La Chiesa e La Communione (The Church and Fellowship)

We had our first weekend full of church events. At a prayer meeting on Thursday we met a good portion of the congregation and were a little overwhelmed with everything (an hour of prayer in language we didn’t know!), but everyone was very welcoming and friendly.

Saturday afternoon was our first English class. This week was an introduction to the class, so Eric and I talked about ourselves in autobiographical form for about an hour and then took questions. We chatted with Pastor Ferrari afterwards about how things went and feel a little better prepared to tackle a prepared lesson from a book this weekend.

There is a broad range of English knowledge among the students and it’s hard to know what vocabulary is new and unfamiliar, so we’ll try to stop often to ask questions to see if everyone is tracking.

the sanctuary

Eric was given the first Sunday to adjust and get a feel for the church service before preaching. We would have been totally lost in the service except there is one member who is from the UK (Moved as a 6 year old to Italy) and knew English well enough to translate some points through notes. I’m really looking forward to this Sunday and hearing the sermon in English! (with Pastor Ferrari translating)

After church we had a fellowship meal where we had the traditional Italian fare of a primi dish (usually pasta), then secondo (meat) and salad, then dessert. 

The style was a little different than what we’re used to in the US. Instead of all the dishes being laid out pot-luck style, each family served their own dish to each family member. Then if there were leftovers, they were passed around the table to share. Eric and I, as the newbies, were offered just about every single dish and ate waaay too much. We slept it off in the afternoon before returning to church in the evening.

We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with the church members and hope to get to know many of them better in their homes for dinner in the upcoming weeks.

Our digs

I wanted to take a video tour of the apartment, but haven't gotten there yet. Here are some of photos of our little place in Bollate that I took our first day here.  We live in the downtown area, across from an Italian shoe store and just a half block from one of the four local Gelaterias. :-)



The study/our closet


main room which serves as bedroom, living room, dining room and kitchen




Our place is about a 12 minute walk from the pastor's place, so we have taken advantage of the small calorie burn we get from that walk before and after dinner, but compared the amount we've been eating, it's not making a dent.

our front patio.


Tomorrow we are heading to Lake Como as our 'day away', so I'll share that and some photos of our first Sunday later this week.

Here!

Buon Giorno!

We have arrived safely, albeit tired, in Bollate – a northern suburb of Milan – where the Ferraris live.

Our apartment is wonderful! It’s a one-bedroom flat, but the bedroom serving as the study and our closet. The main room of the apartment is studio style with our bed (a fold out couch), a table, and kitchen (which came stocked with groceries, thanks to pastor’s wife, Christina) We share both rooms with lots of books (Pastor F has over 8,000!).

Some highlights, bullet-style

• my first cooking experience in Milan. It took hours to air out the apartment. (In my defense, the toaster didn't automatically pop the bread up!) As Eric and I were have a frustrated discussion about it, we started violently waving towels around to get rid of the smoke, then promptly burst out laughing.
  
• first thing googled: “How to use a bedet”
• attempted to figure out internet using a pin drive with limited access (10 gb a month). We now know how much internet memory is used for each of our everyday. Limiting email refreshes, streaming and blogging unless we find a better solution.
• thunder so loud I jumped in my chair at the table. It has been almost non-stop raining the past 36 hours.

Speaking of thunder, here’s a little video of today’s rain from our patio.

It’s nearly dinner time. Buona Sera from Bollate!

baci e abbracci,
Eric and Katie
(eh-reek and keh-ee-tee)

Arrivederci!

Well, the week is upon us! Eric and I leave on Thursday for NYC where we'll spend 4 days vacationing. Monday night we leave for Milan, arriving in the morning on Tuesday.
We'll be staying in a small apartment within walking distance of the pastor's family's house, which is in a suburb of Milan, about 25 minutes outside of the city. I have no idea how big it is, what the furnishing is like, and what we'll have - so it definitely feels like an adventure!

I've packed enough clothes for 30 days in one duffel bag. It feels like a massive accomplishment. Paring down to five pairs of shoes was a bit painful. Eric's hopefully spending today picking up his altered suit (wahoo weight loss!) and starting his packing.

Eric and I have started an introductory audio Italian course with Pimsleur to get a few words and phrases before we arrive. Lots to learn! Eric's preaching the first Sunday already so he's started looking over some commentaries on Colossians (and packing more), as he'll be preaching through the whole book in the 8 weeks (16 services).

Tonight we have an anniversary photo shoot (scheduled pre-Milan trip) with Anjuli. We've got haircuts and lawn mowing, holding the mail and paying bills and all the other things that happen with leaving for weeks. I have to work today and tomorrow, and then we're off!

Thank you all again for your support, encouragement, prayers and excitement for us as we get ready to serve the church in Milan. We appreciate your continued prayers for travel safety this week, and an ability to quickly adjust and settle in once we arrive. Grazie!

Baby girl

Last night our friends Thomas and Adrienne invited us and their families over for gender reveal party.

Adrienne had her 20 week ultra sound, but instead of finding out the big news then, they had the technician write down the baby's gender and put it in an envelope.

Adrienne brought the secret (no peeking!) to a bakery and had them fill the cake with either pink or blue frosting, depending on the answer.

We all had dinner, voted on our guess and then anxiously awaited the cake cutting....

which revealed the pink underneath!

Here's a video of the exciting moment:

we're thrilled for them (and I'm starting to shop for all things ruffly)

Summer Plans

Now that we've told some friends and family, we wanted to share some news and prayer request for Eric and I for this summer.

A couple of weeks ago a pastor around here approached Eric about an internship opportunity for the summer.

 This was great because Eric didn't have any plans yet, and while he doesn't need any more internship experience for his degree program, he did need something to do this summer. 

The details: for 8 weeks he would be working 6 days a week--preaching twice a Sunday, doing pastoral visits with the pastor, and teaching an English class which the church uses as an evangelism tool.

The internship is a little unique in that it is in Milan, Italy. (http://reformationitaly.org) (!!)

The duomo of Milan, photo from our honeymoon June 2009

My work is being generous and flexible in allowing me to go with Eric for almost half of the eight weeks. I'll be working part-time remotely as Eric will be staying really busy with the work there.

The church has an apartment we'll be staying in, although I don't have much more detail than that for now.

We're heading to New York for our summer vacation and then flying out of there the first week of June. I'll leave July 1st and Eric will stay until early August.

There is a ton to be figured out between now and when we leave in 5 weeks, but we feel very blessed to have this opportunity, and would covet your prayers that finances for the trip work out (it is an unpaid internship and we are responsible for our travel and incidentals while we're there), that we travel safely, and that Eric's work in Milan will be used well for the sake of the Kingdom.

More details to come!

Week in Chicago

Eric and I just got home from a week in Chicago to work/attend The Gospel Coalition Conference. We had a great, but exhausting time!

One of the hotels that had rooms blocked out for the conference was the historic Palmer House Hilton (built in 1871). We decided to stay there instead of the hotel on McCormick Place's campus.

Its located right in the loop, and was beautiful!

main lobby

our room

The conference brought such a broad variety of people (reformed, baptist, evangelical) and the main topic of the plenary speakers was "Preaching Christ from the Old Testament". Eric's (educated) commentary was that most speakers did really well, although there were a few that didn't do justice to the topic.

If you get the chance, we'd highly recommend you listen to:

Tim Keller, Getting Out (Exodus)

Conrad Mbewe, The Righteous Branch (Jeremiah)

Matt Chandler, Youth (Ecclesiastes)

Mike Bullmore, God's Great Heart of Love Towards His Own (Zephaniah)

Don Carson, Getting Excited About Melchizedek (Psalms)

There were dozens of break-outs sessions and special events. One that we were able to attend was a live taping of The White Horse Inn, a radio program/podcast that Eric and I have been listening to for years. One of WSC's faculty members started WHI 20 years ago and we are closely connected with them at the seminary. Last minute one of the usual panelists got sick and wasn't able to make it, so Eric's preaching professor stepped in (he also spoke at another breakout session).  We sat in the front row and cheered like groupies.

There was addendum post-conference called Christ + City that we also attended. Mostly urban pastors seeking to communicate the mission and encourage the leaders of urban or inner-city churches.  Included in that event was Tim Keller's Generous Justice message, which was great to hear.

(Eric recently read his book, and subsequently wrote a review for Westminster's blog on it:

http://wscal.edu/blog/entry/book-review-generous-justice-by-tim-keller)

The events of the week concluded with a concert by some of Eric's favorite artists. I know most people will be skeptical when they hear this music described, so I'm just going to link up to some songs and let you know decide for your self.

We had a blast at the concert and felt edified leaving it, which is a weird thing after you've been head-bobbing, singing and stepping for two hours.

After the conference was over we headed home. A birthday dinner with Rachel, and a long lazy breakfast with the family rounded out the weekend.


We left just in time...snow had started to fall as our plane left. We were so happy to come home to Cali.