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!