An Update...

Hello,

Carli and I are doing great. We just finished up an important week and are looking forward to the great things that the Lord has for us this next Holy week. I am currently waiting for an appointment with the federal immigration office which is set for April 8th. Once I make this appointment, I should receive my residential permit within a few weeks. Once I receive the permit, I must request that Carli be added on as my wife. Please pray for this aspect of the bureaucratic nonsense that we must get through.

Carli is still looking for another babysitter position with a family here. She will start part-time with a family on Wednesday. I am also currently looking for private students looking to learn English while I wait to change my contract to full-time. Please be in pray for this city and for the Christians who live here. Our prayer is that the Christ followers that are here, would be able to have the courage to start some discipleship groups and have the courage to live the Gospel boldly.

One of our friends, Mario, who works for the government, has been speaking to me about his world view and beliefs with the Christian faith. He is very open to finding truth and we are praying that he and his wife will at some point join us at one of the church services. He is a really intelligent person but has not been able to find the truth of the Gospel because of the barriers of catholic tradition and secular spirituality.

We are confident that the timing of our move here and the work that our Lord has already shown us is a testimony to the grace and the glory that Jesus receives when we his children are obedient to His will. We are thankful that all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.

We love you all very much!

Carli and Justin

Never Thirst Again

This week we attended an English Bible Study called Firenze Journey. It is led by our friends Cody and Dannielle. The purpose of Firenze Journey is to reach out to English speakers living in Florence and to share the truth  found in the Bible.  This week we studied John 4:4-45. This passage is packed full lessons to take away.  I encourage you to read the passage. I want to share a few things that stuck out to me.  From the context of the story we know the woman at the well was considered an outcast in her society.  She was the lowest of lows.  This fact did not deter Jesus from reaching out to her.  Jesus embraced what society overlooked and discarded.  Through this passage I am challenged about the importance of  looking past race, culture, and backgrounds.  I challenge you to do the same. The next thing that I took away from this passage takes place after their conversation. At the well Jesus explains that through the gift of God, she can have living water.  At first the women is confused but then she realizes that he is the promised Messiah, and the gift of living water is eternal life.  She immediately left the well and went into the city to tell others to come and see this man.  It was through this woman that many people came to meet Christ. Could you imagine?  It was because of this woman's testimony that many believed.  So no matter your personal background, God can use you.  She had no training or degrees, and he used her to usher people to Him and share the Gift of living water.  I am so thankful that he uses ordinary people who love and trust in Him.  As believers, we have the greatest gift to offer to the world.  Be willing and ready to share it with everyone!

We have a few specific ways you can pray for us.
1. Pray for the continual paperwork process to stay here in Italy. We are trying to get our documents together for me to be added to Justin's visa.
2. Pray for potential language exchange partners. (language exchange partners=two people come together and teach each other a language for free)
3. Pray for the people of Italy.  There are so many cultures here and it is a great opportunity to reach many cultures in one place. (Italians, English, Romanians, Chinese, African, Spanish)

Thank you for reading!
Love,
Carli & Justin

Our Passion

Hello All,
This post will be short because I really want you to take some time today or tomorrow to listen to this sermon on Frontier Missions.  I listened to it today, and I could not be more encouraged. Our passion is for God's name to be known here in Italy. We want the people around us to truly taste and see that the Lord is good. In the coming weeks and months pray about your part in missions.

Click here for the Sermon:

We Love You All!!
Carli & Justin

Only One Life To Live....

Hello Everyone,

We are grateful to God that we are back in Italy and beginning to get settled in. Justin had his first day of training today at the English school where he will be working.  The day went well for him so he will begin teaching on Saturday. We took some time yesterday to explore our zone of the city. The zone is called San Frediano. We went to a couple of stores to buy some groceries and supplies for the apartment. While we were out, we made a few contacts and we hope to continue to meet our new neighbors every day.  Justin and I both hope to always intentionally see these simple tasks as ministry opportunities. Over the past weeks and months we have had several people ask us "Why Italy?" which is a very good question.  The answer to that question is becoming clearer as the days here pass.  As we look around and realize so many people are missing out on the grace and overwhelming love that is found in the Gospel of Christ simply because there is no one here to share with them the good news, Through this glimpse of every day life, we see our purpose. We know that God desires His praise among all nations and God has burdened our hearts to seek out the lost and show them the Gospel. So we have a peace about serving in Italy because we see such a great need for the Good News of God's redeeming grace. Our hope and prayer through our time here is that we would glorify God and intentionally live for Him. 

We cannot express how grateful we are to have the support of our family and friends. We are so humbled at the opportunity to be here in Italy. Thank you for praying for us. Please continue to pray for us a we learn the Italian culture and language. Please consider visiting us soon. 

I will leave you with this quote that now hangs above our doorway. "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." 

WE love you!!!

Carli & Justin

Hello Everyone,

We would like to share some recent news about our trip back to Italy. We have found an apartment in the city center of Florence which will be our residence for the upcoming months. This is an amazing blessing for us since we do not have now need to take the immediate time to look for a more permanent place.

Justin has a job offer confirmed with an English school in the city center and will be starting to teach a few days after we arrive. This is another answer to pray because we need a work contract to add Carli on to his student visa. Please be praying for our first few weeks back as we try to obtain the soggiorno, (permit of residence) from the government. Also, please pray for Carli as she starts to work as a babysitter. Carli's job will be such an opportunity for the Lord to minister to those families. Pray that we both will have an influence in our work environments as we start our jobs. We will be heading back on the 4th of March.

Lastly, we would like to give the praise and the glory to Jesus for bringing us through every step of this beginning process. We are grateful for the growing of our faith these last weeks and we pray that through this journey we would be completely and joyfully satisfied in the grace of God for each day that He gives us.

We love you all,

Carli and Justin

Good News

Hello Everyone,

We are sorry for the time lapse from our last post. We arrived in the States two weeks ago and have been busy trying to figure out a way legally for returning to Florence. As always The Lord has been good to us and has given us clarity with the options that we were confronted with. Our only option that was the cheapest would be to enroll in a university in Florence for at least a year so that we could apply for a one year student visa. Once we have the visa, we can change the student visa into a work visa. Last week we found a school and made the wire transfer to the schools bank in Florence.

After gathering all of the appropriate documents for the Italian consulate, Carli and I drove down to Miami Monday since that is the only consulate for both Georgia and Florida. We cannot tell you how smooth the process went on Tuesday morning with the visa. The whole meeting took 10 minutes and the consulate told us the visa would be shipped back to us in just a few days. Yesterday we came back home and went straight to bed after driving all that way. When I woke up this morning, there was a FedEx employee that was knocking on the door with the visa in hand. We are good to go back to Italy.

I have been in contact with an English school in Florence who offered me a teaching job if I could get a visa. Upon receiving the visa the director of the school would like me to go back as soon as possible. So, we will be heading back to Florence, (Lord willing) in two weeks. Please pray for us as we head back. Pray that we are able to find a place to stay and also the process for our permit of stay will go well. We are so grateful that we have so many loved ones who have taken the time to pray for us with the matter. We are reminded daily of the psalmist when he says, "Spera in Dio, perche lo celebrero ancora; egli e il mio salvatore e il mio Dio" (Salmi 42:5) "Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him; my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:5)

We will keep you posted as we get ready to leave again!

Carli and Justin

Fine Tuning

Hello Family & Friends,

Another week has passed here in Italy. This past week has been like a roller coaster for both of us.  We have hit a few bumps in the road with the legal system in regards to acquiring a work visa.  We have found plenty of work and we both have went to interviews with possible employers.  Through these meetings with employers and new contacts, we have learned so much about the work visa process.  The bad news for now is that the work visas have been put on hold.  Any immigrant that is not part of the European Union is unable to get a work visa at this time.  The country of Italy is in the middle of electing a new prime minister.  The election is at the end of February and after the election, the ban on visas will hopefully be lifted. So sadly for now we will be returning to the States.  We spent many hours in prayer about what we should do and we feel that it would be best to return to the states and wait for the ban to be lifted.  Once it is lifted, we will go to Miami, to the Italian consulate, and we will turn in our paperwork for a work visa.  Until then, we will Lord willing, find temporary jobs, continue learning the language, and prepare spiritually.

Although we expected this trip to be much longer, we know that the God of the Universe has our lives in His hands and ultimately His timing is perfect.  So during this "fine tuning" stage please continue to pray for us and the country of Italy.  There is plenty of work to be done for His kingdom here and our prayer is that we would be used as vessels for Him in these coming days. We will continue to share our updates on this blog, so please keep checking it. Again we appreciate all of the prayers.

Until next time, I will leave you with this quote that has really encouraged me today: "The Lord is still calling on me to move forward in faith-loving, serving, discipling, and leading. All of ministry is a faith marathon, not a sprint. Daily He asks for my heart, that He might cultivate it, so as to produce fruit in and around me." -Christine Hoover

We Love You!
Carli & Justin