Hey Everyone !

I just wanted to check in here and thank you for your prayers. We are here in Milan! We left Wednesday at 5:00 pm from Newark Airport and landed at 7:00 am Thursday morning Milan time! Most likely we will not send out too many short updates and save it all for one longer one when we return, but we wanted to shoot over an initial one to honor our partnership in the gospel with you. 

Day 1 we spent settling in, getting groceries, continued online promotion and communication with current student registrations, meeting up with our local team leaders and catching up on jet lag.

Day 2 we spent time learning the mass transit system — traveling around to where various important neighborhoods are. We also tried to organize a “gelato meet+greet” with the international students who already signed up for our main dinners, but unfortunately none came; Jenn, the kids and I still got gelato and prayed for the official outreach dinners on July 4, July 11 and July 18. This was somewhat of a disappointment after spending lots of energy in online communication but we know some steps of faith don’t always turn out the way we wish; we are still trusting the Lord.  

Day 3 we spent time filming some promo videos in front of the Duomo (a famous church) and in front of the restaurant; we wanted to show we are legitimate people and we are here. We also went to the college night service of the local church we are partnered with; this is where all the 10 local volunteers are coming from. The service is where we also got to meet all of them for the first time in person ! 

As of now we have 39 international students registered from 8 universities representing 13 countries! We are continuing online promotion through Instagram, Facebook and a private Whatsapp chat. Pray this all proves fruitful.

Next week we will be investing heavily in on-campus prayer walks and promotion with the help of the church’s teenagers (awesome right?!); we’ll be scouting for international students one at a time! We also will have time dedicated to team-building through a field trip and shared meals. It’s important for them to trust us and for us to get to know them.

Pray for the hearts of the international students to be softened; pray for the Holy Spirit to move in power and for Christ to be glorified ! 

Of course pray for the kids to continue enjoying themselves; it’s lots of moving around for them. We are trying to build in rest in the coming days as well as visits to more gelaterias and perhaps even a trip to a pool in the city. So far they have been great! Our oldest does have a cough; please pray for healing there!

Thank you so much!!