Why Me?

Buon Giorno :-)
Come Stai? Io spero tutti e' bene.

Let me start with the fact that I did not use babelfish; dictionary, yes, babel fish; no. So let me tell you about life, mine, to be specific. Last night was an experience. Lets start there. It all start oh so nice and peachy and wonderful; it started with see Kelsey Snell and Andrea Knappe, and a couple other friends from Harding who were overseas with the HUF program. I met them in Florence, we went and got some gelato, which is always good. . . . .always :-) Went back to the villa/campus that they had been living at and chilled; it was good, but can't say that is were this soon to be akward story ends. So I left the HUF campus to go home, hoping I could make it home actually because I wasn't really sure if I would be able to catch the last train of the evening, but never the less, I tried. Caught a bus taking me back into downtown Firenze/Florence and made way for the train station. But, *sigh*, I did not make it in time, I was going to have to chill in Firenze till atleast 4:30-ish in the morning, till I could leave, which meant about another 4 hours there, roaming, not knowing exactly what to do with my time, so lets just say I did a lot of walking. . . . . a lot of walking, which on a complete side note that is happy is: Roger and Heather & family took us hiking up near this city called Abetone in the mountians, with a little pond at the top, it was beautiful, not a lot to look, and then everything at the same time, I totally dug it. But we had gone hiking the day before, so, like I said, lots of walking. Well, after getting a little tired of just strolling around I came back over by the train station and was just going to chill and wait it out, no worries sorta thing, and then I saw to my happy stomaches approval, an open Mcdonalds across the street. And, yeah that's right, I totally went in there :-), that smily face is so you understand the joy that mcbacon gave me, one more :-). While I was there I saw this girl who honestly looked about as bored as me and seemed to be waiting on something too. Maybe a train, actually it was a bus, but that's besides the point; and no this isn't the awkard part, you'll see it coming. . . . . . .unlike me. Lol, but not really. Okay so, feeling like I could do this girl a favor, and try and blend a favor for me into it, a.k.a. go sit and have a conversation with here to help the time go by faster; which it did. It turns out she is also over here, in Italy, for school working on here masters in arcitecture. The girl is from Turkey and speaks three languages: Turkish, Italian, and English (which is how it was possible to have a conversation). But, it was pleasant, and definintley helped time pass by till she had to catch her bus. After she left I went on over to the train station and almost immediately started talking w/ some guy, whose name I don't remember, and am okay with not remembering. Deep breath, so I'm talking with this guy who seems chill, speaks English, and doesn't seem like a weirdo, (I'm dropping hints for the direction this is going to go, oh, and just understand I must be completely nieve, and, or stupid lol, but not really once again). Chilling and talking about why I'm here in Italy and what I'm doing in Firenze at this hour (3-ish); and after talking for a few he mentions the idea of walking and I said, "Sure, why not?" And then a few minutes, 5-10 minutes that is, he says he knows a place where we could get coffee, which of course I'm all over anytime of the day, never mind the Big blinking sign saying, "BRANDON, WARNING, WARNING, YOU ARE AN IDIOT. . . .MAYDAY MAYDAY." I said yes and got on the back of his moped, and no we didn't go to a bar or caffe' for some espresso, nope, definitely ended up back at his place. And let me tell you, I honestly still wasn't thinking : oh trash, this guy is an odd ball. Nope, I'm just busy trying to tell him about GOD, and what the Bible says, versuses what the Catholics practice. I'm nieve, say it, say it out loud, tell a friend or three; because this is where I begin to realize this man is probally gay, not the conversations, the espresso, or riding on a moped with him, (which side note: two guys riding a moped is normal over here- not considered gay); he starts to stroke and massage my arm, and moved into my chest, and the non-PG version, go up my shirt while at it. Yeah,very shortly after that I LEFT. Breathing and about a tense as I have ever been in my entire life. BLEH, ARRGEWHH and deep breath, the thought of all this is still crawling under my skin. And I'm going to stop there with the story as most of my emotions still aren't on the positive side, and am trying to be as much like Jesus as possible, and love (not in that way), and forgive, and not let less than positive emotions throw off the balance of what is needed: being disgusted by what is wrong in GOD's eyes and loving and forgiving him perfectly at the same time. It's a struggle.
I want you to know that I am continuing to try and serve in the manners that I know best, and trying to share the Good News with anyone willing to listen, which I think is atleast kind of apparent after reading above. I just ask that you keep your faith in me, that I will continue to do GOD's will on a day to day basis. Pray always. me.

Ciao a tutti!!
Spero che abbiate avuto altra settimana meravigliosa.

So I won't lie, I had to use babelfish.com, some translation sight in order to write that sentence right there above; which means, "I hope that you have had another wonderful week." I just didn't know quite how to put it together, we haven't learned how to speak in any tense other than present thus far; and that sentence definitely is written in past tense. Hope you appreciate the work I had to go through to hope your past week wonderful. It was rough. Totally just had flash back of Mcgruff, or something like that the dog that wanted to take a bite out of crime. Now, thinking of that, think of the word "rough."
So, off to a good start, :-) This week we spent a little more time up in Pistoia than usual, due to us wanting to be as productive as possible, while still being limited in what we can do, not being conversational in Italian yet. We did some cleaning of their building, and side note, I think I heard word of doing some painting in the future, so if I write on my blog about that later don't be too suprised, okay. And we also went to their market, once a week anygiven town has a market, a lot of people setting up boothes and selling fruits, veggies, shoes, clothes of any type really, just all kinds of stuff, besides the point. The Chiesa di Christo in Pistoia set up a booth too, and we went there to help pass out flyers or liflets, if thats what you call them; and my goodness, we passed out a lot of them, a lot. . . . . .a lot. I personally went through a few stacks, granted I don't know how much is in a stack, but the bigger the number you imagine the better you feel about it. Atleast that's what I've learned :-). But it was pretty cool, the funny thing though, was that we were suppose to be saying "prego" or "scusi", well I misunderstood and for somewhere over an hour I was saying "pronto", which means "ready", it is something they say when they answer the phone, definitely not when passing out flyers. Lets just say I'm glad I can still play the "American" card. Either way it was a good day.
But now on to what I am excited about. Oh man, you guys better be drum rollin' because, oh, this makes me happy all up inside, makes me want to "Salto con gioia!" (Jump with joy!) and there was no babelfish on that one. I'm learning. Ohhhh Yeah!!!! Okay now but back to what is awesome, quit distracting me, seriously, like I'm trying to tell you something way, way totally awesome, and you are messin' with my groove. And I'm laughing. So truly moving on. Last night, which was Thursday, they had this thing called the Italia Wave or the Love Festival in Livorno, it is about an hour west of Prato, on the coast. This thing is basically the Italian version of Woodstock. It was amazing. But do you know what made it soooooo stinking amazing, oh my brain is screaming with happy joy-ness; that dude Sandro that I have told you about, we totally went with him, totally amazingness. And not just that, we got to meet handful of his friends, who all seem pretty awesome too, and they all atleast speak broken English. "Ah yeah, that is right, that is amazing, you are right in what you call awesomeness Brandon, I so totally wish I could have been there with you for this, oh, so amazingly epic awesomeness." and I don't blame you for that desire, it is a noble one. But I have got more, (I totally feel like I'm on a game show right now), Sandro, during a chunk of the hour-ish ride too Livorno was asking questions about GOD, and the Church, and showing so much interest; I tell you, it felt great to be doing exactly what we came out here to do. I totally want to write more about all of this but it all feels like more of a rush of emotion that can't be typed, if you know what I'm saying. Don't know, I'm just saying be excited. And pray that this all goes somewhere, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Because I know I saw big things coming but didn't know when, or how; GOD has started His work through team Italy. That feels like a good ending note. Peace.

I have a title this week!!!!!

Ciao a tutti!! :-)

Welcome, welcome to my blog from this past week of awesomeness, (and the crowds roar- roaring sound with some applause. . . . and a gold star). We went out to supper with a couple, Luigi and Marissa, from Church; and by went out for supper, I mean, we were invited over to their house to eat. And it was some good eatin'. :-) Granted our conversation consisted of this is what a fork is called, (forchetta), or knife, (coltello), and this is how you say so and so. It was great, fried my brain by the end of the night from all I was taking in, but definently a good night. Just a side tangent, that's really not a tangent at all because it is related to what I was talking about just a moment ago; the congregation out here, they're great, I dig, I can't say that I understand everything they are saying, but I dig them. They are good people. Anybody who can be patient while talking to a 25 year old like a three year old because the kid doesn't understand, is patient. Very friendly, smiles and laughs with ya, well, atleast I'm going to assume laughs with me, hard to say when I don't know exactly what they are saying. All that to say that the people here are cool, and if you were to meet them I think that you would both enjoy their company here, and look forward to it in heaven. Ahhh, what a glorious thought. Now this is a true side note: but I must say heaven, dude, oh man, it excites me bunches and bunches and bunches, and you're talking one-on-one with GOD presence. Kool! :-) I tell ya, it takes times like this to reflect on GOD, heaven, and awesomeness to continue to remind me that that's why I'm here, I'm here encouraging the Church, with GOD, heaven, awesomeness; and I'm here sharing that gospel GOD, heaven, awesomeness, exciting-ness, so that others may be blessed with what GOD has given me to share. Oh, I dig that, that's exciting. I hope you're excited. Okay, okay, back on track, you guys are awesome for putting up with all my little detours. :-)
In Pistoia, this week we help clean up the church building for part of the day, and cleaned up a park nearby, that was near a concert they had had a couple nights ago. But I must say it was to my suprise not nearly as messy as I would have thought, but don't get wrong, I'm not saying it was clean. I don't know if I told you this or not, but I feel like every Italian smokes (total exageration), they smoke while reading, riding their mopeds somewhere, doing cartwheels, just basically always (and that was the continuation of my exageration. . . .if you couldn't tell :-) So all that to say their were cigerette butts pretty much everywhere it felt like, pretty gross, but, uh, man grunt, somebody's got to do it. Oh, and we ate lunch with some of the congregation, and there was this lady, don't remember her name, but she definently reminds me of someone; don't know who but definently someone. Which pretty much tells you nothing. So that was pointless, forget I wrote that, because if I could right now I would use one of those old school men in black memory forgetter pens.
On Sunday, we also went out to this lunch-ish, almost dinner so you are "oh, so hungry" things up in the mountians with about half the congregation, so like 15 people, but it was a sweet, sweet thing, and I got pork, mmm, mmmm good. It was a beautiful day, and we got to spend more sweet, chill time with our peps from the Church, which basically just brings me back to they rock, and just so you know, I think you rock, and not just for reading my blog as others may or may not have told you; and if they have told you it's just a rumor don't listen to it, lies, not true, listen to me, hear me roar: YOU ROCK!
I'm sorry if you feel like you don't get anything from this blog. Just know: I would dig it if you get encouraged by it, and know that I am trying to fight that good fight out here, and want nothing more than GOD's awesomeness to reign supreme. That would be awesome. Please continue praying for me and the work out here, I need it, and likewise I'll pray for you, and for your sharing the gospel others too.

Ciao, mio amici!!

So definitely thought, "Hmmm. I think I'll change my opening line this week." So I did. I'm pleased with it too. It means " Hello, my friends"; and I figure you guys are my friends reading my blog to keep up and support what I'm doing; so, Ciao mio amici!!!
Where do I begin?? A long, long, longish time ago, about the beginning of the week, I'd say, we started the week. I remember this because my teamie, Evan and I found ourselves downtown Prato, which is the total hangout place here, talking to this dude we call "The Juggling Dude", primarley because we don't remember how to pronounce his name, which I find to be a regular occurance for me and names, (Italian names imparticular). Oh, but exiting side note, the dude I was talking about last week, whose name I definintely didn't remember, well, I totally remember his name now. His name, actually give me a drum roll please, because you know how I like my drum rolls and gold stars :-), but really; his name is: Sandro!!! (And I feel like you should know that his name is not actually spelt with exclamation marks (!!!), I was just that excited to tell you his name that is all. And what is cool about this dude Sandro, (without the exclimation marks this time, so you don't get confused about the spelling of his name), is we got his phone number, which means we are going to be able to start to building a relationship with this dude; man, I can't help but feel like this sounds like us picking up some dude for a date or something, awkward, but I guess JESUS dates are alright. Okay, now on to the part that I am more excited about; I, along with some of the others on the team want to get into soccer so to increase the amount of people we are able to meet, and being that's what they do out here, what better way to meet them than to have our new found, awesome friend, well he's still more of an aquantince, but it's a work in progress. Once again besides the point, it blows my mind how easily and fast I get of subject. What I was saying excited me was that Sandro said he would be able to get us into the soccer realm. He said that he might be able to get Kristen, another teamie, into the girls soccer league, and as for Evan and I, atleast introduce us to people and hook us up with the connections to play some 5 on 5, and maybe evently league. I'm just saying I'm super stoked about all of this, the meeting people, increasing opportunitty, and playing soccer, and the fact that Sandro said he would help us practice our Italian if we speak some English with him. All of that excites me pretty well, makes me all happy inside, for some reason I'm squinting with one eye as I type this, that's weird.
And with all that said, there is also a barista, at the bar, (basically a pastry shop out here, I'm not boozin', so worry not), we go to before every Italian lesson; we don't have any true connection or relationship with her yet,but the key word is "yet". She seems friendly and with us showing up there three times a week and some small talk everytime, who knows??
Having nothing to do with anything said thus far, we did a little bit of work up in Pistoia again, which was nice, because I like Roger and Heather the missionaries there. While we were up there we passed out, well we didn't "pass out" per say, we distribuated them by putting them in public mail boxes and on the windshields of cars, because it is illegal to pass flyers out to people without a permit in Pistoia, it's a form of litter control, which I think is cool.
Well, I need to do my homework for Italian class, and Roger just got here because we need to do a little work on the car, so the afternoon shall be busy. Once again thank you for everything you are helping Christ do through me. Keep the prayers a-flowin'.