You would think it would be simple.....

I recently have spent a lot of time in three different places around our little neighborhood in Catania. I've spent a lot of time at the grocery store, the post office, and the USL medical center. Since my new found need to go to these places has put me there a lot, I've started to notice some things about these places. They all have one major thing in common. Old ladies. There are cute ones that make you want to help them carry their bags, smug ones that look as if they have run a farm their entire life and don't need your help, and lost ones who seem to not really understand whats going on at all in life at that moment in time. I'll explain.
I was in the grocery store yesterday at the WORST time one can go there. 1130 am. BAD time. This is when all the old ladies come out to get lunch materials for their families. We dont have big Wallmart's with 50 check out lines. We have one small little grocery store called SMA and it has exactly 8. Of course, they don't have enough employees to have all 8 open so I can comfortably say there are only 3. After figuring out that this was a bad time to be here I proceeded to only get the very basic of what Kristin needed for lunch instead of getting food for the whole week. I tried to quickly get in line. I was still behind at least 6 people. Some old, some younger. ALL seemed to be in a terrible hurry UNTIL they got to the cashier lady. It is a bit of an Italian custom to know EVERYONE you see and the grocery store is no different. So they stop and talk while the person behind them gets annoyed.
Heres where the old ladies come in. They always try to cut ahead of everyone else! I was standing in line and I put my basket down on the floor so as to not have to hold it the whole time in line. I started talking with a lady in line about the upcoming St. Agatha festival in town. The next thing I new, a sweet old lady, I use this term loosely right now, pushed my basket with her leg and slid in front of me. There was no room so she proceeded to lean against me and make me go back. She even turned around and asked if I didn't mind not crowding her. I was amused. I chuckled to myself and let it go.
Then I saw another old lady looking at the candy that you always find strategically placed on either side of you once you get close to the conveyor belt. She was looking intently at the candy and was acting like she was going to buy something. My turn had finally come and so I reach down and grab my basket to lift it up on the conveyor belt and when I look back up, this sweet old lady had put her things on the conveyor belt and smiled at me saying, "Devo andare a casa a preparare la cena.Tu capisci, vero?" Translated this means, "I need to go home and prepare lunch. You understand right?" The problem was it wasn't just me she was jumping ahead of. It was about 10 people behind me which included OTHER old ladies. They did not like this at all.
Needless to say, I now watch everyone like a hawk in the grocery store lines. If someone has only one thing to buy, or less than me, I try to let them go ahead. It has become a game for me to watch and see how many old ladies will try to cut ahead of others. It really is a fun game. I now do my best to just let them go ahead. I give in. It seems they would have gotten ahead of me either way.


On the happiest note of my life, Kristin is pregnant!! We are really excited and cant wait for this little blessing from God. Please pray for us in our continued work here and all that we do and become. God bless!

We off to Florence

Tomorrow we leave for Florence for the next 3 days. We have an appointment for our permesso di soggiorno. Let's hope this is it so we don't have to fly up there again. It is basically a type of green card. It will also be nice to visit with David and Debbie Woodroof who are the new directors of Avanti Italia. David was my boss for 7 years as I worked for the Media Center on Harding's campus and is also a close family friend. When I was studying abroad in Florence of summer 2004, I had the great blessing of having them as our faculty for the following 3 months. So we all shared our first italian experiences together. HUF was what ignited that fire in me to come back to Italy, maybe it did the same for them too. But before we go, I just wanted to post some pictures and video of our brothers and sisters here in Itlay.

Here are some members of the Catania Church:



















Fiorentina fans vs. Catania fans :



Our new brother:

English/Bible studies

How many Italian men does it take to install an air conditioner/heater wall unit? Apparently 5. That has been our morning so far. It's been entertaining watching them argue and repeating "aspetta! aspetta!" which means "wait!" while a couple recline on our couch making orders to the other workers. As you just read, our gracious land lord is installing an air condition/ heater wall unit in our living room for us. It can get pretty hot here in Catania and he's doing it well in advance before the blistering summer heat strikes us (which will probably be in a few weeks).
Last night we had a bible/english lesson which was scheduled with one girl, Georgia, but then it turned into a lesson for 3: Georgia's father and Stefano Scibiglia. Georgia is a 16 year old brilliant girl. She is almost fluent in french, and knows a little bit of japanese, chinese, german, and russian. She has had 11 years of english (since kindergarten) and is in need of practice in pronunciation, understanding, and writing. She has weekly bible studies with Stefano, a wonderful evangelist, as she is studying to become a christian. Her parents are members of the church and right now she is studying to, Lord willing, make the greatest decision in her life. At the same time, our new sister, Nicoletta, who was just baptized a month ago, is continuing her studies with a fellow member of the church AND brought along her boyfriend whom she is hoping will become a brother in Christ! Last sunday we spoke to Nicoletta about it and she is praying diligently that her boyfriend will have an open heart and accept the Message that has changed her life for the good.
After Georgia's study with Stefano, her father decided to sit in on her lessons with us as well as Stefano. Our english lessons went very smoothly. We took the first 8 verses of Mark and had them read out loud, one verse at a time, while correcting their pronunciation and explaining certain words to them. Georgia's dad just listened in and followed along in his italian bible while Stefano decided to surprise us with his knowledge of english. We also gave a little historical background about the writer, Mark, which they were fascinated with. We then had them re-read the english verse in italian and vice versa to practice their translating skills. For homework they are to read out loud the verses again as well as writing it and then to translate a passage in James 1:2-6.
As we were telling the history of Mark, I realized how blessed I was to have had the opportunity of studying at a christian university as well as a christian highschool. The new testament and old testament surveys, as well as studies on individual books such as James and Hebrews, and the Gospels, have enriched my mind with the historical knowledge (as well as knowledge for "the way" to live life that leads to our eternal life with HIM). In our study last night, it was their first time to hear that Mark was actually a surname and that John was his first name. We will continue to share historical background of the books with them and Brandon is doing the best he can in his time between students to translate historical biblical material for them.

Happy New Year!

Buon Anno Nuovo! It is officially 2008 and Brandon and I are thrilled to what this year may bring. We had a great christmas. We celebrated with our italian brothers and sisters till 3 in the morning on christmas eve and then the next day we continued with the celebrations with a long lunch. I crashed at 7pm that night. I have never eaten so much food in my life within a 24 hour period.
New Years was the best in my opinion. We had about 15 people over at our house to bring in the new year together. We had all sorts of anti-pasta, primi, meats, and breads. We are so thankful that we have the space to host our friends. We set up 2 long tables in our living room and everyone was able to fellowship around one make-shift table. We enjoyed our dinner with a backdrop of fireworks through our large windows. When it got closer to midnight, all of us went outside onto our terrace and had the most magnificent firework show we have ever seen. We live in one of the tallest buildings in catania, on the 10th floor, so we had a 360 degree view of what seemed like millions of fireworks shooting up in the air all around us. I think it was a first for everyone there to see that many fireworks. *Check out the video below.* There were times though, where we couldn't leave our apartment due to some pyros who like to shoot fireworks and firecrackers in the streets and off the balconies. On the first of january, the evening news reported several injuries due to fireworks. There were a couple of deaths from people shooting their guns up in the air at midnight.
After the firework show, we ran back in to warm up and some sat around watching a new year entertainment show while I taught a few how to play the game "uno". They got a kick out of drawing a card one after another and ending up with a mini deck in their hand after finding the right card for the stack. We then all gathered around the living room to teach them how to play the game "mafia". They found this very amusing considering they live in the mafia city headquarters. All of this and other various activities continued through 4:30 am. Even our sweet elderly Graziella was one of the last to leave.
As you can tell, we finally have internet in our home. We applied the first week we arrived in Catania, but due to the special christmas package, it was a little backed up. Slowly but surely we're are getting settled into making a house a home. I am getting better in my italian language. And I am grateful the italians are so patient with me. We are setting up english lessons and making curriculum, language level tests, and distribution. Brandon is translating some biblical studies material from a request from some of the men in the church which he is excited to be doing. Continue to pray for our work.

God bless,
Brandon and Kristin Edwards