… for many of our Italian friends took place on Saturday, November 29th! It was really fun to invite about 55 Italian students into American Thanksgiving Traditions during this Outreach event. Our heart behind this day was to meet new friends, to strengthen existing relationships, and to love on Italians! So, come on into our day of Thanksgiving fun via this brief pictoral overview:

As you can imagine, it is no small feat to cook a Thanksgiving meal for 65 people!

 
 One of our brilliant event coordinators/chefs, Kanda! (She's GREAT!)

One of our brilliant event coordinators/chefs, Kanda! (She's GREAT!)

 Another one of our event coordinators/chefs, April, loves her some sweet potatoes!!

Another one of our event coordinators/chefs, April, loves her some sweet potatoes!!

We made SOOOO many mashed potatoes for our Italian friends! Probably too many...

We made SOOOO many mashed potatoes for our Italian friends! Probably too many...

 

 After many hours spent cooking (and maaannny phone calls to figure out how DO you cook a turkey!), we were ready to party! As I mentioned earlier, this was the first Thanksgiving celebration for many of our guests, since Thanksgiving is a thoroughly American holiday!

Near the beginning of the party, we gathered everyone out on the terrace of the boys’ apartment to share the story of Thanksgiving, to share in small groups what we’re thankful for, and to talk about what Agape Italia (Crusade in Italy) is about. It was a sweet building-block in our relationships with these students, some of which we just met within the past few weeks!

 Here's a portion of our guests, sitting on the terrace at the boys' apartment (praise God for warm Rome weather!!), learning about the first Thanksgiving and Agape!

 

 

Here's a portion of our guests, gathered on the terrace to learn about Thanksgiving and Agape.

 The living room was PACKED with friends, loading their plates with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, stuffing, and green bean casserole!

The living room was PACKED with friends, loading their plates with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, stuffing, and green bean casserole!

 
 Overall, it was a really fun day of connecting and building relationships. I can’t tell you how many times I was thanked for everything… the food, the pumpkin pie :) , the environment. I was honestly exhausted by the end, but God is faithful and I can’t wait to see where He takes these relationships as we continue to puruse these students!
 
Me, Amy, Debbie, Brian Evans (Bevans), Brian McKee (BMac), Yans, April, Kanda, and Jimmy.

The Agape Staff in attendance at our Thanksgiving Outreach, including our friendly, local mountain goat, Yans. CW from back left: Me, Amy, Debbie, Brian Evans (Bevans), Brian McKee (BMac), Yans, April, Kanda, and Jimmy.

 
 
 
 
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