Milano - marzo 19

Saturday, March 19th, we went to Milan for the afternoon and evening. There was a Christian march followed by a concert, which is very rare in Italy, considering there are not many Christians here. We all visited Il Duomo, and Joanna and I stayed for part of the Mass service. We didn't stay for the whole thing because 1) It was extremely long AND in Italian 2) We wanted to get to the concert that was starting soon. As we walked out of the cathedral, we saw that it was raining, thundering, lightning, the whole shabang. We waited for a bit for it to calm down, then we walked to the concert, which eventually was cancelled after a few songs because of the lightning. The trip was pretty pleasant, though. Milan has a different feel than other Italian cities - it feels modern and spacious. It was fun to be able to walk and window shop among all the among all the designer stores. When we're together, we have fun. :) Here are some photos:

Shopping area with Il Duomo in the background

Christian march

Inside Il Duomo

Joanna outside Il Duomo

Having fun

Surveys around Chiavari - marzo 18

On Friday, March 18th, we walked around Chiavari during the weekly market to take surveys of the city. We asked basic information like age bracket, marital status, if they lived in Chiavari or elsewhere, and religious beliefs, in order to get an idea of what life and spiritual beliefs are in Chiavari. Most people ignored us or said they didn't want to when we asked, but those we did talk to were very friendly and more than willing to chat for 5 or 10 minutes about life. Here are a few pictures.

This lovely elderly couple reminds me of my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Hess

Canelli - 5 marzo

From Saturday, March 5th to Sunday, the 6th, we went to Canelli in the Piemonte region because Lee Walti was going to preach to the evangelical church there. We actually didn't get many pictures from the get together one of the families at church hosted for us, bowling with some of the other young adults, and church in the morning. So excuse the random pictures... :)

Valentine's Day

Yesterday, we bought 140 roses from a flower stand and tied a paper to each rose-- with a little history about Saint Valentine as well as some Bible verses about God's love. Today we handed them on the streets of Chiavari to people walking by. While some people ignored us or simply did not believe we were actually giving the flowers away for free, many people took them with huge smiles and said "Grazie!". Others stopped where they were and read the text on the paper, looking back at us curiously. One elderly lady, obviously touched by the flower we handed her, started crying and telling us about her husband who recently passed away. Each of these people we came across are individuals who God loves desperately and who we want to bless and minister to in whatever small way we can. I'm grateful for today and know that because God ordained it, He will use our simple actions to further his free grace in this country.