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SICILY 2014

July was quite busy and filled with His blessings; you can see it from the photos. Uriel , a young sailor that I had the privilege to lead to Christ is back in the States preparing to go and finish is degree in medicine, let’s keep the prayers going for his future as a new believer.

As some of you know we are trying to get Bibles for refugees here in Sicily, this will require much prayers and much sacrifice to undertake this project. Dr. Vallen Prest is in charge of a web page where people can donate toward this project. He will be here in September preaching and teaching in few churches and visit the refugee camps on the West Coast of Sicily. We expect till the end of the year more than a half million refugees to land here in Sicily. English bibles are needed for these that arrive here with only the clothes on their back.

The bible studies are going great with new people joining in. We just finished the Gospel of Mark, next is Revelation. The markets are going well, the best part is to see the local believers getting into the action, I move away and observe them sharing. As you can see from the photos with a piece of literature or a Gospel they get into action.

We are grateful to ELIM mission to provide the material to reach the people here. In the midst of this, we also celebrated Pennie’s birthday at our favorite restaurant on the other side of the volcano. We took a long ride to enjoy the day and discover a pleasant change at the restaurant, new name and new owner, the food was delicious.

This month preached twice around here, once at New Hope Christian Center and once at the Navy Base. I think I still have an accent and it made some people laugh. Also in July we fed a few families with food, sometimes we buy food for the needy, sometimes our friend Pastor D’Arrigo gives us lots of food to share with the community.
We also were involved in a Community Relation project with the city of Catania. 70 plus Marines went with us to help clean up a Castle and a Roman bath ruins.

Now here we are in August and in Italy the national holiday month is here. Most people leave for holiday and the towns become very quiet. Unfortunately so seems our internet goes on holiday, leaving it so very hard to communicate with family and friend back in the states. And even with the heat of the month we also have Mt. Etna erupting, shakes, heat, and so on.

We just finished a week of VBS at the Navy base Sicily and were also able to help where help was needed. It is so precious to share with these precious youth. I handled the kitchen duties while Pennie was in charge of the little ones. On Friday I donned a more specific role, I became Saul, the persecutor turned persecuted. The theme was The Love of God, and where we can go when circumstances make us feel for His need in our lives. Isn’t it wonderful when we can share the love of our Lord and Savior with everyone He places in our path?

By the way, there is always an opportunity to share the Gospel. We took a couple of days to visit family in my hometown and refresh ourselves. It is very hot and we do not have air conditioning here. As Always a big thank you for being a part of the building of His Kingdom. In the words of the Apostle Paul: For me (us) to live is Christ. We pray that you are living it. Serving together in Sicily and wherever we find ourselves sharing His Good News. God Bless you.

Let’s go fishing (really) for fish.

Giuseppe & Pennie, Partnering with Italy for Christ