Adventures in moving, Lockdown, Online life…and a
special visit from very special people!
A little watercolor I did for a mom in the hospital in Genova. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
Hey everyone, we are so excited to share some updates with you all. It’s been a while since we’ve written. Life has been quite full even though Italy has slowed everything down for the past months. We hope that you will take a couple minutes to read about what we’ve been up to. We’ve got much to praise God for and several prayer requests too, so stick with us.
Such an amazing time of bonding for Ruzanna and I. Crazy how in the midst of suffering there can be joy.
Right after Christmas…
Ruzanna and I, McKenzie, drove six hours to Genova to a children’s hospital that specializes in caring for children with spina bifida. Ruzanna had quite a complicated and painful spinal surgery, but she was so strong. The surgery was a success and we were both cared for very well in our 15 day stay. She recovered incredibly and is now running and jumping and playing as if nothing ever happened. We will continue to travel to Genova for periodic check ups and we continue to pray that she grow normally and not have any other issues caused by her spinal malformation. We Praise God for how everything went and are so grateful to all of you who were sustaining us in prayer. Please continue to pray that Ruzanna will develop and grow normally.
Last moments at the Sistiana house…bitter sweet
Life in the Red Zone
The kids were in and out of school since December with various quarantines and lockdowns, but through it all they handled it quite well. We had about a 4 to 5 week period where Italy went into “zona rossa” (red zone), which is a kind of lockdown where you are only allowed grocery shopping, outdoor physical activity within 500 meters of your home and other outings only if absolutely necessary and if accompanied by a written doc. to confirm your needs, so you don’t risk a hefty fine. During this time we were just finishing to move all of our belongings into our new house, which still needed a lot of cleaning, painting and mantenance work, and the kids were all home and doing school online. Which has its various challenges. It was exhausting. However, each day we got out of bed, got to work and somehow had enough energy to get things done. Let’s just say moving houses in the middle of a pandemic is not ideal and I would never do it again LOL!
The big move…
This was all very intense and we were literally at the end of our rope, but God gave us a very special gift in the midst of it all….
….. It was a long time that we were searching and trying to discover if it was at all possible for my parents to come to Italy and visit. We all longed for them to meet Rinat, Ruzanna and Sitora in person and just dreamed about the day. Well, after many questions and phone calls we finally found out that, because I am an Italian citizen my parents would be allowed to enter the country if they tested negative for COVID twice before departure on a COVID free flight and once upon arrival. So, on March 15th they journeyed across the ocean and arrived in Rome only to be told that the country of Italy was on lockdown and that they had to return home! Andrea had written a letter expressing our needs to have them here, but they wouldn’t budge until something changed in the mind of the director and he suddenly had compassion and allowed them to stay! Did we celebrate? Oh yes indeed! For a month we were on lockdown at home with my parents, and it refreshed us greatly. They helped us get our house set up and they just loved on the kids in such a special way. Our new home provided the space we needed to all be together comfortably and we are so grateful. The kids have been adapting so well to the change and we are really excited to use our home for our ministry needs. We got to celebrate 5 birthdays, 2 wedding anniversaries and Easter in the time my parents were here. It was really a blessed time and we all were so sad to have them leave. However, we hope and pray that we will be able to come to the US sooner than later and be able to spend time together with them and the rest of the family!
Working together, playing together, celebrating Easter and Birthdays…
Before our last lockdown we had a amazing day hiking and picnicking with our friends and Andrea’s mom
Ministry
Our church plant, Il Granaio, is continuing to meet via Zoom each Sunday and our core leader group meets via Zoom every Wednesday evening for some prayer time together. We’ve been seeing this time that we aren’t able to gather as a preparation time for what is to come. As Andrea, along with the other two leaders, preach and lead the gatherings on Sundays we have sensed God uniting and growing them as leaders. We are praying that when the time is right God will lead us to the right meeting place. We do long to worship together in the same room and be able to invite others to join. We have found it difficult for our friends who have children to connect via zoom.
Our friends and old & new neighbours have also been heavy on our hearts. We are praying regularily for them to encounter Christ in a way that captivates their hearts. Since being in our new home we have met several of our new neighbours. Two young families have children, one of which have become great friends of the girls. They actually have made a meeting place in the hedge and play together for hours. We are enjoying becoming friends with their parents. We are so excited that there are people around us that we immediately connected with. We feel like God has really put us in a place where our family can naturally share our lives and our faith in Christ in simple ways. We are still in contact with our neighbours from Sistiana. Adrien has gotten back to piano lessons with one of them and some ladies have been asking me when the next tea party will be. Once the lockdown lifted we were able to meet up with Vito too and we plan to do that each Friday when Adrien has his piano lesson.
Montse and Vale are finally able to come to our house. This Sunday we will be able to have them over for Zoom church. I will be preparing a Sunday school lesson and activity for the kids and then we will have our worship time and message. Everyone is staying for lunch outside in the yard. It has been a long time that Montse and Valentina have been curious about Jesus. Just the other day Valentina shared with me that they both are really wanting a relationship with Him and they have started praying each morning. Please pray for them to surrender their hearts, their fears, their doubts. Pray that Jesus would captivate them like no other.
Andrea has been asked to pray about taking on a position as a PIONEERS area leader. We have been praying regularly about this and asking God to lead him in taking or not taking it. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as we make this decision as it would effect how he spends his time as a leader of Il Granaio. However, it could be a great opportunity for him to help others get connected and set up as missionaries throughout Italy.
Praises:
Ruzanna’s successful surgery
My parent’s visit and all the help we received from them
Loving our new house and new neighborhood
We are back in the “yellow zone” which means shops and caffès are open, kids are back in school, we can move about more freely and have people over to our house!
How we are maturing and growing in unity as a church
Montse and Vale’s desire to know Jesus more
Prayers:
Ruzanna’s continual healing and normal growth
Wisdom and guidance for our church to have a place to meet
For our old and new neighbors
For Montse and Valentina to be captivated by Jesus and for nothing to come in the way of that
For wisdom and guidance for the decision for Andrea to become an area leader
Andrea’s mom, Graziella, has recently needed 24 hour care and we felt the best way for that was to have her move to an assisted living. However, over the last month she has not been well. We don’t feel the place she is in is the right one. Please pray for God to make an opening at a new place where she will be better cared for.
Thank you all for sticking with us. We are so thankful for you. Your support is so precious to us. May God bless you this day and may He fill you with peace and joy. Much love to you all!
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