Incredibile! Quante benedizioni per comprendere misura sovrana del dio nelle nostre vite!

(Translation: Incredible! How many blessings as we comprehend the sovereign provision of God in our lives!)
God is so good! We arrived safely in Udine, Italy after a six hour Amtrak train trip to Miami (usually five hours) and an incredibly wonderful time with our sweet brother and sister in the Lord, Nando and Cindy! The Spirit of God met us as we fellowshipped and ministered to each other that evening and the next day...I know this is why God's Word says, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together!" This is the sweet couple from the SG church in Miami who are housing us when we return from Italy even though they will be in Puerto Rico for a big family reunion. And they say to us, "You are blessing us by coming!" What an amazing time. We have truly made special, life-long friends. And oh what a blessing their church (Palm Vista) and pastor, Al Pino, is! We really enjoyed meeting him and being ministered to by his preaching. We also thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone else including the associate pastor and Al's daughter, Vanessa, and her husband, Fernando! God willing, we may even be able to get Fernando and Vanessa to come over and visit Italy and do some short term ministry! Who knows! God works in mysterious ways!

Though the plane trip to Atlanta from Miami went without delay, we sat on the tarmac for over an hour and 10 minutes in Atlanta wondering if we would be able to take off for our final destination. Just as we had got in line behind 10 other planes waiting to take off, a storm seemingly came out of nowhere and we saw some of the most amazing lightning storms we have ever seen. As we saw the awesome display of God's power, it reminded us of Psalm 57 which in the very beginning says,

"In you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me. [You] will send from heaven and save me!"

Well, we ended up taking off as the worst of the storm had passed by and as we pulled up off the ground, the sky cleared, the sun came through the clouds and we saw the horizon filled with light. It was really beautiful. So true that the storms of life often bring us the greatest blessings...most greatest of which is intimacy with our Lord Jesus! If we'll only trust Him! We actually arrived only a half hour late in Italy but 19 hours later for the entire trip! In case you're curious, 11am Italy time is 5am our time but praise God both Jeannette and I got about 3-4 hours of sleep which is a record for us! And we are actually feeling rested (and we haven't had our first cappuccino yet!).

We are now preparing for the staff conference which starts in about an hour) the riposa (like a midday siesta) is part of the preparation (but we are choosing not to rest because they say it's better for avoiding jetlag). But we want to share that it was so sweet that the entire team of Saints Equipped to Evangelize waited around for us after they had finished lunch to arrive and saved us two big plates of Maria's famous lasagna (Maria is the cook for Saints Bible Institute and a very good cook at that!) and all of the team greeted us with hugs and kisses (you might not know this but Italians kiss and hug...much like our brothers and sisters in Miami...I even got a couple smackers from Mierco who is one of the 3 or 4 Italian missionaries with our team). Hey, we're told to greet each other with a holy kiss...praise the Lord! So we had a sweet greeting to arrive to...and what a blessing to see the joy of the Lord in the faces of those who share the grace and mercy of the cross.

Thank you for all your prayers. We are excited about what God is doing but none of it would be possible without your faithful and loving support and encouragement!!! More updates later but for now...

Ciao and arriverderci!!

Jeannette posing at Italy airport

and Lee at bible center window in dorm room where we're staying