Buon Settembre a Tutti!
Hello everyone, we are so happy to share with you our latest newsletter! After some travels in the US over the past few weeks we are back in Italy and have gotten right back to work. Well, we did get right back to work and then a horrific toothache derailed me for over a week. But, I am now back on the mend and happy to tell you what's been happening the past few weeks (besides toothaches).
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New Students
We are happy to announce that Rebecca and I have picked up 4 new students since returning to Italy!
First, we have two new younger students Oliver and Lucas. They are the sons of Yuky a Chinese immigrant to Italy. Yuky was first introduced to the church of Christ through a volunteer who lived here in the 90's. She was baptized, but has not remained faithful (she attends a Chinese denomination now). She got my number and asked if I would be willing to teach her children, aged 9 and 12. I told her I would be happy to do so, and we met for the first time last week. I had each of them do a placement test and the 12 year old (Oliver) got almost a perfect score. His brother did not do quite as well, but did okay considering his age. We also spoke a little bit about church. Oliver had many questions about the church of Christ. He wanted to know what day we worshiped and then asked if we do any Bible classes for the kids. I assured him we do and told him a little about the church. I think this could be a very good study, and I hope that it will help their mother consider coming back to the church.
Second, I am studying. with Alessio. Alessio was brought to me by Julie, an American member of the Florence congregation (she is married to an Italian man). He does not speak English very well. He told me, in our first study, that, "I want to improve my English, but I also want to come closer to God." This is the type of student we want so I am excited to begin to work with him.
Third, Rebecca has picked up a new student. She is a friend of Rebecca's student Alice, who is originally from China. They were supposed to meet today, but she had to cancel at the last minute. Lord willing, they will meet next week. Interestingly this means that we now have four students from China. This is a demographic that has a lot of potential for expansion both in Italy and worldwide, so we are excited to see where these studies lead.
As always please pray for these and all of our students!
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Studies with Alice
Alice is one of Rebecca's most consistent students. They have been studying together for more than a year now and she rarely misses a class. Her interest in the Bible sort of ebbs and flows. Sometimes she is very interested in the reading and sometimes she seems bored by it. Rebecca had an idea that perhaps it would be better to have more of a devotional reading and discussion than a Bible reading. As Rebecca put it. "She grew up not knowing what the Bible even is, nor ever thinking it needed to be read. So why would reaading it be all that interesting to her?"
This, I think, is a good idea, not just for Alice but for other students who are in a similar situation. Therefore, we are developing a different study that is more focused on religious discussion than Bible reading. Of course, these lessons will reference Bible verses and include verse readings, but will be a bit more topical in nature. For example, the first lesson will be, "Does creation require a Creator?" Another topic will be, "Can there be good without God?" The lessons would lead up to a discussion on whether the Bible is God's word and then examining topics like the church and salvation.
We are still in the early stages of developing these lessons. We hope that they will increase interest in reading the Bible itself and then eventually lead to more conversion.
Please pray as we work this out.
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