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.