Hello from Torino, 

I am just back from English Clubs.  It is a Tuesday night ritual.  Actually I have been less involved with English Clubs as it is in English and I am supposed to be doing things in Italian so I can learn as quickly as possible (during the first year).

Tonight was great.  I went down a bit early and got to hang out with Erin for a bit before we started... I grabbed a slice of pizza for dinner and then headed to 'il Rifugio' at 9:00pm to get started with the club.  

We have really been blessed in these last five weeks, as we have met many new people and have had a great chance to share about the Lord and the Bible with them.  I have become friends with many chinese guys that have come to study at Politecnico.  It's amazing to think that I prayed that we'd be able to start two Bible Studies, and one of them has already started... quicker than I ever imagined.

Tonight we had about 10 people come, and we taught as always different fun things in English.  My job was to teach idioms (like "nip it in the bud")... and this group likes to have fun so it is real easy. Lastly we read the Bible story about the Prodigal Son... it is a great picture of our relationship with God, and there was some good / honest discussion.

I was encouraged... it's 12:25am and I am now back home!  Getting ready for bed.

Ben

Mountain Tops Poking Through

(this photo is from a recent camping trip where we scouted future spots to take students during spiritual leadership training adventures)

I wanted to share a quick update! Things in Italy have continued to be focused on improving my Italian so that I can not make a fool of myself so often in front of people =) (even though it is still funny... the other day my teacher asked me if I would like some Juice from the cafe nearby... I answered very clearly "ok I will have FISH juice." OOOPS... I meant to say peach juice! We all got a good laugh out of that =) (the words are kind of close pesca and pesce).

I really appreciate what a language expert told me once before I came to Italy... "In language learningn you will make 1 million minstakes... so you'd better get started NOW!" =)

In other news I have been trying to spend time with more students from the church in order to have more opportunities to participate in encouraging them. It's been great to get to know Simone, who's studying Industrial Engineering at Politecnico; where I will go next year. Each week we've been eating together sharing what God is doing in our lives. We were a part of the same group in a discipleship program called E-4.

The other fellow who was in my groups is named Elia. Elia is an amazing story of God's grace and love! He has before and after pictures from when he became a Christian. He is truly a light to Christ in his life... and He is an amazing evangelist. But when you see the before picture you understand that it truly was the POWER of God which changed his life... just as the power of God changed my life. Elia's heart for others is so huge... and his passion for sharing Jesus is unstoppable. I am often really convicted to be more shamelessly in love with Jesus as Elia is! It's really great to see!

I have also been spending time with Tony... He is Albania. Tony's family was nominally Muslim... but really they are not practicing at all. We met the first day that I was in Italy and I simply helped him with his English. A friendship has formed which has allowed us to share the gospel with him many times. We are praying he would trust Christ soon! He heard about the resurrection and made a very interesting comment "if he raised from the dead... that proves that He was God." Wow! He also one day told me "wow... Albania needs people like you to go there and share about Jesus... we don't have anyone sharing this with us." Again... Wow!

(this photo is of me on a mountain during the same trip... we spent some time seeking God... and this is the spot I went to! I was really touched in a neat way thinking of how God often takes us through difficult passages so He can show us incredible views!)

For me personally I have been encouraged as I trust God while He is taking me into new phases on life. I feel like I am getting adjused well to life in Italy... and have been growing in many unexpected ways. I am thankful for the growth... there's something reassuring about God's continued pruning and detailing of our lives. The summer schedule has been a little lighter than the Spring which was honestly quite busy! I have appreciated being at home to actually make dinner and also to have a little down time here and there.

I want you to know that it has been a real blessing to have you praying for me as well as supporting me. I trust that God is using me according to His plan... and in this process I know that He is blessing you as well! Thank you so much, it's awesome and humbling to be here.


Ben

Trusting Jesus!

It's amazing how good it feels to have grow in Christ! Please pray for me that I would continue to grow in Him. I know that everyday He is present with me, Jesus is the center of my life... trusting Him in the unknown is the hallmark of Christian faith. Yet still there are days in areas of my life that I must consistently place back in His hands. Days which I begin to do things in my own strength and days when I mull the lie that Jesus is not powerful enought to... (fill in the blank). I know that these days are not from the Lord, but are opportunites to really trust Him and rely on Him more.

I am really still encouraged by the verse in 2nd Timothy 1:12 "I am not ashamed of it (suffering), for I know in whom I trust andI am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted him until the day of his return." God is so totally trustworthy! When I look at the evidence in my life for his trustworthyness I am astonished. He has faithfully saved me a boy who was running from him and wanted nothing to do with him, He has given me so many blessings of friends and a great family, he has responded to so many prayers, he has showered undeserved kindness and love on me everyday, he got me a free knee surgery in Italy when I really needed it, he restored my relationship with my earthly father and he has redeemed me and given me a guiding spirit inside.

Each night we could just sit and talk about His faithfullness that day. Like just the other day He protected me from a pickpocketer whose had was IN my pocket where my wallet was, and recently He got my paperwork through the Consulate and it looks like I will likely get a VISA this summer! Each day He helps me to speak Italian, and to step out to try to care about people first, though I am an engineer kind of guy. Each day He is helping me to learn more of what it means to follow and trust Him with all of my heart... which is so good, but many times the road to this kind of growth passes through the jungles of trials or with the rod of correction! Oh the pain of growth... I remember friends telling me that they like it when they are sore after working out, because they know that they are getting stronger. Sometimes I feel sore after getting worked out by God... but I know He is getting stronger in me, and that He is helping me to love Him with my whole life.

Though it's not easy, nothing else could be be better for my life!

Ben

Newbie Goof-ups!

As a newbie here in Torino it's easy to goof-up... just think of the opportunities: Language, Culture, new job, and did I say language? So here are some of my favorite goof-ups / things I've learned:

1.If you say “I'm dead” instead of “I have finished” people will laugh. (I frequently find myself trying to say “I'm done” but instead out comes “I'm Dead.” In fact at the ice rink a few weeks ago I said it and I heard a group of teenagers laughing at me!)

2.Arrive Early... and you'll be waiting alone for everyone else! (Italians are typically late... in fact once when going on a day trip with about 60 students I woke up at 8:00 the time we were supposed to be leaving! Running with all my might I made it to the place and we didn't leave until 9:15! I was running up to the group and everyone was still just standing around hanging out!)

3.Though I don't really like winter saying “You'll go to winter if you don't turn to Jesus” doesn't seem to have a huge impact on people. (I accidentally mixed up the words for winter and Hell... inferno is Hell, and inverno is winter! He was pretty confused)

4.Washing machine doors here have a mind of their own! (I couldn't figure it out! How do you open this thing!... in fact I had no clue how to use the machine in the first place and had to wash my clothes twice... I was rather panicked because I had to get stuff clean to leave for a conference and I was late to church).

5.It's not a super fun experience to have all your new neighbors living below you return your clothes which landed on their balcony because you didn't know the wind would blow them off the clothes lines with out a clothes pin. (While hanging my clothes out to dry, which is normal here, the line broke and some of the clothes fell four floors... well my underwear ended up literally hanging in front of my downstairs neighbors window... I couldn't bring myself to go talk to them and try to both say “Hi” for the first time and ask for my undies back... to make matters worse wind distributed the rest of my clothes to other neighbors!)... this photo is before they were blown off...but after the old line had broken.

6.When sending the consulate documents be sure to include the document!

7.Don't linger in the shower! (I once had to rinse in really really cold water after just 10 minutes in the shower!)

8.Kiss the right cheek first! (With both guys and gals we do the Hollywood kiss here as a greeting and 99 times out of 100 it's right first then left... if you goof-up and go left first you might get more kiss than you bargained for!)

9.When flying make sure you bag Maple Syrup (I brought Maple Syrup here for a friend and the cap broke... luckily is was in a plastic bag!)

10.When navigating in country you've never been to it's best to actually know where you are going... and not just guess! (In Slovenia I took us for a scenic adventure because I thought “left” was the right direction [I just thought that seemed right] ... I got us totally lost ... finding our way back included an very animated Slovenian toll booth guy looking at us like we were totally crazy when we finally asked him for directions!)

Joints, Beer and Jesus...Just another 8 hour day in Torino...

What a crazy day...today I've...talked to people about Jesus as they were smoking a joint in front of the university, in the church (not smoking a joint), and over a beer in the Pub; plus I unpacked, spoke enough Italian for my brain to oooz, grocery shopped and took some photos which might be in the newspaper...what an amazing day...and none of it was planned by me. You just never know what God is going to do in a given day here in Torino!

Anyway, it's my first full day back in Torino and I thought I would give you the breakdown. It's good to note that everyday in Torino is incredibly different... and that has held true for today too. Right now we have two short term missions teams here...one is hosting Bible based English Clubs (free English classes) and the other is doing street preaching and evangelism in front of the university (something VERY strange for them).

Tuesday March 20, 2007:
8:00am - Wake up, but opt to stay in bed for a little while longer pretending to be prayin' but really more like resting in God's arms (AKA sleeping)

8:30am - Read 2nd Peter and ignore writting in my journal cause I just don't feel like it today

9:00am - Check email and email Rudy and other friends in the States to let them know I got here okay

9:05am - Check email again...and again...I don't know why I check it so much it's 3:00am in the States! (If anyone needs an online pharmacy let me know). Checking email is a lot like checkin' the fridge for more food, something compells me to do this with a rediculous hope.

10:00am - Unpack my bags and get my new room "orginized" (Translation: toss my stuff into drawers and figure out what I put where later)

12:35pm - Head down 3 flights of stairs and down the street to catch the #16 bus (which I literally risk my life running across a huge street to catch...I made it!)

1:15pm - Eat four cookies and two tangerines for breakfast and arrive at the humanities university to watch Tom Short (a street preacher from Ohio) street preach to Italians which have likely NEVER EVER seen something like this before. We met Francesco, a student, while he was watching and had great conversation about Australia and Jesus. (Officially My job was to take photos...and a journalist for a local paper asked me for copies to do an artical on this "strange" event... we invited her to church and she said she might come!)

3:45pm - Grocery Shopping!

5:30pm - Hang out with Italian student who are participating in English Clubs...there were tons of people packed into our small storefront space (named "Il Refugio")...it was very exciting to see.

7:00pm - Nap on the couch in "Il Refugio"

8:00pm - Make dinner for me and Elia a good friend who is part of the church...it was Tortelinni with Ricotta and Spinach filling plus "Arrabiata" sauce (Arrabiata literally means "Angry"...so Tortelinni with "Angry" sauce...it's spicy)

9:00pm - Participate in a discussion with Italians we are reaching out to about American Universities and questions American students often ask about God (Franceso attended and Tom Short and I had a very interesting conversation with him afterward)

11:00pm - Go have a beer in the Irish Pub directly beneath my apartment with Francesco and his friend Niccolo and continue our very intersting talk about faith in Jesus, Slavery to something (it's up to you), sin and freedom from sin. (I have a lot of
respect for how open both Francesco and Niccolo were with me and my friend Andrea from church).

2:00am - Wander up stairs and write this post!

A few minutes after 2:00am - Sleep!


Just another day at the office...

(Sorry for no photos this time)

States' Side Grocery Adventure

Groceries purchased to take overseas are a lot like a person's stomachs final request... what is purchased says a lot about what that person really values! (like Frosted Mini Wheats for me)

So... just a couple days till I am heading back to Italy... it's 3am and time for a WalMart grocery run! Before leaving Italy I had a few requests for foods not found in Italy...so here's what I got to take over the pond!

Maple Syrup / Instant Hungry Jack Pancake mix - A student in Torino said he had always wondered about it and would like to try it with...(he couldn't think of the right word)...pancakes!

Football (American) - I have never seen one in Italy (though they might be found somewhere)

Fajita Seasoning - A key ingridient for me... which is not even found in Michigan let alone Italy

Penut Butter - Another thing Italians are often curious about but is not readily found in Italy

Speed Stick, Body Wash, Tooth Paste, and 2 toothbrushes - Because I a dummy and I thought I forgot them at my friends apartment who got married... then I actually left the bag of replacements at WalMart (thanks Marcus for the gift card)... then after going back to WalMart the next day I found all of my toiletries which I had just repurchased in the trunk of the car I am driving (Thanks Kelly for the loaner car! It pays to have friends get married).

Mezmerized by the fluorescent lights and dog tired at about 5am I wrapped up my last minute States Side shopping! I am ready to fly! ...if I can get some help zipping up my suitcase!


Ben

Back in US of A (briefly)

Before I left Italy I was invited into the sculpture school for a tour with Elia a good friend & sculptor who is so encouraging in His love for Jesus. Here are a couple photos:

Anyway after waking up at 4 am walking a mile with my bags from my new apartment to the train station...riding the train to Milan...riding a shuttle to the airport...catching flight #1 to Newark...flight #2 to Houston...getting a ride home with Huan (my former roommate)...visiting NASA...and catching the Greyhound bus to Austin...I am back in the US of A!

But I am not here for long...though I did not know that until just recently; I will be departing on March 18th to head back to Torino until it is time to submit my university VISA application to the Italian Consulate in Houston (probably in late April or May).

In the mean time I running around trying to get the documents prepared...ready for another longwinded list (in one big deep breath). With my ORIGINAL High School Diploma (yeah right...I got and lost that thing 10 years ago) I have to...find it...send it to the high school so they can write a statement physically on the diploma stating it is authentic...have it witnessed by a notary...I have to then send it to the secretary of state of Michigan for the Notary's signature to be authenticated...then it comes back to me to be translated into Italian and is send to the Italian Consulate in Michigan for the translation to be certified...then it is sent to me again to be submitted with my application packet to the Italian Consulate in Houston (ok, exhale). And that is just one of the documents I have to do this with!

But I am excited because it all does seem very doable and it also looks like God is really opening up a great door for me to do ministry at Politecnico from the inside out...which I think will be better than what we could have envisioned. He's pretty crazy how things do look very bleak...but right at the end are worked out.

I am off to sleep!
Ciao!
Ben