email us back ASAP. Just a foot note, 24/7 prayer in the UK will on March 26th start a 6 month prayer vigil for Europe and their theme is “It is Time for Europe”. How true this call is for this day and this hour as that is exactly what the Lord told me last year at the beginning and continues to ring in my ear.
We have heard that there will be a few teams coming from Redding into Italy in the months to follow and we are so excited about that and possibly being able to hook them up with churches & Pastors that we have meet over the years. Can you believe it will be 6 years in July that we have been here and we have made a great little network among the believers here in Italy & Europe? It is by no accident that the Lord is beginning to send teams now. He has been making a way and it is time.
We went this weekend and checked in on our little gal Laura in Rome and although she is doing better, she is still in need of a full deliverance/healing. We were able to meet her grandparents and found that grandma is a Charismatic Christian, amen. The Lord is doing a great work in this family and we absolutely believe that Laura will be healed 110% amen. Fabio came by the day we returned home from the States and since he was baptized and continues in the faith has seen him healed to about 90% and that is without medication, amen.
We leave Saturday for Germany to hook up with an awesome group in Konstance and to finally meet Ana Mendez Ferrel & her husband Emerson and strategize & pray for the area of Germany and Italy. The Lord is giving strategic plans for taking these Nations back for His glory and we feel so blessed to be a part of what the Lord is doing here. There is such anticipation among the believers that we sensed happening before we left but upon returning seems to have blossomed into great expectation, joy and hopefulness that we had not seen before. It truly is a great time to be alive in Christ amen.
We are enclosing a little map of Italy that shows the regions and the number of Evangelical churches per capita in each. I don’t believe this chart represents the many Catholic Churches which labor among the communities. For example our city has 25,000 people in it and as far as we know there is only 1 Evangelical church and it is Nigerian, English speaking and 4 Catholic (non-Charismatic) and I think 1 Mormon. Not good for 25,000 people. Please pray that the Lord will send workers into the harvest because it is ready but there is no place to put them or enough people to care for them.
As far as finances, we are still looking for work, however as there is a crisis in the USA so the crisis is here and jobs are very scarce Guido is still trying to get unemployment in the intirm and reimbursed by Workers Comp for his hands. Rome wasn’t built in a day, is a phrase we are all too aware of as everything takes so long to accomplish here and yet the bills continue to roll in. We want to thank those of you who have poured into us financially for the work here in Italy as it helps us to get to the places we need to be. Please remember we aren’t on a vacation here and although at times seems glamorous, it is work and comes at great cost to us emotionally, but to obey is better than sacrifice and so we press on knowing that we are not running our race in vain. To all of you who share in this sacrifice at whatever level, you too will reap our rewards at the end of time when we stand before our Lord in Glory amen and He shows us what those sacrifices reaped in terms of the lives redeemed unto Him amen.
On a very personal note, our time back so far has been marked with incredible personal struggle as it took nearly a month to recoup from the time difference. Long cold days of rain, wind and snow have added to the sense of despair amidst the extreme joy of having had our Grand daughter Chloe for most of this time while Jami moved into a new place. Mixed with all the excitement of what the Lord is doing the task of trying to make ends meet and get a vehicle as we find a motorcycle very limiting in the winter months for movement. The attack has been heavy and the emotions all over the chart from one extreme to the other and yet peace and we can feel when people are praying for us as we are blasted by waves of His Glory. Tears and laughter has been our cup upon return and yet peace has reigned.
All our love
For His Glory Alone
Joyce & Guido Bassi
If you would like to help us here in the ministry please send your checks to:
New Life Christian Church
20394 San Miguel Ave.
Castro Valley, CA 94546 (write on your check “For Italy”)
Or
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