Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Summer Update

Dear Friends,
We wanted to send a little update on life in Padova along with current prayer requests.
As you know, I (Margie) was in CA for a few months taking care of my brother.  He has finished all his chemotherapy and radiation treatments for now.  The said they will order a scan in about another month.  We are all praying that the treatments worked and that his cancer is in remission.  Steve was so blessed by those of you who encouraged him along this difficult time.  He loved reading facebook notes and seeing people from all over the world pray for him.  It meant a lot to me too.  Jim was able to visit for a couple weeks to attend Marla’s graduation for her Master’s Degree.  We are so proud of her and all the hard work that went into this accomplishment.  The Lord provided a job rather quickly and a friend offered to have her stay with them until she can save up for a place. 
Here in Padova we are doing well.  Jim is busy trying to figure out building storage areas outside the church as we don’t have much extra space inside.  The place next door recently did some renovating so he was able to get some wood and other materials that should prove useful for his project.  He is teaching through Colossians on Sunday mornings and it has been such a good study.  It’s nice to see some are starting to take notes during the bible study too.  Summers are not very busy here-most people are headed out for their holidays so it’s a good time for us to pray and plan for the Fall. 
We have a wonderful location for our church-the neighborhood houses many of the university students and the main building to register for your residence is across the street from us.  At the end of September we plan to have an outreach to the students.  We will be making up ‘welcome bags’ with some goodies and a flyer for the weekly events at the church.  Jim will plan to teach The Parables Of Jesus starting in October and we will have conversational English club one of the evenings.  We are praying to get some musicians to come help us with an open house to start things off around the end of September.  Students start arriving mid September and most are here by October.

If any of you are musicians and feel called to come over and help out please get in touch with us.  If you have a heart for the unsaved and feel called to the Mission Field, please pray about joining us in Padova.  We have such a need for helpers.  There are so many students, so much ministry that can be done and we just cannot do it alone.  We had a guy that had approached Jim about to coming over to help but he recently let us know he was offered to go somewhere else.  It gets so discouraging after awhile.   We see the churches around us and the benefits of them having other missionaries to help out in different ways and we know in our hearts God wants the same for Padova.  Would you please pray specifically for our church in this area?  There are tens of thousands of just university students in Padova, let alone families and others who need to hear the Gospel message. 
One of the sad things about being in a university town is having to say good-bye to students.  We had a gal from Germany who finished her studies in March and went back home and this past Sunday we said good-bye to such a dear gal, Emily.  Emily found the church the day after she arrived in Padova and has been such a joy.  She and a group of the students would meet each week at the church for bible study and it was such an encouragement to see their desire to walk with the Lord and grow in His Word.  I will meet one last time with her tomorrow along with the gal who led the bible study and hopefully there will be a new group of students in the Fall. 


We are looking forward to our favorite time of year-the annual Missions Conference in August.  It’s always been a place of refuge and encouragement for us.  The teachings, the friendships and of course the meals are all prepared for us.  Please pray for all those who desire to go to be able to have the finances to attend and be refreshed in the Lord.  It really is such a special time for so many of us. 

I forgot to mention in the email-but, Jim will be performing his first Italian wedding at the end of August.  In Italy, as in most of Europe, people have to be legally married by the state.  In Italy, the only church recognized to perform a wedding is the Catholic church.  The couple reside in England but she has Italian roots so they will have the state wedding in England and the Christian wedding here.  We are quite excited and got to meet them via skype the other night.  Please keep this in prayer as many unbeliever will be in attendance and the couple is looking forward to their guests attending a Christian ceremony.   They are quite culturally diverse as he is part American and British and she is Ukranian but moved to Italy as a child and somewhere along the road moved to England and fell in love!  The ceremony will be in English with some Italian and Jim is going to work on saying a few things in Ukranian as well.  We've been invited to join them for the celebration feast afterwards -lots of good food and conversation for sure :)
We thank those of you who stand in the gap with us-who pray fervently for our needs and faithfully support the ministry here.  We say it often, but it is true.  We cannot do what we do without you.  We are truly blessed by your love and support. 
with love and thanksgiving,
Jim and Margie
CC Padova, Italy
Prayer Requests
For people in our city to get saved
Marriages to be rooted in Christ and to be healthy
Wisdom in planning upcoming events-for God to lead and give direction and that we don’t get ahead of Him
Finances for building rent
That people in the church would continue to seek the Lord as to how they can serve in the church and also in the community
Our health-especially Margie’s back
Someone gifted who can do our church website
Missions Conference-travel protection, finances
Laborers to come alongside in ministering to the people in Padova
Please pray also for a young married couple in our church who have had to endure a long distance relationship due to paperwork.  It's been a long process with a lot of headaches and they are just praying for everything to go through so they can be reunited as a family.