Email from us on 10/26/09
“Just a quick note to let you know that we are still deeply in need of prayers for our children, especially Emily. There honestly has been no improvement or glimmer of hope since last week when i wrote. She is not still sick like she was last week at this time, but she still has quite a stuffy nose and congested cough. The main issue with her is that she refuses to even try to assimilate to this culture. Without going into a lot of the details, in short she is closing up, shutting out. She wouldn't even go to her class at church yesterday, possibly insulting the other girls. We were expecting culture stress and/or shock, and we are hoping that's all this is, and that it will resolve itself quickly.
If any of you are tempted to reply to us that children are resilient and adapt easily/quickly to change, please don't. Changing cultures for a 14-year-old is extremely serious business, and one that we never took lightly. We've always prayed in advance that God would take care of her and walk her through this difficult transition. We are still putting our hope in Him. (see photo of Emily in tears)
Also, our bicycle that we've had less than 8 days was stolen yesterday. Yes, it was locked up, and didn't even have the seat on it (Randall had just started keeping it in our apartment when not in use as a theft deterrent.)” (See photo of Randall & Andrew on the bike)
Friday October 30 – moved into the church apartment while Efram is staying in his apartment, hoping this would be temporary. It wasn’t. Efram had complications of his own that prevented him from returning to Venezuela as soon as he expected.
By far the biggest frustration with living in the church apartment was Sundays. The second floor was used for classrooms both for the Italian service in the morning and the Ghanian service in the afternoon. So every Sunday morning we had to pack up all our belongings and stuff them into one room, fold up and put away E & A’s beds, then after the Ghanians left, which sometimes wasn’t until 6 pm, put everything back and clean up the mess. It was an enormous burden for us, but we were also in their way by being there. It was NOT AT ALL how we expected to be living there. Without a visa/permesso/funding, we had absolutely no choice but to live in the church, but we felt like such a burden on the Italians. Oh God, this cannot be bringing You glory!
What most people don't know, because we've never made this public information, is: We never had more than 18% support. The money for the plane tickets, for the first week's lodging, for buying a few dishes & bed/bath linens - that was all possible through one-time donations. But for monthly, on-going expenses - we never had a dime more than 18% = $875 U.S. dollars, which translated to $630 in European money.
UNLEAVENED BREAD IN THE UPPER ROOM
The money wasn't the only thing i felt was woefully lacking; it was also God's Presence. From the time we moved into the church apartment on October 30, i felt like God had left us. He had shown Himself so amazing in bringing us to Italy, but now that we were there, He seemed to abandon us. Abandoned, betrayed, forsaken. I can't tell you how many times i used those words to describe what God had done to us throughout November & December and beyond. We kept crying out for a word from Him, a sign from Him, anything, but day after day there was nothing. I kept doing my Bible study, Beth Moore's A Woman's Heart - God's Dwelling Place, daily, sometimes twice a day simply because i had nothing better to do. I kept a prayer journal. I prayed, when i had the strength. Randall prayed for me when i didn't.
Without a permesso, we were paralyzed from taking language lessons, and we were living in a city where very little English was spoken.
With only $630, we were paralyzed from going anywhere or accomplishing anything.
With no sign of God's presence, we felt like we'd jumped off the cliff and nobody caught us.
Email from L.J. on 11/11/09
“ I consider your apartment at the church the “upper room.” And I know that the Holy Spirit is there with you guys!”
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