First Week

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Well, it has been a week since we arrive in Florence and we just now feel we are getting settled. We had our first meeting with our students. Mike and I both have 6 each.

We have been told that more will start signing up each week.

I contacted all of my students but was only able to meet with three of them. At first I thought we would have way too much down time but that hasn't been the case.

My first student, Maria, is 48, divorced, and unemployed. I will be meeting with her twice a week. She has very good English skills and believes she has many past lives. So part of that down time I thought I would have will be spent researching reincarnation and trying to figure out how to approach the gospel with her in a way that will open her mind enough to consider Jesus. I am depending greatly on the Spirit to help. My second student, Chiara, I like that name, is a Buddhist, 20 years old and again counting on the Spirit to help me introduce Jesus to her. My third student, Davide, is a very serious young man. He is very concerned about phrasal verbs, I had to look those up, I had never heard that term. Well, Wednesday we will be discussing those verbs. He reads very well but does not understand much of what he reads. I am keeping the Spirit pretty busy. Two of my students were unable to come this week but I will see then next week. My 6th student is a 15 year old boy whose mother wants him to learn English so I am not sure how that will work out.

We took the bus into Florence yesterday for the first time and walked around, stopped to have a pizza, walked around, stopped to have a coffee then walked around and had a cannoli. We saw the central market and a church and decided that we needed to go home, get out the guide books and hatch a plan that would help us be more intentional with our sightseeing. I think we have a good plan now and will start next week. Mike did take a couple of pictures of the Duomo but it was the back of it so will try to get the front of it next time and explain just what that is. Tomorrow about 15 of us are going on a little trip to San Gimignano known as the Manhattan of Tuscany. It is a perfectly preserved medieval town with lots of towers and a rich history. Will share it with you when we return. More later, Ann

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Comments

[John Pierson]

Thanks for writing this...interesting
Praying for you. Blessings, John