What we do in life echoes in eternity

Day 22 (6-8 Saturday) This is probably the most intimate my blog is going to get, so "Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself," " What is your deepest fear?" This question was posed to me on the second day we were in Siena, by our resident professional question asker Karli Hagstrom. This is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to questions and is not easily answered. It took me some time to gather myself and think about what truly was my deepest fear. The first things that popped into my head were two things that I was definitely not fearful of. The first is death, and the second not knowing what to do with my life. There are a couple of reasons I do not fear death, the first being the fact that I know God will take care of me, and second because of something my pastor at Moscow CLC said, "You are indestructible if you have the life of Jesus in you." This was something that really stuck out to me, and I really took note of. It is true, god has a plan for each of our lives and as long as we are living for God, our life will not end until God has chosen it to end. As far as not fearing not knowing what I will do with my life, I know that God will reveal his plan for me on his time, and that I will figure it out eventually, just have to learn some patience. Shortly after those two things went through my mind a few other things came to mind about what my deepest fear is. If you have not noticed I am a man who likes to use quotes, so a quote has again come to mind. This quote by Marianne Williamson has probably become one of the most famous quotes in the world for three reasons, the first being it was used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural address, second it was used in the movie Coach Carter, and third just because of the sheer magnitude of her words. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God. It is not just in some of us; its in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." This quote has so much power behind it, because it can do exactly what it says to do. It actually helped me to figure out what my fear was. The other thing that helped me to figure this out is another talk done by Dan Johnson called Indestructible Legacy, again using quotes he said this, which he quoted from some one, and it really struck me. "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." This is what my fear is, that I will not leave behind a legacy. I know that it might sound a little conceded, but it's not I care nothing about fame or glory. I fear that I will not impact this world in some sort of positive way. I fear that when I die, I will just have been a statistic, another tally in the population total. That I will not have done something to impact some ones life. That I will have done nothing to make the world better. One of my favorite movies is Kingdom of Heaven, in this movie there is a man who in his black smith shop has something branded into the wood, and it says "What man is a man who does not make the world better." There are a lot of problems in the world today, and we would all like to solve those problems, the thing is though we are the main cause of those problems. We all in some way help these problems out either actively or passively. Silence is agreement. We cannot just sit around and wait on the world to change. Michael Jackson, sang a song once and this is part of that song, "If you want to make the world a better place take a look at your self and make that change." Although it is just a song by Michael Jackson I think the message is powerful and universal. The question is though how do we do this? Dave Matthews Band has a song called "You Might Die Tryin'," and my favorite part of the song is this "To change the world, start with one step, however small the first step is hardest of all. Once you get your gait you'll be walking tall. You said you never did, because you might die tryin'." Imagine if Jesus never tried because he knew he might die trying. That is my deepest fear. I need to take that first step though, because if that one step causes someone else to step, and in turn they cause someone to step and so on, you soon have a movement. And movements can change the world. I pray that as I live my life that I will do a good enough job of emulating Christ, that I will impact a life. "Every man dies not every man truly lives." -William Wallace

Day 21 6-7 Friday So like I said for Thursday's climb we got to watch a electrical storm out over the water. But that is nothing compared to the awesomeness of the storm that I experienced on Monday. Monday evening I got to see the most amazing lightning storm ever. It was an hour of treential down poor with lightning electrifying the sky in every direction, and bone rattling thunder. The thunder roared down on us as if we stood on the floor of the colosseum some 1900 years ago waiting to fight lions. At times the lightning was so close it hurt the eyes and the thunder was defaning! It was amazing! The best part of it was that I spent the entire time on the 4th floor balcony with one of the U.S. students who lives on the forth floor getting absolutely drenched, enjoying the awesomeness of the storm together and chatting. For a while I wasn't really sure what was so amazing to me about storms but as a stood on that balcony with my face turned towards the sky letting the rain drops drum on my face it became apparent to me. It might be there power and awesomeness that they exuded, or maybe it is our total inability to do anything to stop Nature. What ever it was before, I know now what it is, and again my insight came from a chapter of Seeing and Savoring, this time Chapter 5, The Power of Jesus Christ. That day sitting on the beach Tuesday in Vernazza as April read the chapter to me that those feelings that I remembered feeling, during that fire in Wenatchee, the scenes from "Hurricane on the Bayou," and that thunderstorm, that is God, having to knock us back down a few pegs. Though he is a loving God, he does get angry and frustrated, especially when we do sinful things and act stupid. Like a good father does, He punishes us from time to time to let us know that it is not okay. From time to time we need a reminder about who is in charge and who is the all powerful one, and unfortunately the only way we seem to get it is when something beyond our controll happens, like a Natural Dissaster, or a big storm. God created everything there is an he has power over everything, the winds and the waves included. A lot of times people ask why do "bad" things happen to "good" people? Well I think that the best answer to this is illustrated to us in the book of Job, and is a story about some of the suffering Job went through. Job had just lost all ten of his children at the same time and soon he and his wife were both ridden with boils, and while his wife cursed God for what had happened it says that Job fell to the ground tore his robes, shaved his head and started to worship God! Job also says this to his wife, "Shall we indeed recieve good from God and not adversity?" (Job 2:10). This is very true, and when we look at the new testiment we see much is written on suffering. One of my favorite verses on suffering comes from 1 Peter 4, versus 12 and 13, which tell us not to be surprise if we are going through trials but we should instead rejouce that we are chose to suffer as Christ did. It also later talks about that we should suffer not for doing ill works but for doing good, because this glorifies God. Part of this glory of God, is that he is omnipotent and truealy has pwer over everytihg. Job 37:9-14 talks about how God controlls the storms and weather it is for correction or for love he causes it to happen and we should stop and consider the wonderous work of God. That is why I love storms so much because they reveal the Power and glory of God. Of course these stroms can bring about death and destruction, and devistation, but it is in these times we must ask ourselves. "Will we worship or will we curse the one who rules the World? Shall SInners dictate who should live and who should die? And say like Job 'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" (Job 1:20-21) "The storm doesn't knock down the tree it only reveals its weakness"

Day 18 - 20 (6-4 thru 6-6) Tues Thur So since we were about half way through our project we got to take a little mid project break and go and visit the Cinque Terra which is a group of 5 cities along the coast of the Ligurian Sea. It is such a beautiful place, it was a story book town. We stayed in Vernazza which is this small town built on the cliff side like the other towns, and literally has one street that runs down the center of it. This street is lined with shops and restraunts, and bars, and a pub, and allyways to access the stair ways and pathways to get to all of the houses. It is kind of hard to explain how the town is set up but basically it is just a bunch of these side walks and stair ways built up the cliff side that wrap and wined there way up to where all of the apartments and houses are at. This area is also know for it's walking/hiking trail between all five cities which is the main draw for the city. So we went there for a little 2 1/2 day break from ministry work and such. It was a nice relaxing time mentally but was rigorous physically which was quite nice. We got there about noon on Tuesday and just spent the afternoon relaxing and checking out the city, sat a little on the small beach that they have. (It was nice to see sand and water again!) Then we went and had dinner at this great place which is run by these twins, who are hilarious. Recommended by Rick Steves so you have to check it out. And then we got together as a group and just did a little teaching/training time and discussion, then some of us when back down and hung out on the break water for an hour or so and just chatted. Wednesday was the big day! We had our long hike in front of us. The towns are numbered 1 through 5 and Vernazza is number 4, so we had a long hike to get to number one. The first part of it was pretty tough but once you got to the first city it mellowed out and was a nice leisurely walk/hike. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had though. You are walking along this cliff with the Water on one side of you about 500 or more feet down, and then on the other side is more cliff face covered in bamboo, cacti and other random shrubbary and folliage. Their were also huge vinyards and lemon trees through out the terrain as well, and the local people just going about their day. But by far the most beautiful part about it is the brilliant turquise blue water that was crystal clear. When you were up that high some 500 feet or more, you could look down and see down to the bottom which in some places was probably about 50 feet deep. We started the climb at nine and the first part of the climb the toughest part soon seperated us in to three groups. The sprinter group, the strolling group, and the meandering group. I was in the strolling group, we were moving at a quick pace but not to fast and taking plenty of picture breaks. To hike one way and stop to take a peak at the towns took us about 2 hours, and when we got to the last town the first group was waiting to take the train back, but Steve April and I decided we were going to stroll on back as well, and Carly and Nicole joined us so we had a nice little group going. The hike back was pretty awesome, we got a little bit of rain and then it got pretty humid which wasn't so fun, but we ran into like 7 or 8 Cougs along the hike which was awesome, April was wearing a WSU shirt so we go the Go Cougs! a lot which was probably one of the high lights of the whole Italy trip. We got back to Vernazza, had time to go and have some amazing fish and chips and then take a nap while it drizzled some more, a little upsetting because it was just a tad to cold to swim. We went out for dinner again, to this other Amazing restraunt, I had Lobster and black spaghetti, it was delicious! (I miss sea food!) Then most people went and got Gelado and we met up and discussed 1 Peter 3. It was an amazing discussion, and brought a great end to the evening. Thursday some of us woke up with the Sun rise, and got ready to hike the to the last city Monterosso, which is city number 5 and supposed to be the hardest climb. And it did not dissapoint, it was hot and humid at 7 AM, which is fantastic so we were all sweating with in the first 5 minutes of the hike. (Megan Steve, Aaron and I) and it is basically this almost vertical climb with stairs, it's pretty awesome. So you hike up and up and up probably close to 1000 feet above sea level, and then you make this descent downwards, on these very nice smooth marble steps that are probably on a 60% downgrade, and they are about 2 feet wide at the most probably smaller, so you are going down this trail that you can hardly fit down, if you are more than 170 pounds and a stick figure... None of us guys are even close to it. and it had rained so the steps were a little slippery, so it was some tricky climbing. We eventually made it to the town in about 45 minutes which is about half the time it took Rick Steves, and right as we were exiting the trail this huge group of German tourists headed on the opposite direction. So we went into town had a little bite to eat were going to hike back and then the terrential down poor that we had been waiting for showed up. We had watched the electrical storm out over the water all climb, so we decided that taking the path back would not be so good. So we rode the train back, got cleaned up and then went to the Pirate Bar, which is the place owned by the twins and had the most amazing pastries and hot chocolate ever! It was unbelieveable! Of course it was still pooring so we got switched onto an earlier train and headed back to Siena early. Returning home about 4 PM which gave us enough time to shower, nap and eat before mens and womens time! All and all it was a very very relaxing trip, and very refreshing. Not to mention beautiful! "Look at your problems in the light of God's power instead of looking at God in the shadow of your problems"

Day 17th Mon (6-3) Today April and I went sharing together around the literature campus and then the Economics campus. The day we handed out fliers we were near the literature campus and we went to this cafe place to hand out fliers. So April and I thought it would be a good idea to head back there and try to meet some students, the problem was we couldn't remember how to get there and no one we talked to knew what we were trying to refer to, so we talked to one girl who is studying English, Spanish and Chinese and she tried to help us and we got her contact info and we are going to help her with her English and Spanish, we tried asking some other people but no one really knew what we were talking about exactly. So we wondered a bit more and then decided to go to the Economics campus, well on our way there we were walking down this street and then all of the sudden we found the cafeteria/restaurant thing we had been looking for completely by the grace of God it was kind of funny. We met a girl there who is studying the science of Communications, so we chatted with her for a while got her contact info and then headed of to the Economics campus. At the economics campus we ran into a third girl who was from Albania that we got to have an extended talk with and share our testimonies and the gospel. So all and all a very good day. There is something special about going out with someone and helping to share the gospel with them, and listening to them tell there testimony to another person. It always you to get to know that person on a whole new level. It lets you into their life in a very relaxed casual way and you form a connection that wasn't there before it is a great experience. It was great to here her testimony, and be there for back up on sharing the gospel, I think we were a great team, with a ton of help from God of course. "To change the world it starts with one step, however small the first step is hardest of all." -You Might Die Trying: Dave Matthews Band

Day 16 - 2 June (Sat) The highlight of my trip to Rome was the Colosseum. To know that when you walk in you walk where the Emperors of one of the greatest civilizations of all time the might Roman Empire once walked and you stood where thousands of spectators once saw man battle man and beast, where Christians were fed to lions, you can not help but be in total and complete amazement. To be only a few yards from where some of the most violent blood was spilled, just for survival and the chance to fight again and earn freedom leaves and indescribable feeling. To stand in a building that defines a culture, a civilization and history is probably the most powerful experiences of a lifetime. The best part of it was, that it was a national holiday in remembrance of the day in 1946 when Italy voted to Make itself a republic instead of a Monarchy, so we got into the Colosseum for free! As we walked up too it and into it I could not help but have the movie and the music of Gladiator playing through my head, then I got out my iPod and actually started listening to the music, to give me a full experience. Again I could have just sat in there for hours and basked in the glory of it all. It was one of the most awesome experience of my life, and I will experience it again. Its times like these where I detest the new age and modern society. Think about what would have happened if the Colosseum had been torn down fro a night club or a Stadium, or a Shopping center. It might seem a bit outlandish that this would happen, but its the same basic principle that can be applied to what happened to the Kingdom in Seattle. The Kingdome was Seattle and Seattle was the Kingdome! The Colosseum is Rome, and Rome is the Colosseum. Think about if they removed the Golden Gate Bridge from San Fransisco, or the giant Jesus statue in Rio De Janeiro. Those things define their cities, tell stories about their past, define their culture, and set up the future. Another way to look at this situation is this. Think of removing Christ and the Bible from Christianity, when this happens you have Judaism. I am not pointing to one domination in particular because tons of people who practice "Christianity," do just this and many churches for that matter. There has been talk about renovating and restore the Colosseum, which is great, I would love to see it stand as in once stood almost 2000 years ago. Along with that I would love to see the same thing done with Christianity. Restore it to it's glory in the time of Christ and the apostles, to a time almost 2000 years ago. To a time when we see the glory of following Christ, and people hadn't become weighted down with doctrines and politics, and other things that had nothing to do with their Salvation. To a time when the apostles were spreading the message of Jesus as he called them to. I would lie to see a return to a faith that was about following the God, and His son, and our personal relationship with him, not which Church we attend on Sunday, and how much money we give to charities. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to my father except through me. " John 14:6 (NLT). It is time that we start to remember who Jesus was. I would like to see the removal of politics from religion because Jesus was not a political figure he was a religious one. He commanded us to do exactly what he did which was the will of God, not to sit in church on Sundays and sing hymns. I am not saying going to church is a bad thing, but expecting your salvation to come from that is mere foolishness. You should attend because of your love for Christ and your conviction to learn more about him, and his father our God. There needs to be a restoration to the foundation of our faith. To our religion. It is called Christianity because we believe Jesus is the messiah and our saviour. It is time we all start becoming Christ followers, not just Sunday "Christians". I feel it is fitting that I end this blog with a quote from Gladiator as well as one from the bible. "What we do in life echoes in eternity!" -Maximus Decimus Meridius "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to my father except through me." -John 14:6 (NLT)

Today the men of the project with a little help from Megan set forth and executed the perfect plan of surprise. We cooked and served the women dinner and desert. It was so perfect I couldn't believe it. We started off with a single rose set on their plate as they were ushered in by Aaron and myself the wto servers. Peter and Steve cooked the rice and stirfry which we served after the fruit spread with bread. We then had the "owner," Jack of Ristorantè Paradiso run out and get gelato. It was such a great surprise to all of them and they really loved it. We were even able to surprise Megan, because she didn't realize that she was also going to be part of this. During the conversation they started talking about their best college memory, and they all said that this was going to be one of their fondest memories. Nicole also included that it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. IT was very nice to hear these things, but the best part is that's not why we did it. We didn't do it to get praise and glory we from them we did it because, we are called to love and serve them. It is our job to love honor and cherrish our sisters so that is what we do, we love them because He first loved us. "The problem with Christian culture is that we think of love as a commodity.We use it like money." -Blue Like Jazz

Day 14 - 31 May (Thur) I met a guy with Jack today at the medical campus from Isreal who is friends with a guy we know from church named George, who is also from Isreal. They guy we met today was quite an interesting and intruiging individual. He is an Arab Christian from Isreal, not the most common of occurances. He is from Nazareth which is in the northern part of Isreal, and it was very intersting to hear what he had to say about the war and globalization. He has an Aunt who lives in Chicago, and she was going to come visit, but she said she was worried about there being tanks in the town where he lives. His family just laughed at this because the war is more than 40 kilometers away which is quite aways he said. He thinks its funny how we portray the war because it is very much different than the actual war that is going on. When we mentioned that he knew George his first response to us was "So you are evangelist then?" Something that neither Jack or I had a good answer for, we were actually caught off guard. I have never been called and evangelist or never considered my self one, I always just thought of myself as a Christ follower doing my best to do his will. There is also a negative conotation with the word, because of televangelist and people of that nature so it is hard to just lump myself into that category. But back to Elias, which translates to Elijah in english. We started talking to him about God a little, and he said that he had his doubts, but he said that he would talk to George and think about coming to church on sunday. Jack and I have been praying and we really hope that he does come! It would be very exciting for us and also for George. Elias is an awesome guy and I hope I get to chat with him more in the future! Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 13 30 May (Wed) That is the title of Ch 3 in Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, which we are reading for project. I very much like the book and even if I didn't I would recommend it anyway because of this chapter. The full title is "The Lion and the Lamb - The Excellence of Jesus Christ." The opening paragraph of this book by John Piper is amazing and spoke volumes to me. "A lion is admirable for its ferocious strength and imperial appearance. A lamb is admirable for its meekness and servant-like provision of wool for our clothing. But even more admirable is a lion-like lamb and a lamb-like lion. What makes Christ glorious, as Jonathan Edwards observed over 250 years ago, is 'an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies'." When looking at this paragraph there are key terms that must be taken into consideration and really thought about in order to truly grasp what it is saying. The first is ferocious strength. This is pretty easy to define and describe. A little harder though is a definition of meekness. What is meekness? Where do you start when asking these questions and in answering them. The best way to answer these questions is to look at the life of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. We can see that his majesty is sweetened by his meekness. In his equality with God he has deep reverence for God. This makes me think of 1 Peter 1:15-17 that talks about how we must live in reverent fear of the lord. This can be incredibly hard to do but if Jesus can do it then it should be something we can all do. The lion of Judah conquered not with his ferocity, but because he was willing to act the part of the lamb. Even though he could have done anything he wanted, he submitted his will to the authority of God and was meek so that he could be strong, and could be glorified and we could be saved. Revelation 5:5-6 does a beautiful job of portraying Jesus in this light. "But one of the 24 elders said to me, 'stop weeping! Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals. (6) Then I saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered but it now was standing between the four living beings and among the 24 elders. He had seven hours and seven eyes that represented the sevenfold spirit of God that is sent out to every part of the world." So the Lion is the Lamb, and animal that is weak and harmless and lowly and easily preyed upon and sheared naked for clothes and killed for our food. So Christ is a lamb-like Lion. This is an incredible juxtaposition of terms you don't know how it can work, by yet it does beautifully and perfectly. When you look at these two animals you see two total opposites, you see the fierce and ferocious king of the beast, a perfect predator, who is feared and revered by all. Then you have the docile domesticated lamb an animal you can let a 3 year old pet and not worry at all about it. An animal that we use for clothing and is meek and humble, and soft and kind. Yet Jesus exemplifies both at the exact same time so perfectly you can't even begin to try and come close. But that is what is so great he gives us something so perfect to strive for that while trying to be a Lion-like Lamb or a Lamb-like Lion that we can still be a lamb or a lion. IT is important to share both traits. Especially for men and myself learning to be a lamb is very important to my relationship with God but also with people around me. With friends relatives and girlfriends/ my future wife. We must be able to balance the ferocity of the lion and the meekness of the lamb. Each chapter in Seeing and Savoring ends with a pray. The one at the end of Ch 3 is one of the best prayers I have ever read and/or heard. It is a prayer within a prayer. These five sentences I feel like are a prayer in themselves, "May the power of the Lion and the love of the Lamb make our faith in Christ unshakable. So deliver us from small dreams and timid ventures and halt plans. Embolden us. Strengthen us. Make us love with fierce and humble love." It is so powerful and challenging it is amazing. I will end on this final thought. As I said earlier it is important for us to have both of these traits. The reason it is because Jesus had both of these traits at the same time. His meekness is glorified by his strength. His meekness alone wouldn't have been enough, and neither would his strenght, but with both he is glorified and is everything that we want to be. "What makes Christ glorious is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies." - Jonathan Edwards

Tuesday 29 May Sorry for the delay in the blogs I have been busy and haven't had a ton of time to blog, and be on a computer, so I will try and catch up. Today we went to the compo and met Giovanni, Hannah and Sara to help them hand out fliers for the bible study that they hold for anyone who is interested at the church. Right now they are doing a study on who Jesus was, so they are really trying to get students involved, so they asked us if we would be willing to help out and we said absolutely. So we split up into groups myself Melinda and April went with Sara, who doesn't speak very much English but Melinda has studied Italian a little so we got it to work. So we started walking down a street towards one of the campuses and she told us that when we handed out a flier we should say Posso la chartie questo. We had no idea what it meant at the time but we went with it, and it seemed effective so we didn't really question it. Eventually we found out that it just meant would you like to have this, which is what we figured. So we passed out fliers for a while walking up and down a street where there is a lot of student traffic then we headed to where one of the student cafeterias is and stood outside and handed out fliers out there. At one point I handed a flier out to some one and they walked a little ways then stopped and read it and came back and asked for a second one, so April and I were excited about that hoping that meant she was planing on coming that evening. So we handed out fliers and then we headed back to the hostel and hung out there for a while, and got in contact with some of our contacts, and then family B cooked dinner. They made bacon and had all of the fixings for BLT's and such and also they bought potato's and made some french fries which were amazing. The dinner was terrific it really hit the spot. That was at about 6:30, so we all ate together and then Team A got ready to go and we headed to the Bible study, Steve, Shelby, Nicole and myself. We got there and talked a little with some of the regular church attendees that we have gotten to know, prayed for the time, and hung out and waited for people to show up. The flier said that the bible study started at 8:30 but in Italian culture that really means 9 - 9:15 so that is about the time that we got started. But it's okay because the girls that came back and asked for a second flier did show up and they brought two friends along with them as well. So there were about 5 students there who weren't regular attendees. So the guest speaker who is finishing up his PhD work lead the bible study and it was pretty mellow for a while, but then the students started asking questions and sharing opinions and that is when things got interesting. The students who showed up were not what we would call believers, they did not believe in Jesus, or God for that matter, there were differing beliefs that is for sure. One female, who came back for the second flier, was particularly vocal and opinionated, so she had about a 25 minute debate with some of the people from the church on why Jesus was a revolutionary, and how him being a revolutionary was directly correlated to the fact that he is the son of God. After that there was a little down time and then a guy that was there start to ask question about different things, and one of the questions that he asked was "How can such a universal message as love be confined to the Christian faith?" Giovanni had some things to say to him and a few other people had things to say, but the one thing that was truly profound and made the best impact on him was what Hannah said, and she said something along the lines of "God created all of us, and so for that reason we were all given the capacity and desire to love, as God does, so that is how it can be justified." That is the gist of what she said I missed some of it because she spoke it in Italian, and she is our translator, so she had to stop translating and just answer in Italian. A little while after that things got pretty heated again, and Hannah did her best to try and keep up with the translations but some of the things that the students were bringing up as arguments were pretty confusing and she had trouble following along as did we when she translated. How ever I think that the most interesting part of the night is when another girl shared that her father was a priest, yes Catholic priest. We aren't entirely sure how that one exactly works out but apparently it does. Anyway she was saying that she has had a terrible experience with the church, so even thought she believed at one point she doesn't right now, because she needs to look from the outside in, and re-discover who Jesus is. I found what she had to say very interesting, and I really liked Giovanni's response which was, well at some point you have to start searching again, because if you never start searching it's hard to find anything, but you are here so I am assuming that you are starting to search some what. The guest speaker then finished up his power-point presentation that he had for his part of the study, and then it became my moment to shine. The Sunday prior to the bible study when we were at lunch I told Giovanni and Hannah about my Catholic upbringing, and about the journey I have been on since starting college to be where I am now, and they thought that it would be great if I were to share my story with everyone, so I did. After everything that had happened I got up and shared my testimony, in English with a translation. I can't be 100% positive but i felt like from the looks on the faces of the students who showed up that night that it spoke to them and got them thinking which is fantastic. That was the end of the bible study, so afterwards we chatted a little with the regulars, had a few bites to eat, and headed home. We arrived back at the Residence at about 11:45. We were there for almost 4 hours it was pretty crazy but totally worth it. "And Jesus called to them 'Come follow me and I shall make you fishers of men'" -Matthew 4:19

Day 11 Monday (28-5) Kenny Chesney once sang "there's something sexy about the rain..." and he is very much right but there is so much more to rain than just being sexy. I don't understand how people can say that they hate the rain. How can you hate something so beautiful, so healthy, and just good for everything? I most definately do not hate the rain, I love the rain. We had our first real rainstorm today and I realized how much I missed it. I love it because; it's beautiful, rejuvinating, cleansing and freeing. Rain is a gift from God, as is everything, but rain is a little different. Not just beacuse of the great flood, but because of it's other uses through out the bible as a metaphore. When he talks about being the fruit and the vine or about seeds he refers to how those things need certain things to grow. And just as God created this earth, he created it to require rain to sustain itself. Even the mightiest of trees or the mightest of lions, and the meekest of lambs needs water to live. The other thing I do not understand is the negative and gloomy stigma. You always see rain used as forshadowing during movies, to set the mood, and create this certain image and feelings, and most of the time it is negative, like during a funeral or something else of that variaty. To me how ever rain represents the exact opposite. To me it represents new life, new growth, purification, and re-birth. In the movie V for Vendetta, there is a scene where Evie, played by Natalie Portman, is going through this terrible sittuation where she thinks she is in jail, but it is really V trying to free her mind. There is a point when she reaches this freedom, and V tells her what has happened, and takes her outside, and she walks into this downpour with face turned towards the heavens and arms outstretched, the name of the scene is called Evie re-born. We see this same concept applied in the Shawshank Redemption where Andy, played by Tim Robbins, escapes from Jail during the rain storm and when he gets out you see him standing in a similar pose to Evie, basking in the enjoyment of freeness, and new life. Lastly I bring up probably the most cliche connection I like to use, and that is Lion King. In Lion King, after the battle for Pride Rock, as Simba assends to his rightful place, the rain starts to come down, to cleanse the lands and give them new life. Rain is a source of life that we will always need, and will always remind me of God, and how big and amazing he is. "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger." -Saint Basil

Sunday, they day of rest according to Moses' accounts in Genisis, and thankfully it was a day of rest, and also rejuvination. We went to Ciesa today, italian for church, and we heard more on Mr. Nehemiah, and again it was very good. Church was not the rejuvinating part of the day, how ever, what was was after church, when we all got invited back to Pastor Rocco's place for lunch and fellowship. His house is out a little ways into the country side, so we had to pile into cars and drive out there but it was well worth it! The house was beautiful, and we got to enjoy a bit of a Thunder storm and rain which was nice, but just a little and it was still warm. We also got a chance to talk to some of the more active members of the church and some of the students. I met a guy named George who lived in Isreal before he came here to study, great guy. There was also a guy who is in his 30's named Antonio, who looks almost identical to Gatuso, which was kind of humerous.And I met two wondeful ladies from Austria who were both very sweet and friendly, very cool girls! I also got to talk with Giovanni and Hannah about the Catholic church, and share with them my upbringing and all of those good things, and of course there was food! Tons and tons of food, and it was all amazing! Real home made Italian food, there isn't much that compares to that. Oh it was a beautiful thing. We got back to Siena about 4 and hung out until 6:3o when we headed to the Campo to watch the lottery for the horse race. The contrada that we reside in and have adopted as our own, Drago (Dragon), won last years race so there was a huge procession in with all of ther flags and their drummers it was pretty cool. There are 10 horses who race, but 17 contradas so the 7 from last year are automatically in and then from the other 10 they pick 3. Our contrada was the second one picked so some of us burst into cheers in what we thought was the section for our contrada, but we didn't realize they had all moved to the very front, and it wouldn't have been a big deal, except that the third contrada picked was the one we were surronded by, and they all broke into cheering and singing and kissing each other, it was pretty crazy to watch. For a second we thought it might get a little hairy but we were able to leave while they were still singing. Unfortunately the race is in July so I am going to miss it, but i will have Emanuele and Dominico send me the results! "Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell, fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death; and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship's sake that ye do them."

5-25-07 Day 8 Well today is our day off, we don't have to wake up early we don't have to go to campus, we just get to have a day to relax, have somequiet time and just hangout! And it was very nice, I got a ton of reading done, I finished the first part of Master Plan which is great the last chapter really spoke volumes to me and I am excited to start the second half of it soon. and did some good journaling. Now that I have started journaling I am a little upset that I didn't start sooner, but what can you do at least I have started now. Things are starting to get a little crazy around here. Our contrada is about to have there big celebration, there are green and pink dragon flags up everywhere there are special lights, and they are starting to set stuff up. There is supposed to be a big something tomorrow so it should be pretty interesting to see what it looks like when we get back from San Gimingano. Emanuele and Dominico are going to try and get me one of the big flags because they are amazing. The contrada festivale is a pretty big deal, I mean this is a celebration of the part of the city that you live in and there is a huge amount of pride, so it has been pretty cool! Well I think that is all that I have for now, not much happened today. "Go and make disciples in all nations" -Matthew 28:19

This morning for our group time we discussed the book that we are reading as a team while we are here "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ". We were looking at chapter two that looks at Jesus and his diety. It talks about how God calls him self the Alpha and the Omega, and I like this analogy, because in the greek alaphabet there is no before Alpha, and there is no after Omega, they are the beginning and the end. In just the same way God is the Beginning and the end, there is no before him and there is no after him, there is no beginning and end for God, he just always is! In revelation there are two different verses that refer to the Alpha and the Omega, one is God speaking and the other is Jesus, and how can two be the Alpha and the Omega unless they are one. One of my favorite verses in the bible is "Truely truely I say to you that before Abraham was I am," and that is Jesus speaking. I like it because it is a very subtle way to show the diffrence between man and God. Abraham has a tense in that sentence, and it is past, but Jesus just is! We went to the law and political campus today, and I met students with Nicole, who is from Montana State, she is a very sweet girl, I like her. The two of us had a very good day, we talked to two people who were already believers so we gave them information about the Church we go to in hopes of helping them get plugged in. The campus was very interesting there were people walking around trying to sell the students Communist propoganda. I also feel like they are the most culturally aware of everything that is going on in the world, one of the guys that we talked to talked about the shooting at Virginia Tech, which surprised me I didn't think they would know about that. This was a very positive day and kind of rejuivinated me and encouraged me to keep going and keep meeting people, and making connections, because as much as I love doing it it is very stressful and tiring! But on Saturday we get to go to San Gimiango which I hear is absolutely beautiful, and has some old fortresses, and things of that nature, so there will be many more pictures on saturday. Quickly I would like to mention an ongoing thought process about the bible. I love its use of metaphores and I think that my particular favorite, is fruit. It uses the term through out the bible and I feel that it is really very important! I just wish I had a better understanding of what it exactly ment, and what it's relative or figurative level is. "Go and bring forth fruit." -John 15:16

Day 6 (5-24-07) Today was a fantastic day, I think I might have said that about every day at some point or another. But every day really has been amazing! Today was a little bit more of a relaxing day, we didn't go to a campus today instead we hand extended team time in the morning and then we did our best to contact the people we had met on Monday and Tuesday! It has been a fruitful couple of days so far, and people got response back right away. Steve, Jack, and I are supposed to meet with some one at the gym we are going to on Friday which is really exciting, we are already making connections at the gym, which is like a home away from home for Steve and I, so it makes it easier for us to talk to people. So the first part of the day was really relaxing, and refreshing, and gave me a chance to do some reading and studying. And in the afternoon Jack April and I headed to the open air market. The open air market is pretty awesome, there are probably about 100 or more little shops that sell mainly clothing, with some like gardening stuff, and other trinkets and gadgets. "Gadgets and gizmoes galore, thingamabobs I got twenty..." (Penguin that's for you) Any way we went there with the purpose of finding "man-pris," for Jack and myself, and we succeeded and they are awesome and we are very excited about wearing them. I think that my favorite part of the day was when we just randomly saw this dress that was absolutely perfect for April, and the guy who was working the stand showed her that the back was stretchy (complete with wistling) oh man it was priceless! The final part of the day was the legendary man time! And let me tell you it was amazing! We did soul to souls so we got a chance to look deeper into everyones life and find out more why they were here, and what was on their heart and what they were struggling with. It was so amazing. And then for dinner we found this take out place that has these gigantic pizzas, so we went and got three of them and Big Aaron carried them all the way back we got some amazing looks, it was great. I think that today was my favorite day! Oh side note! AC Milan won the Champions league tonight, and people were going crazy in the streets. And sunday AC Siena has a home match and tickets are one euro. I have never been more excited in my life! It is going to be amazing! "Philosphers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is, however, to change it" -Karl Marx

I struggled slightly with tonights title, but then in a moment of zen it came to me, and it stems from 1 Peter 1. The chapter talks a lot about faith, and touchs on genuine faith which is an area that we talked about a lot in our study group this morning with the team. We are studying 1 Peter on our mission, and it works out nice because we can take it one chapter a week and really disect it. I am also studying Colossians for AIA, and I think that the two pair together well. I think I am going to set up at time with April where her and I can sit down and talk about Colossians together and bounce ideas off of eachother about what we think it means. But back to 1 Peter and the study group this morning, I like it so far, it isn't speaking to me a lot directly but I feel like indirectly through how others have interpreted it I am being spoken to, which is fine as long as I am hearing what God needs me to hear. I also came to some conclusions indirectly that aren't directly related to the bible study but will benifit me greatly. Like I mentioned yesterday we went to the medical campus today, which was awesome, it's a bigger campus and has more of that university feel to it, there are also more students there so you didn't feel quite so cramped as you did yesterday. We split up into groups of two, and Jack and I ended up being together which was great. We are still going through the decoding, and exploration process, so we are just meeting students and getting to know them. It took Jack and I to find some people to talk to but when we found them we knew we had some good people to talk to. Their english was great, so it was easy to talk to them, difficult at times with some words or phrases but overall it was fantastic! We talked to three guys Andrea, Davide and Davide who were very open to just telling us all about what life was like for them and other medical students on campus. It was hard to even ask questions they just were willing to share everything with us which was fantastic! But we did get to ask some, and it was great to hear some of what they had to say about religion and church and God. They were also very excited about getting together with us in the future and talking more and sharing more about life for both of us, and our views and beliefs on God, and politics and other things that are important and hip today. We talked with these guys for almost an hour and it was so much fun, they were funny, and just really friendly, and willing to talk to us, which is so cool, because I feel like you were to do this in the States it would definately not go over this well at all, chances are likely there would be some sort of bodily harm done or something like that. It really is great though to just learn more and more about the culture every day. The more I talk to people about life in Siena and at the University the more I feel like it is very much like Pullman. It is a small town that is mostly about the University, and its in a rural part of Italy, surronded by the Vinards of Tuscany, quite similar to the wheat fields of the Palouse. Also the majority of the population here is the univesity students. So it is nice that we can relate to them on that level. Jack and I were talking later and we both feel like there is something big in the near future and we are excited about it, very excited. Tomorrow is kinda of a less active day, we do stuff just at the Pardisio, and with writing and translating emails to send to some of our new friends, and then we get to go to the Open air market, and possibly do a little shopping so that should be fun. You wouldn't think that going out and talking to people for part of the day would be so exhausting but it really is! It's probably because they don't speak english very well so you are having to engage your brain in a different way and think more about what you are trying to say. I am really praying that Jack and I will get to meet with these guys again! We have faith that if God wants us too, he will make it happen. "Faith is not a belief, belief is passive. Faith is active" -Edith Hamilton

Day 4 (5-22-07) Today, monday was our first day of going to the University and talking to students, it is the start of the decoding proccess. We went to the Economics campus, which is only about a 7 minute walk from Residence Paradisio, which is the hostel where we are staying. The university is a little bit different here than it is back in the states, each major area of study has its own isolated campus, somewhere around the City. It is kind of odd but at the same time very cool! It makes for small communities so everyone gets to know eachother better. So we went to the campus with the intent of just getting to know some people and make some connections, so we split into our family groups and just walked around and got a feeling for the campus, and then attempted to interact and communicate with students. F0rtunately people know English, better than we know Italian so we are able to communicate farely well for the most part, but the students are very open to just sit and chat with us for a while and answer all of our questions about what school, and there life is like. It was cool to see that a lot of them enjoyed the same type of music as us, mainley rock. And for the most part they like doing the same things as us on the weekends. I think I have an extra connecting tool, with my interest in Futbol so I am able to connect with them on that level and talk to them which is rather nice to do. I found out that AC Siena has a game at home this weekend and the tickets are rather inexpensive so I think that Jack and I are going to check that out. So my small family, I think, was very effective about getting to know people and we got some email addresses so we will be able to contact them again and get another chance to talk to them. We are going to the medical campus tomorrow which I am more excited for because it is bigger, so we will have more people to talk to. It broke down a ton of barriers and fears, for lack of a better term, so that was great and I think better prepares us for tomorrow when we are with more students. As fun as today was thought, the evening was so much more enjoyable, it was another opportunity to hang out and fellowship with the team and just get to know them even more. Jack and I went out to dinner, which was a lot of fun, we had some man time and got a chance to just get to know more about his story, and to tell him more about mine. Then we met back up with the team and went on a prayer walk around the Piazza del Compo which is a big area where there are a bunch of resturants and people, especially students tend to congregate late in the evenings. So for the paryer walk we split into two groups and and walked around and prayed together, and then we came together as a big team and sat, and talked about the Shooting at UofI, and then we all just prayed about things that were on our heart, and things that we were struggling with. It was a great opportunity for us to grow even closer together as a group and learn more about eachother. We then just spent more time hanging out and talking. I am very excited about tomorrow though, we are going to the Medical Campus and I think that Jack and I are going to get to go together. Plus family B is cooking, so I don't have to pay for food, which is fantastic! And tomorrow is Man time! "Without Courage wisdom bears no fruit."

Day 3 (5-20-07) Today was another amazing day, I think by the end of this trip I will have said that for every day and truely mean it for every day. It's kinda hard not to have an amazing day in a place like this. Today we went to church, and even thought I didn't understand much, except for what was translated I felt God was there, and he had truely called me to Italy. They man who gave the serman today talked about Nehemiah, and specifically the first three chapters with a focus on chapter 3, which talks about him organizing the rebuilding of Jeresulem. He was so convicted that Jeresulem was the place where God was to dwell, that he was willing to do almost anything to make that city as holy as possible. In chapter three it talks specifically about how he went about rebuilding the city wall and the gates that are the enterences to the City. The most important of the two were the first two gates. The first was the sheep gate, and you might be wondering how this is important, but think about it from a biblical and theological point of view, we are constantly referred two as the Sheep and God is the shepard. Th man who spoke Giovanni, called this the gate of salvation, saying that this was the way that everyone first needed to enter the city, and once through this gate you could get to anywhere that you needed. He also talked about the second gate which was the fish gate, this I think is a little more clear as to the connection. Jesus called us to be fishers of men. And that is one of the most important things that Jesus teaches us and calls us to do. He also talked about how all of the labors that we do in the name of the lord, we are rebuilding the walls and the streets and the buildings of the new Jeresulem in heaven, and that all of our work goes into making it the most beautiful and godly city there could be. The thing that I like most about Nehemiah is his conviction, and his passion. I feel that this is very much the type of person that I am. If I were to use one word to describe myself it would be passionate. I think that this is a double edged sword and is my best and worst attribute. I think being passionate is one of the keys to life, and living a fruitful life, that is God focused and focused on what Jesus called us to do. But at the same time being so passionate sometimes causes me to jump into things before checking to spot my landing and making sure that I am going to land on solid ground. I feel that God is teaching me patience but at the same time allowing me to be as passionate as possible. I think that these next 5 weeks will be a beautiful opportunity to accomplish this task. "Conviction: Be sure that your feet are planted in the right place before you decide to stand firm."

This is a link that should take you to the photo's that I have taken in Italy so far, I will continue to update it as often as possible as I will be taking tons of photos! Enjoy! http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/AWKreutz/Italy/ "The power of rememberence is not in the past, but in the future." -Dan Johnson

Day 2 (5-19-07) Today we spent the day exploring the city of Siena, and it is beautiful, I can't think of any places that I have seen even in pictures that are this amazing. There is so much old architecture, and most of it is post renaisance, Gothic French architecture, which is A-mazing. There are not many things that are French that I can say that about so if you know me you know that it is sincere. Anyway back to exploration. I went out with Jack, Carly, Megan, and Melinda, it was great to explore and see the city with them, and to also get to know them a little bit better. Jack and I found this great place that I think we are going to use for quiet time, it is a small court yard that is part of a music school, that is really peaceful and there are some amazing stautes and artwork around it and early in the morning you can sit in the courtyard and here the students playing, and it's wonderful. When we first found it and were snapping photo's I really felt the presence of God, and knew that he wanted to use this place to help me grow and change and really start to paint the picture for what the future has in store for me and what his plan is for my life. After Jack and I finished in there we met back up with the three ladies and continued exploring the city, and just being awwed by the scenery. We just started walking and didn't really pay attention to where we were going, and ended up finding this area just outside the city wall which had a nice little grass area with some tree's a path way and a nice place to sit down rest and talk with eachother. Not to long after that we headed back to the Hostel and sat and just relaxed for a while there, and then we all went out to eat. The food is unbelieveable, real Italian food at its finest and they do not disapoint! The portion sizes are a little small so I am slightly worried about losing weight but I do not think that it will be to big of a problem. We found a Gym that is pretty inexpensive and is pretty nice so we shouldn't have a problem working out, which is fantastic. My small family of 4 is cooking dinner tomorrow night, so I had my first Italian shopping experience in the grocery store, we are making pasta, but it will be fantastico I am sure! I am very excited for tomorrow, because we are going to Chruch and it seems like it will be an awesome experience, not a Catholic service which i didn't think existed here in Italy but I think it will be a great experience. I am looking forward to continuing to dialog with the team and learn more about each one of them. I am pretty sure that is all for now, but more to come tomorrow. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequte. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us..." -Marianne Williamson

Ciao, Day 1. Well we made it safetly to Italy. We couldn't have asked for better traveling, the plane rides were smooth and all on time, every one had everything they needed, no luggage was lost and the whole trip was easy. After getting up at 3 AM we flew out of Sea-tac at 7:15 and landed safetly at Dulles in D.C. at about 3:30, after a brief layover we took off from Dulles at 5:30 bound for Munich, arriving there shortly before 8 AM on the 18th, we departed then from Munich at 9 and landed safetly in Florence at 10:00 after collecting our luggage we met the lead stint team member at the airport and went and got lunch. We then hopped on a Bus and made it safetly in Italy. we are staying at a hostel, and the two guys who run it Domingo and Emanuele are hilarious and very helpful they are such great guys. I don't think it has quite set in but I am in Italy. I was going to write this last night but I fell asleep at 7 pm and didn't wake up until 9 AM the following day. So I am posting this a little bit late. We walked around the city for a little while last evening scoping out good places to eat, and the Compo, which is a place where every one gathers. The city is amazing, it really is something out of the movies, and it's unbelieveable. It is so old and historic but at the same time so modern. I am excited to continue to explore, and really meet the people and get to know the culture of Siena! I will continue to keep you posted, hopefully every day. "What man is a man who does not make the world better?" -Balien of Ibalin Andrew Wesley

Today is the start of my trip to Italy, and I can not even begin to express how incredibly excited I am that I am going on this trip. I have no doubt that this is going to be one of the best experiences of my life. I am so excited to experience the culture of Italy and learn more about their culture and more about myself, and just continue to grow in my faith, and really get to know some people much closer. I will try to blog on this every day and some of you will be getting very specific emails, and I will be including pictures. I hope that you enjoy reading about my adventures and experiences. "What we do in life Echoes in Eternity!" -Maximus Decimus Meridius