After months of preparation we are finally in Italy. Our trip started on Thursday when the whole team met at DeSales University for our training. We practiced a few times over the weekend, had time to get to know each other and did some last minute shopping. Both the girls and the guys teams connected with each other right away and as one big group, which can be challenging with 21 people. Thankfully we are all here for the same purpose and that is to share God's love with others as well as our team.

Saturday afternoon we headed to JFK airport in New York. There was some traffic but we made it in time and did not have to wait long in the airport. Most of us were sitting near each other in the back of the plane. It was a pretty smooth ride. I slept for part of the time so I'm not sure if there were any interesting stories. We did have people ask us who we were and what we were doing so it was a good opportunity to share about Christ. We had a 3 hour layover in Paris which gave us a chance to rest and we arrived in Venice Sunday afternoon. We got to our hotel and had a chance to rest before dinner which was prepared by of the missionary families we are serving with. It was delicious!

Monday morning we started camp. We had 9 kids that were picked by their coach's to practice with us. There were 20 of us so we had to make some adjustments but the kids as well as the coach's had a good time. We had lunch at a local restaurant and then headed to Venice to get a glimpse of the city. Today (Tuesday) we had another camp in the morning with a different group of 17 kids. We were still able to spend more time with each kid but more of the coach's were able to get involved. Afterwards the guy's team scrimmaged and then we all headed for lunch. This afternoon 5 Push The Rock members are going to Venice with the missionaries to help with a kids program. The girls were supposed to have a game tonight but Italy is playing France in the Euro cup. We will have a chance to watch the game with some of the locals here which a lot of us are looking forward to.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the team that we would allow God to use us however He sees fit. Also pray for the kids we encountered the last couple days and the ones we will encounter the rest of the week.

Molly
Push The Rock team member