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!
