Summer Is On Its Way!

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the recent delay in posts. It has been kind of crazy with work. I am excited to say that we have recently moved into our new apartment and are starting to settle in step by step. Today, Carli is returning to Italy from her short trip in the States. I am so happy for her return. Thanks to all of you who made her trip enjoyable and restful. It will be great to have her back home.

As far as our work here, we have made some progress and the Lord has shown Himself to us in every which way. This Friday, I will drop off the final signatures needed to change by visa into a long term work visa. This is a wonderful blessing because the Italian government still is not allowing non European citizens to enter the country for work. Also, this will enable Carli to now have the opportunity to work on a long term basis. So, we are grateful for this grace to be able to work amid these wonderful people and (Lord willing) to show them the grace of Christ lived out in our every day lives.

Please continue to pray for us this Summer as we work hard on language learning and also praying through a vision for future work here in Florence. Also, we ask that you pray for the friendships that we have already started these past couple of months. I will try to get a list going so we all can have names to pray for. I am trying in this time to be intentional with prayer because I have not been lately. So, I will start writing names of people that we have made contact with and maybe you can take a few minutes each day to lift up these names to Jesus so that the Holy Spirit has His work in the hearts of these folks.

On a more practical note, we need prayer for the every day things. We need to find a doctor here for the both of us. At some point this next week I will try to get my new insurance card, etc. These may not sound like much, but in this country it is hard work to accomplish : )

We promise to be more intentional with our posts and ask that you not stop reading our blog : )
We love you all very much and are so thankful for your support and prayers.

People we are praying for....

1.All of Justin's co-workers with the exception of one. They all need Jesus and the truth of the Gospel in their lives. They are Scottish, Welsh, English, Italian, Albanian, Irish, American and Australian.

2.Carli's Families- Linda and Simona and their husbands. We pray for their hearts and that the Lord can use Carli in their everyday lives to show them the love of Jesus.

3. Carli's future work.
Carli should start work as an English teacher for a private Italian school near Florence this September. It will be a huge ministry opportunity for her. We pray that she will have peace there and start to make friendships with her co-workers and the children that she teaches.

3.Romanian Contacts-

Stella and her family. She is an English student and a nurse here in Florence. She has a wonderful heart and has helped us much in the last month. We ate dinner with her and her son and daughter for the Eastern Orthodox Easter a few weeks ago. She has an open heart for the Lord, we are praying that we can have a chance to share the Gospel with her.

Silviu- new student from Braila

Dana- new student from western Romania

Alina- English student from western Romania. We hope to have dinner with her family very soon.

Florin- A Romanian believer here who desires to start a Romanian church. Even though we may not have the time to work with him, we are praying that the Lord gives him the desires of heart and that Christ will be glorified through his mission here in Florence.

4. Italian Contacts-

Johnny and Anna are two of my private students who live in a suburb of Florence. I meet with them every Saturday for two hours. Lately our conversations have been focused on the validity of the Scriptures and the live of Jesus. I hope that these conversations will continue as we have developed an amazing friendship.

Raoul is a fellow believer who has just been baptized with the local church that we are a part of. We are praying for him as he works with many unbelievers and as he shares his testimony with others, especially those of his family. We hope to be an encouragement to him every week.

Grazia- A friend and student who is a surgeon for the main hospital here in Florence. She has been a great help with medical contacts. We hope to meet her soon to get to know her more.

Monica- A contact from work who is a student and nurse for a pediatric hospital here in Florence.

Avisa and Giorgio- A sweet little family who study English at my work. Avisa is Iranian and Giorgio is Italian.

There are about 350 other students who I have contact with weekly. I am praying that other contacts will emerge from these classes.











"And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day." (John 6:39)