|
2008 Italy Recap
Buon giorno! What a fantastic week in Mestre, Italy (residential part of Venice)! What a blessing it was for me (Chico) to make this trip with several close friends who were instrumental in making this short trip a huge success. It was great to have Christian Canino, John Mizener and Pat Tannous along. They were a huge asset!
The purpose of our trip was two fold: (1) to reconnect with kids and their families from last summer's basketball camps and (2) to develop new relationships in preparation for our June 2008 trip. The Lord truly blessed our time there as we caught up with a number of kids and their families from last summer, most of whom will be returning to our camps this summer. Our time there was busy as we ran practice for three different clubs teams during our stay, attended a professional women's game (the Reyer club team plays in the top league in Italy) in town and even had the opportunity to practice one of the nights with one of the men's pro teams. Because the club structure is so strong in Italy, it was important for us to build relationships with people at different levels of the "system."
It was not all basketball. There was plenty of eating going on too. Italians take their food, and especially their pizza and pasta, very seriously. We had numerous meetings around food, getting to experience the wonderful culture and food while building relationships with people in Mestre. The people there were very welcoming and accommodating and treated us like family, another staple in Italian culture!
Christian and John had the opportunity to share their testimonies at church Sunday morning. "Il Faro" (the Lighthouse) is the local church plant that Push The Rock is partnering with for the camps this summer. We look forward to the partnership this summer and watching how the Lord will use our time together to impact lives for eternity.
Thanks for praying for this set-up trip. To God be the glory for all the great things that happened!
Please be praying for the men's and women's basketball team that is currently preparing for the two-week trip to Mestre June 12-29. Pray that even now the Holy Spirit would be working on the hearts of the kids who will be coming to camp, that they would be open to the Gospel. Please be praying for the church planting team that is on the ground there, that the Lord would give them wisdom and strength as they work on all of the logistics and prepare for our arrival.
Enjoy several photos from our trip. Ciao.
View the photos.
|
