Abbiamo comminciato!

Wow, things are just going by in one BIG blur! This last week I had some friends come to stay with me to see me before I left - Amanda, Mikey, and Kinch, I had a blast with you! Also, Jillian, Travis, and Cullen arrived Sunday, so the company continues. As if that is not enough excitement for one weekend, I have also been moving out of our upstairs apartment where I have lived for the past two years (aka TOO MUCH STUFF). I am only moving downstairs to a bedroom, but moving is a big deal no matter where you are going. !!

Jillian, Travis, Cullen and I began our Avanti training today! For the next two weeks we will be soaking up as much wisdom and life experience from our teachers as possible. We have class from 8am to 5pm, and our classes include Catholic church principles, the Beatitudes, Italian music and drama (as a form of outreach), and also we are studying how Jesus evangelized the way he did. Grandaddy is teaching two of our classes, and I am loving having him and learning from him. He is so good at making the story of Jesus personal and touching. We also will start each day with an hour of team unity building supervised by Carl Mitchell. There is a couple doing the training with us - Bob and Marla Housby. They won't be doing the typical Avanti program - they will be going to do mission work and work with a church.

We had a great first day, and we learned so much already. The men involved are all wonderful, and we all feel very blessed to have them helping in our preparation.

I must mention that although I love singing (especially hymns in Italian!), I do NOT love singing solo in front of other people. I already knew this about myself, but it was brought to my attention again today. :) Thank you, Mrs. Marla, for also singing soprano, even though you didn't think I was really singing! haha. :)

A variety of families has offered to invite us into their homes and feed us dinner throughout the next two weeks, for which we are very thankful and excited. Tonight for dinner, we participated in the Sharing and Caring outreach program that is through the College Church. They invite people from the community to come participate in a devo and share a meal with some members from the church. I met three interesting and very nice people whom I sat with for dinner. One of them was a refugee from hurricane Katrina, so it was very humbling to hear his story. I was very impressed by the success that this outreach seems to have - I think I heard that their biggest number so far has been 153 non-church members. An experience worth having, for sure!

Two weeks from tomorrow, and I will be on my way!