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.
