Seeking Jesus, Sicilian-Style

Katia, Seeking Jesus, Sicilian-Style!! Would you like to support the Walti's ministry in Italia?  Click here: A Walti Family & Ministry Blog Update July / Aug 2012 Katia: Seeking Jesus Sicilian-Style!! What are the three most common things you would associate with Sicily?  Patton invading in WWII?  The mafia?  Passion for life?  Well, when we think of Sicily, we think of Katia.  Katia is a wonderful, young lady from Sicily with whom, we've had the privilege of developing a wonderful relationship and sharing the good news of the gospel!  One thing you should know about Sicilians...they like to do life with zest!  And Katia is no different.  She has a openness to and an interest in others which is, well, captivating!   Actually, Sicilians and Americans are very much alike.  And like us Americans, Katia loves to have fun and pursues life with zeal.  So either it's done with gusto or it's not worth doing. Katia, a wonderful, young lady and teacher is pursuing Jesus Sicilian-style! This is how we experienced Katia the first time we met her, with her "all-the-way" or "not at all" kind of attitude.  Katia was a teacher here in Chiavari for physically and intellectually disabled kids.  She received one of our flyers for our ESL classes (we distributed about 4,000) and she began attending our "avanzato" (advanced) course.  At the first activity, a pizza night with students, she was sitting at the same table as I was (Lee) and asked why we were doing these classes for free and don't we do something else for a living?  At this point, I shared I am an evangelical pastor and we are hoping to start an evangelical church in Chiavari. Acting pleasantly surprised, Katia then asked, how we share with others.  Incredible.  So I acknowledged that our genuine desire is that every ESL student will get to hear the good news of the gospel of grace at least once.  With everyone listening, she then asked, "Do you have like a bible study?"  Double wow!  Talk about God's grace.  So I shared about our "Incontro con Gesù" on Sunday nights, going through the Gospel of Mark, and she responded, "I'd like to come!"  God is so good.  And since this time, our relationship with Katia has blossomed and grown wonderfully.  More importantly, so has her relationship with God. One Sunday night at our incontro, Ramat--our first convert in Italy who saw his family killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan--was sharing his testimony of how he came to Christ in Italy through meeting us.  Again, showing how vibrant and interested in others she is, Katia stayed late, asking numerous questions of Ramat.  Later in the week, she said, "That's it.  I'm done.  His story was incredible!  If God can do that for him going through all that?  I must believe in God."  Katia, from Sicily, actually was once a strong Roman Catholic, even a leader and during one season, went door-to-door distributing bibles (some years back, the pope was trying to get Catholics to read the bible...praise God!).  But she became disillusioned seeing the hypocrisy first-hand and began to feel jaded by the religiousity and emphasis on rules, feeling it just wasn't real.  The result?  She gave up not only on Roman Catholicism but on God altogether. That night, Jeannette and I challenged Katia to give her life to Jesus.  She responded, "I want that so much but I want it to be real."  So, I gave her two books to read to encourage her (Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Justification by Martyn-Lloyd Jones) and we prayed over her, Ramat, Jeannette and I.  She ate up the book on justification (a tough subject in any language let alone, in Italian) telling me later that for the first time, after reading it, she now understands the real difference between the Roman Catholic Church's false teaching on justification (being something we must work for) as opposed to the bible's teaching on it!  It's a free gift!  That Jesus' work on the cross is sufficient!  That we don't have to work our way to heaven!  Wow! Katia now says she has really changed.  "You two have forever changed my ideas about God and a relationship with Him," Katia said recently.  We were curious what it was she was talking about, knowing we are far from perfect, and she responded, "You are real.  And I know that you really love Jesus."  And she also commented that she was drawn to our love for God's Word versus some impersonal institution.  "With the bible, I can see my way forward with God."   Katia began attending our incontro on Sunday nights in addition to attending another 2-3 nights a week (for the ESL classes and activities) with us!  She even brought her boyfriend, Vito, a couple times to our incontro, who says he is a Protestant and who, was absolutely elated at Katia's faith in God and an evangelical view of the gospel.  Katia, participating with us this last semester, from our Short Film Night to our Easter Banquet, to graduation night with her class! The last time we saw Katia in June before she left to return to Sicily for the summer, she was helping me translate a sermon I preached for a church in Parma (thanks to Katia, Jeannette said it was the best I'd ever preached in Italian!).  Sitting on a wooden bench near the sea with the breeze cooling us from the summer sun, I asked Katia, "So what's happening with God in your life now?  How do you feel you've changed?"  She responded, "Every single thing I think about now, every decision, I try to look through the eyes of Jesus."  It is always so awesome to see what God does by His grace to our lives, even this passionate Sicilian! Don't forget!!  God can save Italians!  Please be praying for Katia!!  Pray she will get another teaching contract here in Chiavari this year (she says it looks good).  And please pray she will continue to grow in faith in Christ and come 100% to Him, in repentance and faith.  If we will faithfully pray for her, by His grace, God will accomplish it in her!  Could you also please pray for: Our support...We went from nearly 70 people supporting us and being at 110% some times while in the states to having about 20-25 who support us faithfully and at only 75 to 80% of what we should have.  It seems there is a pattern when missionaries go over seas.  Maybe it's, "out of sight, out of mind."  Will you prayerfuly consider either beginning or even increasing your support?  Thank you. For an ESL student reunion we hope to do sometime in August.  It would be great to re-connect all the students before September. For Lisa and Ben DeBusk and their family (5 kids!) who are hoping to arrive in July of 2013 and begin work with our ministry full-time.  There are lots of details...pray God will keep them encouraged! For our three new teachers, Spencer, Jenna and Kevin, who are arriving Sept 17th to teach ESL classes through December 10th.   Please pray for them, that God would protect them against the evil one. A marriage conference in La Spezia scheduled for September postponed by the church until October due to a wedding (they're a small church of only 30-40 people, actually normal for Italy).  Please pray for Jeannette and I as we'll be teaching it. For our new friends, Franco Bosio, director of Agape Italia, and his wife, Luisa.  Agape Italia is the Italian arm of FamilyLife and Campus Crusade. Franco and Luisa do conferences all over Italy and visited us at our home in Chiavari. They've given us permission to teach the "Weekend to Remember" marriage manual and would like us to help with other conferences!  For our kids...Italian school is hard.  Abby will continue and though good in school, pray for humility. Jacob and Elijah will be homeschooled...Jacob, to shore up American coursework and Elijah, to get a break from some demeaning teachers.  Please pray Jeannette and I can still find time alone in the mornings to pray and plan, and the Italians won't be too discouraging of us or the boys! As always we are so thankful for your involvement in our ministry through your prayers and gifts.   We literally could not do it without you.  Thank you. In Him and His love, Lee, Jeannette and the fam. PS.  If you would like to help us by supporting our ministry either monthly or with a special needs gift, thank you very much and please click here: Italian Ministries USA KidsGames!!! If you look really closely... You'll see the kids, Jacob, Elijah and Abby, all in this pic!  That's because we traveled to Porto Mantovano to help with a week long church-sponsored program there called KidsGames which uses different fun-spirited, sports events to teach kids about biblical values and about a relationship God.  It was a blast!  And many kids were touched! New Teachers? Two unexpected surprises: This is Jenna Crake and Rachael Phenicie, KidsGames volunteers.  In our wildest imaginations, we didn't think we'd find two teachers for our fall semester 2012!  Later, Rachael decided it'd be better to come Spring 2013 but Jenna is now bringing one of her best friends, Spencer, to join Kevin, our other teacher, to make 3 teachers this fall! Spencer Spagnolo Spencer Spagnolo: 22 years old with a wonderful personality, Spencer loves the Lord, is very fun and easy to get along with, and she is very much a go-getter!  We have enjoyed getting to know her and look forward to knowing her even better when she arrives to teach ESL and reach Italians for Jesus. Kevin O'Brien Kevin O'Brien: Kevin is 24 years old, a sweetheart (say our girls), and has a good sense of humor.  Kevin also has a heart for seeing church-planting go forward and is encouraged to be a part of what God's doing here by teaching ESL and sharing the gospel!  We're glad to have you Kevin! Jenna Crake Jenna Crake: We met Jenna through KidsGames and are excited to have her!  She is 19-years old and has already traveled in mission to places like Egypt, Nepal and Italy.  We are encouraged Jenna wants to bring her heart for missions here in Chiavari to teach ESL and touch Italians' hearts.  Can't wait!  follow on blog | send us an email to say hi | forward to a friend | support us  Our blog address is: http://www.WaltiWorld.blogspot.com If you would like to support our family and our ministry, click here: Italian Ministries USA We are on Skype at: Lee.Walti We are on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/rlwalti https://www.facebook.com/juwalti God bless you and thank you so much for your love and support!!!! Love, The Walti Family

Eleonora, a young Italian, is Born Again!!

Every ESL semester, we pray that even one Italian would come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.  To our elation, in Spring 2012, we had the joy of seeing a young Italian ESL student, 15-year old Eleonora Molinari, come to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior and become a child of the King!

Eleonora (center) with Jaimie Lynn and Carissa Cisar, our ESL teachers this spring.

Eleonora began attending our advanced English classes with her father, Roberto, in February...both very friendly and loving people.  In fact, if you met Eleonora before she became a Christian, you'd think, "What a sweet young lady" but inside, in all truth, she says now she was lost and hurting.  

Recently, we had decided to add an extra night for advanced class students this semester on Monday nights because we wanted to have more opportunities to interact "spiritually" with those who spoke English well.   So one of the very first evenings, we did an exercise where each person had to share in English what they believe about God. When it came time for Eleonora, she openly shared about her back operation at age 12 and all that happened and said, “I don’t know what I believe about God. I had a back surgery and it made me thankful for my parents and that it turned out okay. And so I now realize I need to figure out what I believe about God.” Well, to say that we were elated is an understatement. It’s so rare for Italians to share openly like this let alone to have an interest in God!  Jeannette and I were very moved, listening to her story. We intentioned right then and there that Jeannette and I would do all we could to pray and reach Eleonora for Jesus.

We found out later that Eleonora went to R.C. ‘catechism’ regularly as a young girl only because her parents told her to go.

“I believed God existed but I didn’t really believe in Him or think about Him at all seriously. To me, the God of the Roman Catholic Church was so distant and so boring!” The only thing she enjoyed was seeing her friends.  Eleonora can remember going from about 6 years-old on but when she turned eleven (about the same time in catechism training that it's time to start pre-communion training), she announced to her parents she would no longer go. “I told them I had enough information and from now on, I would figure out what I believed about God on my own!” But for Eleonora, she says now, it was just a way to escape what for her was totally irrelevant.



But then something happened that forever changed Eleonora’s sense of need for God and for others. When Eleonora turned 12 years old, she began to experience terrible pain in her back and neck, and her family soon discovered that she had what is called, "Arnold-Chiari 1" (a herniation of cerebellar tonsils…which is a congenital malformation, usually without childhood symptoms, but often manifests itself with terrible headaches and pain in the head and neck).

 When the pain began to be really bad and constant, Eleonora began staying in her room and wouldn’t go anywhere because she was afraid she’d hurt her back even more. She says, "I began to complain, why me?"

Like most pre-teens, Eleonora wanted to just hang out with her friends and be normal. But in mid-2009, it became clear that to do this,  surgery would be required. So on August 24, 2009, she had her surgery.
 Thankfully, the operation was successful and things began to get back to normal for Eleonora…for a little while. Yet she confesses now that God still was not really in the picture for her.

  Soon, she had forgotten about how God and her family had helped her and instead was having terrible thoughts. She shares, "I had developed an unhealthy view of myself; not liking myself or how I looked." Maybe it was the long scar from the back of her head down her neck or a little weight she had gained from not being as active but whatever it was, she could not find peace. “Being surrounded by Italian friends who completely define themselves by how they look, I was depressed and didn't like myself,” she says. Now looking back after receiving Christ, she didn’t like her heart either.  “My heart was terrible,” Eleonora shares.  “As a way to deal with my feelings, I began to hate everyone…my friends, family, everyone.

 As well, her relationship with her dad, which had been very good, started to deteriorate.  “He wanted me to believe in myself,” Eleonora says.  "But I couldn’t."

However, through her relationship with Jeannette and I, and our ESL teachers (Carissa Cisar and Jaimie Lynn Smith who are closer to her age), Eleonora says, she began to really wonder if becoming a Christian was the answer. “I heard how you all shared about God and Jesus that first time when we were together at your house and I kept seeing that you guys had something more than me,” Eleonora says, “and instead, I felt empty inside.”  Eleonora’s continuing problems with friends and  her family were helping her as well to realize something was missing in her life. “I didn’t have the joy and the kind of relationships you guys had,” Eleonora continues. “I was trying to find my satisfaction in others, especially my friends. And they would let me down. And then I’d see you guys and your love and fun attitudes, and I began to really wonder that Jesus might be the answer for me.”

Seeing we were Christians and we were actually normal also, Eleonora felt reassured: “It gave me encouragement that Christians are not as crazy as I had believed or that you don't have to be super religious or something but be fun and be joyful and so I thought maybe Jesus is my answer, for me." Eleonora adds, “I began to hope and pray that you guys could teach me about God and how to have a relationship with Him.”  We watched as God was opening Eleonora's heart to be willing to learn about Jesus, the gospel, and specifically, the good news of Jesus’ sacrifice for her and her sins.

Thankfully, both our family and our ESL teachers were able to develop a great connection with Eleonora's family and so we began spending a lot of time together. Eleonora’s parents had us over for dinner. Jeannette and I had them over our house for dinner as well. Lee met with Roberto, Eleonora's dad, a couple of times. And Carissa and Jaimie Lynn, who were closer to Eleonora's age, met and spent time with Eleonora.  They also went over Eleonora’s house for meals often and just to hang out with their family. Eleonora even came over our house and sang Christian songs with us and we would talk...we were hopeful.  “After hearing you guys  share about Jesus and your relationship with Him,” Eleonora says, “I was  wanting to be open to learn about God.” Then, an invitation came to go with a friend to an evangelical church in a city nearby to hear a youth speaker, Eleonora said yes. “That day, I realized I like many youth, was missing something and it was time,” Eleonora shares.

God had turned on the light.  “For the first time in my life, I felt it was the right thing to do. I had heard it from my mom. I’d heard it from you and Jeannette. I’d heard it from Carissa and Jaimie Lynn. And then God used someone I didn’t know to open my eyes even though it was the same exact thing you guys had been telling me to do all along.” 

Eleonora continues, “After all these years, I felt like it all finally made sense. I knew the Roman Catholic Church was not the answer for me. I knew that I couldn't find satisfaction in myself, my friends or my family.  And now I knew that Christians aren’t crazy but loving, joyful and fun. So accepting Jesus in my life and believing He died for me was my answer," Eleonora concludes. “I was so happy after making the decision that instead of living for myself, I would live for God.”

We are happy too!  In our time together recently, I asked a couple important questions like what Eleonora thought now about sin or all her wrongs she had done before coming to Christ. “Before choosing to follow Jesus,” Eleonora answered, “I never really thought about God so I definitely didn’t think of my sin or things I do wrong.” She says, “I know now...how I treated my father, my friends and even how my identity was about my looks and my friends liking me was not right.” She adds, “I know now God saved me from these things. And I don’t have to be this way any longer.”

Eleonora at far left at our "Incontro con Gesù" after receiving Jesus as her Lord and Savior!

Just a delightful young lady, I concluded by asking Eleonora what she now thinks of the fact that Jesus died for her and her sins forgiving her forever. Her face lit up from one side to another and her bright clear blue eyes shimmered with a glow...“I think this is so amazing and I am just so thankful! I just feel like with everything I have, my parents, my friends and you guys and everything that God has done for me, I just feel like I want to say thanks for the rest of my life,” Eleonora exclaimed.

What a testimony! And what a blessing that God allowed us to be a part of what He has done in Eleonora’s life.  And thank you so much for your prayers and support.  We could not do any of this without your help.  You share in the new birth of Eleonora!  

God can save Italians! And if we are faithful and persistent in His grace, He will!  If you would, could you please pray this summer for:

•  An ESL Study program during the summer using the Bible once a week on Mondays
• Lisa and Ben DeBusk who are seeking to join us in June/July of 2013
• Preaching opportunities this summer including Parma, La Spezia and Sestri Levante.
• A ministry trip to check out a church of some friends in Sienna where there is a thriving ministry especially to young people
• A marriage conference in La Spezia scheduled for the first week of September (need to write, translate and help the church do the promotion to reach unbelievers)
• Visitors coming: Joel & Becky Kennedy, supporters who hope to some day become missionaries to Europe (France) and an old school buddy of Lee's, Peter Sheyadayi
• To effectively pull off a busy evangelistic summer with 2-3 park events, tract distribution on the beaches, and the possibility of visiting and reaching a local retirement home
• Our plans for our boys' schooling options.  Jacob will be finishing up his Italian public art school this June and likely will do school via the Internet whereas Elijah has a couple options but we want to choose wisely for them, especially since Elijah has had a rough time this year.

In Him,
Lee Jeannette

 

Twenty Years of Ministry 1992 - 2012. Thank you God!

Ciao friends and loved ones...as I used to always say in our prayer letters over all these years, "Greetings in the name of our Lord Who is and Who was and Who is to come!"

Please forgive us for not doing an update here on our blog.  By now most of you have received our newsletter update in the states and most of you who are on FB are also on our "Friends of Italia" group on Facebook (if you'd be interested in joining this group, please email us and let us know).  But as a result of these other updates, unfortunately, this blog has seen less updates!

Our first days of training in 1992 with FamilyLife and C.C.C.

Well this year marks our 20th year of ministry as missionaries.  It was 20 years ago in January that we began work with FamilyLife Ministries (a division of Campus Crusade for Christ or C.C.C.).  In those days, we knew nothing and we would claim that verse: "God uses the foolish things of the world to confound and shame the wise" (1 Cor 1:15-29) and we'd be referring directly to ourselves as the foolish things God was using in spite of ourselves! Not to mention we were young and scared!

For nearly 14 years we worked with FamilyLife to save marriages and families.  Lee started out as a writer helping write projects like FL's new "Peacemaker Marriage Conference" on resolving conflict and writing their must successful product to date: Resurrection Eggs, and soon was helping to oversee all content for theological accuracy, rewriting FL's manual, instituting a new counseling policy, etc. It was a wonderful run and some of the funnest days in our lives with our kids growing up right before our eyes in a place that was very calm and mild in comparison to many places.  We went from one child to five, with many challenges but never boring.  And with the constant reminder to develop a good marriage and be good parents and tons of resources to help, we are so grateful for these years of growing our family and becoming more of who God wanted us to be.

Then most of you remember, in 2005, we took, what for us was, a big move to Orlando, Fla., to pursue leadership opportunities within C.C.C. at Lake Hart Stint and for us to live near Lee's parents who we'd not lived near since before the kids were born.  FamilyLife had grown very big and a bit institutional and the business-like attitude was being felt so we were on a search.  So shortly after the leadership program, Lee took the job of director of marketing for The Jesus Film, makers of the most successful film in the world, translated in over 1,000 languages.  Lee put together a successful team and marketing effort from scratch.  It was lots of fun and the JESUS film was put back on the map in the U.S. with promotion, trade shows and launching several successful new products that still exist.

But our hearts were never fully in office ministry and we always longed for more.  From our early days in ministry, we longed for ministry overseas and specifically to work directly with people from other nations less exposed to Christianity, ministering to their hearts with the gospel.  First we thought of going to South Africa.  Then it was Ukraine.  But none of these were God's will.

And so, God in His grace, eventually led us to Italy.  At first Lee thought we were too old as a couple and our kids were too old as well.  But God began to clearly and convincingly show us that this was the overseas assignment that He had brought to us and this was His perfect timing.  We couldn't be more excited as we saw God lead each step of the way, providentially providing amazing support and  confirming our hearts' desire and goal...very important given the immensity of the move.  We were leaving friends, family and everything we knew of comfort and convenience.  But God was with us.

We were thankful to see God provide both beforehand and as well, once we were "on the ground."  It was exciting.  And we began to learn a lot about ministry in Italy, what works and what doesn't and really began to appreciate and love the Italian people (not to mention the food!).  Now, it wasn't an easy run those first 2 years.  Not only was it hard to learn a language and adapt to a foreign culture which we had never experienced but we found it was like losing our personalities and abilities and all of what we'd learned in ministry not being able to speak.  Yet, even harder was the realization soon that the ministry we joined had serious underlying problems in leadership and in the working out of their everyday theology (proposing to be about grace but actually practicing a type of legalism).

So on we moved...we bowed out as graciously as possible, being disappointed, but without saying too much about how the experience terribly affected us, our family and our Christianity.  The good news?  We were humbled about things we could have done better and we got a picture of the "state of the church" in Italy (power struggles, competition and separation from other churches/ministries, demeaning and controlling leadership that doesn't inspire, motivate and bring out the gifts in others and propel them forward to new ministry opportunities).

We soon hooked up with a wonderful couple in Trieste (close to Udine), Andrea and McKenzie Dorigo, which we soon both fell in love with the idea of working together.  They were younger than us but very creative, energetic and it was a  good match so we were excited about the possibilities.  We even took a successful exploration trip together, staying in the same apartment for 4 days and getting excited about what God might do.  We even developed an excellent relationship with the director of Europe for their ministry.  But when we tried to join (necessary by their ministry for us to plant a church together), it didn't work out.  We were truly heartbroken.  And so was the other couple, the Dorigos.  The director of Europe could not have been more gracious and contrite, explaining even recently that sometimes, the home office gets something wrong and this, in his opinion, was what happened.  But all along, God knew.  He had something much better in store.

Now, we look back and thank God we're part of Italian Ministries (2 years running, since March 2010) and not "overly-controlled" by a large U.S. ministry out of touch with Italy, the Italian people and their needs or especially those in-country who are ministering...not to mention thousands of dollars we would have had to raise for American insurance which was not even needed (most likely requiring a return to the states for at least 2 years to raise the needed funds and the real possibility of losing much of the language and cultural adjustment we'd gained in the previous 2 years).

Very importantly, we have such a great director at Italian Ministries, Jonathan Gilmore, who also holds us accountable and serves us in our needs but doesn't seek to over-manage missionaries.  After a 5-month search visiting churches all over Italy with Jonathan's help, we came to the conclusion that God was clearly leading us to start something new and the city He was leading us to was Chiavari.   The contrast when we felt God was leading us to Chiavari to plant a church?  "I agree.  I think God is leading you and I think you should go for it!" Jonathan responded.  It was such a refreshing response.  To have a director that was interested only in God's will and what was best for us!  His wisdom as well in taking 3-4 months to settle-in and just get used to the surroundings was very helpful.

Our family altogether most recently in December of 2011.  The older girls are still back in the U.S. studying and working.

So, here we are in Chiavari, Italy in 2012...20 years later.  God has blessed us with a successful ministry effort in no more than a year later (started efforts in Spring 2011).  We call our ministry, "La Verita di Grazia Ministeri" which means, "The Truth of Grace Ministries" (see our site at www.LaVeritaDiGrazia.weebly.com).  And this is exactly what we're trying to share with Italians... The truth of real unmerited grace and declarative righteousness, a free gift, through Christ Jesus!

We now have over 55-60 students on average attending ESL classes (now our 3rd semester), we have evangelistic events and activities drawing 70 - 300 people 2-3 times a year, we are known to many in the piazzas, parks and along the sea walk for doing ministry faithfully and lovingly, we have contacts and association with probably over 200 people in the city of Chiavari and real relationships with dozens (both unbelievers and believers alike), we've developed a wonderful relationship with a pastor of a neighboring city who so loves what we are doing (evangelism and discipleship) that he has given us an "open invitation" to use his facility anytime we want (where our "Cena di Ringraziamento" or Thanksgiving meal was held and where we will also be doing our Easter Brunch on March 31st... please pray), and finally, our little "Incontro con Gesu" to reach unbelievers averages 15-25 people and serves us wonderfully as a way to invite unbelievers in to learn about Jesus. God is at work!

And you know the amazing thing about all of this?  We are still nobody and nothing.  We still are those foolish ones God loves to use to confound the wise.  Why?  Because He loves to get the glory!  And so that's the thing we've learned over and over again.  God is not interested in our little kingdoms or power plays or programmatic plans.  He is interested in glorifying Himself through willing people. 

Thank you for the bottom of our hearts for loving us and serving us so well through your prayers and your gifts!

God bless you and we love you,
The Walti Family

Buon Natale and Buon Anno Nuovo!

Greetings!!!  Buon Natale means Merry Christmas and Buon Anno Nuovo means Happy New Year!

Hopefully by the time you received this, you have both received our Thanksgiving letter as well as our recent Christmas card (Jake and Abby both participated by drawing nice pictures for this!).

We sincerely hope that you know how incredibly grateful we are for your prayers and generous support.  We hope to send out a New Year's update or round-up of 2011 but for now, we thought you might enjoy seeing some photos that will help you share with us in some memories God allowed us to create this last year as a direct result of your ministry to us through prayer and financial support.

We had over 60 students this fall with very high attendance of most of our events or activities outside of class (this is when we share the gospel with them).  The most exciting and well-attended was our very first Thanksgiving Dinner on our own with 3 large turkeys and 63 in attendance!  All heard Nate Taylor's testimony (one of our ESL teachers this last fall..he did a great job) and a presentation of the gospel by Lee.  For weeks afterwards, we heard about how wonderful it was and how much the students enjoyed it.  What's especially wonderful is most of our students will come to anything we plan because they love the times we have together and they see something different in us.

So, please continue praying!!  We actually hope to begin a small but regular meeting in January 2012, God willing, as we now see several who seem willing to attend.  Also, please pray for the new teachers arriving on February 1st from America to serve with us, Jaimie Lynn Smith and Carissa Cisar.  We have a very exciting but as always, challenging, semester ahead.  We also are still hopeful for new team members to join us here in this mission and calling in the next year or so. 

Please know that you are deeply appreciated and that God is drawing Italians and others unto Himself and His wonderful gospel of love  And hope you enjoy these images of a wonderfully rich season of ministry!  And lastly, thank you once again for helping us with your prayers and gifts this year.

With much love from the entire Walti Family,

Lee, Jeannette, Bethany, Hannah, Jacob, Elijah & Abigail

PS.  If you have not yet given a year-end gift but would like to, there's still time.  And of course, we greatly appreciate it.  Gifts given by Dec 31st are tax deductible if you itemize.  Just go to: www.ItalianMinistriesUSA.org and click "Donate."  Then select our name from the drop-down box and enter whatever amount you'd like to donate and the frequency of your gift.  Thank you so much once again for your participation in the gospel up until now.  You are greatly appreciated!!!

Two students begin studies based on Mark

This week, we saw two of our students begin separate bible studies with our ESL teachers from the book of Mark.  One young lady, Brenda, was surprised to discover that Jesus claimed to be God.  The other, a young man named Aziz who is a Muslim, after explaining they must sacrifice one lamb every year for their family, was all smiles and found it difficult to disagree after being asked if it would not be wonderful if Jesus were in fact God and God's Son and He was in fact the ultimate sacrifice (to end all sacrifices) for our sins.  Please be praying for Brenda and Aziz.  God is at work!!

Brenda with Jeannette

Aziz with Abby

Resurrection life. It’s worth fighting for!

Death is final.  But there is more!  One of the most critical messages of the Gospel is that there is something after death.  Resurrection!  And it is a “more” that’s worth fighting for!  

A favorite song of mine by Sovereign Grace Music, sings, “You have been raised, the tomb has been opened.  Nothing can take away our hope in You.  You have been raised, You have been raised, the work is completed.  Hell and its powers have been defeated. You have been raised!”  (you can listen here: You Have Been Raised - Sovereign Grace Music]

Upon his death, Thomas Henry Huxley left a memorable quote on his head stone for all to see: “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” An English biologist known as “Darwin's Bulldog” for his advocacy of Darwin's theory of evolution, Huxley chose unwisely the “something” to know everything about.  In fact, we get the term “agnostic” from Huxley, which he called himself because, he said, “we can not know for sure that God exists.”  Primarily, Huxley didn't believe in the resurrection.

But on further review, another story unfolds.  Huxley saw both his children die at an early age, including the death of his beloved 4-year son, Noël (ironically, the French word for “‘Christmas”) leading to bitterness toward God.  At the funeral, Huxley was left fuming, saying, “The preacher’s idea of being raised from the dead is a blasphemy against all that is best and noblest in human nature!”  The stage for unbelief was set.

It was actually this belief itself, the idea of a resurrection from the dead, that Huxley could not find within himself to believe, leaving him not only incredibly pained at his children’s passing (no future hope) but also separated from God for all eternity.

The hope of the resurrection is, for Christians, the “more” beyond a better life now.  It is because of Christ and His victory over sin, death, and damnation that we have hope.  Interestingly, like Huxley, many Italians don’t believe. Knowing the resurrection is true, it is so sad that millions put their trust in their flesh only to be bitterly disappointed!

Paul the Apostle

Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14).  If Jeannette and I didn’t hold to the hope of our salvation, we’d have quit awhile ago.  Italy is frustating!  It’s hard!  It’s uncomfortable, inconvenient and depressing!  Without the hope of our resurrection, we’d be overwhelmed.  Months without a car, weeks without a clothes washer, surrounded by people who seem closed to the gospel and not having friends with the same values all has a way of getting to you sometimes.

However, the resurrection is real!  Christ did raise from the dead!!  And one day we'll be raised also.  This gospel truth is the spiritual buttress that must transform every aspect of our thinking.  Resurrection living is what allows us to overcome death and dying.  It keeps us hopeful in the midst of this life, believing there is so much more in the next!

Amanda Knox during trial.

That’s why Italians so need to turn from their flesh and place their trust in God. Their political system and economy keeps heading downhill and Italians seem unable to change course.  Their justice system is a mockery, with over half of all guilty verdicts overturned by appeal, as demonstrated by the Knox trial.  The rest of the world talks of a travesty of justice.  Italians?  Happy the focus is off Italy.  Bad for tourism.

Huxley was man enough to get angry about a preacher, giving the gospel of a resurrected Lord who saves souls!  Italians?  Who cares.  In fact, some researchers believe only 1.7 million of the 58 million Roman Catholics attend church more than once a year.  And you won't even hear the gospel there. 

Priests and bishops in Italy are convicted of crimes like rape molestation, and drug dealing, the older generation  continue to be loyal.  Yet, the younger generation wants nothing to do with the R.C. Church.  To please parents and grandparents, they'll do first communion and baptism.  But most will never set foot in church again until they marry or die.  As you can imagine, atheism, magical arts and suicide are at an all time high.

Right now, the masses in dictator-led countries are fighting for democracy to be free of tyrants who’ve murdered and pillaged for years, some secretly, only to find mass graves of millions of people.  In Egypt, Libya, Syria, and even in Iran, the people are fighting for liberty and justice.  The world is enraptured.  America is helping the fight.  Italians?  An Italian recently quipped to me, “You Americans still need to make war.  Us Italians have once ruled the world so we already know what that's like.” 

It appears that Italians have not much of a fight left in them for truth and justice.  In Ancient Rome, dignitas (pronounced 'dee-ni-tahs'), derived from things such as reputation, moral standing, and ethical worth, caused a man or country to fight to the death for what’s important.  But today in modern-day Italy, the only change Italians want, from the words of Tomasi of Lampedusa, is when “everything must change so that everything stays the same.”  They have settled for a clouded wisdom of Solomon, intoxicated with many wives late in life, who wrote, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil” (Eccl 2:24). 

So Huxley and Italians actually have a lot in common.  They don't believe in the resurrection or don't care even if it is true.  When you've stopped searching for what is true about God, you lose your north star.  God is not in control.  Pain and suffering (or fear and doubts) have led these with no gospel hope to settle for less than God’s very best.  Disillusioned with life and the world, the only thing they want is status quo...and then you die.

The worst news?  Some 57.4 million (out of 58 million) have not one soul to proclaim the grace of God and His amazing love.  They cannot comprehend what they do not know.  And they cannot know what because there are no Christians telling them.  And so they neither want nor are having their lives affected by the resurrection.

Well, we joyfully report we are doing everything we can here in Chiavari to give them that resurrection!  And though the culture and people around us care little for God, Christianity, Jesus or the gospel, we are really trying to reach those around us and God seems to be blessing.  And we are thankful.

We have developed a wonderful relationship with our Italian friends, Giousuè and his wife, Edi and family, a man Lee is kind of discipling and encouraging in his walk and for future leadership in the church.  One prayer request would be for Giousuè as he is still holding to the idea that he can lose his salvation.  He and his family are wonderful and we hope they will be an important part of our future church and ministry.  They recently showed their love and support for our family and our ministry by donating 500 Euros to us and our ministry, considered a huge gift anywhere but especially here in Italy. 

We also are developing wonderful relationships with unbelievers like Vicenzo, Laura Mario, Cristian, Alexander, Marina, Gianluca, Loredana, Alesia, Sara, Cristine, Lucia, Monica, Brenda and about 50 others!  We are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to them and they are listening.  Please pray for this!  Even Franco and Sara who own the pizzeria where we hold our English classes seem to be touched by our joy and hope.  That's not to mention that we've been offered two other locations in the last month to hold our ESL classes!

ESL has begun, again!!  Once again we started our English classes this fall, our 2nd full semester here in Chiavari.  After passing out 4,000 leaflets in town and putting them in peoples’ mailboxes, and this time we saw over 75 signed up and after the dust settled, we now have over 60 students!  One month in, this seems to be the best group ever and they are very excited about our scheduled activities.  We had over 20 of them attend a bowling night recently.  It was a blast!  It was obvious that we have some new friends!

Last Saturday night, we had a game night for our ESL students with lost of fun games and Giousuè, one of our students, and his wife, Edi came over early and made homemade Italian pizza for everyone!  We are now planning for a big Thanksgiving meal for all our students and their guests where they will hear the teachers' testimonies and the gospel and taste their first ever Thanksgiving meal.   

We have other events coming, and soon we will be offering bible studies and one-on-one times with “Christianity Explored” for students who desire to improve their English.  God tells us to be as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves.  So if they want to spend time out of class to learn, we will be asking them to do this bible study in English!

By the way, Nate and Dawn, our current teachers are doing great!!  They both love the Lord and are having so much fun getting to know the Italians and sharing God’s love.  We’re also thankful to have two new teachers, Carisa and Jaimie Lynn, committed to coming Spring 2012 and  three other young people hoping to help for fall 2012 and spring 2013!  Praise God.  

This last summer, we began doing evangelistic ministry in the parks, at the beach and in the city, with other Italians helping us.  You might remember hearing we had a 12-year old girl, Maria, accept Christ.  We also now have invested in some puppets and use these and do balloon-making and usually tell stories to help reach the children.  We’re having one of our last events at the park for the fall season on Friday, the 21^st.  Please pray for this.  We’ve actually met many Italians in Chiavari this summer as well as others and we are doing our best to build relationships to share the gospel (what they call “relationship evangelism”).  We hope these contacts will become Christians!

Also, right now, we have a young lady, Kailey, 25 years old, visiting us for 10 days with the desire to serve our ministry full-time, helping to reach youth and do children’s ministry in Chiavari.  She has a big heart for children and with her helping us, it will allow us to do more evangelistic outreach to children like ESL classes for kids, kids bible studies, evangelistic outreach in the parks, etc.  Please pray for us and her in this.

There are also others inquiring now about joining our ministry so please pray God would bring the perfect combination of team members that He might be glorified in this, a movement of God for His glory and by His grace (called “La Verita Di Grazia Ministeri” or “The Truth of Grace Ministries”) in the future.  Pray for discernment, for God’s will to be done, that He would be greatly glorified through our ministry.  By the way, please feel free to check out our new ministry website at www.LaVeritaDiGrazia.weebly.com

We do continue to need more resources, people and money.  Given our desire to do a wide variety of ministry activities that would be served by some space, including the desire to start church services soon, we have begun the process of considering how we might rent or acquire a location in the city center.  If you have an interest in praying or  helping with this financially, please let us know.  We are trusting God for great things!!

Steve and Ann Lawson, pastors of ours in Ark., Jeannette and I and MacArthur

In closing, a special treat for Jeannette and I, was we were recently offered a full scholarship to the John MacArthur conference in Perugia.  It included  conference, hotel and food.  It was wonderful!!  We spent the week, listening to great teaching, meeting wonderful new friends and contacts, and growing in our Christianity.  It was a special time for Jeannette and I.  A neat highlight was meeting John MacArthur, getting a picture with him and having him say to us, “Lee and Jeannette, I really respect you and your decision to come serve Christ here in Italy.”  Very kind.

Well, in contrast to Italians and Huxley, our resurrection focus as Christians is on “storing up treasure for yourselves as a good foundation for the future, so that you may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Tim 6:19).  We want you to know we are doing all we can to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:20).  And reminding ourselves constantly of what Paul said: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).

We want you to know that you are like a miracle of God to us; you make it all possible.  You too have trusted in the resurrection!  You too are storing up treasures in heaven!!  And you too believe in the hope of the resurrection!  So you know there is hope for Italians to know the gospel and be saved!  Thank you for caring enough to help us make this possible!  For caring for what is honorable!  For the gospel!!!!  For the more that is worth fighting for.  We love you.

In His marvelous and glorious love,

Lee, Jeannette and family