{Unexpected} Service Launch

We have been planning towards and working on getting organized for the launch of our church services in Caselle. Little did we ever think that today would be that day--6 weeks earlier than planned! A complete last-minute decision with just hours left in our Saturday to let people know and work out a few necessary details. i.e. Was Jonathan able to handle the one-man show?

So you are now asking yourselves what would possess us to just throw something this important to us together in this unprepared fashion? Well, the answer lies in the fact that the entire city of Torino is prohibiting all traffic within the city today from 10am - 6pm. They will do this on occasion to control the air pollution in the city. This is the first time we have been affected by this restriction. For those of us living outside the city limits and unable to drive to church today we decided to have a service in Caselle.

Jonathan played and Lino led vocally and also served as music stand

So this morning we gave this our first shot. Jonathan had just met yesterday with two others to work on the music. Little did we think that this morning they would be playing and singing together to lead our small group in worship. Our only glitch this morning was when we tried to print out some song lyrics and our printer gave us a fatal error. We called someone in the group and had to email them the file to have them print and bring to church. I guess we will be printer shopping tomorrow! In total we had 15 adults and 4 children. It was a very special feeling, although odd in a way. It did however, give us a very heightened excitement to have these services regularly! Jonathan brought the message and with just a curtain dividing the kids from the rest of the group, I managed to keep our three quiet and entertained with a Bible story and activities done at a whisper level.


Jonathan preached from John 6, and was thankful the message was still fresh in his mind as he used it last weekend to speak to the youth group. It was wonderful for us to see some faces that we have not seen much of over the last year, especially including Tony who was just recently released from the hospital after months of hospitalization following a liver transplant. With a couple of missing families today and a few others who are committed to our group, it will be a packed out facility when we meet again for Sunday worship!

Also, as a side note...we had 15 at our Bible study this past Tuesday. That was a record for us and a HUGE encouragement to our hearts!!