Well, its officially a time for an update! I know its been a while but life happens. Its been an extremely busy month of June and early July. I guess I need to start off by explaining a little bit of our living arrangements. We live at the SCUOLA BIBLICA DI FIRENZE (Florence Bible School Building) in a one-room back bedroom. The building itself was an actual Bible school for Italians in the late 60's, 70's and early 80's. My grandfather helped buy this building in 65' and its been interesting to find old books, pictures, and more of my grandparents throughout the building. The building itself is three stories with the bottom floor about half underground so that it stays really cool in the summer. We do not have any airconditioning (or heating) so we use alot of fans, open windows for breezes, and lots of cold drinks to stay cool during the summer. During the winter we use space heaters and big conforters! All in all, quite enjoyable. The bottom floor is our dining room, kitchen, and classroom. The second floor is divided in two parts. On the left side is Gary and Jennifer Williams, the directors, apartment. They have a living room, kitchen, bedroom, guest room, and bathroom, with two balconies. The other side of the hall is a bit different. There is a library, (which i'm currently renovating) Gary Williams office, a computer room, Kyle Thompson's room (HUF's assistant), Kristin and I's room, and the bathroom that we share with Kyle. A little crowded would you say? The right side is an exact mirror opposite of the Williams apartment just divided a bit differently. The third floor is a whole other story. The third floor is mirror exact on both sides except the right is for girls and the left is for guys. There is a big open room which houses 8 beds. We call it either the "guys side dorm" or girls side dorm". So thats 16 beds that we have. (i'll explain these a few seconds). We also have two matrimonial rooms. (one on guys side and one on the girls side) There is one bathroom on each side for these "guest rooms". The rest of the two sides is divided up into single rooms for "single" Avanti Italia workers.All in all, one huge crowded building! It gets crowded because of our constant flow of guests. Since we arrived in May, (13th) we have had a total of 75 guests who have come and stayed with us. We have had a total of 9 days without a guest here at our home. We have had a group of 29 for three days from Freed-Hardeman. Right now, we have a group of 15 from Falkner University who are staying with us for three weeks. Honestly, it sometimes feels like we are running a hotel. Thankfully, I have already worked at a hotel so I know a bit about what I'm doing (thanks Mrs. Walton!) In all seriousness, we really do run a hotel here. A Christian hotel based off of the principal of hospitality. Some days are harder than others but we make it and try to always do it with a smile. On a normal day (as if there was one) we have eight of us living here. Kristin and I, Greg Seiders (harding grad), Kelly Fann (harding Grad), Katy Cross (Freed Grad), David Hopper (harding grad), and the Williams. All of them are wonderful and its been a blessing having them here to help us in our transition. God has been good to us.
In my last big email, I mentioned some people that we were trying to help out at the point in time. To recap, Nancy and Rodger Bednar were on vacation here in Florence, Italy. They were enjoying Italy when Mr. Bednar began to have trouble with kidney stones which caused a reoccurance of his pneumonia that he had had before he came to Italy. He was rushed to the main hospital in the center or Florence as he was having problems breathing. We (Avanti Italia) received an email from some of their friends (in dallas) in America telling us of their situation. Greg and I went on a search to find them. He had been moved to a hospital on the ourskirts of Florence that specialized in Pulmonary surgeries. By the time we arrived Mr. Bednar was heading into surgery to literaly save his life. We met and talked with Mrs. Bednar and her son, Paul, and invited them to come and stay with us at the Bible school so as to save them some money on their now prolonged stay. They came and we began an intersting two weeks. Mrs. Bednar and her son traveled back and forth to the hospital spending most of the days with the now recovering Mr. Bednar. One evening, as we sat watching a movie with some of our students, Mrs. Bednar came in to our living room and she didnt look good. She was crying and so we asked if she was ok. She said that she wasnt. We were worried that something had happened to Mr. Bednar! As it turns out, she was suffering from a lower intestinal problem that she had had before which is called divriticulytus (sp?). We rushed her over to the closest hospital, which is literally across the street from us (Thank God), and got her admitted to the E.R. We were there until 1 am waiting to see how it would go. Now we had a married couple in two different hospitals. Paul Bednar, the son, had already flown home to Dallas because of work. So we drove out to visit Mr. Bednar to fill him in on why his wife was not there to visit him on that day. We talked to the doctors and they promised to do whatever they could to transfer him over close to us so they could at least be at the same hospital. They did and it was such a blessing! At that time, Mrs. Bednar ended up having life saving surgery! So now both of them had to have surgery in Italy while on vacation. God took care of them and they both were such wonderfully positive people. Im glad to say that they made it home back to the states safe and sound. God has blessed us with new friends and a WHOLE LOT of memories.
On a different note, Ive had two students that come just about everyday to study Bible. Mario Luigi Donatello (yes, thats his REAL name, stereotypical I know) is a 47 year old resteraunt owner. He owns a BEAUTIFUL resteraunt called "La Taverna di Castruccio". We spend most mornings from 930 to 11 talking about any questions that he might have about life, Bible, scripture, history, and more. He is truly seeking and is needing your prayers. Pray for Luigi! Well, Kristin and I are enjoying our work filled summer and know that God is blessing our lives as we serve HIM. I pray that all of you may find peace and strength in your work, homes, and any place that God may lead you. Stand firm in THE faith. Search the SCRIPTURES. God will guide. Love and Peace from Florence. The church in Florence sends their greeting. IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.
Brandon and Kristin Edwards
