Check Out Our New Podcast!

Introducing our new podcast, "Go Verona Radio"....

It is found at http://goveronapodcast.blogspot.com/ and you can subscribe to the podcast at http://feeds.feedburner.com/GoVeronaRadioPodcast.

The plan is to have a new podcast each month. If you have suggestions for topics or things that you would like to hear us discuss or explore, email me at mcrosser@teamexpansion.org. Thanks for listening.

What a Full First Month

Whew. We are almost at the end of the first full month, of Angie and I being on the Verona team full time and can I just say.....whew, once more? There has been so much to do as we take the reigns of this ministry full time. We had planned on taking some of our vacation time and it just turned out that August was not the best month for us to do that. The Blackburns made it back to the USA and are getting readjusted to American life. April headed back to Haiti for her last school year teaching English there. Lots of communication has been going on and Angie and I completed our Field Ministry Plan for the upcoming nine months.

There are eight primary objectives of which we will be concentrating. Those eight are... recruiting, relocating, promotion & communication, research, preparation, training, relationshop building and administration. Everything we do fits into one of those areas and allows us to be more efficient and organized. Once the team starts arriving in Verona, those primary objectives will shift and include new objectives such as language aquisition and culture study. Everything we aim for is prayed over and subject to God's leading. He is an awesome God and we are so thankful to be serving Him.

If you want to see some of the graphics that I have been working on, head over to my sketchblog at http://mattsketchpad.blogspot.com/ and tell me what you think! It is mixed with other art that I work on in my spare time as well.

Fnac

Two things I love are books and coffee. Put those two things together and I am in a wonderland of delight! When we are in the states one of my favorite things to do is go to Barnes and Noble where I can wander through the books forever. Finally, I will make a selection of several books that I want to sit and look through and I head to the coffee shop. There I will get a tall coffee and spend a long while perusing the pages of books that interst me. I can spend all day there if I am allowed!

Living in Italy I have never found a place that fullfills, in the same way, that time spent at a Barnes and Noble. Yes, there are bookstores...nice ones. Yes, there are coffee shops....great ones! But in Italy I had yet to find a place that fullfilled my love of books and coffee at the same time.

However, it looks like Verona might just have something that will do the trick, Fnac. It is a store we had never heard of until we visited Verona. They have electronics, movies, video games but best of all downstairs is a bookstore! It is filled with children's books, cooking books, decorating books, magazines and so much more. I bet you would never guess what is also in Fnac? A coffee shop!!!

Verona Highlight: Piazza delle Erbe Markets

As we share with you the work in progress, we want to introduce you to the city where we will be living. So, we will post highlights that describe in word and photos about different areas of Verona. So for this first highlight, we will be talking about the "Piazza Delle Erbe". A piazza is like a town square that serves many functions. Meeting place, community center, an area dedicated to local cafes & restaurants, concert hall, etc.....

From the City of Verona website (http://www.comune.verona.it/turismo/Passeggiando/inglese/itineraryA/erbe.htm), here is the description of the Piazza Delle Erbe.

"PIAZZA DELLE ERBE
The Forum, centre of city life during Roman times, was situated here. The Piazza delle Erbe has continued to fill this same role for centuries: meeting place, home to the market, and also home to the city's administration. The centre of the square contains the monuments that symbolise the different rulers of Verona: the most famous is the fountain, built using a Roman statue during Scaligeri rule and later known as the "Madonna Verona". On the far side of the square are the 14th century Gardello Tower and the Baroque Palazzo Maffei. The courtyard of the Palazzo del Comune leads on to the Lamberti Tower with its suggestive panoramic views over the city."

As for the market, you can still find fresh fruits and vegetables. Here are some pictures...

Good Trip

We had a good overnight trip to Verona. There was lots of traffic on the way there and on the way back, but that was worth it to continue the quest to Verona. Angie and I arrived and explored some parts of the city and county of Verona that we hadn't seen before. The interns had taken the train from Rome and met us that night. On the train they had met a guy, Giuseppe, serving in the Italian military in nearby Trento (about forty minutes via car). He came into Verona today with a friend and they hung out with us as we explored Verona and then we went to lunch together. They even picked up the tab to show their friendship. Giuseppe's friend, Pasquale, has a strong desire to learn English and we talked about the English lessons/conversation will be offering once we arrive in Verona. He is excited. We exchanged cell phone numbers with Giuseppe and Pasquale to keep in touch. Then we took the interns to one of the area malls and we explored it and had dinner. While shopping, Lucia, was met by one of the interns and she was told about what we would be doing once we moved to Verona next year. Lucia speaks some English and was excited to learn how to converse even better in English.

God really led us around as we went into and through the city. My excitement is growing for the future and I can't wait to see what God is going to do in Verona. One day, we pray for a strong group of believers leading and reaching out to their peers in that beautiful city in northern Italy. And we also hope that through their willingness and giving that more churches would come from this one in the North.

Full Speed Ahead

Today marks the first day that Angie and I are both full-time team members of the Verona team. For the past seven months we have been moving forward through a gradual transition which has seen great benefits. Yesterday was our last day on the Ancona team, which leaves us singly focused for the first time in many months. So, we go forward and I hope to lead this new team, still forming, into Verona and follow the great commission and bring many into His kingdom.

We will still be living here in Ancona for the next three months before we return to the USA for recruiting, promoting, training and support raising. However, today we are driving to Verona to spend a day showing the interns, that have been here in Italy, the city that God has called us to next. I plan on posting something from our latest journey soon.

1913 Map of Verona

Here is an old 1913 map of Verona that I found online. It shows the main center of town with the Adige river that winds through it.

Approaching Liftoff!

We are approaching the liftoff for this mission. At this very crucial point in the life of our new team something is getting ready to happen. At the beginning of next month, our team will have two of its first few team members finally focusing solely on this new work. For the past seven months, Angie and I have been transitioning off of our old team, Go Ancona, and out of the work here in in Ancona, Italy. However, we are doing the final checklist for liftoff. At the end of this month, July 2007, Angie and I will cease to be on the Ancona team. Starting August 1st, 2007 we will be 100 percent focused on the Verona team and the new work. Part of this will be team building and recruitment, part of this will be on promotion, part of this focus will be on research of Verona and networking with current ministries; and finally part of the move from Ancona to Verona. First we'll pack up all of our things and put them in storage here in Ancona. God provided a great solution for our team. Then we will return to the states in order to promote, recruit and prepare for coming back. As soon as our first team member(s) is(are) ready we'll head back to Italy and begin the first onfield phase of language/culture acquistion. The new team members will be focused on that while we minister to them, researching the city and working on resources for the new work. We are looking at returning around May/June of 2008.

New Logo!

If you look above you'll see we have a new team logo! We aren't Go North anymore...we know where we are headed, Verona! So, now that we have a new logo, many other things can go to the next stage of preproduction, like prayer cards, business cards, websites, etc....

Return to Verona

So, we are heading back to Verona for a third visit (my fourth since I came here with Cliff Murphy, but we were only here for four and a half hours). This time we are taking the on field Ancona team with us. Since both Go Ancona and Go Verona are part of the same "Taking Christ to Italy" PACE project, it makes sense that the Ancona team would be involved with the research of the target city. Their field experience will be incredibly insightful as we seek to remove the enemy's grip from this city, while we seek out the spiritually needy.

We hope to spend some time in personal prayer over the city and getting to know the city better. It is quite an experience to transition from one home to another. One day, we will feel as comfortable in Verona as we do in Ancona, yet Verona will never replace Ancona in our hearts, just as Ancona never replaced Tulsa either. Our hearts have room for several "homes" especially since they all pale in comparison to our final heavenly one. And it is that home with our God that we want to share information about, within each city that we happen to find ourselves.

A Map of Verona by Henry Reed

This is a war time poem... yet, it seems fitting for us.


A MAP OF VERONA

A map of Verona is open, the small strange city;
With its river running round and through, it is river-embraced,
And over this city for a whole long winter season,
Through streets on a map, my thoughts have hovered and paced.

Across the river there is a wandering suburb,
An unsolved smile on a now familiar mouth;
Some enchantments of earlier towns are about you:
Once I was drawn to Naples in the south.

Naples I know now, street and hovel and garden,
The look of the islands from the avenue,
Capri and Ischia, like approaching drum-beats—
My youthful Naples, how I remember you!

You were an early chapter, a practice in sorrow,
Your shadows fell, but were only a token of pain,
A sketch in tenderness, lust, and sudden parting,
And I shall not need to trouble with you again.

But I remember, once your map lay open,
As now Verona's under the still lamp-light.
I thought, are these the streets to walk in the mornings,
Are these the gardens to linger in at night?

And all was useless that I thought I learned:
Maps are of place, not time, nor can they say
The surprising height and colour of a building,
Nor where the groups of people bar the way.

It is strange to remember those thoughts and try to catch
The underground whispers of music beneath the years,
The forgotten conjectures, the clouded, forgotten vision,
Which only in vanishing phrases reappears.

Again, it is strange to lead a conversation
Round to a name, to a cautious questioning
Of travellers, who talk of Juliet's tomb and fountains
And a shining smile of snowfall, late in Spring.

Their memories calm this winter of expectation,
Their talk restrains me, for I cannot flow
Like your impetuous river to embrace you;
Yet you are there, and one day I shall go.

The train will bring me perhaps in utter darkness
And drop me where you are blooming, unaware
That a stranger has entered your gates, and a new devotion
Is about to attend and haunt you everywhere.

The flutes are warm: in tomorrow's cave the music
Trembles and forms inside the musician's mind,
The lights begin, and the shifting crowds in the causeways
Are discerned through the dusk, and the rolling river behind.

And in what hour of beauty, in what good arms,
Shall I those regions and that city attain
From whence my dreams and slightest movements rise?
And what good Arms shall take them away again?

And The Team Grows On...

So, in a week of news, we still have more to share. We would like to introduce you to our newest team members of the Go Verona team, John and Ann Blackburn. John and Ann have four kids and several years’ missions experience. We look forward to letting you know more about them and their family. As we move forward together you will have the opportunity to get to our entire team better. We are still looking for team members to excel in areas of music and youth, so please be praying for those holes to be filled with God’s choices.

And The City Is...Verona!

Well, we have some great news to announce, which is in some ways months in the making and in other ways years in the making. The target city for church plant number two of the Taking Christ to Italy project is Verona. In subsequent emails, we will be introducing you to this new city as we enlist you in praying us out of Ancona, where we have lived and ministered for over six years and preparing for the move to Verona.

In this email, I would like to share with you a few of the things that led us to the city of Verona. First, the Italian minister of the Apostolic Church in Verona made contact with us and showed us some of the spiritual needs of the city. The Apostolic Church is one of about four Italian speaking evangelical churches in this city of 270,000 people. The Apostolic Church is also the group in Italy that has provided the requests for us to have permission to be in Italy over the past six years. Elvio, the minister, and his wife, Paola, told us that they had been praying for more workers to come to Verona for a long time, in fact over a year ago they recruited the other members of the Apostolic Church to pray and fast with them about it. They saw our new team as answers to those prayers. He has been incredibly open to our new team, which is very strange for churches in Italy. They would love to help us get settled in the new city and find information for our new church plant.

Second, while the prayer/survey team was there we broke up into groups to explore the city throughout the day. At breakfast, a couple of us went into a coffee shop to get to know the workers. There was one woman behind the counter, who was very open and talkative with us. We asked about the spiritual condition of the people of Verona. She said there were many people who believed, but not many who went to church. She told us that she believed, but didn’t go to church, because she was not sure what she thought about the church, referring to the Catholic Church. She asked us more about what we were doing. We replied we were praying about choosing a city, out of four cities, for myself, my wife and a some friends to move to and start a new work there. Part of what we would be doing would be studying the Bible with people and being the Church, the way the New Testament describes it. She told us some of the great things about Verona and then told us before we left to come back and find her, if we chose Verona. She was the only person, out of the four cities, who told us to find her if we chose her city to move to.

Person after person, store owner after store owner, people continued to be friendly and talkative as we walked, prayed and surveyed Verona. Out of all the cities, it’s receptivity towards us and the new work seemed to be the most open. In some cities, to have conversations it felt like we were pulling teeth to get them to talk, or in other cities they simply answered questions, but in Verona the people there actually started conversations, not just continuing the ones we started. It was simply refreshing, to say the least. This was a characteristic which is foreign to us in Italy, in other words it isn’t normal.

While visiting the four cities that we surveyed, the people often told us what they thought of their particular city and the other cities we were visiting. Verona was the only city which people always had good things to say about. We prayed that God would use the people we met in the different cities to speak to us and had faith that He would. In Verona, we felt like the Christians there were asking for help and Eli (pronounced Ellie), the unchurched worker at the coffee shop, was interested in the new work that we were talking about doing. These people seemed to be clear voices in a search where we were praying for clarity.

One of the heartbreaking traits that we uncovered is that Verona leads the country of Italy in the number of divorces. This is a city that is famous for love, due to the semi-historical story of Romeo and Juliet (more on this in future months). This city of love continues to look for love in all the wrong places. The only love that will quench the thirst of their souls is the love of God, found through his son, Jesus Christ. We hope to be His witnesses in this new city.

Verona is a city of art, music, bikes, community and friendly people. Throughout the next many months we will mourn our life and friends in Ancona and greatly anticipate our life ahead in the city that God has directed us towards, which is Verona. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement as we have marched ahead in this new project for God’s kingdom.

One Phrase at a Time, Maybe Even Two

Learning a new language begins somewhere. And even though sometimes the milestones are more like tiny sand pebbles, they will eventually build a path to long conversations over an extra cappuccino on a rainy night. Today, I had two sand pebbles. As I listened to an Italian song, I understood two whole phrases. Two whole phrases.

A Decision is in the Works

Soon, we will be announcing the new target city for the Taking Christ to Italy project. Check back soon for details.

We're Back in Ancona

After a whirlwind tour of four prospective cities, we are back in Ancona. Our survey/prayer team had an amazing trip of seeking the Lord's guidance for the next church plant in Italy. It's not completely over just yet. A couple of the survey/prayer team members leave tomorrow, but the rest of us, with the help of the Ancona team are going to be compiling all of our data. We should have this available to our supporters and prayer partners in the next couple of days.

I should have all the rest of the pictures up tonight, so that will make it easier to pray through them. Upon leaving the four cities, we can see that the need for a church is great in all four places, however there were some interesting encounters and findings that help determine better the direction we will go. Whatever decision is made, be praying for God to work in all four of those cities and the people would be receptive.

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!

From Verona to Parma

So this morning we went out to breakfast in small groups, as has been our custom for branching out into the neighborhoods. As we go, those of us who know Italian speak Italian, the others take the opportunity to find people who can speak English. Upon finding out who can speak English, we then have more information about the need for English as a means of reaching out to the community to a desire of theirs. This morning, Eric and I went to a Cafe several blocks from our hotel. It was run by a small blond Italian. Eric and I first got our breakfast and then we began a conversation, me in Italian and Eric in Spanish/English. Her name is Elisa, but she goes by Eli (pronounced Ellie) because she doesn't like her name Elisa. She was born in Verona and lived there her whole life. She said it is a great city, because it is close to the mountains, the lake and the city is beautiful too. I asked her how was the spiritual life of the city? She said that people say they believe but don't go to church or practice their faith. She said she doesn't anymore either. I asked why. She said that she believes, but doesn't know about the church (the Catholic church). She doesn't think you have to go to church to be a christian. Then the phone rang. She came back after the phone and she asked, why we were asking these kinds of questions. I said that I am a christian and a pastor. She replied, 'oh, ok'. I said that my wife and I have been in Ancona for years and we are praying about coming to a city in the north to start a new work in that city. Studying the Bible, helping people know more about Jesus, etc... I told her that we are visiting four cities and Verona is one of them. She gave us her opinions about the other cities, but then said she thought that we should choose Verona. After we paid, she said if you choose Verona, come back and find me. As we were leaving I gave her a business card, with my cell phone number and email address.

We had other opportunities in Verona and then we caught the train. We arrived in Parma in the early evening and explored the city, had dinner and then explored the city some more. At a cafe tonight, we me Diego, Nadia and Emmanuela. They told us how there are many "believers" but they don't practice anything or go to church. Emmanuela told us she used to but doesn't anymore. We talked about other things and before we left I told her that we would pray for her. She smiled and acted embarassed, so I said we will that is if you want us to. She enthusiastically said that she did want us to. So tonight before turning in our survey team prayed for her and other requests including for us to finish strong. We have tomorrow during the day and then we head back to Ancona in the early afternoon. We will have Life Group, dinner together then on Monday, begin compiling all the data. Thanks for any of you praying.