Countdown: 3 Weeks & 8 1/2 weeks!

It is insane to think that in less than 3 weeks from today I will be back in America; back to Cordova, Tennessee.  I get to drive again!!!! Who wants to be in the car for THAT first experience, eh? Haha.  I can't believe my time is coming to a close.  I remember when I got here and it "hit me" that I would be here for 7ish months.  I FREAKED OUT. haha. It was very overwhelming, and insane to think about, and now the time has come to return home.  I'm not quite sure I am ready for it.  But let's rewind a little bit...


Last time I wrote I was headed off to Athens, Greece for a week to spend time checking out the refugee ministry with Iteams.  First off let me say, Athens is GORGEOUS.  It is so cultural, I honestly felt like I was in Greece, in a foreign country.  I can't say that I always say the same for Italy, haha.  I also realized how much Italian I knew, because I kept trying to respond to people in Italian when they spoke Greek or Farsi to me. Haha.  It was such an incredible experience.  When I first arrived my bags were dropped off at the apartment I was staying at and I was immediately taken to a Persian New Year Party.  I had no idea what to expect.  I was greeted by my two roommates, and a group of about 7 women who were celebrating this day.  There were also lots of children around, most of them girls who love to dance.  Although I have worked with refugees from North African cultures this was definitely different to me, because I have not interacted much with women and children.  It was such a change of pace; but so wonderful.  International Teams has a building in Athens where they host meals, preach sermons in Farsi, provide showers, and help families with food and clothing.  The men and women ministries are very distinguished from each other.  As in many Muslim/North African cultures, men and women do not associate in public together.  They also have two different ministries for children.  One for children 5 years old and above, and then they have a "nursery" for children.  During my time in Greece, I worked with the children the most.  About half of my time there I had a kid on my hip (props to moms; kids are so stinkin' heavy!).  I particularly spent a lot of time with a mother and her two younger twin girls.  We celebrated together, spent afternoons together, and just shared life.  I remember leaving at the end of the week, and tearing up having to say goodbye to them; and that was just a week!  It is insane how God was pulling on my heartstrings there.


Christ has continued working on my heart more and more this past month.  I can probably recite in my sleep Matthew 28:19, "Therefore, GO and MAKE disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."  It is not a calling to go, it is a command.  Every single Christian reading this blog right now has been commanded to go and make disciples.  It is not an option.  I have heard that several times growing up, but it is becoming reality to me now.  What does that look like?  What does making disciples look like?  To me, it is investing your time in the lives of brothers and sisters in Christ to help them grow in the Lord.  We are to make disciples who make disciples, according to David Platt.  (BTW you should check out his book, "Radical", so great!)  But they aren't following us, they are following Christ.  But in order to make disciples we need to know what it means to be a disciple; we have to be discipled.  We can't keep pouring out if we aren't being poured into!  A final point in that verse that sticks out to me is "baptism".  Now there is always controversy about baptism, is it necessary, why is it necessary, what is the point... etc.  Everyone has their views.  The bottom line of being baptized is to show the world what you believe.  And shouldn't you be doing that daily anyways.  Our daily lives should be a constant display of our devotion to Christ.  It's not a one time deal.  Which leads me to the next thing God has been teaching me about, being Spirit-filled.  


I have been reading and learning about the Holy Spirit so much during my time here.  Another advertisement coming, I definitely recommend the book "Forgotten God" to any and everybody!  So great, by an awesome guy named Francis Chan.  Okay, advertising over, back to the good stuff :)  I have always known the scripture that speaks about being "Spirit-filled", but God has been bringing the that Truth to life for me.  I was recently listening to a sermon by Francis Chan titled, "The Joys of Being Spirit-Filled".  Chan was speaking from Ephesians 5:18, "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,".  Francis starts by discussing what it looks like when someone is drunk; how you just know it.  Someone who has been drinking has a distinct way of acting, living, talking, even smelling.  Even in a room full of people, you can identify who it is by their actions, their talk, etc.  We should be the same as disciples of Christ.  Each one of us who claims Jesus should REEK of Him.  Our attitude, our actions, our talk, everything should be different and evident of Christ. "If we claim to be Christians and our life doesn't look drastically different, there is a problem." (Francis Chan).

Along with teaching me about making disciples and being Spirt-filled, he has shown me the most important component of that which is love.  He has revealed that truth to me in my daily life and is teaching me about it daily.  In 1 Corinthians 13 there is the ever-popular verse "Love is patient, love is kind..."  Most recently God has highlighted a specific portion of that passage.  "Love is not quick to become angry".  He is daily taking a specific portion of that passage and revealing the reality and truth of it in my daily life.  How do we live out this holy love we proclaim to have and desire to show.  How do we live in His love and show it well to others?  He is still teaching it to me, and it has been shown in new lights on how to act it out, and what it looks like for His people.


You are probably wondering about the countdown of 8 1/2 weeks...
I have more great news!
These past 7 months I have been living with the Campus Crusade Agape Women in Rome.   My current work with International Teams: Rome, has also formed a partnership with this organization.  Therefore, I have been able to work a great deal with this team and see them evangelize and share God's love all over Rome.  Between that, what God has been teaching me lately, and being encouraged by my team members I decided to apply for Summer Project with Campus Crusade.  I have been accepted to work with a team in Grand Traverse City, Michigan!  I will be there from June 11-August 6.  While I am there, I will receive intentional training in leadership and evangelizing with other students on campus, as well as individuals in the workplace.  I will be able to receive a job in Grand Traverse Bay, to build relationships and share the love of Christ with people in my community.  So far the team has about 40 students from around the United States and the number is growing!  I am so excited to see what God will teach me individually as well as our team!  I will be staying on campus at North Western Michigan University with all of my team members and staff.  Daily we will be equipped and challenged to share the love of Christ; engaged in discipleship with individuals from our community, continue to be stretched in what God has in store for each of us to learn this summer through prayer, worship, bible studies, and evangelism.  I ask for your prayers during this time as I am having to raise support for this trip.  


I will need $3,500 for this trip to be possible.  If you would like to give financially please let me know! I also need partners in prayer for this trip!  I know God has big plans for it!  I would love for you to be a part of my sending team this summer!


Here is info if you would like to give financially!

Send a check designated to "Campus Crusade for Christ".  Send it to my address:
144 Plantation Gate Cove, Cordova, TN 38018

or


Go to: http://give.ccci.org and under "Give a Gift" type in my Designation Number: 5617863



See many of you very soon!

Such a beautiful Creator...

If you were walking down the streets of Via Nardini last Tuesday you probably saw many, many folks bundled up in their scarves, fur coats, marshmallow coats (the ones you just can't help but squeeze!), and boots.  Then all of a sudden you see a girl; no jacket, short sleeves in fact.  No boots, not even socks, just a pair of what look like slippers, with a pair of sunglasses on and earphones hanging from her head.  And what is she doing? She is breaking out in dance towards someone (let's hope that she knows), and the girl is dancing back.  Wow... she must not be from around here.  You are SO right, because it was me :)

Rome has been blessed with some B-E-A-UTIFUL weather, this week.  (Anyone catch that movie reference?)  I was completely enthralled by the beauty of sunshine and "spring-ness" floating around Rome this past week.  You can ask my roommate Crystal, I was grinning like a fool with my sunglasses already on my face before I stepped out the door.  Seeing God's beauty displayed before me, for us, just made me feel beautiful.  I never felt more like a princess.  God paints these skies for us to see His beauty, His creativity, His power; and He loves us more than that!  It makes me all tingly thinking about it.  He captures us with it.  Don't let go.

I realize I wrote about two weeks ago.  And I felt I've gone routine, I'm not really sure if that is good or bad.  Sometimes routines are nice but then sometimes you just gotta break out and dance :)  I felt though that my last blog just wasn't doing justice to life in Roma, there was a list of "things to be done" and who likes reading that?  Except for you mom, yes I know you are reading this... list freak. :)  But I just wanted to share my heart with everything going on!

Spring Breakers have come and left, and it felt like I was caught up in a whirl wind of events.  It was great seeing the SBer's just take the leap of faith with Christ and just go hard after Him and His people!  It was such an encouragement to me, because I still feel nervous when I approach folks, and I live here and know more of the language, granted its only a little more haha, but still!  We had great turn outs for both of the Festa della Donna events.  The first one was at this place called the Felt Music Club.  There were people everywhere, it was nuts!  But so great at the same time, so many new relationships were being built!  The Spring Breakers of Miami were encouraged to invite their new Italian friends they had met on campus to the event.  We had such a great turnout!

The next week, the Ole Miss crew came!  And with them brought some delicious treats such as Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce, thank you to whoever did that!!!! Haha, but the group was definitely larger this time, tripling in number.  It was such an awesome group that reminded me of home so much!  We had some of the girls over for dinner at our apartment and one of the greatest things I think were the hugs goodbye.  I know it sounds lame.  But it was a mass chaos of 12 girls all chattering away and squishing around to make sure EVERYONE got a hug goodbye before departing.  It was just a huge refresher of home, I love it.  Plus who doesn't like getting hugs?  It was great seeing these guys move on campus, I saw several just tackling the obstacles that lied ahead and trusted God for it.  It was encouraging to watch from afar and also to hear how God moved through the conversations.  We had another outreach planned for the Ole Miss Spring Breakers to invite the people they met on campus, called a Southern Hoedown.  Interesting I know. haha. Myself, and a couple of my roommates decided to dress a little "southern" for the event.  I didn't plan on having a dance party for a good three hours with these folks, let's just say flannel was not a good choice haha.  But I had such a blast getting to know the Ole Miss folks.  The Italians also flooded in towards the end of the night and it was mass chaos!  But that's the way we do it in the south, craziness! haha.  It was great hearing their stories throughout the week, and seeing God move not only with them but within our team as well.

This next week I am headed to Athens, Greece.  It is so weird that this time is here!  I remember talking about it a lot, but I actually hop on a plane in less than 48 hours, provided I get there correctly!  Haha.  I am so excited to see what God is going to reveal to me through the team there, in my personal life, and just everything. I have decided not to take my laptop with me, sounds like I will be to be busy anyways.  I've been talking about taking an internet fast for awhile now anyways.  I believe there is no better time!  Please be praying for the time there!  I am trying to earnestly seek Him in everything.  He is currently just enrapturing me in who He is.  I am constantly seeing His power, His beauty, His guidance, His provision, His Truth, all around me.  It is so overwhelming in such a great way!  It gets to the point that the only thing I can even think to say is "Wow."  But is that not the way it is supposed to be.  For God to reveal Himself to us and us just be astounded at His greatness.

It is so weird to think that in a month and a half I will be home.  I cannot believe the time is already here. I find myself wondering a lot about what I'm going to do next, or rather what God has planned next for me.  As I was telling someone the other day, it needs to move from wondering to praying.  I know it is all in His hands.  I know I hope to continue blogging when I get home.  It probably won't be nearly as exciting as my life in Rome, but who knows.  I have found that I really like expressing my thoughts.  But blogging is so much more exciting and quicker than writing it in a journal.  To quote "Julia" from Julie & Julia, "I have thoughts!".  I have been inspired by so many of the women here in Rome that I know who write blogs that are just too cute, I love reading them.  Plus there are blogs like "Pioneer Woman" and "Lovely Little Things", that I just would love to do.  By the way, you should totally check out both of those blogs.  But that is a small tidbit of what I would like to do.  Another one being cooking, haha.  I have realized I actually have a small knack for it (thank you roomies!).  It is kind of a long story as to why it makes me so happy, the fact that I can cook. But I love that God has given me that gift and desire to do it, and the joy in doing it.  It is funny, I remember actually looking at going to culinary school a few years back.  I am glad I did not decide to do it.  It is, however, funny how God reveals our gifts and joys in other ways.  I am most excited to see what God has me doing next ministry-wise.  I know I am going to Camp Tsungani when I get back, which I of course love.  But also for longer term, what God has planned.  What He will use me for, and I am praying for when that time comes that I hear it and hear it quick and loud.  I don't want to miss a thing He has for me!

I feel like this is the longest blog I have written, like ever.  So I guess I will bring it to a close.  Going to talk to my Jesus, and make some banana bread!  See you guys soon!

For His Name to be Glorified,

Lindsey

Marzo!

Ciao ciao everyone!  I hope you all had a lovely February :) I feel like February 1st was so long ago, yet it went by so fast!  It's funny, in exactly 2 months I will be on a flight home to Memphis!  I miss you all so much!  There is so much going on in Roma!

After much, much, much (did I mention much?!), planning; the Spring Breakers are here!!! The Miami University group got in this morning at around 9 am!  They have gone through orientation and are exploring the city!  I sadly have not been able to meet them yet, because of conflicting plans but they are coming to help with serving the refugees this weekend!  There are a total of 12 people here!  It is definitely going to be a busy week of fellowship, friendship, service, learning, worship, and tons more!  Anyways, the group is divided into teams and will be working on different campuses all over Rome!  They will be doing a survey on humanitarian efforts.  Hopefully we will be able to get Italian students plugged into what we are doing here!  Also, this Wednesday we have the Festa della Donna!  This is a day to celebrate women, and it is directed at the student population although everyone is allowed!  We will photography displayed, poetry readings, and singing by several women!  Plus a great time for fellowship and meeting new people!  We are hoping to have 100 people in attendance for this event!  Please be praying for this!

Also, immediately after the Miami group leaves we will be having another team join us that same day from Ole Miss!  We have a total of 64 people from there!  During this week the Ole Miss will have much of the same schedule as the Miami group.  They will be divided (into larger) groups, and will be meeting with students from Italian universities.  At the conclusion of that week we will be having a party for all the students (Ole Miss and Italian!), at a venue in Roma.  There are rumors that there will be karaoke! So that should be a sight!

With everything going on in the Middle East, Rome has had a huge influx of refugees fleeing to the city. It is said that there are a million NEW refugees in Italy alone.  So please be praying for God's provision in all of this.  After the two weeks of Spring Breakers coming I will be heading to Athens, Greece!  I have booked my flight (and am now terrified to take the shuttle), and am going through the short-termer manual now!  Please be praying for God's provision through all of this!

Moving forward for His Glory.

Lindsey

Febbraio!

Ciao tutti,

As I read back over my last blog entry I feel as if I haven't written in SO long.  Things in Roma are going pretty well!  It is hard to believe I only have 3 months left.  Although October seems so long ago, I feel that it is so weird that it is already February.  January was just a great month for me personally.  I really got to experience community like nothing before.  I have just loved spending time with my team members old and new these past few weeks.  So let's see... what's been going on... Haha.  Our partnership with Agape Campus Crusade Roma is continuing to grow stronger and stronger, which is just awesome to be a part of. We are meeting weekly to discuss what God is doing here, what we would like our vision as a partnership to be, and what the next steps are!  It is awesome sharing our hearts for the different ministries and seeing them unite for God's glory!  There is so much good stuff going on the next few months; it is going to be tough to keep up.  But of course nothing is impossible with Jesus, and I am SO stoked for everything going on.

Next week, refugee team leaders from all over Europe will be coming to Rome for a week long conference.  We will be discussing refugee situations throughout the area, what God is doing, and get to hear from every team in attendance!  Please be praying for this upcoming week!  That everything will go smoothly and with little problem!  But even more so, be praying for God's guidance in all the discussions.  Even if it means complete chaos, we want God's will to be done!  Shortly after that my team leaders, Tim & Rachel, will be heading back to the United States, to raise support for the Refugee Reading Room.  We are praying for God's provision and blessing through this!  We KNOW He will provide!  I have seen Him provide for my trip here in such incredible ways, and I know He doesn't ever stop giving to us in accordance with His will!  So please be praying for a safe and successful trip for them, whatever that may look like in the Lord's eyes.

Also this next month, there will be two Spring Break teams coming to serve with Agape Italia.  They are two college groups from Miami and Ole Miss.  The schedules are chock-full of activities!  We are currently planning the time spent here with the two teams and are looking forward to what God will do.  Not only will the two groups be spending time on campus, but they will also have the opportunity to participate in outreach with refugees!  Please pray for the Lord's provision before and during these two groups stays!  So. After all that awesome stuff, I will actually be heading on a trip to Athens, Greece.  International Teams has another group there that works with refugees.  Athens is one of the first places that many refugees arrive at after escaping their "home land".  The conditions for refugees are even worse there than they are here.  There is a video at the bottom of the page if you would like to see what is going on there.  I have the privilege of staying with a couple of team members during the last week in March.  While there I will be able to participate in their team activities and observe how their team works, etc.  I am really quite excited about that trip, and to see how the Lord is working there.

So, as you can see these next couple of months are quite full of crazy, yet awesome stuff!  I am so excited to see God move in all the events going on!  God has been teaching me so much, and quite honestly it is just awesome to be a part of it all.  He is blessing me with so many lessons (although they don't always seem like blessings at the time, ha.), stronger friendships with the refugees, and fellowship with His people.  It is incredible seeing God move, and I want to thank YOU individually for being a part of it.  I am so thankful for your support, whether it be prayerfully or financially.  God has truly blessed me with you!

Moving forward for His glory,

Lindsey

Greece Refugee Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPl9PW7ONIQ

Happy New Year!

I forgot how you say it in italian, i think it is "buona anno" or something like that.  I hope your holiday celebrations went well!  In Italy there is one last celebration, where a witch comes who brings presents to children, and that happens tonight.  My holidays were quite wonderful.  The cookie party was success!  We had about 8 refugee friends in attendance.  Although we had an overflow of cookies, it was a great time of sharing and building relationships.  Plus lots of cookies of course :)  The other festivities of holiday cheer, such as the feedings on Christmas Eve with a refugee center in Rome went great too!  We were able to serve lots of lasagna and cake to over 100+ refugees!  We also were able to participate in the handing out of gift bags for the guys.  Not only did it contain toiletries but fun gifts for the guys as well.  That night our team got together to just spend time rejoicing in the Reason for the Season.  Our team also did our weekly feeding with the refugees on the following Saturday (Christmas morning).  We prepared the soup the day before.  Everyone was able to come out to serve and eat!  It was a great time for fellowship.  One of the agape team members had friends in town who were able to serve along side of us, on this wonderful day!

The following day Tim, Rachel, Robbie, Goioa, a refugee friend, and myself all headed out to Bagni di Lucca for the week.  In case you are wondering it is right next to Lucca.  I don't think I have slept that much in my life!  Haha.  This trip for me was a difficult one.  I had been feeling homesick over the holiday season and it just seemed to increase.  But more so than that, God decided he had a few lessons to teach me.  I am not going to lie, they were really hard lessons to learn.  I could really feel some stuff going on.  But God is bigger.  I learned that week a lot about prayer and clinging to God.  I also was able to learn a lot about myself through it.  It was one of the toughest's weeks I've had here.  I didn't know what to do a lot of the times.  But God was constantly there, and I really was able to search my heart, and with all my heart for Him.  It was a good deal of learning.  But I am now having much peace about everything I learned.  I also can say I'm glad to be back in Rome.

We got back from Bagni di Lucca this past Sunday, and the following Tuesday got to meet with a great group from Illinois!  It was a group of high schoolers who were taking a small tour of Italy.  They are going from Rome to Florence and Bologna.  Along the way, the group will be working with a different nonprofit organization.  Last night (Tuesday), we met the group and got to eat dinner with them.  I got to spend time with the older girls, which was just a blast.  Later we went back to their hotel.  Tim and Rachel shared about the situation of refugees in Rome.  What a refugee is, how they get here, etc.  Robbie also was able to share some of his experiences and relationships he has built with the guys here.  This morning (Wednesday), we got up bright and early... or what I consider bright and early, to meet the group again.  Robbie took half of the group shopping for groceries to make sack lunches for about 50 refugees, while I stayed back with the other half to prepare bags full of toiletries.  From the hotel, with 100 bags in hand of toiletries and lunches, we headed to the train station.  It was a cold and rainy day today so we didnt find many refugees at first.  It is hard to know where to find them when the refugee centers are still closed for the holidays, and it is raining outside.  Robbie ended up staying by the Colosseum with a few students while the rest of us went to Termini, the main train station.  From Termini, we divided up into 3 groups and "went looking" for refugees.  My group was able to talk to refugees from Romania and northern Italians.  None of them spoke English, so I got to be an interpreter for the first time.  Haha.  It was definitely an experience, we'll just say I need more studying in that field. But it was a great time hanging out with the kids, and being able to share what we do here with them!  I'm hoping they had a great time, and their hearts and eyes were opened to God's love for the refugees and how to share it!

As for everything coming up, I'm not really sure!  Haha.  Next week the centers will re-open and different things like that.  So we will come back full force!  Robbie, the other intern, will sadly be leaving us next Wednesday.  So that will be a major bummer, but he is going on to do great things in the northern U.S.!  So be praying for that.  Also, Tim and Rachel will be going home for a short time to raise money for the Refugee Reading Center that we hope to open in April!  Please be praying for these things!  God is definitely moving here.  I am learning so much, some of them things I didn't even expect to learn.  But it is all God's provision, not mine!  So I am trusting Him in that!  I hope all is well with each of you!

In HIS Love.