Back in Orlando

What a blessing today to worship back in Orlando at our wonderful church, Metro Life! God is so good to give us such a great place of worship, with incredible times of praising Him, godly pastors, good biblical teaching and a culture of gracious people who love the Lord. Today, after our service, we had a cool thing happen. We went to a parents meeting for the younger youth (junior high or Jacob's age) and sat at a table for pizza and a time of hearing from our pastor (just to let you know, there were about 8 tables in the room). We found out that seated at our table was a couple who have been at our church for 2 years but we had never met before. One of the other couples at the table who knew us also knew we had just returned from Italy to check out a ministry and so they asked how our trip was. We started to answer the question including the fact that we had visited the city of Udine and the wife quickly piped up and asked, "Ken and Ruthann Wells?" We answered yes but asked how in the world did they know the Wells? Well, their names are Alan & Laurie Niblack. Laurie and Alan answered that they support the Wells ministry in Udine! What a blessing it was to talk to the Niblacks. They shared with us a number of neat things they knew about the Wells ministry and family and we were able to update them on some recent things that have been going on with the Wells, including that Ken Wells, while in Rome recently, was by God's grace able to lead a lady to the Lord with her fiancé probably soon to follow in her footsteps. God is so good. The Niblacks were so encouraging of us in our future decision about pursuing this opportunity, told us they would faithfully be in prayer for us and wanted us to keep their family updated. Amazing that in all the time we've been at the church (about the same amount of time as the Niblacks), we had never met and then the first Lord's Day after our return from Italy with the Wells, we meet a sweet couple that not only know the Wells but support their ministry! Pretty cool.

Please pray for the Wells family who have been serving the Lord in Udine for about 3 years. They are thankful to be there in Italy doing the work of the Lord, by God's grace. However, they do have needs. Though they didn't really say it and definitely did not ask us to tell others, they have need for additional monthly support for their family of eight. Please pray and consider supporting them. Their names are Ken (who I just found out turned 50 yesterday! Happy B-day Ken!), Ruthann, Hannah (21), Adam (19), Peter (16), Olivia (13), Jared (12) and Abigail (9). They have a very sweet family who are a great testimony to the goodness of God and to faithful parents who are raising their kids in the love and admonition of the Lord.

Also please pray for the people of Udine. Udine, Italy, in the northeast part of Italy, is virtually an unreached area. Unlike the south of Italy, it is untouched by much of the evangelical effort that has taken place there over the last several decades. In Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, it is much warmer and the people are much more open and relationship oriented. As a result, many evangelical missions have based their efforts in the south. As well, some of the more successful religious efforts in Italy have been the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons in that order. Thankfully, the Pentecostal church has had some inroads in the south of Italy but northern Italy is virtually unreached. Because it is colder both weather-wise as well as people-wise, Christian evangelicals tend to stay away. Of course, in the case of Italy, we've learned that missionaries have to fight the battle of convincing potential supporters that Italy is in fact an unreached people group that desperately needs the Gospel and not just a vacation destination. Regardless of what people in the USA may think, Italy does need the Lord! Here is some other interesting trivia we were able to find:

Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Province	Udine (UD)
Mayor	Sergio Cecotti
Elevation	113 m (371 ft)
Area	56 km² (22 sq mi)
Population (as of December 31, 2007)
- Total	97,880
- Density	1,748/km² (4,527/sq mi)
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	46°04′N, 13°14′E
Gentilic	Udinesi
Dialing code	0432
Postal code	33100
Frazioni	see list
Patron	Sts. Ermacoras and Fortunatus
- Day	July 12

Did you know that on July 24, 1930, a tornado cut an 80km long swath of damage through the Treviso-Udine area of northeastern Italy killing 22 or 23 people?

Did you know that Joe Napolitano who is apparently a successful TV director (JAG, X-Files) and assistant director in movies (Parenthood, The Fisher King, Throw Momma from the Train) lists Udine , Italy as his birthplace?

Please continue to keep us (the Walti Family) in your prayers. We appreciate it tons!