Bari

We are finally back online after a few days with no internet.

We travelled by train to Bari from Florence. It took all day, but was quite beautiful as we travelled down the coast and at times right next to the beach.

We have been put in a very nice apartment in a good part of the town. Pastor Giovanni and the others have been looking after us tremendously well.

The church is growing quickly and there is a need to go to two Sunday morning services. It looks as though one will be an international service in dual langauges (Italian and English) and translated through headphones into French. we have a meeting with the Pastors and leaders tomorrow to discuss the details of the change. Hopefully my experience in the multiple services at Harvest will be helpful.

We were having dinner Thursday night before being picked up to go to the church's Bible Study when i had a phone call asking me to preach. The pastor had to take his daughter to hospital with a suspected broken hand. So a quick look over some notes and I gave my firstt message to the church. I made it farly intrctive (getting them in groups etc and getting feedback).

We are spending most of our time at the moment just settling in. There is a cafe at the bottom of our building where I get my daily macchiato (espresso with a bit of milk) and a grocery shop just up the road 100 metres. We have meetings most nights and have had a few meetings with the Pastors bout what we will be doing. There are a number of churches around Italy and the region that want us to minister so we are working through that.

We are being looked after by an engaged couple Lorenzo and Emilie. He is from Bari, Emilie is French. They met each other doing Jesus Generation which is an Evangelistic Mission that travels around Europe. They have been atthe church for several months as Youth Leaders.