"Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to Him. Let this ambition fire your soul!" ~ Spurgeon

"Save us, O God of our salvation,
and gather and deliver us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise."  1 Chronicles 16:35

O God of our Salvation!  The fire in the heart of bringing God glory...what a great and glorious motive!  It's the only motivation that matters according to Spurgeon. And for that matter, to God.

"To glorify God and enjoy Him forever" is the first catechism for Baptists, Presbyterians and nearly all other Protestants.  Author pastor, John Piper, says it this way..."God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." But Piper's point is to so lose ourselves (and our lives) in being motivated and satisfied by His glory for His glory!

Save us, gather us, deliver us from among the nations.  Italians desperately need the gospel.  Like  others in nations where the gospel is not going forward, God must do a divine work to deliver them!  The difference here is that over 99% have never heard even a presentation of the gospel.  And the hearts are very hard and cold, contrary to the romantic notions of Italy, especially after the lies and corruption and great disillusionment with the R. Catholic Church.

Yet God is working...we are seeing people even in Chiavari drawn to the gospel of grace.  We just really need your prayers and support.  As we have been setting about the challenging work of planting a new evangelism/discipleship ministry and church movement, here in Chiavari, Italy, we've found it is a very lonely work.  There are no visible rewards, no "atta-boys," no friends close by to talk things out, and we do not have a team or a church or others to fellowship with, yet.  And these days, the emails, letters and calls from afar are fewer and further in-between.

Please don't take us wrong...we know you are praying for us.  In fact, we greatly sense your prayers on our behalf and appreciate them greatly.  And though we feel less connected to family, friends and loved ones due to the distance and time that has gone by since we arrived (we are now beginning our 3rd year) and we're tempted to long for the relative ease and comfort of the states, we know God is with us here and the intensity of this task forces our weak, stumbling souls to turn to Him in everything.  We have to remember daily that His promise to us is clear in the great commission mandate given by Jesus Himself (Matt 28:19-20:

Literally...

"As you go, making disciples of all nations...I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise!  Because we know God has called us to this work and because He promises to be with us always, we are filled with thanksgiving and praise unto the glory of God.  We know difficulty, trials and even suffering bring about faith and greater reliance upon Him...and as we do, God does great things.

And in fact, God is truly blessing beyond our expectations, doing some very exciting things:

• We've completed our Strategic Planning document, a lengthy process for a successful future that we have been working through with help from others!
• We're putting together an advisory board along with the help of our director, Jonathan Gilmore.
• We were pleased to host Ricky and Michele Simpson here in Italy for the last week who are considering God's call on their lives and if the Lord may be leading them to come join us here!
• We just received notice that Rachel and Joanna Knowles will be coming this Feb to May to join us teaching English as a 2nd language, something that allows us to usually get about 100-150 Italians out, attending our classes, and enabling us to develop relationships in the community!
• We also have heard that a good friend of ours from Orlando, Marco Fiorentino, may bring a team of his marital arts students to Chiavari to do exhibitions in the piazzas, on the seafront and possibly at some of the local schools!  Please pray that God would work out all the details.
• We have been asked by a church in the Piemonte region to partner with them to have a youth camp next summer!  We will be visiting them the weekend of Dec 11-12 to do some planning and Lee has been invited to preach for the congregation.
• We just recently heard from another college age student who is looking at the possibility of bringing a mission team in Summer of 2011 from her bible college.
• There is a possibility that we could host an evangelism and discipleship training conference here in Chiavari in the year ahead, coordinating and administrating it for several churches in the area.
• And a small thing for you but an incredible blessing for us, we have some supporters visiting us, arriving this weekend!!!  Praise God.

Please pray for us in the following areas:

• For wisdom, discernment and insight on God's will for our future here in Chiavari; that God would give us clarity on His plans for this city and region
• For faith when we are tempted to doubt, to be depressed or to be lonely
• For our support situation...we need a minimum of $1,000 in new monthly support for our family and then, we must begin raising investment for our church and evangelism ministry here
• For continued adjustment to Chiavari, schools, apartment (1,300 sq ft, one bathroom), etc
• For our walks with Christ, for our marriage and parenting; that God would help us to be holy and content in Christ
• For all the future possibilities of ministry and for those who are considering joining us
• For Lee's health; much better in Chiavari but still on steroids for his lungs / asthma; pray for great doctors and for other, healthier options
• For a strong year-end financial giving response as this often sets us up for a successful year of ministry in the year ahead; we will need to pay for a number of ministry expenses including the promotion of spring ESL classes (5,000 printed flyers, curriculum and other materials, etc).

THANK YOU so much for your kindness in praying for us and supporting our ministry.

If you would like to give a special gift now to help us, please go to www.italianministriesusa.org and click "Donate" and then click our name from the drop down box.  Thank you ahead of time...you are greatly appreciated.  You are our lifeline and we cannot continue without you.

We know that like us, your lives are anything but easy and you too face incredible challenges.  It is for this reason we are so incredibly grateful that you choose to stand with us month after month to reach those less fortunate than us...those who have not yet even had the opportunity to hear the true gospel of grace!!!

The challenge for all of us is finding our motivation in glorifying God.  Will it be the fire in our bellies?  The thing that keeps us going when everything else, including Satan, is seeking to get us down?  Can we find, in the midst of trials and suffering, the hope that we are called to?  Will we remember that there is no greater goal, no greater purpose, than displaying God's glory and love to others that they too may glorify and give thanks to His name?

Let us "give thanks to [HIS] holy name, and glory in [HIS] praise!!!" (1 Chron 16:35)

We hope you enjoy the pictures below from our ministry experiences this last month or so!

LOVE YOU!!!

Our friends and supporters, the Stager family visiting us in Chiavari!

Doing worship with the youth mission team from Switzerland. We did evangelism and tract distribution together throughout the Ligurian region.

This is 2 cell groups together for fellowship and food in Genova.  Sweet Christians!

Claudia with Jeannette..............and Francesco with Lee...sweet friends.

Our kitchen in our 1,300 sq ft apt with 1 bathroom (no dishwasher and a very small fridge).  It's not going to be boring!

Celebrating 21 years of marriage!

A sweet anniversary lunch outside in the sun.

We had a grigliata fellowship at our new apt with 30 people! 

Great fellowship and wonderful worship...so sweet.

Jeannette with other missionary ladies.

Lee with other missionary buddies.

Ricky and Michelle Simpson who visited to consider joining our team long-term.

God loves Chiavari - Praise God for His Goodness!

Chiavari is a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the Ligurian region (from which Christopher Columbus originated) situated near the mouth of the Entella River. It lies in a fertile plain surrounded by rugged, steep hills, with the Ligurian Sea to the southwest. Known as a regional market for agricultural produce, chair making (Chiavari chairs are seen worldwide in weddings, most famously seen in the wedding of President John F. Kennedy and wife, Jacqueline), lace and silk manufacture, and slate working. With surrounding villages, there are 57,088 people in a 10-15 mile radius.  There are 3 small churches (20-30 people each, in this area of 57k), one liberal baptist church (believe in universal salvation and condone homosexuality), an Assembly of God church (don't believe in eternal salvation) and a small, pentecostal church.  Pope John Paul visited Chiavari, Sept 18, 1998, sharing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is most honored by veneration of the supposed sinless mother, Virgin Mary.

We are excited to tell you we have moved to our new home in Chiavari (Via A. Gastaldi 11/4, Chiavari, 16043, Italy) to start a new church plant and evangelism / discipleship ministry emphasis.  We are only in a temporary apartment but we can stay, if needed...it's just a bit small with one bathroom for the six of us :-)  But God has been so incredibly kind, paving the way, providing each and every thing we need, including Christian contacts in the city and surrounding area.

Some of you may not realize but this dream started earlier this year with the desire to bring a passion for evangelism and a culture of grace to Italy.  We sensed God's call away from the more legalistic, separatist experience with our last ministry (which tended to stifle God's grace) to a place where we'd have the freedom and grace to create something we believe demonstrates the lovingkindness of God (which leads men to repentance) as well as model the need for effective evangelism and discipleship to the greater church here in Italy.  We did a search for a godly, effective association and were extremely pleased to link arms with Italian Ministries.  Yet this was only the beginning of our search not the end...as we began a 4-5 month search for where God might have us serve now that we had two years of language and cultural adjustment.

Over 4,700 miles, nearly a dozen Italian churches, a bunch of evangelistic and mission activities, and at least one Italian Christian conference later -- with the ongoing insight of our church in Orlando, a board of advisers we're putting together, and direct input of our Italian Ministries Director, Jonathan Gilmore -- we packed up our family and moved 5 hours and 522 kilometers (or 322 miles) away to Chiavari.

It was the culmination of a long search for where God would have our family serve in ministry in Italy after 2 years of training.  Truly, during this search, we met many wonderful Christian leaders and others who wanted us to join them and we're so thankful...yet we just did not sense God's leading to join these existing works, some of which had some challenging cultural issues.  Whereas God kept giving us a yearning to reach the Ligurian region, where there is only about 1 church for every 30,000 people...so for just half of the region where we live the east side, s. of Genova), there are 1/2 milllion people but only about 20 churches to serve them, and half of these are either liberal or legalistic.  By God's grace, we were able to make two vision trips to the area, yet we didn't make a decision until early September which meant that we'd have to move to Chiavari by Sept 15th (the day school started for the kids).

Since then, it's been an incredible whirlwind of activity!  We have been amazed at God's provision and development of connections here on the ground.  Here are just a few of the things that have happened or are in process (remember as you read these, we had no contacts in Chiavari, no current team in Chiavari, little knowledge of how to get around, and less than perfect understanding of the culture, language, laws, etc...everything that comes are way is considered divine providence):

• The day we made our final decision at the IM conference, God divinely led us to meet the conference worship leader.  Apologizing that he couldn't allow Elijah to play his guitar (who had asked him), he became aware that we were moving to Chiavari and connected us with an 84 year old editor, Mimma, who edits the Italian equivalent of the "Daily Bread," right here in Chiavari.  Mimma has been instrumental in connecting us with local Christians and other key leaders.
• The next day, after Jeannette prayed for a sign, that if God wanted us to move to Chiavari, He'd allow find us a temporary place to live that day (after looking for a month).  Before the day was out, God provided a 3-bedroom temporary apt next to the Chiavari soccer stadium. 
• We arrived to be pleasantly surprised that though small (120 sq meters or about 1300 sq ft for a family of six), we could make it work...the one bathroom will be a challenge but always fun...but it is centrally located to everything and has its own parking for residents (very rare in Chiavari).
• God surprised us with our church in Fontanafredda providing the funds to hire a truck and a sweet couple from the church, Joe and Kelly, drove down along with Ramat, to help us move all of our stuff (we don't own furniture yet as we've not been able to afford it but we hope to soon).
• Another part of our send-off was a 50th birthday celebration for Lee with many of our Udine contacts, friends and neighbors (out of 30, there were 24 unbelievers!) and Lee gave a testimony sharing the greatest gift they could give him is to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
• Praying for a miracle (as we live on the narrowest street in all of Chiavari next to the soccer stadium) that God would provide not one, not two but three parking spaces for the moving truck (we'd not seen one space open the entire week prior!).  With less than 20 minutes to spare, when it looked like it would not happen, I walked down to speak to the stadium staff to see if we could park the car in their parking lot (not allowed usually) and to my amazement, 2 spaces opened up as I was walking down.  Then, when the truck arrived and Joe was trying to get the truck in, the third space opened up in front of him!  Praise God that He is a God who cares for the details!
• The first Sunday, we attended the local baptist church who had a guest speaker from Brazil.  90% of the congregation were Hispanic and half the service was in Spanish.  The regular pastor welcomed us but seemed at a loss to know how to display the hospitality of Christ.
• That first week, the vice president of Jacob's Art Institute (a kind of local TV personality), personally escorted us around town, showed us some of the local community centers, parks, and took us to look at a couple of possibilities for a permanent apartment.  When asked why she was being so incredibly kind to us, she said in Italian, "My cousin lives in the U.S. I love Americans."
• We met one of our first divine contacts from Mimma (the 84 year-old editor and spitfire), Ruggero Sanguineti, who has a camp for Christians within a half-hour from here and wants to work with us to put on some camps and do evangelism and discipleship.  A big teddy-bear for Jesus, at 63 years old, he's still going strong.  
• Thanks to Ruggero, we will be doing our first evangelism in Chiavari this Monday with a group of 15 youth from Switzerland.  During the rest of next week, we will be fulfilling one of my dreams to travel up and down the Ligurian coast here (Sestri Levante, Lavagna, Chiavari, Rapallo, Recco and Genova) with this group as a family to do evangelism (passing out Bible calendars, music, mimes and one-on-one evangelism).
• We have begun to put together a board of advisors as well as a full-time consultant who is devoting his time and counsel, to help us move forward on the dream of a new church plant and an evangelism and discipleship emphasis centered here in Chiavari.
• On October 4th, a supporter family of ours will arrive to spend some time in ministry with us (3-4 days) including their kids possibly performing a mini-concert (2-3 songs) and passing out tracts.
• On  November 7th, a young couple, Ricky and Michelle Simpson will be arriving with their son, Isaac, to spend a week considering the possibility of joining our church planting/ministry team (please pray for them as they're serious and she is pregnant and exp. sickness with their 2nd).
• Pray for two young ladies (23 and 20) who are seriously considering coming to join us this spring (late Jan/early Feb) to minister with us for 3 months teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) Italians in Chiavari with us. We're expecting 150-200 students this spring!

WOW!  Can you believe how good God is?  What an amazing 2 weeks!!  We  arrived only on the 14th of September!!!  God is wonderfully at work to glorify Himself in a place where the gospel of His glorious grace has been so effectively disguised and twisted by the devil!  Pray for victory in Him!!!

On a bit of a sour note, except for a sweet one-time gift from some friends/supporters to save our month, we received a total of $3,400 monthly gifts in support.  Granted, there were a few of our supporters for one reason or another did not send in a gift this month.  With the conversion rate, living on this would be the equivalent of living on $3000 for a month as a family of six.   Please help us by:

1) Praying...pray against the spiritual forces of darkness.  Darkness prevails here and the situations and trials we experience are anything but normal and routine.  Satan is NOT happy.  God's grace is about to jump off the map in this forgotten region. No more will the "romantic" idea of Italy keep the gospel from going forward in a country controlled by the deceptive, grace-killing Roman Catholic church.  But only with your help!  The gospel of grace will only go forward by serious prayer from Christians who are unwilling to be satisfied with the status quo of 99% of Italians heading for hell.

2) Give today.  Please forgive me (and I know many give very generously and have no reason to feel anything but joy for how they have given to the church, missions, etc) but when I hear of American Christians complaining because they can't fund their new $20 million dollar church building, or because they can't give to missions because they need to finance new flooring in their home or are feeling desperate cuz their 2nd car broke down, I can only think if American Christians knew how DIRE the situation is here, they'd sell their 2nd car, put off that new floor, give up the new HD LCD TV for a few more months, or cancel the new building and send the money overseas to those so much less fortunate than them. 

There are three ways you can give immediately to help us out:

1) Go to www.ItalianMinistriesUSA.org/ and select DONATE on the left-hand column or more directly, you can go to: https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=5267 and choose our name from the drop-down box.  Gifts take approximately one month to hit our account.

2) Send a gift to the ministry at Italian Ministries USA, attn: Pam Sarjent, P.O. Box 2074, Fairview, OR 97024

3) From your bill-pay option online with your bank, send a gift to the above ministry contact and address info.  This is actually the fastest way we receive funds from our donors.

NOTE: If you would like to know specific projects we are working on that you can specifically help us with, please send me an email to abandoned2Jesus@gmail.com and I'll respond right away.

Glory to God in the highest who gives His children the privilege to share His good news with the lost, the down-trodden, the sick, the hurting, the desperate.  Let us shine our light that they might see and know His grace.  Rome and Italy was there in the beginning of the church...as long as the Roman Catholic Church controls the heartbeat of 1.166 billion people worldwide, revival is stifled.

Why not have revival start here where it all began?  Paul gave his life here for the gospel (said to have chosen to hung upside down on a cross, when told he'd die this way, as not to disgrace His Lord). What would Paul think today if he knew that less than .6% (that's a bit higher than 1/2 of 1%) of Italy are probably Christians and the rest are heading for hell? Because they are without the true gospel of grace?  By God's grace, with your help, the Lord and His people are on the march with this gospel.

Thank you for all you are to us...you are our lifeline and our heartbeat.

We couldn't do it without you!  God bless you for all you do for the furtherance of the gospel of grace.

In Him,
The Walti Family

Over 4,725 miles in Italy, over a dozen churches, ministries, conferences and evangelical events...

Busy About Seeking God's Will

We sure hope you have had a wonderful summer and have seen and experienced many blessings of our Lord.  We are SO grateful for you and your continued loving support, prayers and just even taking time to remember our family over here.

It’s hard to believe it has been over a month since we last wrote as so much has happened.  This summer, by the time it is all over, we will have traveled over 4,725 miles, covered nearly all of Italy to visit over 12 churches, ministries, conferences and evangelical events. Tired yet? And that doesn’t really describe the flights, miles, gas, tolls, car problems, cabins, motels, borrowed homes, etc. that was part of the experience or the local churches within an hour’s reach. Yet we are so grateful for all the great churches we have visited, all the amazing Italian Christians we have met, and the wonderful and encouraging experiences we have had.  And we’re grateful to you for helping make it possible.  This summer, we've been seeking to know God's will for how He wants us to reach Italians for Christ.

God graciously enabled us to travel 4,725 miles all over Italy this summer.

We’ve learned so many things during our numerous travels (see map above to see all the places God has brought us this summer; each pink marker represents a church or ministry we visited).  One thing that's been refreshing to learn is how God is at work in the evangelical church and the different expressions of this work in Italy, whether it be worship, evangelism, discipleship, etc. Before leaving S.E.E., we knew little about other churches or ministries in Italy. Yet, because of our association now with Italian Ministries and their commitment to work with evangelical churches and ministries all throughout Italy, we’ve learned there are many Italian churches and ministries out there doing great work for God’s glory and for the furtherance of the gospel.  And we’ve really made some wonderful connections and friendships that will clearly serve us in the years ahead. Psalms 133:1 says, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!"

Lee preached in nearly every church (in Italian!) we visited this summer and was very warmly greeted and thanked for his messages, including our needing to be light and salt to a dying world that is heading to hell apart from the gospel of grace.  Here is just a small excerpt from his most recent sermon (translated into English):

Jesus says to Christians, “You are the light of the world.” He’s saying at the very minimum, “You are to be like Christ.” If you are a Christian, you are a little Christ. In fact, that’s what Christian really means: “little Christ.” Jesus is the “Light,” you are to be the little light. Jesus is the “Sun,” you are to be the little sun. Jesus is the brilliancy of God; you are to be the little brilliant one. Christians are called to be bright lights for the gospel in their homes, in their jobs, in their cities, with their friends, with their neighbors, and even with their enemies. Do the people who know you, know that you are a Christian? Have you taken the time with them to share the best news in life, the news that will spare them from hell? And what about your life? Do they see a difference in you? That you have a love that is beyond all other loves, a joy that is your strength, and a peace that surpasses understanding?

Think for a moment: why don’t you share the love of Christ? Why don’t you go to your neighbor and introduce yourself or offer your help in some way if they need it? Because you fear man. Why don’t you share the love of Jesus with the baker, butcher or shop owner; the people you see every week? Because your pride makes you fear rejection. You do not want to be seen as strange.  Why do you not take every opportunity you have to share the love of Christ?  Because your love has grown dull for Christ and His gospel.  So you keep the best news in life to yourself.  But you are the LIGHT!!! Your nature is to bring light into darkness. To not share God’s love, joy and peace is to hide who you are!  And as a result, you keep hidden the key to eternal life!

We also were able in many cases, to work alongside the churches we visited to do evangelism and discipleship ministry.  In several cases, we saw Italians move one step closer to becoming saved by God’s grace.  We even did witnessing to Muslims for the very first time in the port of Genova.  We’ve placed a number of pictures above (in a slide-show) for you to get an idea of what God has been doing (“a picture is worth a thousand words” right?).

At this point, we are praying about starting something new in the Liguria region which is a place and area that God continues to seem to lead us back to in our thinking.  This is quite a large region that has very few evangelical churches.  And the few cities that do have one, in most cases, have an extremely liberal church present.  As well, though American missionaries are often quick to go to big cities like Genova (500k), few go to the surrounding cities like Chiavari (27k) or Rapallo (35k) which are only 30  and 20 minutes away respectively.  As a result, there is very little evangelical witness.

There are two couples that are praying about going with us to start an evangelistic movement in the area.  Please pray that God would give us and them clarity.  Our dream is to have not only a church but an evangelism and discipleship training center which would also serve as a way to do outreach into the community.  We also hope at some point to have the ability to hold camps (summer, Christmas and spring break camps) to train Italians and others on how to reach Italians for Christ.  However, this is a big dream and we know we cannot do it alone.  We will need a good team and the other resources to make it happen.  Please pray for us and about how God might lead you to be involved in giving toward our ministry. We will continue to share more details and needs as we become aware of them. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  We are so grateful to you for standing by us.  Living in a foreign country is incredibly challenging...the honeymoon lasts about 2 weeks...in fact, one of the greatest hurdles to reaching Italy is the misguided thinking of many in America that think Italy is just a vacation land for the rich and famous; in fact, it is a lonely place and it is the hardest existence we have ever had as a family.  Yet, having you standing beside us, encouraging us, praying for us, making it possible for us to continue in ministry to Italians through your giving is so wonderful and such a blessing for us as we seek to sacrifice our lives for the Lord and for the gospel.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  We love you dearly,

The Walti Family

Some Updates on Some of Our Italian Friends:

We are excited to share that several of our contacts continue to move toward faith.  Ramat will be baptized on September 12!  So please pray for him.  He is very excited and on fire for the Lord now.  Also, a friend of Ramat’s (Hakim) that we have been sharing with and who has been accompanying us to church is now ready to receive Christ.  By God’s grace, he may be getting baptized soon as well.

Our friend, Loredana continues to move toward faith but she is distracted by a romantic interest who is probably not a good influence for her.  Pray that she would fall in love with Jesus first before all else.  Pray that God would give us wisdom on how to make His grace clear to her (burdened by guilt).

Today, we had a wonderful conversation with MaryAnn, our friend who owns a bed and breakfast here.  We have been friends for about a year now and today, we shared more clearly then ever before the gospel of grace (she is Roman Catholic).  And she listened very closely.  She loves us dearly (as we do her) but she normally has not been willing to talk about religion.  But today, God stilled her heart and her voice and we believe she was moved.  Pray for MaryAnn, that God would make Himself real to her like never before and she would see the difference in a gospel of grace versus a gospel of works. 

One of the most amazing relationships that has occurred recently are our new friends, Paulo and Marina.  They have been here 10 years (Paulo is from Ukraine, Marina is from Russia).  We have now met three times, the last two times for bible study and they have so many questions, it’s wonderful. and the questions are extremely profound! It is so encouraging to see God working the work of grace in a couple’s heart.  Though Paulo believes he is saved (and we believe also), we will continue to try to help him work through the issues related to his faith.  And he will most likely get baptized this fall.  But pray for Marina and for their daughter, Elena, who is Abigail’s age (they’re already great friends).  Marina still holds on to many ideas of the Russian Orthodox faith, does not seem as motivated by the issues of faith as Paulo and is really, just now, understanding that salvation is by grace alone.  And Elena, like Abby, needs to still come to a place of understanding, demonstrating repentance and faith.

Thank you for your prayers!  Thank you for your support!  Thank you for your faith!!!  We love you!

God is inviting us to coauthor our future

Greetings from the Walti Family in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who was and is and is to come! By now, you should have received our stateside prayer letter (sent out quarterly, thanks to some of our sweet supporters) which shared about some of our journey to visit churches earlier this summer.  We also hope you enjoy our completely revised WaltiWorld Blog with new design and family picture.

We hope this next update finds you and your family doing well and experiencing the blessings of our Lord.  Now, we have just returned from a trip to Sicily, Italy where we were able to visit 3 different evangelical churches (Messina, Milazo and Rometta), meet with other missionaries and pastors, break bread together and have some great fellowship, do a little witnessing and evangelism and even get some time for us as a family on the beach! [make sure to see the picture slide-show above!] And a very special blessing for us this summer was having Bethany back in Italy for a month, allowing us all to be back together again for the first time in a year.  We thank God for what the Lord has done in her life.

Tomorrow, we head for Genova to do evangelism in the city and near the port, reaching Italians and passing out tracts to the naval workers, including many Muslims who come in on the ships when they come to port.  We will be meeting with many of the Christian leaders in the city and Jeannette and I will have opportunity to share our testimony with the local believers.  Then it's off to Canelli on Sunday, an 1hr and 30 minutes from Genova, to attend church and for Lee to bring the message in Italian!  Then on Monday, we'll go to La Spezia where we will meet with local missionaries and then, a group of Christians in Sarzana that were asking for a missionary family last year to help them reach the city for Christ.  Two weeks from this weekend, we will be heading to Avellino, near Napoli, to meet the believers in the church there, do evangelism and Lee will also preach for the church.

We continue to seek God's wisdom and direction for our next assignment.  On one hand, we pray every day for more faith.  On the other hand, we've never been more full of faith that God will perfectly provide for us.  Maybe, you know what we mean when we say that being here, God has had a way of faithfully chipping away at anything and everything that might draw us away from Him.  At the same time, He has invited us to be a part of discovering His will for our future as a family in Italy.

I began reading a book I actually bought nearly 3 years ago but just picked up again recently, called, "To Be Told: God Invites You to Coauthor Your Future" by Dan Allender.  The book helps to describe a lot of how I feel lately about what God is doing in our lives.  He doesn't always answer my prayers, to give me perfect clarity for the future.  He hasn't made each step clear on what our family is to do or where we are to go.  But what He has done and is doing is invited us to be a part of a story He is revealing day by day.  Often, it's not as quick as we'd like but it's always in His perfect timing.  And it always is consistent with how He has made and gifted us and the story He's been crafting all along. Allender writes,

"You are a story. You are not merely the possessor and teller of a number of stories; you are a well-written, intentional story that is authored by the greatest Writer of all time, and even before time and after time. God is a being who loves to reveal and who invites us to join the process of revelation by calling us to ask, seek, and knock. God always intended for His children to join Him in completing creation. We are not inanimate entities that merely reveal glory but living stories that are meant to create glory."

Every trip we have taken this summer, every church we've shared a testimony in, every place where I've had the privilege of preaching a message, every person we've met, believer and unbeliever, is an opportunity for us to continue our story.  A story of glory for the only One who deserves it. Allender continues, "Our life theme is the significance of our life as seen by those who are close enough to sense how our life either reveals or fails to make known the character of God."  I REALLY like this. 

I know that none of us can determine perfectly where God is leading us in our lives or where we will be down the road in our future and our pursuit of greater peace, joy, love fulfillment, satisfaction, purpose...and most importantly, our ability to glorify God.  But what we can do...what God is inviting each of us to do...if we will agree...is to help bring meaning and value to each chapter of our story by participating with Him.  Each of us are gifted.  Each of us are called.  Each of us are telling a story.  And if we use our gifting, calling and each opportunity God grants us to tell a story of Him and of His glory, then even if and when we don't know what the future holds, we will still get to see and experience the blessing of coauthoring what our lives say about Him to others.  We all know He is SO worthy of a good story.  And you ARE that story.  We ARE that story.   And each of our stories are being read every day.  We should do all we can to tell a good one!  A story of the great I AM!

We leave at 7am in the morning.  We would so appreciate it if you would lift us up in prayer.  Please pray for safety.  Pray for wisdom and discernment of God's will for our next assignment.  Pray for the hundreds of Italians and especially, the Muslims, we will encounter on Saturday..that the gospel will go forward and those we meet will move closer to Him (even get saved).  Also, please pray for us as we meet the church and believers in Canelli on Sunday and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would pray for the message to the church that I will deliver.  And then later, as we travel and meet the other Christians and missionaries in the area south of Genova. 

But most of all, pray with us and we will pray for you...let's commit to all pray...for a story in and through all of us that will proclaim the great God that He is and the great gospel grace He offers. 

And from the bottom of our hearts...thank you, thank you, thank you so very much for your very much coveted prayers and your kind and generous support...all of which is our lifeline to continued ministry.

Love from the Walti's,
Lee, Jeannette, Bethany, Hannah, Jacob, Elijah and Abby

Jesus and us: Spring 2010

Dear beloved supporters and friends,

We hope this update finds you happy, healthy and passionately in love with Jesus. In fact, if you are not the first two, we hope, at a minimum, the last thing can be said of you. Happiness is truly fleeting, health mostly stays with you in the early part of your life but Jesus? He is with us always and so desires all of our hearts that He might work in and through us for His glory.

As I write this, we are bringing our 2^nd eldest, Hannah, to the airport in Venice to return to the United States for a visit for the first time since leaving two years ago (we’re excited that when she returns, she will bring Bethany back with her to Italy so that we will be altogether as a family for the first time in a year). Hannah is a good example of what our time has been like in Italy. She left at 15, a very critical time for a high school kid. Just before, she cancelled her own baptism we’d scheduled for her at church, not believing she was ready yet. Arriving and immediately starting Italian public school, she knew but a few words of Italian. Many nights until 1am or 2am in the morning, we’d all struggle to translate the Italian into English, let alone to understand what was being taught (that’s with four of five in public school). With 13 subjects and no interpreter, Hannah tried her best, even trying to have a good attitude, but it was horribly difficult. Having a bully in her class program who showed his interest in her through mean and immature ways, it felt at times as if it were just a bit more than she could handle. Hannah eventually would get mono and be out for over 23 days. Later, her doctor would tell her not to return to school for another month…this was her experience in only the first 6 months. But the story doesn’t end there…

Hannah began to search for God. Where before she would not even pick up a Christian book, she was now waking up every morning, reading the Bible and any Christian-growth book she could get her hands on (yes, in English). As the year progressed, Hannah began to respond to her trials and difficulties and extreme difference of the Italian culture with an unusual peace, joy, and confidence in God’s plan for her life. She went from saying she was ready to go back to the U.S. to being excited for ministry opportunities that God had for her here. It wasn’t much later and Hannah asked to be baptized and proclaimed before the entire congregation that if it were not for having come to Italy, she believed she would not have been saved. Now she has many ongoing relationships with Italian girls where she is building into their lives, sharing the gospel, and seeing fruit. One young lady, Chiara, 22 years old (5 years older than Hannah) loves Hannah, loves to hear about God and Jesus and has now attended church with us twice. Chiara looks to Hannah like she is her hero…she sees Hannah’s faith and is moved. Another lady, Mary Ann, thinks the world of Hannah and sees in her an incredible example of Jesus, the way Hannah has served her and her business without expecting anything in return.

So it is with our family! Trials, tribulations and challenges that would fill a book but oh, the blessings of growth in Christ! And with God’s sovereign providence in our lives, we are able to look backward (isn’t it always this way) and see all He has been doing. Would we have chosen this path knowing all we would experience ahead of time? Heck no! But thank God, the Lord knows us, knows our frailties and gives us truly only what we can handle. And then turns the ashes of our pain and suffering into beauty…beauty that displays His glory.

We are looking at our recent transition and new opportunities with Italian Ministries with thankfulness and faith even with all we’ve been through. We would have never known or seen the blessings of the future with a ministry like this, to seek God’s will for our lives, unhindered, simply seeking the lead of the Lord, His Word, His Spirit and His people. And we wonder, why us? Why do we get the privilege of doing this work, meeting with Italians as a full-time job, getting to tell them about the best news in life? We bemoan the fact that some days, we can’t get through a day without complaining about the difficulties of living in Italy (our one car broken down again for the 8^th time, computer drive crashed again for the 4^th time, waiting for 2 hours for our permesso di soggiornos in a hot, humid, stinky police headquarters with people lined up 4-wide but no one knowing who is before or after who, and still no furniture, no clothes dryer, health problems, etc, etc, etc). But such small things when considering all that God has given us and praise God, the Lord is at work!

A QUICK UPDATE:

We had a wonderful time with Loredana just this Friday night, going to an American burger and fries place. She comes over nearly every week to ask us to do something. Loredana, a single mom who is an English teacher working on her masters, struggles with great feelings of guilt. She is 48 years old and she still feels so impacted by the fact that at 3 years-old, the nuns would have her do penance for her sins. Her parents riddled her with guilt, teaching her she could never be good enough – true, but without the grace of God, she is full of shame and guilt. And then a husband who made her pay for their relationship each step of the way, trying to get her to sign a contract that she would not have a child until she got a job, as if it were all her choice. But now she is hearing the gospel. A very lovely gal, on the inside and out, she is hearing of God’s grace and the other night in tears, she was telling us that she knew we were right. That she needs to accept God’s love for her. Please pray for Loredana.

And this weekend we took Ramat and Akim, Ramat’s new friend to church with us. This is our 3^rd time with Akim. He’s been over for dinner twice, gone to church with us twice and stayed the night once with Ramat. Ramat, a new believer himself, has been sharing about Jesus to Akim (also from Afghanistan). Akim has gone from not wanting to have anything to do with Christianity to telling us that he has never seen or heard of anything more beautiful (the church experience, hearing of Christ’s love for him, etc). Just Saturday night we started watching the JESUS Film in Dari, his language and we hope to finish it together later this week. God used this film to save Ramat and we are hopeful for the same for Akim.

Also, please pray for Sandro. Lee has been developing a relationship with him for some time now and he vocalizes complete agreement with the idea that a relationship with God is based on grace and seems to really love Lee and wants to spend time together but he is very busy and often working or helping his family. But on more than one occasion, he has expressed his desire to be more like us, knowing God, the Bible and how to live life in a way that is pleasing to God. Please pray for Sandro, that Lee and him would have more time together, and for Sandro’s wife, Tekla, and Jeannette’s relationship with her.

We now have two churches interested in partnering with and encouraging us, one that is in Sacile and another in Trieste, Italy. Both are very supportive of our family, are committed to the same values, and would love to work with us to help us determine where and how God would like us to move forward in reaching a community. Please pray that God would lead and direct us as we seek His will for a new church and community in which to serve.

Finally, we have just returned from a successful trip to Great Britain to meet with our director, Jonathan Gilmore, and his wife, Annette, and kids, Rosanna (19), Alex (16) and Kristen (14). We had never been to England before and so it was nice to see the countryside, meet our director, strategize about where we would visit this summer (out of a dozen and a half opportunities to serve; we already have 5 to 6 inviting us to come and stay with them and explore ministry) and generally talk about ways we could serve. So the plan is that this summer, as a family, we will visit many of these and explore where God would have us minister and try to reach a community for Jesus. While there, we got to spend a day in London for Jeannette’s b-day (highlight for me was getting to visit Charles Spurgeon’s church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where Spurgeon would sometimes preach to over 10,000 people) and then later, we got to attend a Sovereign Grace evangelical church in Newport, Wales, staying with a very kind couple, Bob and Anne Marie Mc Cann (he is a pastor there) who were both very encouraging and insightful.

Well, that’s it for now. We are so grateful for your love and encouragement. Please drop us a note and let us know how we can be praying for you. We will be sending out a snail-mail letter here shortly (we are a little limited on how often we can send this being that we live here in Italy) sharing about all our summer plans and some ways you can pray and support our time exploring God’s will for ministry.

Thank you and we want you to know, that God sees your faithfulness and generosity and is and will bless you for your commitment to further the gospel in Italy.

Love, the Walti Family