Bringing it all together.....

I have been trying to upload pictures of our time in the four cities whenever I have Internet access. Below is a list of links to see the pictures that I have posted.

To see where all the current and future albums are go here:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/

City #1: Treviso; Day One:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip--/

City #1: Treviso; Day Two:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip-c/

City #2: Venezia-Mestre; Day One:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip---2/

City #2: Venezia-Mestre; Day Two:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip---1/

City #3: Verona; Day One:
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip---3/

City #3: Verona; Day Two:
Coming Soon!

City #4: Parma; Day One:
Coming Soon!

City #4: Parma; Day Two:
Coming Soon!

Treviso - Day One (continued)

Here are some of Angie's thoughts after our first day in Treviso.

"Treviso is a beautiful city. It looks like a painting. It is very clean and the people are beautiful dressed like out of a fashion magazine. When we stepped out of the train station we could see a tree lined street. You can tell that the city has money. My thoughts and prayers for the people tonight have been surrounded by this money. I have wondered if they are bound by their love for money. I have prayed that God would free them from that. If I could put a face on Treviso it would be Davide. I know his name because I overheard a friend say “Ciao David” as they were saying goodbye. I watched Davide a tall slender man with a firm jaw who was wearing dark jeans and a black shirt. I watched him walk away smiling and I prayed that he would know my Jesus. "

And then below you can find a link to around 30 pictures from our first day in Treviso. Also the second link is where you can see all of the links for the trips so far.

Treviso - Day One
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/prayersurvey-trip--/

Pictures from 2007 (including Verona pics from an earlier trip)
http://public.fotki.com/mcrosser/2007/

Treviso - Day One

We made it to Treviso, and just checked into our hotel. At the train station we were already attracted to the cleanliness outside of the train station. Trees all in front of the train station and nice buildings. We only had a short walk to our hotel from the station. In a few minutes we will meet downstairs to go to dinner and explore the city center a little. Later, I will try to post some pictures.

Dinner With Friends

So tonight after the survey team learned the language and observed the Italian phenomenon of "strolling" they learned how to cook an Italian meal and then we ate that meal with several of our Italian friends. Some of those friends are part of our church and some of the others are not. We had a blast with all of them, then some of us went out for gelato before turning in for the night.

It gave the survey team a chance to spend time with Italians on a deeper scale than we probably will as we go through four strange cities. This way they could start to fall in love with the Italian people and also have something to compare their other experiences with.

Here are some pictures from the dinner together, which Angie did a great job cooking with Heather's help as well as some survey team helpers in the kitchen. Tomorrow morning the team is meeting at our house where we have a full slate planned of briefing the trip together, breakfast, previewing the evalutions and observations for the prospective cities and then heading to the train station for our first city, Treviso. We ask that God protect us and guide us on our journey.

Download our Prayer Guide

Hey if you want to pray with us through the cities this week, download our prayer guide. View it by clicking here, http://www.thecrossers.com/gonorth/gonorthprayerguide200704.pdf. If you want to download it right click the link above and choose to "save target as" and choose somewhere on your computer where you want to store it.

Prep Work For The Prayer and Survey Trip

So, we are getting closer to the Prayer and Survey trip through the four cities we are considering for the next church plant. I have been working on the schedule and accompanying resource booklet for the participants. I am including maps of each city's downtown area (the area usually most frequented by Italians), phone numbers for emergencies, survey questions, items to consider as we walk through each city, as well as places to journal and evaluations as we leave each city. After the trip we plan on compiling the information and sharing with prayer partners and supporting churches, so that we can pray together for the city in which we will be ministering next. I will close now, so that I can get further along on the materials I am preparing.

Prayer and Survey Trip

From April 25-29, we will be leading a prayer and survey trip through the four cities that we have been researching and praying over to be the site of the upcoming church plant. Here are some tools for praying with us as we go from city to city. Thanks for your prayers as we go forward with this project. Email us if you have any questions (or comment below). mcrosser@teamexpansion.org.