What we do in life echoes in eternity

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