Bergamo

This past Sunday and Thursday we were in the town of Bergamo. It is about an hour away from Milan and closer to the mountains/valleys. On Sunday Corey preached his first official sermon! He did awesome. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Jim said he did really well, and he was a Homiletics professor at Dallas Seminary. And more importantly, the people enjoyed having him and said they appreciated his message. He talked about Philippians 1:27-30, conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel. He talked about a number of things that church members said have been recurring themes for their church; it was neat to see the Holy Spirit work that way.

On Thursday we went back and spent some time with the CrossWorld missionary who works there (she was gone on Sun) and saw the town. It is split into an “upper” and “lower” city on the mountain and is a pretty place. Then we got to go to the home of the elder of the church and spend some time with him and his wife. He is a really neat guy and seemed encouraged, especially by Corey. Actually he has it all planned out for when we come back to live there and work with him…it’s nice to know we’re wanted. He has a vision to evangelize the various valley towns that have no witness. Again, it was a blessing to be able to feel that sense of fellowship with someone we had only known for a little while and could only communicate with through translation. The family of God is big; praise Him for that!

The church has faced alot of problems, and yet it is growing and growing! In fact, they need to find a bigger building, which is quite a challenge in Italy. Please pray for the church and especially for the elder.

Ciao!