i made it back to perugia. and i wanted to write a little conclusion to this latiano trip. i have tons of stories, but for now, those will have to wait for another time. Latiano is a small town just outside of Brindisi in the south. It is a very small town which always smells like burning firewood. This is because down south, the fireplace is a way of life. Its where meals are cooked, how houses are kept warm, and where great conversations die down in the evening with the cooling of the embers. It has a most peculiar smell because they use olive trees for firewood, as opposed to the stuff we use in the States. I don’t know how to describe it–it’s not bad, it’s just a different smell, distinct.

I stayed in ‘the guest section’ of the church. They basically remodeled the church into two sections, one for worship, the other for housing guests–its a great idea. Everyone that goes to this church lives on the same street as the church. Maybe not EVERYONE, but a good majority of them live just down the street. Kind of an interesting dynamic. Around meal times, it was just a matter of leaving the church and going next door, or three doors down. It was during these meal times that the families gave me the chance to pray before meals. I have never prayed in Italian before, so it was a vulnerable experience for me, walking the line between heresy and nonsense, trying to conjugate verbs so Jesus doesn’t have a son, but God does. I always liked listening to kids pray, but now it was my turn. The families were very gracious and shared many Italian proverbs with me, one of which was, “leave the science, with practice, it will come.” I thought that was a good posture for prayer. This proverb didn’t help me out so much when they passed the horse meat and cow intestines. For that meal, the proverb was, “keep eating, your appetite will come.” Well, it never did. To me, the horse meat tasted like hamburger, and the intestines tasted like beef-jerky flavored jellyfish.

This church at Latiano was one of, if not the first, Churches of Christ to be started in Italy. It was during WW2 with an American chaplain, Guy Mayfield, and an Italian evangelist who came to know Jesus through a Bible salesman, Giuseppe Settembrini. About 15 years ago, this church went through a split over the instrument, which they talk about as if it happened yesterday. This is a tragic thing for a church who is nearly made up of a few large families and live on the same street. Basically, one brother took one side, and the other brother, well, took the other. So literally, a family divided over something the Americans imported. Antonio told me he was grateful to God for the Americans that came ‘with the word of life.’ But he said that he did not thank God for the “word of death” that they brought alongside it. I told him that i’m afraid that i run the risk of repeating history with my theological blindspots. He said, “don’t be silly, you went to Bible College, there’s no bad theology there.” Ok, maybe he didn’t say that, but he did tell me that whether history would repeat itself was up to my deciding. Either way, i went home that evening with a greater sense of humility.My last meal in Latiano was a sad one. I had grown more attached to them than i had realized. But this is a good thing because it reminds me that i am a human being.

On the train back home tonight, i was thinking about how i don’t pay much attention to how quickly my ‘roots’ are planted in a place until it is time to pack up and leave–leaving only a memory, never being able to go back to things the way they were. Maybe this feeling is as natural as the changing of seasons for some. For me, this constant transition we call life is one that i have trouble adjusting to at times. Say hello and wave goodbye. The subtlety of the changing season, or transition happens when that first leaf falls from the tree, but in my heart of hearts, there is a loud crash when it hits the ground, my earth shatters.

You remember those old science films where they speed up the film real fast and a flower blooms in a matter of moments, or a butterfly sheds its cocoon in seconds? You can’t blink or life passes you by. I feel like i want to slow those films down so i can smell the flower or absorb the colorful butterfly coming out of its shell. I want to really experience and absorb life–every moment that passes, never to reveal itself again. But time doesn’t seem to stop, and neither do i. I was really blessed by the saints at Latiano, i guess one of those one-of-a-kind experiences that make you want to be a better disciple of Jesus.

Please be in prayer this week for:

  • Our team’s language ability—that we would grow in our ability to use this language to help others see Christ working in their lives
  • Our team’s intimacy with God—that we ourselves would continue to grow in our walk with Jesus
  • Breakthrough—as a team, we feel God is on the verge of doing something with Kingdom-sized ramifications. Pray that we would be oriented to follow the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit as the Kingdom is brought near through us and in us.
  • Our team’s financial situations—we as a team are not fully funded and are still seeking churches to partner with this work. Pray that God will continue to provide as he has up until now so that the work may continue here.