To Vasto to Make a Difference!

Dear friends,

These past two weeks my brother, Jacob and I (Hannah) had the opportunity to go to the south of Italy to a city named Vasto for a short term mission trip. Vasto is a city on the south-eastern coast of Italy. Usually, when most people think of Italy they think vacation, pasta, pizza, wine, scenery, architecture, and amazing people. I would like to give you something else to think about when you think of the country of Italy. There are approximately 36,000 cities in the country of Italy, out of those there are still 34,000 cities that have never been reached with the good news of the gospel. This is a big number and fairly hard to fathom because in the US over 75% claim to be practicing Christians. That is a substantial difference. The main religion in the country of Italy is Roman Catholicism with over 90% of the population claiming to be Catholics and to this day is so entwined with the culture that they are almost interchangeable. However, we know that less than 3% of these proclaimed Catholics actually practice their religion in any tangible way we’d recognize. Sadly, less than 1% of Italy are evangelicals. Most Italians don’t even know what a Christian is. Though America is filled with people claiming to be Christians, 99% of Italy is heading toward hell.

While in Vasto for our short mission trip, a few of the biggest questions Jacob and I got asked were “So what are the differences between Evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholicism?” and “So are you saying that you don’t pray to the Madonna?” We clearly tried to tell them that we don’t believe that the Madonna (Mary, mother of Jesus) is divine; we simply believe she is a special woman that God chose to use for a special work. We believe she had sin just like every one of us. This is a very hard thing for Italians to grasp along with the fact that we don’t pray to or believe in the saints. We were able to talk to many, many people about the gospel and we were able to get contact info for the evangelical church in Vasto to follow-up.

There are many exciting stories of how God has used the Vasto evangelical church in the lives of people in that city. Take for instance, Sara, who since birth has been recognized as a Catholic along with her family. Recently, she came into contact with the evangelical church members there and started coming to church and reading her bible regularly. She loves the members because of their gracious hearts and lively spirits. There is one problem: her family does not appreciate this at all. Her family despises this church and will show up at their functions to try to dissuade the minds of the people watching and listening. One day while we were in Vasto, we were doing a children’s ministry in the park. Sara showed up with her mother but her mother couldn’t take hearing the truth and started talking to others, telling everyone what a bad thing they had done to their daughter. The team kept their cool and the senior pastor was able to talk to her family and was gracious and relaxed. Please pray for the hearts of Sara’s family and for Sara as well. I can’t even begin to imagine how emotionally and physically exhausting it must be to try and combat your family every day so as to follow Christ. It would be easier to give up on Jesus but Jesus will not and has not given up on her. She is remaining strong and will continue to do so with the help of the members of the church there in Vasto. But she is a great example of why we do this work.

While in Vasto we did many exciting things, Vasto is actually a beach town so every morning we were able to do ministry out on the beach. We started with a small concert to draw crowds and then did mimes and skits pertaining to a relationship with Christ and we would then have conversations with the people. In the afternoon, we would then head for a local children’s park for a great program with the kids. We did puppets, songs, balloons, games, and give them small gifts. We taught the kids some great stories from the Bible. This was one of my favorite things as the kids were so cute and attentive…they loved hearing what we shared and didn’t want us to go when it came time to leave. In the evening, after a short rest, we would then go out to the Vasto Marina and do more mimes and have some great conversations with the audience members. We would normally get 50-70 people out each time. People were so attentive and I had never seen bigger groups of people watching our mimes before. Jacob even learned two of the mimes and did a great job though he was the youngest of the team at 14 years old. After each mime, our team leader, Kevin would give a short message telling people why we were there and presenting the Gospel to them as well. The people were very kind and respectful and seemed truly interested in what we had to say.

No one came to the Lord that we know of while we were there but I believe it is better this way. It is such a short time to make a decision that will forever change the rest of your life…I believe it is better that we planted the seeds in their lives and God will do the rest, harvesting the seeds in due time. He is so much more powerful than we are anyway and His ways are not only higher but also much better then our own. What is really cool is that we were able to get many contacts for the church in Vasto for them to follow-up on and we can’t wait to hear to see how things are going with their continued evangelism effort. We had amazing and powerful conversations with several different people during this time and you could truly tell that the people were longing and searching for something more, something meaningful in their lives, young and old alike. It didn’t matter if it was a 75-year old man in the piazza, a 16-year old girl on the beach; or a 10-year old at the park…they were all searching for something more…something that would give them peace and purpose. What they were needing was the precious truth of the Gospel.

Well, as you can imagine, it was so exciting for Jacob and I to participate on this missions team. We have never worked so hard in our lives! Starting at 7:30 in the morning and going until 1:20 or 2:30 in the morning of the following day sometimes. One reason you might not have heard about our trip is that we actually were not sure what city or team we would be on until shortly before we left so we couldn’t get the word out.

"So how can you help now?" you might ask. Please continue to pray for the hearts of the people in Vasto, Italy. That they would be open to the words that were spoken to them and God would enter into their hearts and lives and save them. These people are desperately lost and need the good news of the Gospel. They are like lost sheep without the Good Shepherd. Many who are even very religious (Roman Catholic) but with no concept of what a relationship with Jesus is. Please also pray for the church in Vasto…they have received constant attacks from other churches; not only Catholic churches but also other Evangelical churches as well who feel threatened. Some of these have even been telling others that they are doing the work of the devil and bringing souls to him when really they are doing just the opposite. So please pray for strength for their members and leaders. Some of you may not realize the kind of spiritual warfare we see over here that is not as visible in the states.

Lastly, we also went on this trip without raising the amount of money we needed for the trip. The total cost for both Jacob and I was $275 each or $550 total. My parents used our grocery money to help us get there upfront so we've already paid. But if you feel God leading you to give so we can reimburse them, we would greatly appreciate it. The amount doesn’t matter, but know that your gift has allowed us to plant seeds in the hearts of the Italian people; a nation that is lost and dying and going to hell without the amazing news of salvation.

Love, Hannah Walti (for Hannah and Jacob)

If you are interested in helping financially:

Mail your donation to:

Saints Equipped to Evangelize

Vasto Mission Trip for Hannah and Jacob Walti

P.O. Box 587

Bradenton, FL 34206-0587

ALSO:

*****Please remember to mark in the memo section of your check the following:*****

"Vasto Mission Trip for Hannah and Jacob Walti"

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