Lamentations 1:12

An incredible story was reported by Italian newspaper reported this week. Reports say two girls were swimming at the beach near Naples when they got caught up in fierce waves. These young girls screamed for help for sometime and no onlookers ever came to their rescue. By the time lifeguards arrived on the scene, it was too late for these two young ones. They died at age twelve and thirteen.

The horror does not end there. As the bodies of these two young girls lay dead on the beach, photos show people continued to sunbath just meters away from where their dead bodies laid only partial covered. These photos from the scene show absolutely no concern on the faces of sunbathers for the loss of life that just occurred.

While reading this story, I was reminded of the absolute indifference many Italians have to human life and concern for their souls. With death just meters away, they were unmoved by this tragic loss of life.

As much as this probably disgusts us (and should) I wonder if we are all not guilty of the same thing. I wonder how many times people scream to us for help, but those cries go largely ignored. More importantly, lives are perishing all around us while we soak up the sun this summer.

Romans 10:13

Sometimes it is good to be reminded of things we should already know...

The other day I was with a friend trying to witness to people. The first person we went up to was a nice old lady sitting on a bench. We thought surely this lady will hear us out. Think again – this lady could not possibly have been less interested in the gospel message! After a just a few minutes she asked us to depart.

Just then, as we were turning and walking away, a young man with a terrible look on his face was walking by. We asked him if we could talk with him for a few minutes. He stopped but looked rather mad we were bothering him.

After some initial conversation – I asked him if he considered himself to be a good person. He said, "No." I asked him if he had ever lied before and he said he was a liar. I asked him if he ever stole before and he said he was a thief. He was broken without any prodding. After establishing that he was not a good person, He said – “I have been thinking about this the whole day. My life is a mess, I need to be forgiven man, but I don’t know what to do!”

I then shared the glorious gospel with Damien and believe with all my heart he got saved...

Great reminders...

• Never judge by someone’s outward appearance whether or not they are interested in the gospel message.
• The Lord is in complete control - had the lady waited 10 more seconds to tell us to get lost, we would have missed our opportunity to talk with Damien!
• Not everyone is a willing rejector of the gospel message - some just have not been given the opportunity to receive the gift of Christ.
  
• God is at work in people’s lives – and wants to use us in His plan.

2 Thessalonians 3:1

Cafe Noche

Cafe Noche! On Sunday afternoon, the wonderful ladies in my Prayer Group, hosted a special Cafe Night at church. The purpose of this event was to get more ladies involved with our prayer ministry, which is a key element of Team Italy. Having the support of these godly friends will help our ministry to be even stronger in Italy.

This Italian themed evening was complete with authentic Italian cookies, biscotti, a chocolate fountain, and to drink, of course delicious coffees, cappuccino, and my favorite - “Frizzante.”

It was such a lovely time! So many of my closest friends attended as well as some ladies who I was excited to get to know better! The evening began with mingling, as the guests were supposed to find out more about me (for the great prizes later on). Then Brie welcomed everyone and Nancy prayed for our fellowship and food. I also gave a short update on the highlights of the past 11 months on the road - sharing our goals, funny stories, traveling experiences, and answers to prayer!


I am so honored that God has already brought together this amazing group of ladies to pray for me and my family! Each lady brings a different strength, experience and talent that comes together to make this group so strong. These friends are always faithful to encourage, edify, pray and remind me that they are behind my family as we are on deputation.


It was so encouraging to have these special ladies take time to host, and attend Cafe Noche, showing their genuine interest in what my family is doing. It is friends like these that will last, bonded by the love of Christ.

Malachi 4:6

Father's Day

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..."

I love being a papa. One of the things that makes traveling so often to different churches bearable is having my two girls with me. Recently we arrived to a church early - and it was just so nice playing outside and enjoying the warm air with them.

My two girls are so special - they make me smile and melt without effort.

I know this is not good, but they pretty much have their way with me. For example the other day Natalia wanted to watch a cartoon and I told her "Natalia, maybe later." She proceeded to put both her hands on my cheeks, give me a kiss and said "I love you papa." We then watched the cartoon together.

Words can not express how thankful I am for my two girls. They are so precious to me. I love you Natalia and Ellia.

2 Peter 2:1

Although 98% of Italians are Roman Catholic - Islam is the fastest growing religion in Italy.

Want proof? A recent article entitled "Muhammad Takes Milan by Storm" listed the current most popular names given to infants born in Milan, the economic capital of Italy.

Here are the top three...

1. Mahmoud
2. Ahmad
3. Hamid.

Pray for Italy.

Romans 1:16

This past Sunday we were at the First Baptist Church of Belvidere, NJ. It was at this meeting God gave us an unexpected opportunity that we covet your prayers about!

In the evening service one of the families brought an Italian foreign-exchange student from Bologna. After presenting our ministry, we began a friendly conversation with Julia. She was excited to demonstrate her English skills as we talked for quite awhile.

Then the subject switched from talking about life to religion. Once we brought up the topic she expressed an interest in knowing the difference between Catholicism and Christianity.

We talked about salvation being a free gift of grace through faith.

She talked about how Martin Luther only left the Catholic church because he did not like the materialism.

We mentioned that he left because he read the book of Romans and realized that salvation was a free gift of grace through faith.

During this great in-depth conversation it seemed at times that Julia was very close to getting saved. Unfortunately at the end, Julia just was not ready to leave Catholicism.

Please take a moment to pray for Julia - that God would open her eyes to the gospel of grace and bring her to a place of repentance and faith in Christ.

Acts 17:16

A Catholic magazine did a survey asking Italian Catholics who do they pray to the most.

Pause for a moment...Who would you guess it is?

Jesus? - Yeah right.
Mary? - Long shot.

Believe it or not...neither were even close.

Actually the person prayed to the most by Italian Roman Catholics - Padre Pio

Have you ever heard of this guy?

Padre Pio's real name is Francesco Forgione. He died 40 years ago in 1968. Why do Italian Roman Catholics pray to him? Two reasons. First, he is credited with having performed more than one thousand miracles by the time of his death. Also, they believe he had a stigmata, which means he miraculously bore actual wounds of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet and side for at least 50 years. They say he lost of pint of blood a day from these wounds.

Recently, an Italian business magazine called Economy reported that Pio's shrine had become the second most popular destination for religious tourists behind only the Vatican in Rome. His shrine brings in 188 million a year in revenue from tickets, souvenirs, and offerings.



Acts 17:16 - Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.