Monday, June 1, 2015

Update

Greetings to all!

When I was younger I used to laugh when I heard people ask 'where did the time go?'.  Now, I understand.  It seems like the days, weeks and months just hurry before our eyes.  One moment we are complaining about how cold it is and the next it is time to get the fans out of the garage.  We have been quite busy but it has been a good busy.

The last few months Jim has worked so hard getting the church in order along with Franco and Rosa.  The kitchen was put together and thanks to 'YouTube', Jim could do the plumbing himself and also put in a burner and oven.  We are good to go.

can you believe this stainless sink was set out for the trash!  Good thing Jim spotted it :)


We had Easter at the church which was wonderful!  Doug and Rose Martin were here and Doug helped Jim get things set up so we could enjoy Easter lunch after service at the church.  We are thankful they use their holiday time to come visit us each Easter!  We invited a few friends and they came out to join us.  It was a great day and the Gospel of Hope went out with love.  We pray the seeds that were planted will continue to be watered and eventually sprout up to new life in Christ with those who heard the message.  We also had a great visit the following week with Mark and Renata Nigro.  Mark is now teaching at bible college in Murietta and he brought a group of students over for a time of outreach in some of our cities here in Italy.




my lovely friends Ornella and Emanuela
Edney-such a wonderful servant of the Lord
Easter Sunday 

A few weeks later we hosted a Mexican food evening.  A few students from the bible college came down and we enjoyed a night of meeting new people and sharing the love of Christ with those in attendance.  One of the university students who came is Paolo.  He is getting his Masters in Physics and is also the Italian Rubik Cube Champion!  He and Jim corresponded a few times after that night and now Paolo is attending church on Sundays.  He is very interested in the Bible and even asked Jim which 3 books he would recommend for him to read first!  So exciting!

We have really been blessed with the friends we have met through the English Club here in Padova.  Each time we host an event at the church we invite many/all to come and each time about 8-10 show up.  From that, we have now had 3 people start coming to the church.  It's such an encouragement.  We are able to see the faithfulness of God to keep our friendships with these people without having to compromise who we are or in whom we believe.

The past couple days we have been able to host Rob Nash and an young guy Steven who is interning at CC Vista at our home.  It is always great to have friends visit and encourage us in the ministry.  Last night, Rob shared Simply the Story at the church.  He shared from David and Goliath and the interaction was phenomenal!  He had everyone's attention-from the young child on up to us older ones.  We all enjoyed learning this way of storytelling and bringing out different facts to think about and apply to our own lives.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a great time of fellowship and food with our friends from CC Treviso and CC Ferarra.  Denae, Bethany, Lorenzo and Steven led worship which was so sweet.  Jim and I were both overjoyed that so many from these two churches came out to join us and support not only CC Padova, but our guest as well. It was such a great night and I know the Lord was smiling down upon His people.
Steven, Denae, Jim, Bethany and Lorenzo 
Lorenzo and Rob 




Praying good things for this guy :)


So,  do you see a theme here?  We invite people, share the Word, eat and enjoy fellowship!  It's Acts 2:42 and we love it!  We have found that when we have an event and share food, the people come out.  Praise God for His provision that enables us to do this and prayerfully will continue to do so.

The women's leadership conference in Portugal was awesome!  We had a great time in God's Word, meeting new friends, and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and seaside.  Thanks to all who prayed for this event and we are already looking forward to next year's time together.  Our teachings from Romans 12:9-13 were each challenging, encouraging and heart-searching.  It was a great blessing to attend CC Lagoa and see the amazing work the Lord is doing through Jon and Laura and others.  They have a ministry to the homeless each week and they are seeing God work miracles in the lives of drug addicts, prostitutes and the homeless.  People are getting saved, reading the Word and now some are even getting jobs!  It's so great to see the Lord change peoples' lives!
When Leaders Lead In Europe
So much fun!!!




Jim will be going to Germany to help with an English Camp at the end of July, early August.  He is also having some band guys from Hungary come over to Padova to hopefully play some concerts one of the weekends.

We want to thank all who pray and support us and those who support our building rent.  It was such a step of faith-not only for us, but also those coming alongside of us.  Thank you for hearing from the Lord and helping us with this.  In such a few months, we have been able to do so much now that we have a building to meet in any day and any time we choose.  It's incredible!

We have a list of ideas and plans for September once the students are back at University.  English club, Student Nights, are just a couple of the ideas.  Please pray that God would give us His wisdom on what to do and how to best do these things.  We don't want to just do things for the sake of doing them.  We want the Holy Spirit to guide and direct all of what we do.

Please keep our daughter Marla in your prayers as she has one more year before graduating with her Masters Degree in Non Profit Management.  She is working in Milano and taking her courses online.  She has been doing so well and we are very proud of her.  Please pray that the Lord would work things out for her in the next year to move back to the US and that she would find a good job and a place to live.  She has been a tremendous help to Jim and me-especially to me as I am not as mobile due to my back issues.

As many of you know, we have our annual Missions Conference coming up in August.  It is often the highlight of our year as we get to listen to so many encouraging teachings, catch up with our friends who are serving in different countries throughout Europe and just relax in the beauty that surrounds us in Milstatt.  We really are quite spoiled for the week as we don't have to clean, do dishes, set up chairs, teach Sunday School etc.  A team comes each year and has a VBS for all the missionary children and they are able to have so much fun with their friends.

I want to ask you to please pray for a special family that is so close to our hearts.  They don't get outside support so things are really difficult financially for them.  They are a family of four and would really be blessed to attend the conference this year.  Would you please pray that they would be able to attend.  If the Lord puts it on your heart to donate towards the cost please let me know.  They would need airfare, car rental (it's 4 hours from the airport) and then of course the conference fees for their family.  They don't really get much outside fellowship and the conference would be so good for them.  They have been blessed to attend a couple times and I know that they would all greatly benefit from being able to attend again this year.  It's been 'one of those years'.  Thank you for praying for them and seeking the Lord how you might be able to help them out.

We thank you all for your love, prayers and financial support.  It's in thanks to your faithfulness that we are able to minister here in Padova and continue reaching out to the many here who so desperately need to know the truth and love of Jesus.  Pray for those who are still hardened and stubborn that as we allow the light of Jesus to shine in and through us that they would see Him, desire to know Him and then walk with Him daily.  Please continue in prayer also that the Lord would bring a few people to come serve alongside of us here at CC Padova.  We really need some help :)

To God be the glory for the great things He has done!
In love,
Jim and Margie

If you would like to be a part of supporting us financially there are a couple ways you can do so:

Send a check to with a memo stating it's for Jim Stewart CC Padova to:
Calvary Chapel Vista
885 E Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084

OR you can give via online donations at either of the two websites.  Just be sure to scroll to designate for Missions/Jim Stewart
Go to 

OR

All donations are tax deductible

1 comment:

Steve said...

What a blessing guys…great to hear and see what the Lord is doing:-) All our love, Steve & Carolyn