Authentic Italia

 

Authentic Italy 2022

The Birmingham airport was deserted! I had caught it in a rate lull between crowds and walked up to the ticket desk, then breezed through TSA without a pause. Thank you Lord!

But that was the end of the peace and quiet. For my flight to Rome they were overbooked by 3 seats and I was sorely tempted to take the $1400, free dinner and hotel in Atlanta. The packed plane was preparation for the packed streets of Rome and Florence. I don’t think I can recall such crowds even in summer months. But that didn’t slow us down. The excellent preparations that Ceil Wilson had done meant that the entire trip went smoothly.

Our Group was Matt and Melissa, Vickie and Scott, Justin and Marit, Trey and JK, and me and Ceil and Daryl Wilson. Kenneth from Agape Italia Bologna traveled with us. We experienced the reality of the Refugee Ministry in Rome where we heard Tori tell us about his life after fleeing Afghanistan. We heard about the family life ministry in Italy, and I had the joy of filming a video for them on Family Wellness and on investing in people. One of the highlights of Rome wasn’t the Pantheon, but a terrific lunch in the apartment of Amy and Joel who lead the Agape Italia campus ministry in Rome.

From Rome we took the train to Florence where not only saw the beautiful sights, but got to meet the beautiful Agape staff of Florence. I spoke to the Psych student at the University of Florence on Time Management.

From Florence we made a day trip to Bologna where most of our super group got to work with the super team of Agape Bologna. I gave a professional talk on Exercise in the Heat at the oldest European University, the University of Bologna. Some of these team members were here when Bre and I made our first trip to Bologna in 2013.

The Authentic Italy group left on Saturday and Sunday the Wilsons and I journeyed to Trento to meet a Christian Prof there who chairs the Dept of Economics. We took the prof and his wife to dinner and he was genuinely blown away by the thought of impacting his University for the Christ. It was exciting to see him slowly catch a vision for ministry where he had great impact. Please pray for Prof. G in Trento and Prof N in Florence. It’s tough when there isn’t a team ministering with you.

My last talk was to a group of Medical and Pharmacy students at Tor Vergata University in Rome. In this program I met students from Israel, Iraq, Syria, and Iran who live and study together and support each other through lectures and exams. Because of the stress of their school, I spoke on Wellbeing in the University. The group was large and receptive and we planted some seeds for Christianity. Pray that the Lord provides the increase.

The history of Italy in the Scriptures is large. The sights in Italy are amazing. Perhaps you know someone who would like to travel with a Christian group and see Italy through a Christian ministry lenses. Invite them to investigate Authentic Italy, 2023.