Shadowfeet

There's a sweet song by Brook Fraser, the lyrics repeated here and the song is the first in our playlist on our blog here:

Walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet
Toward home, a land that I've never seen
I am changing
Less and less asleep
Made of different stuff than when I began
And I have sensed it all along
Fast approaching is the day

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

There's distraction buzzing in my head
Saying in the shadows it's easier to stay
But I've heard rumours of true reality
Whispers of a well-lit way

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

We feel like we have had shadowfeet...wanting to stay in the shadows where it's easier and more comfortable to stay. And yet there's been this whole wide world out here dying to hear the gospel. Or should we say, dying without the gospel. Us Americans tend to be out of touch with the rest of the world. Maybe it's the news that doesn't give us much of what's happening. Maybe it's the flow of music, movies and information in general (from America to the world and not the other way much). Or maybe it's just our arrogance (mine and Jeannette's) and lack of interest in things other than good ole' USA. But suffice it to say, it really is a mysterious and wonderful world out here waiting! And like Brooke sings in her song, we are walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet (that prefer comfort and ease) toward our home (our new home) but really a land we've never seen. We've been saying, "In the shadows it's easier to stay...but we've heard rumours of true reality...Whispers of a well-lit way (Jesus)."

We do feel like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders now that we have arrived. And it's now official: we've spent our first 24 hour period in Udine, Italy!

On some of the details...

Amazing and very challenging. Wow was it hard to say goodbye. Over some 30 people sent us off at the airport and that was after helping us pack, disassemble bikes and pack them, and then pack them some more, etc., etc. Such sweet friends. Travelling with 23 suitcases, 4 bikes and 3 guitars is an interesting experience! It literally took a small village to get us in the airplane and off the ground. While Jeannette and I were showing the British Airline rep all our passports, explaining to her that no, this was not a large tour group that was going, etc., there was like 7-8 people writing the address of our bible center on the tags (best place since we are in a temp apt), 3 people providing moral support, 2 people helping with rearranging bags and bikes and helping to weigh them and all with a smile on our faces. And then another 20 or so wanting to help and cheering us on.

It was amazing to see God's goodness at work through loving friends! And we were the direct beneficiaries. A little stressful, yes. But still amazing. Actually, the guitars almost didn't make it. We were told they were supposed to be like a carry-on to go free. We explained that this was not what we were told when we talked to the two different BA reps on the phone. So they called a supervisor over and she said, "Well, if it's in the record that you were told this, then we will honor it." So they looked and there was the info about the guitars but nothing about it being hand carried on so, the supervisor said to our rep, "Just allow it as sporting goods." Amazing. It would have been an additional $420 - $450. So off we went with our sweet troupe following us.

It was SO hard to say goodbye...everyone was crying. The youth (all the girls friends) were crying that came to say goodbye. All the other kids were crying (ours and others, friends of our kids). Eventually, all the parents were crying. And Jeannette and I were just balling like a baby. But I really appreciated the words George Romanacce spoke in my ears when we hugged that last moment before walking through the security check, "God knows what He is doing." That really helped me make it through. I also remembered what Todd, our worship pastor had said when we met some time back...something to the effect of, "You guys have developed some many great friendships here (our church, Metro Life)" This is so true. We sometimes have thought we are literally crazy (even in London, during our six-hour layover, the tempting thought came, "What are we doing? We were so blessed and we left all of our sweet friends! We had it so good." And so then, more tears!) Truly though, the Lord has truly blessed us with such special friends and our home group at church is like family to us. We just hope everyone knows that they are not going to be able to get rid of us just because we are in Italy!

Anyway, the flight was good (the kids loved having their own little video screen and watching movies...their last American movies for a long time probably). And except for having lots of people stare at us and struggling with our carry-on luggage that appeared to be packed for Attila the Hun, we did fine. On the other end, we did rent a van as one of the two ministry vans that was going to pick us up originally was in the repair shop. However, as the team was going to pick up the rented van, the good van broke down! So the team had to go get the repair shop owner to open the shop and give them the other van which still runs but needs shocks. But finally, they were on the road and in addition to the van the ministry brought with them, we had a rented van where we literally pushed the last suitcase in (with all the suitcases, bikes, guitars, etc) and had to force the door closed. We could not have fit one more suitcase or anything. Tom Little, our administrator, was amazed. He and the director, Sam Spatola, had bet that with all the luggage we had, it wouldn't fit. But Tom acknowledged they lost the bet! Praise God!

An hour and a half later (about 9:40pm Udine time but 3:40pm our time with very little sleep!)It was so sweet that the Wells family (the missionary family who helps with the Udine church) all came to the apartment to greet us as did the rest of the team who came in from San Lorenzo so it was such a nice greeting and the kids (Wells and Waltis) got to meet each other for the first time. The temporary apartment is very nice…very up to date. We’re a little cramped with all the suitcases but we’ll survive once we get everything packed away some. No air conditioning (forget USA conveniences) but a nice breeze when the windows are open. Just watch out for mosquitoes cuz there’s no screens on most windows here either! Here you learn really quick to not expect all the conveniences and comforts. We just keep thinking, it's good for the sake of our character!

One quick thing on contacting us…please download Skype at http://www.skype.com/ and then search for a contact and plug in my name (Lee.Walti) or Jeannette’s (Jeannette.Walti). And Bethany’s is Bethany.Walti if any would like to connect with her (Hannah and the other kids can be reached on Jeannette's or my connection). We have a wired connection. By the way, we did have a router but we blew it last night when we forgot that some electronics don't have the additional allowance of voltage!

After waking up about 12:30pm (we were shocked) following our first night of sleep (pretty good night), we started getting going for the day. All the kids were already having fun (Elijah already met two friends which then allowed us to meet their mom, our very first new Christian friend/neighbor in Italy, a lady one story up named Georgina). Elijah and Abby rode their bikes around the complex once Jacob and I got the two kids bikes we brought with us to Italy put together. It turns out Georgina is not really Italian though she speaks this and English quite well...she's from Nigeria. Which actually explains why we could meet someone in Italy who was a Christian (even she was very surprised to find out we were Christians and commented that it is very rare). We did discover that she is separated from her non-Christian husband and has three kids. And though she has a lot going on in her life, she seemed very excited to meet us. So pray for her and for us, that we might have a good influence in her life (we wondered who it was that had the bible in her car here!)

We went to the Wells family for lunch then which was so nice. After a great meal and some espresso, we even played a couple games of ping-pong and then walked down the street altogether to get some real genuine Gelato! We are so blessed to be teamed with such a neat family! The kids (ours and the Wells') are got along great and clearly enjoyed having some company. I think our two families will do great together.

We spent the rest of the afternoon meeting with our new landlord to sign the contract and pay the rent for our month (praise God our new ATM card we just got the day before we left actually worked!) for our new temporary apartment (hoping to find permanent lodging before the month is up). She was a very nice lady and I think God gave me favor with her because I was able to get her printer working. Once we were done, we took all the kids (including our two new-found friends...two of Georgina's kids) on a walk to the supermercado (supermarket) and then to pizza. However, we missed the first supermercado (closest to us) by 10 minutes (Jeannette's watch was off by 20 minutes), the second one by 30 minutes (some Italians told us along the way it was open a half our later) and the third one...well, we never made it as we found that though we tried, we couldn't walk the 4 more kilometers in time...hey but it was good exercise anyway (Jeannette and I are hoping to lose some weight!). And a good lesson for all of us about flexibility...and better planning!

We did get to go to the pizzeria finally. It was a nice little neighborly place where we really hit it off with the proprietor who seemed to like us (probably because of us having all the kids with us didn't hurt as he has three...ages 10, 5 and 3...very rare in Italy). After the pizza cooked, we paid for everything and as he was packing all our pizza and drinks up, the pizzeria owner placed a bottle of "roso" wine in our bag as a gift! How kind of him. We're finding that Italians are much nicer than they are sometimes made out to be. Oh, and the pizza! Molte Bene! (very good) If you've only had American pizza, you've never had real pizza. This was incredible! So if you come visit us, we promise, as a lure to get you to come, we will buy you real authentic Italian pizza!!!

Well...here are some upcoming needs for prayer...

Bethany goes to school this Saturday at Saints Bible Institute so please pray for her. She's excited but like a lot of new things, just wondering what it will all be like. Hannah is quite concerned about what her school will be like and whether she will even be able to do any school because unlike Bethany, her school will all be in Italian and she has not learned much yet. Please pray for her because she's having the normal jitters that come with such a strange and different place where everyone speaks a different language! Pray that she will not only do great and learn Italian quick but also make some sweet friends and have a great witness. Jeannette and I told her that with her personality and all-around giftedness, she'll do great! But she's not totally believing us yet. Please pray for our other kids too...Jacob seems to have enjoyed meeting Jared Wells but also please pray for friends and his new school. Elijah seems to be having the time of his life but pray that he won't offend all of his new friends (partially kidding but partially true), that he will really try to speak Italian and that he won't be too loud for an Italian apartment complex. And Abby...well, Abby is just adorable as usual! Lastly...vehicles. Please pray that our Honda van in Florida will sell and please pray for a vehicle for us here. We do not have the money to buy one and we can't finance one here...but we probably really need to have one. At this point, we don't know where the money or the van will come from...so please pray.

Well, that's about it! Or at least enough for this post (long as usual!). We love you all! We couldn’t have made it without you. You are our partners in crime (the gospel being preached and brought to Italians!) We love you and miss you all already!!! In our next post, we'll just put pictures...lots of them!