First Transition of Many

We just recently left our prior employment to start raising funds and preparing for Italy full-time. It's been kind of a weird feeling so far. We are living in Wabash, IN with my parents to lower living expenses as we raise funds. They have been wonderful and it's so nice to have that support as we enter in to this new season of our lives. I thought it would be odd to live with my family again and bring a wife along with me to boot. It actually has been pretty smooth and feels fairly organic and normal, which might make me odd rather than the situation. We were able to get a part-time position at the church we are attending while we are here. We get to clean the church during the week. The hours are really flexible and it is a gift from God to have a way to still have some money for bills coming in as we're doing this.

I think the hardest thing to get used to now is how slow things can move sometimes. When you are working a full-time job and trying to get things accomplished for your preparations and fundraising in your spare-time, you stay super-busy and things feel like a whirlwind. When you have a lot of your time to completely devote to this stage, things seem to move slower. At first that seemed a little backwards to me. However, I guess just because I have a lot more time to devote to this, doesn't mean all the churches and people we're talking to do. They are just as busy as ever with all the other things they have going on. Before, if someone wouldn't call me back for a week I hardly noticed, because my week was busy with other things too. Now, it feels a little different. You just can't really make a person fit into your to-do lists. That's OK though. I think we've struggled a little bit at first trying to figure out a schedule, how to best use our time, and just getting use to this new arrangement. Things are starting to move though and we are so happy that God has given us the resources and opportunities to focus on this mission He's given to the Verona team.

-Brandon

Lord, Make Me Beautiful, A Missionary's Prayer

Lord, give me blisters on my feet from walking with people.
Give me calluses on my fingers because I've cared.
Make my voice horse from singing Your Name.
Let my wallet be empty because I've shared.
Give me wrinkles on my face from all the laughter.
And puffy eyes from the tears I've shed.
May my back hurt because I was unselfish.
May my knees be sore from my prayers.
Break my heart when Yours is sad.
And when I stop to rest, Lord, let me be aware
Of only what YOU are doing.

Italy in Everything

I don't know when it happened. It might have been the first time we found out about the opportunity to go to Italy. It might have been after we talked to Team Expansion or Matt and realized that going to Verona was a real possibility for us. I can't put my finger on it but at some point I began to see Italy in everything around me.

At first it started as shows on the travel channel about Venice, Milan, Florence and even Verona itself. Italian cooking shows on the food network, any news that had anything to do with the country and people who've visited there telling me all about their trips. I notice when things are made in Italy in stores or when people have Italian names. The other night I saw Matthew Fox from Lost on a talk show and found out his wife is Italian. How interesting. Then, there's the soccer...don't even get me started on the soccer. We love Soccer and can't wait to live in a country where it's so popular. Everywhere I look, everywhere I go...I notice anything that has to do with Italy.

I've been thinking today how important it is for me to be like that in my walk with God...to see Him in everything around me. Things happen in life that we don't always understand. We hurt, we get angry, we lose, we get dissapointed and end up confused. Yet, if we keep our eyes open and our heads up we can see God in all those situations. We can see how He worked in and through us to strengthen our faith. I also think about the times of love, rejoicing, happiness and peace. I see God working in little areas of my life to bring me laughter when I need it, joy when I choose it instead of a bad attitude and peace even when I don't understand it. I am thankful to have a God that works even in the smallest ways to show He's there and He loves us, that He can take any situation and work it out to make us better. I can't help but to think how in Italy we are all going to have good days and bad days...but in all those days, God will be working to make us stronger and equip us to do the task He's given us.

-Savannah Eaton

Pierre

I just got through reading a wonderful little book by Maurice Sendak entitled, Pierre, a Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue. In it, our title character would say nothing but, "I don't care!" No matter what his mother or father did or said, he would still reply with, "I don't care!"

One night, a hungry and extremely polite lion came to Pierre's home and expressed his desire to eat him. The apathetic boy replied as usual. Several times the lion strove to make sure that Pierre really meant it when he said, "I don't care!" After repeating himself no less than seven times, Pierre was eaten by the lion.

There's more to the story, but you'll have to read it on your own to find out what happens. However, I can tell you the moral of the story: CARE!

Sometimes, in various stages of our lives, we see the apathy in the attitudes of the people around us. Sometimes, we see it in ourselves. Resist! Don't give in! In this world, the lost need us to care. They need us to go. They need us to do whatever we need to do in order to share with them the good news of Jesus! Continue to fight the good fight. Care.