The last calendars

We had some calendars left, so on Saturday the 18th of January we had a book table in the city center in order to distribute these last calendars. The rain was quite heavy and normally probably we would have cancelled the whole thing, but of course next month would be a little bit to late to go on the streets to distribute calendars and wish everybody a happy new year... Because of the rain some of us were quite discouraged at the beginning, because who would pass by there with this rain...

In fact it wasn't easy to hold an umbrella and the calendars and then still find a way to offer them to the people passing by. Despite of the rain, there were lots of people around! There reactions were quite diverse, from: "I never accept gifts" to "I'm not religious" and from "how much is it?" to just a raised finger and looking away (without a word). Praise God that lots of people accepted the calendar with a big and surprised: "Thank you!" Let's pray that God will touch hearts through these calendars!

At a certain point somebody in uniform approached. I remember that once he started talking to me on the street. At that time I have written on facebook (November 2012): "I was walking on the street and a little police man spontaneously started talking to me: "How tall are you"? Hahaha, that was a quite unexpected question. He didn't reach further than my shoulder and he said that he would like to be a little bit taller."

I didn't realize that this was over a year ago, but I started talking to him. Obviously he didn't remember me, but in the end we had a very good conversation. He said that he doesn't believe in anything and that dead will be the end. Afterwards I have had the opportunity to share what Jesus means to me. Maybe you could pray for this guy.

Christmas presents in the nursing home

Two sisters of the church work in a nursing home here in Rovereto. Because there are many lonely people among the elderly, we had the idea to bring a Christmas present to all the residents of the nursing home. This present was: a calender, a Christmas card, a info card of the church, a soft cookie like thing and some sweets and chocolates.

On Friday the 20th of December six of us went to the nursing home.

What a joy to see the happy faces of the people receiving a gift. Many couldn't believe that we had thought of them and moreover came to bring gifts. Several asked how much they owed us, because in the world of today they couldn't imagine to receive something for free (and even more unlikely from people they didn't even know). Great great great! It has been a great and encouraging experience for us, but surely for all the residents and the personal (we had a gift for them too) as well!  We will do this again for sure. A little gesture can make a huge difference!

The opening of the exhibition

Finally after a long period of preparation last Sunday we had the inauguration of the exhibition with Claudio Centin. We planned to have the official part at 3 pm, but the vice mayor of Rovereto wasn't there yet. When we were approaching 4 pm we were getting worried that maybe he forgot... But then in the end he arrived :-)

From left to right: Claudio Centin, Angelo (the elder of the Rovereto church) and the vice mayor.

Sunday and yesterday (Monday the exhibition was closed) lots of people came in to look at the pieces of art and to hear about the Message. Lots of people were touched by it. Praise the Lord!

Art in Rovereto

In the past few weeks the Rovereto church has been very busy organizing a, for us as a small church, big project. From the 3rd till the 15th of November there will be held an exposition with works of a Christian artist. This man makes art with materials that "already have a history", in other words: things we would throw away. These pieces of art are Bible related and create an opportunity to testify of our Lord Jesus Christ!

This week we are mostly involved in publicity. Hand out flyers on the streets and door to door, posters, etc. Since yesterday in the whole city you can find big posters to invite everybody to come:

The goal of this exhibition is of course to testify of our Lord! Besides that we hope to create lots of new contacts with the people visiting. As a church we have never organized something like this before, so everything is quite new too us as well. We trust that the Lord will bless this project, like He has always done. Will you pray with us the coming weeks?