We hope your Memorial Day weekend is glorious. I decided to look up what it would say a “memorial” is and here is what it said, “something, especially a structure, established to remind people of a person or event.” We the church, those who belong to Christ, are here to be a living memorial to the Living Son Jesus Christ and to share that glorious news with those who have not found a personal relationship with Him yet! Isn’t that a glorious thought for this weekend!
We pray you are well and we want you to know what an encouragement you are to all of us here at IFC. God is currently working today, in and through the Church and Christian ministries, fulfilling the Great Command and the Great Commission which is the heart of Christianity. It should be the passion of the Body of Christ to participate in sharing the Gospel message and in making disciples to positively impact today’s generation. We thank you for participating with us!
We have so many things happening all at once, May is proving to be an extremely busy month. Gaetano shared with me the following update on his way driving back from a mentoring conference. Right now he is in Malta for a graduation Equip Conference this weekend.
“I am on my way back from a mentorship session in Naples. I will have a report to you soon. I will be back tonight and then tomorrow we will be off to Serbia for a leadership conference. Next week another mentorship session in Tuscany, then the following week graduation in Malta. From May 13 to May 26 the ORU TEAM will be ministering with Francesco in outreach and training in Catania. The agenda we worked up for them is grand and they will also be helping us hand out more of the La Mia Storia to the youth in Sicily as well! They will be having what we call here in the US a mini VBS for the younger youth and for the older youth some breakout sessions on: insecurity, choices, destiny/purpose, Jesus (the gospel), identity, and love. We ask you to pray for all of the events and all the magnificent helpers we have coming and partnering with the teams in Italy this year!
We should have some splendid reports coming to you soon, as soon as we receive them from all who participated and from Francesco. I am very pleased and blessed at how the ministry is rolling along. Together we are better”, Guy.
Then I also received an update from Giuseppe who is also very busy. “Hi guys, a very long Saturday, but a blessed one. I was invited to preach at Pastor Carmelo Cancilla church in Siracusa, a very large building with lots of facilities. I preached on Thychicus from Eph. 6:21-24 a Christian example to follow. During the week with a couple of festivities I had a couple Pastors meetings regarding future partnerships in sharing His Word in the Catania and Siracusa area. It does take a lot of time, phone calls and more meetings to get the ball rolling. We still need to fill a couple of spots to have Splatexperience.com here. Please pray that we can make this happen. I will be preaching at the Navy base soon to relieve the burden because of the chaplains going on leave”.
He also had the opportunity to go to Marsala for 4 days, and made two trips there. “I had to go by bus because our van is leaking oil. Took the first trip back here with goods and literature, used a van loaned by another mission. Then I went back again to Marsala with a full van with food and clothes. Someone donated to me 110 kg of rice, 50 kg of pasta, 92 boxes of breakfast cookies, 12 kg of jam and single packets jam, 20 kg of cookies for newborn, 4 cases of cucumbers. We handed out lots of clothes and strollers for the refugees there. Then preached twice on Sunday both times in English and Italian! Wow I am tired. Now we need around 40.000 English bibles to give away to them. It is expected that 800.000 refugees will be here by year end. Ciao for now”, Giuseppe & Pennie.
Please pray for Italy and its leadership, the evangelical Churches, the Italian people, the refugees, and entire IFC team that we can make a great impact on all these lives to bring glory to the Lord for his Kingdom! And for the teams there right now and those coming later this year!
I leave you with a beautiful thought; “Thou fulfilled him in advance with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head” (Psalm 21:3). “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). What an incredible picture of our Lord’s love for us. He is so anxious to bless us, so ready to fulfill His loving kindness in our lives, that He cannot wait for us to tell Him our needs. Just as David said in Psalm 21: “Lord, You pour out blessings and loving kindness on me before I can even ask. And You offer more than I could ever conceive of asking.” That is exactly the encouragement we receive from your love, prayers and support and we praise the Lord for your partnership with us.
We love you with the love of the Lord,
Betsy Plunkett, Administrator IFC