I'm back

I think this is Friday. Wouldn't you know it, as we were coming back from Vittoria on Wednesday night, I started to feel sick. About midnight, I had pretty well emptied my stomach, and by 4:00 AM I was in the car headed to the airport in Catania. I didn't dare eat or drink anything until our plane left Rome, because it only flies out every other day. Over the 10 hours it took to get to Chicago, I started to feel better and had a little to eat while we were waiting for our plane to Sioux Falls. I got into Sioux Falls at 8:45 which was a little over 24 hours since I started. Thank you for all your prayers! It is going to take a while for me to understand what a powerful experience this all has been. Aaron and his family greeted me at the airport with "Welcome home" signs and lots of hugs from the grand kids, which makes me realize that it wasn't just me that has been impacted by this experience. I hope this can be an encouragement for you to let the Lord stretch you into doing something new. I'll try to add some last pictures. One is of the German volunteers, Arianna from the Scicli Church, Jovanella who is the administrator of the nursing home, and David.

Tuesday

Ok, I can't be using a calendar from 2010. I leave on the 10th, but that is on Thursday. We had a great time in Palermo, saw several cathedrals, several different markets,and some interesting country, since Palermo is on the north edge of Sicly. Monday night we went to the harbor and had fresh fish at a small diner (6) tables. They would bring out one kind of fish and then they would bring out another round of something different. I think we did 6 rounds,ending with shrimp and a fish that looked like a trout. I got black ink from the baby squid on my lips and David thought that was pretty funny! The country has such a variety,with old ruins and then next to that might be a really nice villa. There are still some German "Pill Boxes" along the road. It all helps in understanding what these people have gone through.

Sunday

We had communion services in Pachino and the congregation was very grateful for my visit. Latter we went along the coast to the point where the Ionia sea meets the Mediterranean sea. It was very interesting and a beautiful spot. We had communion services at the Scicli church this evening and they served wine in a common cup. That was an interesting experience! The congregation said I should come back in June. I guess that is the beginning of their summer when everybody is off work. Tomorrow we go to Palermo in the north of Sicily for 2 days. David has a pastor's meeting there. We get back in the evening and then on Wednesday at 6 AM we leave for the airport at Catania. The time has gone very fast.

Trip to Saracusa

We went to Saracusa this morning and had a beautiful day to see things. This is where St. Paul landed when he came to Europe, going from here then to Rome. There is a hugh Cathedral here built in honor of him. I added a picture of it and if you look at the foundation stones you get a sense of how old it is. Inside you can see some of the old collanades along side of the newer supports as the cathedral was updated. We had hot chocolate around the corner, but is was more like hot chocolate pudding.You'll enjoy some of the pictures I added from the open market. This afternoon we went to Vittoria for church and communion. On our way home we stopped at McDonalds! It was very similar to home and it was a good treat.

Friday

I painted two more classrooms this morning, so that will probably be all I will get done here. This noon I was invited to a family's apartment to eat. the elevator up to their floor was about the size of a telephone booth,so with 4 people is was full! It was a wonderful meal with pasta, salad, potatoes, lots of big mushrooms (breaded and fried), Artichoke, and cream puffs. The have a computer program that they are learning English, so they had a lot of questions of how to say different words. We went to an old (1200's) compound that was on the sea. It was quite something. This afternoon we went to Scicli for bible study and we made pretzels and ate them for lunch after. After we made the pretzel with dough, they were put in boiling water with baking soda for a couple of minutes and then into the oven.I could teach you! It sounds like a full day tomorrow, so I might not get a blog in but I hope to be able to take some pictures of the mediterranean sea meets the Ionia Sea.

Thursday

It has been a busy day. I patched the outside of the church with like a plaster of Paris material. It sets up so fast thatI had to keep a container of water with me just to use it. If the sun is shining tomorrow it sounds like we will paint outside. I was painting inside this afternoon in the hallway of the sanctuary, so now I'm trying to get the paint out of my jeans and sweatshirt. We had bible study tonight, the one that I prepared and David translated. In the discussion they were telling about how hard it is to get their adult children to come back to the church. After the bible study we sat down to eat along with the kids that were still here from the after school program. A family invite me to come over for lunch tomorrow at noon. The wife speaks a little English so it might be kind of interesting. Tomorrow at 3:30 we go to Scicli and do the bible study there.

Wednesday

We went visiting last night.It was quite a contrast. The first older lady was 89 and she pretty much was living and sleeping in her little kitchen. she did have a bathroom and bedroom but she said she couldn't lay down because of her breathing. The second house we went to had two sisters in their 80's who brought us into their library where they each had a nice computer and desk. The one lady had kidney failure, but said her last tests came back better.
Evidently someone bombed the police station here in Pachino so as we were coming back from a funeral, police with machine guns stopped us. It was interesting that I was carrying my passport in my bag with my IPad. I usually don't have that along, so thanks for your prayers. The funeral started out with the priest saying that he had asked God to unlock the gates of paradise for the woman who had passed away. Gives new meaning to the bible verse that says that Peter was given the keys to heaven.

Tuesday

It's been thundering and raining all day, sometimes quite heavy. I know I won't get a lot of sympathy, Aaron sent me pictures yesterday of all the new snow. I hooked up some computers at the school here and connected a stereo up for the kids. We went to a fish cannery on the edge of town. David put some wine and different dried and packaged fish in a couple of baskets for two ladies who have cancer here. The interesting thing is that the staff at the cannery deliver the items. The flu season seems to be pretty bad here. They closed the school and a lot of events in Scicli. I have been doing fine and getting pretty good at cooking my meals on a two burner hot plate.

Monday

Sorry about not being on this weekend. The server for the church is down, so I am on a different server right now. We were supposed to go to services at Vittoria on Saturday,but David came down with the flu. We had services here Sunday morning and he went back to bed. He was feeling better in the afternoon so we went to Scicli for services and Stopped by Pollema where they have a shipping harbor. I added a couple of pictures. The one with the big ferry takes cars and people to the Island of Malta. David has me organizing store rooms and doing a little painting. It sounds like we will go visiting this afternoon.

Friday

I added 2 pictures. The first one is pretty dark but it is of the ecumenical service in Scicli. The speakers were the Catholic priest, a Bulgarian Orthodox priest and David. The second picture is from my belcony looking out at the Mediterraneon Sea. The reason you see all the water tanks on the roofs is because that is how they get their water pressure. I cleaned and organized storage room for paint and tools this morning. This afternoon I will go with David to Scicli for choir, bible study and then to visit a shut in. I went shopping for groceries this morning by myself! The store was 4 blocks from here. Later I went with David to the post office, which is also like a bank. You take a number when you walk in and hope you get served before 12:30 because then they close for the rest of the day.

Trip to the farm

I am now in my own apartment in Pachino. It is just across the court yard from where David lives. Today we went to the farm. It must have been a special place because it took an hour to get there. It rained all the time we were there, but it seemed like the reason the people from the church here wanted to go was for the food at noon. There were 18 of us from the church,most of whom were older than I. This was a farm where they made their own dairy products. If I said, "curds and whey" that would describe the delicacy there. It looked like it was a container of cottage cheese but it was smooth like a stiff pudding. I passed it up and had the salad and latter the sausage. For desert they served a pudding that tasted like cinnamon with ground nuts on top.

The rural roads have stone fences on both sides so with all the rain with no place to get off the sides, when traveled several miles like in a canal. Tonight at 6 we had a bible study with about 25 people and then we had salad and fruit together. Pretty nice!

Pizza Rounds

we had the Ecumenical service at the catholic church in Scicli last night. I think that was the last night for this special emphasis week in Europe. Afterwords, we went to a Pizzaria where they served 4 rounds of pizza and then 2 different desert pizzas (chocolate ot pistachio). the first round of pizza had like zucchini and peas, the next round had ham with French fries, the next had ham and I think mushrooms, the last round had egg plant and cut up boiled eggs. I thought I would tell you about some new options for your next pizza. Supposedly, David will be here today for bible study and then I will go back with him to Pachina for the rest of my time here.

Monday

They asked me to offer the prayer again at breakfast this morning.Then latter they asked me to write it out so that Thomas could translate it into Italian. I suppose they want to know what I've really been saying. I took a wheel off from a wheelchair today and replaced the inner tube. I hope I got it back together right! I painted two more doors today. I have to put them back on the door frames tomorrow and then I guess there are two more on the next floor to be painted. We will go to Vitorria tomorrow night for the Ecumenical service there and it sounds like they are planning a pizza party afterwords for us.

Sunday

I went to church today in Vitorria. One person read Martin Luther King's "I Have a dream" selection from their hymnbook. We sang several songs,but this time I didn't recognize any of the tunes. Everyone in the congregation sings quite loudly. We ended with the Lord's Prayer and then several of us went with the Pastor/Missionary David to visit two of the families who were not in church. One lady gave us all brownies during our visit. the other house we went to the wife was in bed so we all gathered in her bedroom and visited, sang a song and prayed. What do you think? It sounds like I will stay in Vitorria until Wednesday to do some more painting if is not raining.

Saturday

Yesterday we went to Scicli for choir practice for singing on Tuesday.
we had pancakes and then a Catholic delegation came to make plans for the Ecumenical service in Scicli on Tuesday. Afterwards we came back to Vittoria for Pizza.Very good! We finished at midnight and then I helped feed residents in the home here at 8. We have worship here at 4:00 and then I might be returning to Pachino with our missionary David.
Sunday we have services there and then evening worship at Scicli. These are all about an hour apart to travel. I added some pictures of the beach and 3 German kids. Max is also a German student, but he goes from town to town and sings and plays his guitar for money. The church in Scicli is the most southern Reformed Church in Europe.

It's Friday

We hosted the Ecumenical services here for Vittoria last night. I posted some pictures from the event. The last picture shows the Catholic Bishop,the woman is the director for the Penticostal Churches of Sicily,and the man in the white hair I didn't recognize. It was a packed house and it seemed to go well.
the German guys are gone this morning so I had to bring all the exra chairs away. I hope they can find them the next time they need them! This afternoon I will go with two of the kids to Siccli to help with bible study and choir practice. We are going out for pizza afterwords. That will be good since we didn't get a chance to eat last night. I eat with the residents here for breakfast and we tear up a roll, put it in a bowl and have a choice of milk,coffee,tea,sugar or a combination of that poured over our bread. I choose the sugar and tea.

Ecumenical Service

I worked with Carmen and Christoph this morning, two of the German Volunteers,helping them with the breakfast and lunch. One of the staff asked me to fix 3 different shades. They look like metal blinds that can be pulled up into a box on top of the window. It was mainly that the cords slip off the pulley and get twisted up inside.
Because there is a special Ecumenical service here tonight, as well as in most communities in Italy and Germany,Christoph and I carried tables and chairs into the sanctuary. They usually have chairs for 40 but tonight they wanted chairs for 120. I don't know all that I am supposed to do tonight,except to give the benediction in English. That should go OK. I met the director today and she speaks a little English.

Shopping

Today I helped with breakfast,cleaning up and resetting tables,carried a planter down from the 4th floor into the court yard,brought people down to physical therapy,and the we went shopping. The nursing home sent us in their van to get food for the kitchen. We bought lots of pasta,milk,sugar,a whole list of things which included a whole case of eggs. We made it back with nothing broken. Yesterday we went to Scicli(chickly). The church there is under an extended renovation. This is formerly a Methodist center, but it is now one of the three mission centers where we work. We went to a bible study for adults at 6:00 and then at 7:00 the high school youth had their study. Usually every morning two of the volunteers go down to Scicli to help teach reading. I don't think I told you that I am helping 5 volunteer students from Germany. I am very happy that they speak fluent englsh.

Monday January 17

I worked with Thomas and Rebbeca this morning to feed people at the home here. We cleared tables, brought drink around to the rooms and then helped with Lunch. I painted on a door which was interesting since they brought me paint that had not been diluted. I used some kind of thinner and it looked OK! All the doors are locked so when I returned from taking pictures outside I worried about getting back in, but they must have a camera ar the door so it opened when I stood at the door wondering what I should do.

Sunday

I went to church in Pachino this morning and sang familiar songs but the words were in Italian.There are 5 students from Germany that are helping our missionary here. We had lunch together and then we traveled to Vittoria and I will be staying here for a while to help them in the nursing home that is apart of this center. I understand the maintenance man is in the hospital so I'll find out tomorrow morning what my work will be.

I made it!

Alright. It is midnight here on Friday the 14th and that should make it about 4:00pm there.
the last time I slept in a bed was
wednesday night, so I'll keep this short just to let you know that I am so happy to be here and thank you for your many prayers. I have already been to choir practice in Vittoria and sang Abide with Me" and "This is my story" in Italian! Tomorrow I sleep in.

Stuck in Chicago

I added a new picture today of the airport here in Chicago. I was supposed to leave Sioux Falls at 10:00 on the 11th but with the snow storm in Chicago we didn't get in here until 8pm. That meant that I missed my connection to Rome and Catania. Then consider that Alitalia does't have that connection today, so I fly out at 3:00pm on the 13th and get into Catania at 10am on the 14th, Lord willing! So many people said they were praying for me,so this must by a "God thing" for me to have a little break before I go on, so It's OK! I'm doing fine. Keep praying.

Detail Planning

The time is getting short. I leave on Tuesday, Jan. 11 in the morning so I have been making lists while I am awake during the night of what I have to get done. I did get my travel account set up and I stopped and picked up some euros from Wells Fargo in Sioux Falls. It doesn't look like real money. I've been looking at maps of the airport in Chicago where I change planes. It looks like I take a light rail to a different terminal. You should know that I have no sense of direction and get lost real easy. I am going to keep my i pad with me, so if I get lost at least I will know what city I'm in.I am trying to set up a spot on this blog for a slide show of pictures that I take on my trip. So far I haven't figured it out. I'll soon have to ask for help.