Emma's 11th Birthday

On November 4, our beautiful and sweet Emma turned ELEVEN!! We are so proud of the young woman she is becoming and for her sensitive spirit. She is very people smart and quick to pick up on moods and body language. She is always ready to give and receive hugs and give words of encouragement and/or write notes when having we're having a hard day. People always comment how she is stuck to her dad, always having her arms wrapped around his waist. Both of them love the attachment. She is my lover of gastronomy and I can always count on her raving over a meal and expressing how it is absolutely her favorite. (Her list of favourites is rather long!) She is growing up far too fast! We love you dearly, precious Emma and it was our great joy to celebrate your life earlier this month (thanks for being patient with me Sweetie in blogging about your special day!)

Emma has been saving her money for an iPod Touch for a year and thanks to some added birthday money from Munga, Gramma and us she was able to get one for her birthday. Now she has her own device to text her friend Claire without having to use mine! She also got a camera from Papa and Nano which you can see she was clearly excited about. The sunflower package in the lower left photo was a gift that Claire sent from Ukraine. Jonathan and I were discussing the other day how we grew up in the dark ages where we had "Pen Pals" and had to use pen, paper and stamps. Now communications are instantaneous and Claire is more than just a pen pal, but rather a best friend for Emma. They can't wait to see each other face to face in February!

Emma's birthday fell on a Wednesday so we kept the celebrations simple with our family and waited to have a little party with some friends a couple days later on Friday. Her birthday dinner request was lasagna and she was gracious to me suggesting that we pull the left over baptism cake out of the freezer to eat on her birthday and save a special cake for her party.

Birthday party props because they were fun to make and a unique idea

Emma invited just a few close friends from school and as a bonus a couple of them brought their siblings whom happen to be in Luca's class. The house was lively for several hours but the girls finally found their way to Emma's room where they crafted for a good hour while the boys played Wii. 

Emma decided at the last minute that she wanted a horse cake, so this was the best I could come up with my limited time.

Fun was had by all, especially the birthday girl. So thankful for her sweet spirit and that she is a friend to all, as evidenced by the expression of cards and gifts she received from classmates who thought to remember her special day at school. May the Lord bless and grow you more in him this coming year! We love you with all our hearts, Emmie!

Retreating Under the Tuscan Sun

At the end of October our field team gathered in Tuscany for a 3-day retreat. Although we have been on the field for 10 years, this was the first time a retreat has been organised. Now that our team added a veteran missionary couple in Ancona this summer it was good that we had some devoted time to get to know each other better. We had a lovely time taking in the beautiful Tuscan fall colors, San Gimignano, Florence and the gastronomic delights of Italian dining. 

Unfortunately, the trip got off to a rough start for a couple of our families. Our colleagues son was playing in a soccer game the night before we left and severely injured his back that required an MRI the following day. Thankfully everything checked out, but they got a really late start and missed the first evening together. We too had a change of plans when Jonathan awoke the day before departure with a blocked neck. He could not turn his head and was experiencing vertigo. We got him to the chiropractor the next afternoon hoping that it would loosen up enough for him to make the trip. However, he did not gain relief and therefore we had to make the decision to leave without him. It ended up being the right decision as he continued to experience vertigo for a couple of days and would not have easily endured the drive or been able to walk as much as we did. Melissa had to drive our van with me, the kids and her dog so we could participate in part. We too missed the first evening together.  Melissa earned tons of bonus points navigating our van through downtown Florence and parking in unimaginably tight spots. We did get a bumper bender and cracked light, but it wasn't Melissa's fault and we are glad the lady didn't want to press the issue. Our trip had its stressful driving moments but we are proud of the woman-power in making the trip on our own!

"Fattoria Castellina"

We (I) found a lovely Farm Stay that was perfect for our group. The setting was incredible as we were situated on a hill admits olive groves and grape vineyards. I could have skipped Florence and just enjoyed the views the entire weekend. (Although the winds were particularly strong at night)

Farm girl feeling at home

The kids enjoyed the time away and the extra day off of school even though we all missed Jonathan greatly. Thankfully they were on extra good behaviour knowing that it was hard for me to leave Jonathan behind. We made the most of it and created some special memories regardless.

On Friday, we had a relaxing morning as everyone was trying to recover from the long drive and previous late night. We headed out close to lunch time to visit the medieval city of San Gimignano about an hour away. 

Upper right: Truffles!

By the time we ate lunch we had very little time to explore the city and its towers because we had to meet up with our teammates who were just arriving for the weekend. The kids and I had visited the city before so we just shopped for souvenirs and took silly pictures. 

They prefer to do a million jumping photos instead of one sit and smile photo.

But eventually, Mamma got her way....love these kids

On Saturday, we spent Reformation Day in Florence. Fred and Rachel Whitman joined us on our retreat and it was so great to see them after so many years. We spent our first two years in Italy in their church in Perugia. The kids had no recollection of who they were since we have not seen them for 8 years. The kids do a lot of growing up during that time! 

Team Italy (minus Jonathan)

Fred gave us a little historical tour through Florence highlighting the life of the pre-Reformer Girolamo Savonarola who was burned at the stake in the central piazza of Florence in 1498. He was a monk who decried the corruption of the church in Florence and fought the Medici family's evil influence in the church and city. He preached repentance and personal salvation through Christ. 

Left: Memorial plaque marking the spot where Savonarola died.

We were able to visit the monastery of San Marco where Savonarola lived, which was a very fascinating place to see.

We concluded our brief visit by going to the Galleria Academia to see Michelangelo's Statue of David. Pictures just don't do the work justice. 

That pretty much wraps up some of the highlights of the trip. It was not necessarily the most relaxing retreat with all the driving, walking, and concern for Jonathan who was left behind but it was good to be together and have the opportunity to get away as a team. We returned on November 1 and continued to maintain a busy pace of life...

Baptisms

One month ago, we had the awesome privilege of celebrating our first baptisms here in our church plant "Insieme". It was with great joy when Beppe approached us in early September saying he was ready to follow Christ in obedience and be baptised. All of our children have made professions of faith, Luca being the most recent to put his faith in Jesus just this past July. We were excited that Beppe's decision provided an opportunity for our kids to also participate in baptism. We can't begin to express the emotion of the thought that our kids would be the first ones baptised into the community being established here in Caselle AND that Jonathan would have the honor to perform his first baptisms with our children.

As a team we had much to plan and organize: from where to even host a service, to what to baptise people in, to food, service structure, invites, powerpoint, music etc. You get the picture. It was a lot to work through this being our first service ever on top of it being such a huge event. It's not like it was our first service with 10 people, but rather an evangelistic outreach to 70+ people. It was an overwhelming thought at times to our team of 3, but God provided wisdom, courage, stamina and team unity as we prepared. 

We missed taking a group picture on baptism day, but this is one from just a few weeks prior.

We gave ourselves a good laugh and brief panic attack when we tested the inflatable pool only one week prior. The kids could not get over the advertisement on the box that said "Giant Family Pool" but was actually only big enough for a baby. They laughed so hard! We immediately ordered 2 larger pools of varying sizes from Amazon in hopes that one of them was good enough to dunk an adult sized male. It was with great relief that we didn't have to come up with a backup plan to the backup plan.

We were so thankful to find a local multipurpose facility room to rent for the day. It was absolutely ideal for our needs. We arrived a little before 8am to set up but underestimated the time it would take to unload cars make multiple trips home and fill the pool one bucket at a time. We were racing around all morning trying to set up chairs, food, pool, projector, video cameras and greet early guest arrivals. I did not get as many pictures as I wanted to and it was very disappointing that our video filming was a fail. But I am glad to share what we did get.

We were very excited about the number of people that came. It was a beautiful service and testimony of God's saving grace and new life found in him. We continue to receive comments from people about how touching everything was. Jonathan preached a short sermon outlining the significance of baptism and explaining the reason why we as evangelicals wait until after a profession of faith to baptise. We had a couple of friends from the Torino church come and help lead worship which was encouraging to have their participation and help so it wasn't a one man show.

Samuel and Emma were very nervous about reading their testimonies. Poor Samuel planned to go first but then got total stage fright and couldn't pull it together. Emma quickly declined going first so the number one spot was left to Luca who jumped (just about literally) to take the stage first. That gave courage to Samuel who was then able to go second followed by Emma. 

The water was a bit cold, try as we did to warm it with kettle after kettle of boiling water. The facilities hot water did not last long so it was fairly chilly water as you can tell from their faces as they stepped in and went under.

After the service everyone was invited for a light refreshment, but nearly half of the people went home to have lunch instead. The Italian version of "light" was more than sufficient to be called lunch in our books. Melissa made 25lbs. of cold rice salad which was equally matched if not more with my three sheet cakes! But we weren't the only ones who overshot amounts as Beppe must have brought 70 liters of drinks. Ah well, at least we didn't have to cook for a week with all the leftovers we had. 

Dio Vi Benedica: God Bless You

We had some very special guests from Ohio whose weekend travels through Italy allowed them to attend the baptismal service. Mike and Dawn are dear friends and supporters who also attend one of our supporting churches in Dayton. It was such a blessing to have them present and step in as surrogate grandparents for the day. It was a hard day not to have family present for such a milestone event in the lives of our children, but it was comforting to me to have Mike and Dawn by my side in the front row. 

When we returned home the kids were quite surprised to that they had gifts to open from us, our visitors and several people who attended the service. They totally were not expecting that as part of their special day so it was a sweet blessing to see their faces light up! Each of them got an ESV Bible upgrade, devotional books, Bible books, picture frames, mugs and more.

Certificates of Baptism! 

We wish you could have all been here to see the fruit of years and years of prayer for our family, children and the ministry here! God is so good and so faithful! To him be the glory!

For those who have not seen the video that our colleague put together, it is worth a watch!


And more pictures if you just can't get enough ;)

The Debate

One month ago today on Friday, October 16 Jonathan participated in a debate sponsored by a local cultural group here in Caselle. It was a last minute invite that was extended to him just the week prior. To be honest, he was pretty nervous to have such little time to prepare but knew that he could not refuse the opportunity.

The night was advertised to include four participants: our local Catholic priest, an Orthodox priest, a Roman Catholic theologian and Jonathan. In the end, 2 out of the 4 could not come and so it ended up just being Jonathan and the theologian discussing the current state of affairs between Protestants and Catholics. Probably better that Jonathan discovered this last minute change when he did--he didn't have too much time to freak out! He had hoped at best to have 10 minutes in total to speak his perspective in the scheduled hour long debate but in the end he had so much more! It's a good thing he is never lacking with things to talk about.

The debate consisted of three rounds back and forth (which Jonathan was given the opportunity to lead and open the dialogue--so much for a moderator!) and then a time of question and answer with the audience. During the debate, Jonathan had the opportunity to speak about much of what distinguishes us as evangelicals from Roman Catholics, focusing on the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of his mediation between God and humanity.

It was a wonderful opportunity in that it established more credibility for us as evangelicals, and it aroused the interest and curiosity of many who were present. One of the organisers of the event complemented Jonathan afterward, saying that he had capably stood up to one of the fiercest theologians of the diocese of Turin! He also expressed interest in inviting Jonathan back to participate in further public discussions, and we are excited about this new door of opportunity that God has opened.

It was a long day of anticipation for Jonathan leading up to the evening as the event didn't start until 9pm. The kids came to support their dad, however their attention span was very short!

As an additional result of the debate, the editors of the local newspaper asked if they could feature an interview with Jonathan in their November issue in order to help people in Caselle learn more about our church! Once again, we are thankful for opportunities like these that God is giving us to be able to share the gospel with people in Caselle on a wider scale.

And today, hot off the press..."Interview with Jonathan Kleis, of the Evangelical Church--'Conformed to Christ and authentically human'"