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 :)
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 PadovaPlease 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.