October Update

Hello,

We are doing well. We have three big praises to share with you. Number one being...our upstairs neighbors. We made them cookies and introduced ourselves a few weeks back. They invited us in and we talked for a little bit. They are from southern Italy, but they have lived in Bologna for several years. It is a mother and two daughters. The girls are very sweet and they love English. We hope to have dinner together soon.  Our prayer is that they would see Christ through our lives and our friendship with their family.

Number two...we got a car!!!  With some help from supporters we were able to buy a car. Of course you may be thinking...can Justin legally drive it? The answer is no, not yet. He will take the driving part of his test next Thursday. Please be praying for him. Like the written part of the exam, the driving part of the test is difficult. We will let you know how it turns out.

Number three...we found a church body. There is a new church plant that is about 25 minutes away. It has just recently started in the Spring. It is led by an Italian pastor from Bologna. He is married to a really sweet woman from the U.K. We are excited to see how the Lord uses us and develops this body of believers for His glory.

Thank you for always praying and supporting us. We are praying for you.

With love,
Carli  & Justin

Autumn is here

It is hard to believe that autumn is already here. We have been in Bologna for one month and every day we are getting more familiar with our new area. We are going to take this post to tell you a little about the town we live in. We live in a small town that is a suburb of Bologna. The town is called San Pietro in Casale. It has about two stop lights and lots of flat farming land. It reminds us of south Georgia. There are around 11 thousand people living here. Last Sunday we walked to the park nearby and saw many families spending their afternoon there. Like us, most of the people here commute to Bologna for work. We hope that in the coming months we will begin to know our neighbors and build relationships.

Speaking of neighbors we are getting some new ones this week. The house that we live in has an upstairs area that has been empty since we have been here. We learned this week from our landlord that there is a mom and two girls moving in upstairs this week. We are excited to meet them. Please be praying for all of our new relationships here.

This month we had a couple of great opportunities to spend time with Justin's colleague and his wife. They are a really sweet couple from the southern part of Italy.  They have been so open and welcoming to us. We have explained some of what we believe as believers and they are very curious. Please pray for them. Justin works closely with him every day. Pray also for Justin that he would allow the Lord to work though him at his job.

Carli has enrolled in an Italian language school and she will begin lessons the second week in October. She is excited to meet her classmates and teacher. Her hope is that through this class she would be able to build relationships that lead to the sharing of her faith. She has also been blessed with three families with children that want English lessons. She began those this week and they went really well.

We are praying for you and your impact where you are. Please pray for us. We believe so strongly in the power of prayer. There is no doubt in our mind that God will provide for us and use all of us for His kingdom.

We love you,
Justin & Carli