An update from Brandon

Here we are in the month of march and its hard to believe its already here. It seems that the cold winter weather in Sicily has already stated to hibernate and spring feels right around the corner. Life in general has been busy.

I have been working on translating biblical materials for the church and our website and that has kept me busy enough. We are trying to build up an online library of material on the church, what a Christian is and should be, and how to truly follow God in our daily lives. People seem to check a “church” out online and find out who they are from the comfort of their own home and so we are really trying to build this site up. It is currently under construction but can be accessed and we have already had a few inquiries and contacts from this.

We also started doing distribution for the free English courses using the Bible that I’m offering at the church building. We distributed for about 3 hours and gave out about 500 flyers. From this one time distribution, I have two new students who are studying weekly with me. Both are mainly here for the English but I’ve found them both open to talking about anything.

Salvatore is one of my new students. He comes from San Cono, Sicily which is a small mountain village about an hour outside of Catania. He is 25 years old and doesn’t actually look anything like what most think an Italian should look like. He is about 5’8 and has red hair and a red beard. He is a student at the Linguistics school here in Catania and is studying to get degrees in both English and Spanish. His English is already pretty good so he comes to me mainly just to talk and practice his oral English. This is perfect for me because since he wants to talk, I feel free to talk about anything. Politics is his current favorite topic and he knows quite a bit about world politics and US politics. I have learned quite a bit from him about the Italian political system in comparison to the American one. He is very critical of most governments and loves to talk about all of the injustices that happen worldwide and how he would fix them. Using his since of injustice, I got him talking about religion and TRUTH. Not just any truth, but TRUTH. He is catholic by tradition but is not a practicing catholic. He is VERY open to discussion and so I’m hoping that we can push forth and see where things go. Please pray for Salvatore and his everyday life and for his walk towards faith. Pray that I may be a guide to the TRUTH that is Christ Jesus.

I have also been doing a weekly study with a woman in her 50’s named Lydia. Stefano Scibiglia, a member of the church here in Catania and a great biblical scholar, has been going with me and we have enjoyed our discussions with Lydia. Lydia is a Jehovah’s Witness and has been for about 30 years. Our first study with her she brought a young Jehovah’s Witness who was around 25. This other lady was a new convert to JW and she came along to listen to our Bible study. We really tried to focus on scripture alone in these studies. The first encounter went well with us agreeing to meet again as long as we would stick solely to scripture and not outside sources or man made documents. The second time we met, Lydia brought a different sister who had also been a JW for over 30 years. (My impression was that she felt she needed reinforcements because we actually knew more about scripture than most catholics that she has studied with before). This study went well but we ran into a wall on the issue of Who the faithful servant is in the Book of Luke. From this passage, the JW get their concept of the “directors” and the slaves and the reason behind the publications of the “WATCHTOWER” magazine and the regional directors and more. However, she agreed to meet with us again. (side note-- this is funny to me because JW are usually the ones who hound people about doing studies but this time it was US). This last time we studied, she brought in the big guns. She brought their “Preacher”. So we began an in depth study on the issue and we came to a crossroad. I’m not sure if they are planning on meeting with us again but it was a great learning experience for me. I hope and pray that God may open Lydia’s heart to the words of scripture and not simply follow after man. I hope and pray to see her again.

Our weekly schedule has filled up nicely in the past month or so. On Monday, I’m at the building from 9 am to 12 working on translating materials, keeping the doors open for walk ins, and working on English materials. At 6, Salvatore comes and we do our study for about an hour. In the early afternoon, I’m either back at the building or doing the shopping for Kristin (since we live on the tenth floor and she’s pregnant).

On Tuesday, I’m at the building in the morning until lunch. At 4, Kristin and I usually head in for one of our longer nights. We prepare our English lesson for the church members and print out copies for everyone. At 530 we have an English lesson with Giorgia D’Agostino. She is 16 and her family are members of the church and she is studying to become a Christian. She’s a wonderful girl who has a passion for Highschool Musical and the “Sister Act” movies. She has a younger brother named Fabio and a younger sister named Elisa. Fabio is 13 and Elisa is 6. They both hang around during our lessons and have picked up quite a bit of English. There parents are wonderful people who really take care of their kids. They aren’t smothered but you can tell these kids are loved. After the lesson with Giorgia ends, we have about 30 minutes before other members arrive for our weekly English/singing lessons. We spend about 15 minutes doing tongue twisters and reading verses in English while translating them into Italian. After this, we spend about 45 to an hour trying to teach them the four part harmonies. This is really quite difficult! However, we have a lot of fun and have really enjoyed each others company during this time. We laugh a lot and generally spend time together doing fun games and singing songs together. We have been averaging 10 to 15 each week which is more than I thought would come. It’s a great fun night!

On Wednesday my day is a lot like Monday as I work at the building until Salvatore comes. (Once more students sign-up, instead of translating, I will be doing more lessons). Thursday night is our weekly bible study at 730 pm. We have been doing a study on Revelation and its now coming to an end. After Stefano finishes teaching this study on revelation, I will be starting a new series on called “How to talk to others about your faith”. This study will be about how to begin conversations at work, play, school and more. It will also encompass how to study one on one with someone and a more in depth knowledge of scripture. I’m very excited about this opportunity. Please begin to pray for this class that it may help the brother and sisters here to become more evangelistic and open to sharing their faith.

Friday and Saturday change constantly. Saturday night is usually the night we go and visit the shut-ins and the sick. I’ve come to really enjoy this weekly time with the brothers here and its always encouraged me so much to visit some of these brothers and sisters who have lived full lives for Christ. It gives me great joy to hear them say that they cant wait to be home with Christ.

So, as you can see a lot has happened and a lot is happening! We are hitting the full stride of our work and we feel God is opening a lot of doors here in Catania. Please continue to pray for us, our unborn child, and the work that is developing here in Catania. God bless!

Brandon