Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Sicilia, Ciao!!

Over the past 10 days, I've traveled over 14,000 miles, crossed 14 different time zones flown on 11 airplanes, for over 60 hours. I just returned from my third trip to Italy. Like always, we had an amazing time! Jason & I stayed at the home of Pastor Romeo who has been faithfully serving as a pastor in Sicily for 40 years!! He is the one in grey in the picture above. He was so gracious to us and, as always, so hospitable! We were served the most incredible homemade, authentic Sicilian food! Check out the homemade cannolis to the right; they were a little piece of heaven!

We had two main opportunities to serve during our stay in Sicily. First was the youth conference in Sicily, where over 400 were in attendance and amazing ministry that took place. Our translator, Claudio, was a first-timer who did such an awesome job. A couple of times, he was overwhelmed as he gave our message, and he began crying from the way the Holy Spirit was ministering to him. He said that, "the word ministered to him so much". Hearing this, I thought, I do not ever want to underestimate the power of what we are doing to build His Kingdom. I am in AWE of the way the Lord moves and ministers to His church all over the world, and I am so humbled that He would choose me to be a part of it all! We also had the great privilege of ministering in Pastor Giovanni's church in Vittoria, Sicily. There, God moved in such a significant way. During our ministry at the altar, God stopped the entire service to give a specific message to one girl who came forward for prayer. It turns out that this young girl had not been to church in almost 6 months. There was no doubt that God was pursuing her heart that night, and He used that moment to tell her that He had not forgotten her. What an awesome God we serve!

I just love all of the relationships we have formed from our times in Italy. The people there have such a great love for God and for each other. It is hard to take a trip to Sicily and not leave with tons of Sicilian brothers and sisters. I wanted to send a special shout-out to some of my friends: Laura, Salvo, Daniele, Gabriella, Enzo, and Elisa. The bond that we feel knows no boundaries and no geography. Thank you for such awesome time! Enzo and Elisa, thanks, especially, for meeting us so early in the morning at the airport to say goodbye! That was so kind; you guys are dynamite! To see more pics of our time in Italy click here.

3 Comments:

At 10:05 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Pastor!

Man I'm missing me some Haman preachin'.

I'm still in the belt loop!

-Daniel Edwards
DanielEdwards.org

 
At 6:33 PM, Blogger Ms.. Angie said...

hey pastor mike ..just wanted to wish you and the family a wonderful new years and congrats on the book..i can't wait to get it..luv ya all..
sincerely angela howell

 
At 2:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Pastor Mike,
we all thank you and thank Our God for your visit in Sicily.

God Bless you, your family and Healing Place Church.


We hope come to USA and pray for this.
See you soon...

Salvo e Laura,
Catania (Sicily)

 

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