My last update was a story about how God is moving here in Ancona, inspite of my fearful hesitation to introduce people to Jesus. This update, is in fact, an “update” on this story:

We have been praying for Angela’s boyfriend, who lives in Dublin, to get well. She made comments about how she thought our prayers were more effective than hers. Well this week, Angela flew up to Dublin to visit her boyfriend for a week or so. She was so excited and kept telling me exactly how many hours she had before she left to meet him. She got there yesterday and I got a text message from her. She told me that she was telling her boyfriend about how she met me and we had been talking about Jesus. Her boyfriend, his name is Daniele, asked, “What’s this guy’s name again?” She said, “His name is Josh, he’s an American.” Her boyfriend left the room and began rummaging around in a photo book of his. He came back in the room and handed her this picture. “You mean this guy?”


left to right: Omar, Daniele, Matt Hodges, me

About 4 years ago, I met Daniele on my internship here in Ancona. We hung out a lot that summer. This picture was from when we took a day trip to San Marino. Angela sent me a text that read, “Josh, you cannot imagine this, but Daniele is a friend of yours! Now I can say that we are really friends for life! Isn’t it crazy how everyone is connected to each other?” I think Daniele will be coming back to Ancona for Christmas, and I hope to catch up with him then, a relationship that was kickstarted about 4 years ago, but we lost touch since then, has come full circle. Who would’ve thought that a simple conversation with a waitress would end up connecting up your world? You know, I’ve never been much of a knitter, but this God that we serve is a Master-weaver with the stories of our lives.