Traveling and Preaching - Exciting things Happened!

Hello to all of you! Thank you for your faithful prayers. It has been a busy week traveling. This past week, Bro. Childers had me preach in the church. It went very well. We then had a fellowship afterwards with all the church. I left on Saturday to go to Naples. The Lord gave the opportunity to teach Sunday School, and to preach on Sunday Morning and Sunday Evening. The Lord used it to encourage the people. I preached Sunday morning on Psalm 103:15 "As for Man" and Sunday Evening on II Corinthians 2:12 "To Preach Christ's Gospel." I arrived back in Grosseto on Tuesday. I have some very exciting news about my train ride back to Grosseto!! From Rome to Grosseto, I had three young men from England in the train compartment with me. When I asked them where in England they were from , they said, "Birmingham". I couldn't believe it! The Lord gave me the opportunity to talk to them about what I was doing in Italy, about Crown UK over in Birmingham, and how the castle was purchased. They didn't know of the castle, but I told them where it was located and one of the young men said that he lived about fourteen minutes from where that would be. I couldn't believe how the Lord works, but I am thankful that He works the way He does. Though it was good, it was also heart breaking to talk to them. They explained to me how they didn't have anything to do with religion, but they confessed to me that England use to be very religious and how they have fallen away from that. I was able to tell them just a little bit about my Christian heritage and how it comes from Europe, and a lot of it comes from England. I asked them to go to Crown's website and look at the castle, see exactly where it is, and go visit it someday. Please pray for them. Their names are Joey, Charlie, and David, and they are all eighteen. Something else happened on Tuesday! While I was waiting for my train in Naples, I was doing some praying, and an elderly lady sat next to me. I noticed as soon as she sat down that she was holding her prayer beads in her hand. As I was sitting there, it hit me that I was talking to my Father, because of Jesus Christ. I can go to the throne of grace at any time I want or need. This lady was just trying to get her morning prayers in, probably through Mary, and of course, she needed her beads. I was able to give her a tract. The Lord has caused me to be so thankful for prayer. I don't think I have ever been as thankful for prayer as I have been this summer.

This Friday, Bro. Childers and I will be traveling to Naples again. The church down there will be starting Revival meetings on Friday. Please pray that during these meetings, man military men and women will be reached. After the meeting, I will be traveling as far as Rome, and I will be in Rome until Monday. Please pray for me: Sunday will be my last day in Italy. I will be flying out of Rome on Monday at 8am est. It has been a great summer!! I can't believe that it is over already. Thank you for all of your prayers this summer. They have been appreciated, and I know that they have been used by the Lord. Thank you for following my blog this summer as well. Please continue to pray for the missionaries in Italy as they continue to work for the Lord, for the Italian people, that they will open up to the Gospel, and that a great awakening will happen in this country. God bless you all. I will post my last blog on Tuesday, letting you all know that I have made it to the states, and letting you know how Friday night's meeting went.

Florence

City of Florence

Thank you all for your prayers this summer. It has been going very well. I just got back from Florence, the one time capital of Italy, and pretty much the place where the Renaissance started. It was amazing to be in a city with such history. Of course, it was no different then any other city in Italy with the fact that there is no gospel influence there at all. They have two Catholic Church buildings dedicated to Mary, and one of those buildings has the world's largest dome attached to it. Yesterday Bro. Childers and I went back into the mountains to help a church member with his house and yard. We weed whacked the whole yard and there was a lot of grass!! It was good hard work and at the end of the day we sat around and sang some hymns in Italian. Sunday was very encouraging. We had lady, that works at the Pizzeria owned by one of the members, come to the service. She has a lot of questions and she is very interested. Please pray for her; her name is Julia. Also, I talked with Bro. Bloyd, the missionary I was with in Terni. Bro. Bloyd allowed me to preach when I was there. There was an Italian lady, who is an English teacher at one of the schools. One of the points that the Lord led me to mention was compassion, that we must have compassion, the Holy Spirit has been convicting her about that, Bro. Bloyd said that she is asking a lot of questions, she also is unsaved. Please pray for her, I apologize, I was told her name, but it was one those deals where I can't pronounce it, and I can't spell it. Its amazing to me how God works through vessels like us. It is humbling to know that God chooses to use us, and wants and desires to use us. I only hope that I please Him and that my testimony this summer is that I pleased Him. Please keep praying! This is my last week in Grosseto, and I know that it will be hard to leave. I then will be going to Rome or Naples on Saturday: I am not sure exactly where I am going first. I then will be leaving on August 3rd, which is two weeks from today. Please keep praying for God's power and God's presence here, and please pray for me that I will please the Lord. Also, I am preaching again on Thursday. Lord willing I will be bringing a message from I Chronicles 22:16 which says, "...Arise therefore, and be doing and the LORD be with thee." God bless you all. Again, thank you for your prayers.

Singing, "In my Heart There Rings a Melody"

Part of the Yard we Weed Whacked

Church Dedicated to Mary, built in the 13th Century

Deruta, Mountains, Rome, and Building

Well, hello everyone! I know that it has been a while since you heard from me last and I apologize about that. Let me just tell you what has been going on the last two weeks. I have been busy handing out tracts and traveling and have been involved in a building project with Bro. Childers. On Sunday July 5th, Bro. Childers and I went to Deruta where Bro. Childers worked the first couple of years he was in Italy. The missionaries there, the DiBagnos, who have been missionaries in Italy for about twenty years, have just moved their church to a new building, and invited Bro. Childers to come sing for the opening of this new building. It went very well and the Lord blessed in a great way. There were about forty people in attendance and a lot of them are without Christ. The Monday following we went with some church members into the mountains that surround Grosseto. We enjoyed a nice picnic and even went to the very top of the mountain which is at 5500 feet above sea level.Needless to say it was an amazing view! We have also been busy building a portable wall for the spiral staircase that is in the auditorium. The children have Sunday School down stairs while the morning service is going on and they get loud, so we are trying to solve that problem with this wall. We went to Rome on Saturday to help Bro. Homan pass out tracts, and praise the Lord we were able to distribute 1200 tracts. We then ate lunch with the Homans, and were suppose to get back to Grosseto around five. Well, the train we were suppose to get on changed schedules and we didn't end up leaving Rome till 7 in the evening and got back to Grosseto around 9:30. On Sunday, we went back to Deruta to hear the Bob Jones choir sing. They are travelling throughout Europe this summer in countries such as Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria. They did a great job and I know the Lord was honored in it. The man who preached did an excellent job on preaching the gospel. Yesterday, went and helped a church member go do some work around his house in the mountains. It was good physical labor, and I even got to use a cycle for the first time in my life to trim the weeds! We returned last night exhausted. God is still working in my own life personally. I have seen how a shepherd has to take care of his flock working with Bro. Childers and the different things that he has to take care of with the people and with building projects. To see that these people don't know anything about the truth, but these missionaries are going to keep trying and keep praying until they do. I have seen first hand how that any work with out the Spirit's power will not work. It has been a wonderful time in Italy, and I can't believe how quick it has gone! I will be in Grosseto for two more weeks, and then Lord willing I will be in Rome the last week I am here, and take a quick trip back down to Naples the last weekend I am here. Please keep praying also for the Childers that the paper work for Mrs. Childers will go through very soon, so that she and the kids can come on a permanent basis. It is very hard to get into Italy, but we know that with God all things are possible. Thank you for your continued prayers. I need them. God bless you.

Bob Jones Choir in Deruta

Bro. Childers Working on the wall