For the past four weeks there's been an American group here in Siena reaching out to students. This week is their last week and last night they put on an American night with the GBU. We had a great time and any non-Christians came. There was food, american handshakes, quiz, an american dance, and testimonies from two of the guys. Praise God for a great evening many people came through flyers and others through persistent invitations!

Please pray especially for Eugenio and Manuela who came for the first time. We always see Eugenio at the book table, he's become a good friend of ours.

We also praise God for Mauro. He's a guy in an old people's home who Giovanni and I started visiting and recently many of the youth group have come to visit him and hold a little meeting with songs and a message for the other old people. He came to church with us the first time on Sunday. Pray for his faith and witness as the old people's home is in one of the most communist areas of Tuscany so he is pretty much on his own.

Finally I have time to sit and write our latest update, so much has happened over the past few months....

9.37 conference - Was just a great time together with over 70 young people from across Italy. It was nice to clear out our house of all the different material we had accumalted to give at the conference. We were really blessed by different brothers who had supplied us with free material to give...posters, boookmarks, books, t-shirts. The weekend was packed with challenging talks on living a life of mission everyday wherever we are, open discussion groups, prayer times, a debate on "what is mission?", interviews with various missionaries in and out of Italy and just general times of getting to know other christians from across the country. From the conferemce we have heard from many of the guys who came who were challenged by the conference and then went out to start new outreach activities in their home towns. GBU - These past two months we've been trying to be more pro active in reaching out to students.

Debate on the role of the family in today's society - We had a good time together. Two new guys came along and were npt afraid to share their ideas, they were very open to what we had to say. We still have contact with them. Pray for Alexi and Francesco.

Film night "The Chronicles of Narnia" - We watched the film then discussed the biblical analogies rappresented in the film. Around 14 new guys came through friends invites and flyers. After the discussion we got the chance to speak to many of the new students. Please pray for Alina and Loredana who I talked with for some time and ending up taking a Bible home to discover for themselves.

Open discussion on "The existence Jesus" - we looked out how it is historically prooved that Jesus lived, died and rose again according to historical criteria for testing manuscripts and data. There were around 10 new people there. PLease pray for Mirco, Flavio, Florinda, Simone, Elena and Francesco who are all admittedly searching for God.

Open discussion on "The message of Jesus" - As well as having people returning 5 new students came. We had a really active discussion on what the message of Jesus means. There were many questions about the God-shaped hole we have and how to fill it, as well as on whether all religions lead to God. The message was really clear and we had some good chats afterwards. Two guys took a Bible. PLease pray for Giovanni, Federica and the others who came. Next week...."Piadina Party" we will eat piadinas (a bit like fajitas) and talk about the challenge of Jesus 2000 years after his life on the earth.


Continue to pray for all the preparation of the various studies Giovanni will be giving over the summer and my work amongst the girls and teenagers in the church.

Future events...

• trip to Moldova with 9.37 - 26 June-7 July


• Baptisms in church 8 July - Lavinia, Franca, Antonio, Jenni


• Teenagers camp 9-11 July


• Camp in the UK 28 July - 4 August


• Beach mission in Rimini, Italy 5-13 August


• September back to the UK for a year at BIble College
  

Galatians 1:10 Am i trying to win human approval, or God's approval? Or am i trying to please people? If i were still trying to please people, i would not be a servant of Christ.

Since we last updated the blog so much has happened which is kind of the excuse for not having been in touch so much. We have lots to be grateful for and lots to pray about. Please join with us in putting the country of Italy before God in prayer.

GBU BIBLE STUDY - our overview of the old testament we’ve arrived at the book of Proverbs, all gone well so far.

FEBRUARY FILM NIGHT – We watched the film “Luther”. On the leaflets was the phrase “the protestant reform-the biggest mistake of the Church?” After handing out many flyers around the university and at the student catholic mass (shockingly more than 100 students were present 10 times the amount who come to GBU!) about 10 non Christians came. We had a good discussion after watching the film about the point of the protestant reform, the value and authority of the Bible in a Christian’s lfie and the message of the Gospel (saving grace). Pray for continued contact with these people, especially for Antonio and Nicoletta.

9-11 MARCH GBU CONFERENCE – Together with 8 students we headed off to a big country house near Florence for the “Festa GBU” (GBU party). There were over 150 students there from all over Italy (the largest amount ever in the history of GBU Italy) to listen to talks on the cross of Christ, take part in a workshop on how to write an evangelistic Bible study, discuss the various modes of evangelism during an organised debate and just generally get to know and enjoy time with other student believers. We had a great time. Giovanni and I were involved in the music group and both lead the small groups for the workshops. It was great to see and hear of how God is working across Italy, and see so many students wanting to know more about God and wanting to reach out to others. All our students came away encouraged. It was particularly encouraging for us to see Lavinia there who became a Christian just over a year ago, it was her first ever experience of meeting other Christians outside of Siena.

17-18 MARCH CHURCH CAMP – Last weekend in the countryside just outside of Siena the church held a camp for over 18’s on “prayer”. There were about 50 young people there. Many things had gone wrong in the organising of the camp but it turned out to be a great time of fellowship and growth. Stan Cochraine, and Irish missionary (with Echoes) gave the talks; with a great sense of humour and much challenging from the word of God, it was a really blessed time.

20 MARCH DEBATE – “Creation or evolution?” After handing out hundreds of flyers, putting up posters around the university, and hearing many students were interested in coming we were looking forward to it a lot… it actually turned out that not one new student came!! We ended up doing the debate anyway amongst ourselves as the student leading the debate had prepared a lot. Lucio was there and although he’s growing in his understanding of the Bible, he’s an evolutionist so he ended up stirring up a debate with the guy leading it, he left with lots to think about, it was just great to hear him ask so many questions and seem generally interested in what the Bible has to say (he’s not a Christian). Might seem like a bit of a dissapointment that no-one came but after praying, distributing and inviting people we know those who God wanted to be there were there, God is sovereign!

9.37 – Giovanni’s been writing lots of lists of things to do which means the conference must be near by. With just over a month to go we’re looking forward to the conference, we pray and believe God will use the message given, and the time focused upon His vision for mission to challenge open young hearts to live 100% for Him. Please pray that the people who’ve shown an interest in coming would book!! (Italians aren’t so organised) We’ve now booked the flights to Moldova, pray for all the organisation that needs to be done over the coming months. Also pray for the various evangelistic activities 9.37 will be involved in during the summer.

Church – pray for the many difficult situations various individuals in the church are facing at the moment, either through sickness, family troubles, offences etc. Pray that these struggles would make the church more mature and affective for Christ.

English lessons – Recently I’ve started stepping into the role of my mother and have been teaching English. Please pray for Matteo, he’s the cousin of someone who comes to church. He knows bits about Christianity but hasn’t made a decision to follow Jesus, pray as he hears more about God he would put his trust in him.

Redcliffe – We want to thank you for your prayers about Redcliffe. Giovanni received a letter just the other day to say he has won the bursary and will be helped with 50% of the college fees. Its really a miracle as God moved the college to support there first western European through the bursary fund.

Future events-pray for wisdom as we plan with the students the last months of study up until the summer. Pray for Graziella and Luca especially who will be taking on a lot more responsibility next year.

Thanks for reading this mega update.
We praise God for your prayer and support to us.