First Blog, Two Months In… Catch-Up time??

Wow, my first “real” post… there seems to be this unspoken pressure to make this post really good, since it is my first post in 2 months. Which might be why it’s taken me so long to get around to it… sometimes I don’t appreciate working under pressure. In an attempt to ease my worries, I’ve decided to give you all a quick overview of some highlights from the past 2 months. I wish I could’ve just had each of you in my back pocket this whole time, so you could experience first-hand what life has been like… but this will have to be good enough!!

Ok, here we go… (you can click on the images to make them larger… sorry for the inconvenient format)

Before even leaving the States, our STINT tradition of building human pyramids takes root. Here is one of our first, at Miami University — 3 days before flying to Rome!!

When we first arrived in Rome, the girls’ apartment wasn’t ready yet… so we kept all of our luggage and stuff at the guys!! This is me, sorting through my explosion of belongings in their crazy living room!!

Praise Him, during that crazy moving/settling time, we spent a few days in BEAUTIFUL Tuscany at a conference for us new people… Isn’t it gorgeous?!?

Another shot of the Tuscan wildlife… I like to pretend that I’m artsy.

When we returned from Tuscany, the girls’ apartment was READY!!! The balcony on the third floor is ours… you can see that we’re strategically located above an amazing caffe, Giolitti, which also has gelato and pastries…

April and I are excited to move into our new place!!

Chris and Brian are NOT excited to be riding in the moving van with our fearless driver, Jimmy.

Chris and Jimmy, pulling off an amazing feat… moving three mattresses and an Ikea couch at one time… aren’t they impressive? We’re really grateful for our buff, helpful guys :)

The girls made quite a few trips to IKEA those first few weeks… this is the fateful trip in which we got caught in a downpour with our purchases on the way home… memories.

Kanda is my buddy!! We’re on the same missional team, so I get the privilege of living life with her day in and day out… she’s GREAT!

Part of our ministry this fall was our Festa Autunnale! (Autumn Party!) This is a group shot… it’s not that great, but you can see conversations taking place between students… connections!! And you can check out the guy’s amazing terrace while you’re at it…

More Autumn Party fun… we carved pumpkins with our Italian friends!! This is Brian (right, my teammate), with Giovanni and Roberto, two of our friends.

Another pumpkin carving group… Albanian Mira’s on the right (she’s amazing!), with my crazy teammate Kerry holding some pumpkin guts and my mountain-man teammate Jimmy helping.

Another influence on our ministry during the past 2 months is the protests that have been taking place on campus. Students are currently protesting a new law that could privitize their public university and raise their tuition significantly. These “manifestations” have made our days on campus more interesting…

…as many students are involved in the movement against the law. This is a large protest gathering on the library steps at La Sapienza.

Switching gears… in the midst of the craziness on campus, the nine of us STINTers took a quick retreat to Venice… it was BEAUTIFUL!! This is a shot of the grand canal. I love the architecture…

more Venitian beauty!

I love these people… just so you all know, this is what would happen if these 6 people just found out that their cat had 1500 kittens. My favorite is Jimmy’s (orange coat) reaction… I’m so grateful for my team!! God is so nice :)

That’s such a super-quick overview… I really wish I could have video-journaled the past two months for you all… well, maybe not all of it. But most of it! It’s been sweet… lots of growth, lots of God-moments, lots of trust and learning, lots of FUN! Thanks for loving me and for walking through this year with me!!

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