Buon giorno fratelli! Tanti Cari Saluti da Roma. Forgive us for the irregularity with updates, but here is the latest. Though it was a year full of trials and difficulty, perhaps one of our hardest in all of our time on the mission field, it was also perhaps one of our most effective, and fruitful periods. It is humbling to know by experience, the abounding grace of God that shines through in the midst of all our weaknesses. We truly have this “treasure in earthen vessels” and all the glory without a doubt, goes to Jesus.

Family:

Things have been pretty intense both personally and in ministry. The year started out with the tragic loss of both Hope’s Grandpa and my little brother Lance within a week of each other. Despite the shock and pain of our loss, as usual, Jesus demonstrated himself faithful to work all things for good in innumerable ways. Our comfort was knowing they are with Jesus. Hope is in America as of yesterday with her grandma about to head home to be with Jesus. When grandpa passed away last year, they had been married 71 years! God bless em. Here, the kids are doing great. They are happy, fun, very sensitive and Jesus loving by God’s grace. They’re not so excited about the hours of homework they get but whata ya gonna do. They do love church though. It’s a blessing when your kids are asking all the time when it’s going to be a “church day”, because they love it so much!!

CC Rome:

The fellowship is abounding with new life, new believers and folks growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. One of our great joys has been seeing a couple of the families in the neighborhood get saved and begin regularly attending the fellowship. The coffee bar ministry is paying off. Somebody has to do it, right? The children’s ministry has grown to the point that we are praying about what to do now with the little space we don't have. It almost feels like we are on the verge of seeing God really do something amazing. It has been a busy year of evangelism and outreach with teams and small concert/bbq evenings at the church. In the fall we did Fall Fest and had lot’s of little kids dressed up as animals with the theme of the party being Noah’s Ark. It has been such a blessing to see the folks in the fellowship stepping up to serve and help with outreach and services in practical ways all these months. Our call and focus into the New Year is to bear much fruit. Based on that, we are looking to get together more in small group settings such as retreats. In December, Hope and quite a few ladies from CC Rome and CC Frascati, traveled to northern Italy to participate in a women’s tea hosted by CC Montebelluna. God did a sweet work of speaking to them individually and creating a special bond among them in a way we hadn’t yet seen before.

God is really using our Food Bank to minister to people practically by meeting their needs, but we are also seeing some spiritual fruit out of it. A lady named Corina received Christ a few months ago through receiving food assistance. This last Sunday we had a “Persian” come to church who has been getting food from us for a couple of months. Following the service, he commented that he was touched by the simplicity and the genuine joy and love of the fellowship, and that he would be bringing his family next week. God is amazing! It was a joy to see the body at CC Rome step up to help this young man get his car fixed when he couldn’t afford the parts. God’s love demonstrated practically, touching hearts. We are currently serving nearly 20 families with the city sending more each week. (Continued below...)

(...continued from above) Basic necessities are being provided by larger E.U. food- banks, but there are many pressing needs for families which those food- banks don’t provide; diapers, baby food, milk and powdered milk, tomato sauce, detergents and hygiene products. If you’d like to help, get in touch with us on the CC Rome facebook page.

Coming Up: In March we will have a men’s retreat. We will also start again our English and Guitar lessons outreach. In June there will be a church wide (All Calvary’s in Italy) annual family conference with a team and teaching pastor from CC Spokane in Washington. Following the conference, we'll look to do some final repairs on our park renovation project, then we will be hosting a Family Festival in our neighborhood together with the team, doing Live Music, BBQ, VBS, preaching the gospel etc...

CC Frascati: The church in Frascati is doing great too. Robert is doing a wonderful job, busy working and serving the body. We are praying for financial support for him and his family. He works, but it just isn’t enough income to survive ultimately. Chantal, his wife was laid off and then got sick with a blood deficiency. If you’d like to support them, contact CC Boise or give online at chapelmissions.org and designate Italy - CC Frascati in the memo. We can never thank you all enough for your grace, love, support, help and prayers always sent our way. May God radically bless you on our behalf.

Prayer:

*The churches would continue growing in every way

*Wisdom for our leadership teams, for discernment, anointed yet practical teaching *Effective discipleship, fruit to be multiplied

*That God, His kingdom and His glory be our primary pursuit

*Holy Spirit to be poured out, gifts abounding, and love to be the the greatest among us *We might truly be salt and light to our community first, then to the city, the nation, and beyond

*For Robert and his family’s housing situation. Owner’s may sale the house in which they are living

*For upcoming services, conferences and retreats to be anointed, blessed and bear much fruit

*For God’s provision for all ministry and ministry families

*Provision for our food bank ministry and many to get saved through the practical expression of Christ’s love through His people

*For our kids, their growth in language use, their friendships and surrounding influences to be godly - Hope and her family's comfort

By Grace, Brent Harrell

The Café Bar… all encompassing hub of life in Italian culture; caffeine fixes, breakfast, weather forecasts, general info, phone credit, political, religious, and current events talk, or just catching up with a friend… is a most important morning stop and ritual and one of my primary forums for outreach and evangelism. I enter, greet Daniele the owner/barista, help myself to a delectable pastry and wait for my cappuccino as I greet the rest of the lively and familiar gang that is somewhat like a second family. Roberto and Stefano are two guys who never miss a morning. While the rest of us have our coffee, they start the day with a whiskey, or three! God has given me an open door with these two, as well as the others, over which I would ask you to pray.

Prayer:

§ More conversations about Jesus

§ Salvation for Roberto, Stefano (deliverance from Alcohol), Claudio and Malfisia, Glauco and Carmine, Daniele, and others in the community

§ Provision - projector, terrace furniture, kid’s playground equipment, finances for pastors and families to go to church conference in August, needs met for families seeking need through our Association... diapers, baby soaps, strollers, and food in general.

§ Blessed and effective summer outreaches (mini concert series 2 this coming Saturday), Water Baptism, Conferences By Grace, Brent Harrell

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our sincere apologies for such a long gap in getting out an update.   After returning to the states in February for 2 family funerals, things have just snowballed with life and activities.  First, we wanted to graciously thank those of you who sent cards, emails, flowers, words of comfort, and prayed for our families during such a sorrowful time.  The Lord was faithful as always.  A special thank you also to those of you who gave financially, allowing us to travel and go through the process with our families.

Team Work:

After returning in March we hosted a few smaller outreach teams on into June.  Thank you Kardos’s from Spokane who joined up with the White’s and Mike from CC Boise to form a team of hard working laborers.  From a new front wall project (amazing job artist Shelley), to a ceiling for the bathroom, a storage loft, installing a kitchen, lots of re-wiring, installing an air conditioners, building a stage and so on, we tackled a long list of projects.  It’s always a blessing to have servant-minded people just role up their sleeves and get to work.  Thanks for being an encouragement.  Thank you CC Ontario for contributing towards the cost of the kitchen.  We wanted to get to a public park make-over project but just didn’t have enough time or money.  That is still something we are praying to accomplish in the future.  If you’d like to donate let us know.

Preaching the Word:

Immediately following, I had the privilege of traveling to Serbia and speaking at a three-day conference at the Calvary Chapel in Subotica with two other pastors.  God really seemed to be working, blessing and stirring as we taught through the book of Nehemiah.  We pray for lasting fruit in Serbia.

Church Retreat:

One day after returning to Rome, Pastor Bob and Cathy came in from Boise for our annual Calvary Chapel Retreat jointly attended by 5 Italian Calvary’s.  It was an amazing time of teaching, fellowship, and family fun on the Tuscan seaside.  Outside of the general sessions, we separated into men and women’s groups a few times.  With these sessions the Lord was really doing a deep work with family, marriage, and building healthy churches.  Thank you Pastor Bob and Cathy for coming and sharing, pastor Craig for organizing, all those who attended.  Build them walls!!!

The Body:

God has really been doing some neat things, even in the midst of many struggles and trials. .  Recently, we have seen several people come to faith in Jesus in both churches.   Both churches are growing little by little, but God is doing a deepening work, which is very encouraging in these foundational stages.  At the end of June we will be water baptizing at least 4 or 5 folks.  Some are needing work, some are dealing with challenging or ungodly relationships, some need revival, some are growing and need to get plugged in to serving.  Pray for our Sunday school as we seek to fine-tune it a bit.  Chantal is in the hospital with some undiagnosed platelet malfunction which the doctors don’t quite understand.  Pray for God’s miraculous, healing touch.  Continued...