Mischief Managed.

Well, I realize that I start almost every blog similarly, but I can't believe that TWO YEARS have already passed.

Two years ago I was met at the Rome airport by my dad and Kyle Thompson, taken directly to the Italy-wide church retreat in Florence, and the immersion began. Then I couldn't know how many blessings I would receive, how many wonderful people and friends I would meet, how many unforgettable memories I would make, or how much I would change...but as I met the church members that first weekend, it did give me a glimpse of what was to come. And now it has become a bookend of my time here, as my last activity as a member of Avanti Italia was the August retreat.

Now it is strange to think back to that time when we were strangers...now that they are friends, camp buddies, family, teachers, students. I can't even begin to try to describe my experience here with words, but I hope that people will understand somewhat of what it was like by how much I've changed. I can say for a fact that I am a better person for having been here. I give credit for that to God, my parents, my students, the Italian church, my fellow avanti workers and all those here who have loved, encouraged and supported me, such as Robbie and Mona Shackelford.

It is such a bittersweet time to be leaving my life here, which I love. But I am also excited for the new experiences that are to come, and I will take my love of Italy and all that it has meant with me.

I know I also end my blogs similarly, but that is just because it has been so important to say. Thank you all for your support and encouragement throughout this time, which has made you as much a part of this work as it has me. May God bless you! Vi voglio bene!


Italiano:

Mi rendo conto che comincio ogni blog nella stessa maniera, ma non ci posso credere che sono gia passati DUE ANNI!

Due anni fa mio padre e Kyle sono venuti a prendermi dall'aeroporto a Roma, e sono stata direttamente portata al convegno d'agosto 2009 a Firenze. Così e' cominciata l'immersione. A quel tempo non riuscivo a sapere quante benedizioni riceverei, quante persone favolose e amici cari conoscerei, quanti ricordi indimenticabili avrei, quanto mi avrebbero cambiata...ma mentre stavo fra i fratelli quel fine settimana, avevo un idea di quello che potevo aspettare. Ora il convegno e' diventato un tipo di fermalibro, vedendo che il mio ultimo attività' con Avanti Italia/La Scuola Biblica e' stato il convegno d'agosto 2011.

Oggi e' strano pensare al fatto che in quei tempi eravamo estranei, ora che siete amici, compagni dal campeggio, insegnanti, studenti. Non riesco neanche a cominciare a descrivere la mia esperienza usando delle parole, ma spero che la gente ne capisca una piccola parte vedendo come sono stata cambiata. Posso dire senza dubbio che essendo qua sono diventata una persona migliore, grazie a Dio, ai miei genitori, ai miei studenti, la comunità' della chiesa di cristo, agli altri ragazzi dell'Avanti Italia, e a tutti quelli che mi hanno amata e incoraggiata, come Robbie e Mona Shackelford.

E' una cosa agrodolce, dover lasciare la vita qua che amo, ma sono anche pronta per le nuove esperienze che stanno per realizzare. Porterò con me il mio amore dell'Italia e tutto quello che mene rende così speciale.

So anche che i miei blog finiscono in una maniera similare, ma questo e' perche' viene detta una cosa importante. Grazie a tutti voi del vostro incoraggiamento durante questi due anni che ti rende una parte integrale del mio lavoro. Che Dio vi benedica! Vi voglio bene!

Spring.

The title of this post is also the title of a poem of mine that I wrote while I was in the third grade. Amazingly, the poem was about spring. And a bird. Flying. It was pure genius. So much so that they published it in a book, along with other third grade literary masterpieces. You should find that book and buy it. For my poem alone it would be worth it.

We have finished our individual classes for the semester, due to our rather hectic summer schedule. It is sad knowing that I won't be teaching them again next year - sad and strange! But I have had a wonderful time not only teaching them English but also becoming their friends. I love my students, past and present!

The first weekend after our classes ended we hosted our second youth weekend here at the Bible School for all the youth of the churches in Italy. We had young people from all over Italy - Rome, Aprilia, Florence, Naples, and Ferrara. It was wonderful! We tripled the number attending from the first event, and we had 15 Italian young people involved. And that was just the ones who stayed at the Bible School. Several of our students came and were involved in different aspects of the weekend. The first night we combined our English student activity with the youth retreat and played life-sized Clue, amazingly organized by Angela. It was very fun and mysterious. The Avanti workers were all characters from the game, and the students and youth had to rotate through different stations trying to guess who the 'murderer' was. It was also great to have the opportunity to introduce our students to some of the young people who are members of the church. Saturday we spent the whole day at a National Park called Vallombrosa. We played volleyball and frisbee and had a picnic lunch. We also took an hour, broke into groups, and worked on translating the song "Light the Fire" into Italian. As we were packing up to leave, the thunderclouds were rolling in - we barely made it to the cars before it started pouring. We left just in time. It also hailed on the way back home - very strange weather. Sunday was very special. My grandfather, Jim Woodroof, was here visiting, so naturally he was asked to preach every sunday that he was here. He preached at the Florence church that weekend and asked my student Lorenzo to translate. It was so great to see Lorenzo and his parents, Sandro and Chiara, at church with us. And they weren't the only visitors! We also had our group of youth that was visiting, as well as the newly arrived HUF students. Plus, Rosa, who kindly and wonderfully cooks for us, and her husband Felice surprised us there. I have never seen the Florence church so full - what a great feeling. So many young people, and such wonderful singing.

Also new, a group of Harding athletes arrived on May 31st, who will be here through the entire month of June. We are being kept busy cooking and cleaning for them, and they are a great group. We're having fun getting to know them. We are also getting ready to host a few more events, such as a VBS at the Florence church on June 18th, two kids' days in july to practice English during the summer, an afternoon of sports with our students, as well as continuing to hold movie nights throughout the summer. Several of the Avanti workers are also leaving for camp for two weeks starting on June 26th. We will be counselors, teachers, activity leaders, and (at least Ryan and Laura) nurses. I had a wonderful experience at camp last year, and it really enable me to get to know a lot of the kids better and to build relationships with them. I can't wait to go back!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers - they mean so much to us!

Tutto a posto...everything in its place...?

I feel the need to inform anyone and everyone of one little phrase in Italian. Tutto a posto. Literally translated I would say it means "all in place". They use it like "Is everything going okay?" And the response is "Si, tutto a posto" - "Yes, everything's going okay." Just a little edition to enrich your Italian vocabulary, and one that I didn't know after having studied Italian for two years! :)

Well, we're coming up on the season of change....spring. The Harding students from the spring semester have come and gone - we will miss them! They were a great group, and I feel like we got to know them well. We've had several visitors come through already, such as Ivo, Danny & Bernetta Crow, Rhetta Dean, Mark Slagle, Jeff Hopper, to name a few, and many more to come. My grandaddy arrives tomorrow morning, and he will be staying a month or so, helping dad out with some repairs to the school and preaching every Sunday that he's here (surprise, surprise!).

All of the Avanti workers attended a youth retreat last Saturday in Bologna. It was really great - there were about 40 young people in attendance. The retreat lasted from Friday to Monday, but we were only able to go on Saturday. Franco Verardi spoke and presented some thoughts, and then we all discussed them.

Monday was the Day of Liberation from Fascism here in Italy, which is a national holiday. Andrea, Angela and I (being part of the world-renowned Scandicci band) played in a parade that morning and then a concert that evening. We had quite a crowd following us for the parade, which finished in a cemetery where the soldiers who died in the war for liberation were buried. It was a great day.

We are wrapping up our regular classes for the school year on May 18th. Our summer schedule is a little different than the rest of the year, and it is hard to keep a regular schedule. We have a group of athletes from Harding that are coming to stay for a month at the Bible School, so we will be kept busy cooking, cleaning, and helping them out. They will be here until the end of June. The last week in June and the first week of July is the kids' summer camp. Ryan, Laura, Angela and I will all be participating this year as counselors and Bible class teachers, as well as activity group leaders. Laura and Ryan will also be the camp nurses. I had a really good experience with camp last year and felt like I really got to know the kids better because of it, so I'm looking forward to returning this year. Also Ryan and Laura have begun planning a VBS for around June 18th for the cities of Florence, Prato, and Pistoia. The theme will be "The Armor of God".

There's not much new going on outside of that - just our normal schedule and activities. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I love you!

"Red fish, red fish, in the sea" and "Little Boat on the Water"

..... two enormous hits with the kids at the daycare - something incredible, seeing as I made them up on the spot about two minutes before teaching them to the kiddies. Simple is best! Cheesy is better! :) Everything is going great here in Scandicci, our classes are as full as ever and our new activity schedule is a big hit. I'd say we average at least 10 students at movie night, 7 students at Book Club, and Cooking USA is overflowing - usually about 15 students or so. Game Night is the only area that's taking a while to catch on, but we're not giving up on it!

So much to tell about. Back in February we participated in the women's convegno which was held in Velletri, a town near Rome. It was wonderful to spend time with women from all over Italy and all over the world. We had about 55 participants, and this year our theme was "The Beatitudes of Our Time". We broke into 8 discussion groups (one for each beatitude) and there were two group leaders per group to guide the conversation. Ermenita and I were group leaders together, and we were responsible for "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...". Everyone had great things to say and interesting comments to jumpstart our thinking caps.

We said "goodbye" to the two married couples, Eric and Jessica and Ryan and Laura. I say "goodbye", because Ryan and Laura didn't really go anywhere. They moved into an apartment in Brozzi, a suburb of Florence and are still working with the church in Florence. We get to see them all the time still! :) Jessica and Eric moved down to Taranto to work with the churches in that area. From what I hear they are doing really well down there and the people love them. We miss them around here though!

Because of some repairs going on at the villa, we had Harding students living with us at the Bible School this semester, which was different and fun. They were great to have around - we're gonna miss them too!

We just have about a month and a half of classes left until we break for the summer, so we're trying to make these last 6 weeks count. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement that we get from all of you! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers!

Away We Go!

Hello to all!

Everyone is back from the holidays, and all hands are on deck! We each had a good time to rest and relax and get ready to dive back in. We are starting up the individual and group English/Bible classes again, but I also wanted to let you all know about some of the activities that we are planning for this coming Spring semester at the Bible School.

We are starting a rotation schedule of activities that our students can participate in and I think it's going to be a lot of fun - not only for them but for us too! Here is a small summary of what each even will be:


Movie Night – We will be showing a movie in English with Italian subtitles.
Possibility of a short quiz after the movie is over! (Ryan, Peter) 1st Friday of the month

Cooking USA – Learn to cook yummy American dishes – and eat them too!
Monthly fee: €7 (Debbie, Laura, Ermenita) 2nd Friday of the month

Game Night – Play games of all sorts with native English speakers!
(Angela, Eric, Jessica) 3rd Friday of the month

Book Club – We will be reading and discussing the book The Pearl by
John Steinbeck, a well-known American author. (Emily, Andrea) 4th Friday of the month


We also will be participating in the Women's Retreat in February, which will be held in Nettuno, a town near Rome. Laura and Ryan Stephens have been invited by the Florence church to remain and work with the congregation here, focusing on evangelization - especially towards young, college-age people. They have many projects that they have thought up and would like to start working on, so we will be participating in those events as well.

Eric and Jessica Smith have made the decision to move down to Taranto in Puglia (the bootheel of Italy), and they will be working with the congregations down there. They will be leaving at the end of February, and we will miss them!

Also, I have recently become aware that I have never really told anything about my students, so I would like to kind of introduce you to them and ask for your prayers as we study and spend time together.

Daniela - She is a receptionist at the Community Theater in downtown Florence. She studied English in middle school and
hadn't studied it since when she began studying with me last year. She is about 40 years old, and both of her parents
are in bad health, which causes her to have to be at home a lot. She is a beginner, but we are seeing progress and it's
very encouraging!

Veronica - She is a tour guide licensed in English and French for the zones of Florence and Siena. She speaks very well and is
one of my more advanced students. We were invited to the wedding of her brother Samuele last summer, and we
have become good friends with their family. She also has begun teaching Art History at an American University in
Siena.

Giulia - She is a student at the University of Florence studying Physics (yikes!). She is the girlfriend/fiancee of one of my other
students - Lorenzo. She plays on a community volleyball team and has also recently become licensed as a referee for
volleyball. She speaks well, and we have some good discussions in our Bible studies.

Roberta - She has recently graduated from the University of Florence, and she is my age. We have a lot of fun together. She is a
sweet and thoughtful girl. She and her sister Renata have been coming to the Bible School for a long time, and are also
involved in many of the Activities at the Harding Villa with the students.

Anastazija - She is a licensed lawyer, but right now she is not practicing regularly. She own a ceramics shop in downtown
Florence, where she taught herself to make and decorate her own pottery - she is very talented! She also taught
herself English, which is very impressive as she speaks very well. She is from Croatia but has lived in Italy for 8 years
now.

Claudia - She is an English tutor and also owns her own company in which she sells different items that she has made from
recycled materials. She speaks English very well and is very involved in her church and youth group. She is a
wonderful person and always has good things to say. She comes to lessons with her friend Paolo.

Paolo - He and Claudia are two of my newest students, but we are getting along very well. Paolo is not quite at the level of
Claudia, but he is very intelligent and tries very hard. He works for a branch of General Electric here in Italy.

Lorenzo - He is a student at the University of Florence and is studying Languages. He speaks English (very well), Portugese,
Spanish, and has just begun studying French. He is the son of Sandro (who works at Harding's Villa) and Chiara (the
doctor for the HUF students) and just recently spent a semester studying at Harding in Searcy. He is also going to begin
tutoring me in Italian! Poor guy. :)

I would just like to ask that you keep our students and all of our activities with them in your prayers, that we may be a help, encouragement, and a good example to them. Thank you!

Home for the Holidays

I spent the last four weeks traveling around, visiting family, and most of all EATING. Good grief. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to eat again.

I flew into Memphis and was met at the airport by dad. We stayed in a hotel with mom that night, and the next day we headed to Nashville to visit my sister Elizabeth. She just moved there last summer, and it was fun to see her house and meet her roommates (in real life, not just on Skype). We spent about 4 or 5 days there, spending time with her and some of my dad’s family that lives there or near there. We ate dinner at my Aunt Beth and Uncle Mark’s house with the whole gang, and it was really good to see everyone.

Then we drove through Searcy on our way to Galveston and spent one night there. In Galveston we visited my little sister and brother-in-law and their two dogs, Kira and Tripp. They have a really cute house that is about two seconds from the beach, where they go regularly with their dogs and/or surfboards. We had fun playing games and….eating. One night we made a full Italian meal – my special potato pasta, tagliata, and salad. Yum!

The next stop was Dallas (or really Flower Mound) where my mom’s family all lives. We had fun there too. We played games and…..ate. And ate some more. ☺ My uncle Tom takes us to a really nice restaurant called Texas de Brazil every year for his Christmas present to us, and it is amazing but a very dangerous all you can eat buffet. Andrea, one of the other Avanti workers, happened to be in Dallas at the same time as us and got to meet up with us for a little bit. She even brought more scarves and ties for Mom to sell at the cooking school, as did Angela.

And then we were back to Searcy! We had Woodroof Christmas in Searcy, and amazingly everyone got to come this year, except for Erica and Justin who had Christmas with Justin’s family this year. Since we are renting our house out and my grandparents sold their big house, we all stayed in the La Quinta hotel on Race Street. The first time that I remember staying in a hotel in Searcy, and a little strange. But we were very comfortable there, and we also reserved the Fellowship Room at College Church, where we played games, ate, and just spent time together. Very fun! The 3rd and 4th of January, Mom hosted another cooking school as a fundraiser for the Avanti Italia program. I believe that there were 30 in attendance the first night and 50 the second night. There was a lot to do, and she, Ermenita and all the ladies’ helping them out worked very hard. Angela even took time away from seeing her family to drive down and help out with it.
I have a special prayer request for you all – the Dawidow family in Poland (whom I stayed with for 2 weeks last December) just lost their son Mikey on January 1st to a massive heart attack. He was only around 30 years old, and he was found by his father that morning. Please pray for them in this terrible situation. They are a wonderful Christian family and give so much to others.


I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to come home for the holidays this year. I got to see lots of my great friends and all of my family, and I feel so blessed to know that I have people that love me and are thinking about and praying for me.