Winter 2014

Justin & Ryutaro

Hey Everybody,

We can't believe we are over half way through January. We both worked more than usual this week which was good and challenging. Carli struggled at work this week. She knows that she loves working with kids, but ever since she has returned to work she has not had a peace about the situation.  Please pray for direction in this area of her life.  If there is something else she needs to be doing, we pray that it would be made evident.

Last Sunday at church we learned about what church looks like as a community. It was very challenging and insightful.  We as a church hope in the coming months to begin two community groups.  One will be for the large amount of college students that study abroad in Florence.  We have been so encouraged by the steady flow of students each new semester brings.  Most of them have an eagerness to serve and learn. The other group will be for long term residents of Florence.  In both groups we will be going through a series on the basics of the church. Our prayer is that in the coming months our core group will be in one accord and grow in strength.

Now that all of the Christmas and New Years festivities are complete we are beginning to see our friends with have been ministering to on a regular basis again.  Please pray for these relationships to continue to grow and that God would continually give us opportunities to share Him with them. We may have mentioned them in past blogs, but here are four of them: Clotilde (retired lawyer and Justin's student), Sergio (native Florentine who we eat with every week), Ryutaro ( young Japanese believer searching for direction in his life), and Simona (young woman from Romania who is searching for truth).

Thank you for your prayers and love.

Justin & Carli