DESTINATION: CATANIA

On October 23rd Brandon and I headed down to Catania, Italy, a city on the island of Sicily. Our mission was to do a survey trip to visit the church there and meet the rest of the people that couldn’t make it to the August Convegno in Florence. See, the August Convegno is what opened us up to the possibility of working in Catania. In just a matter of a few days during the convegno we developed a special connection with the Catanians. We knew we had to get to know them more. At the time we were juggling what church to commit to at the end of November: Rome, Palermo, Milan, or Catania. After viewing all possibilities, we decided to go to Catania (they haven’t had anyone help them in 20 years) and if the Lord opened the doors for us to find a place then we knew it was meant for us to be there. The second day we were there we found an apartment. Our friend, Georigo Cammarata, was helping us by driving us around and having an appearance as a Sicilian (so we wouldn’t get ripped off) has been looking for an apartment for him and his fiancé for 2 years! He couldn’t believe we found that nice of an apartment for a good price, a great location/zone, and that fast! God was definitely wanting us there. The apartment is a gated community and has a doorman that won’t let anyone in until he has contacted the residence and the general surroundings make me feel really safe. Catania is about the same size as Florence. There is a large grocery store right next door and a fire department two doors down. There’s a hospital across the street and a main post office two doors down from that. We’re in an university zone too. There is a college right across the street from us and we’re just a 10 minute walk from the historic downtown and the coastline. There is also a nunnery behind our building and the best part is the church building is a 3 minute walk from our apartment! We don’t have to invest in any public transportation or worry about not having a car! We were down there for a total of 7 days and twice a day we were at a different church member’s house visiting and eating home cooked meals till our buttons burst. During the times when we weren’t eating (very rare) we were being driven around and seeing the city that they’re so proud of. Thursday was bible study night (similar to our Wednesday church nights) and welcomed us with cheers of hip-hip-hooray and tossing Brandon in the air a few times!! Luckily I was hiding in a pack of girls! Saturday night we went out on the town with 10 other brothers and sisters (it felt just like being back at home) and that following Sunday we had an agape (potluck) and literally stayed all day at the church building just fellowshipping and eating for what seemed like 6 hours! Monday night ended with a celebration dinner at the home of Massimo and Luisa and Tuesday morning we flew back to Citerna where we are now in the process of packing and looking forward to our future home and new journey that lies ahead of us.