Last week while walking around in the piazza Paul and I ran into our neighbors who live right beside us that we never, ever see. They were there with their two young children, Matteo and Sara. When I say we never see them, I mean it was the first time I have ever seen the man. We also had to ask our doorman their names (which are Pierre Paolo and Claudia).

By the end of the conversation we had all decided to go to the birthday party of another neighbors’ son together.

So, Sunday evening off we all go. There are two parts to this story. The first part is the birthday party itself. I have no pictures, much to my regret because that is really the only way you can begin to grasp an Italian birthday party, unless you have read Shannon’s blog (www.mammainnaples.wordpress.com).
The party was held in a medium sized room. There were tables around the walls for the parents to sit and all the kids were in the middle. Two people, called animatori, were in charge of games and children. The first game consisted of a child sitting in what can only be explained as a giant top and spun around really fast. I just waited for some kid to throw up.
Then, a big blowup slide went up. After about 20 minutes of that, there was a puppet show and then balloon animal time.
The kids seemed to have a great time. But I don’t think that as a child you realize how chaotic and loud birthday parties are because you are part of the chaos. Parties are totally different as an adult. I wish I was still a kid sometimes.

The second part of the story takes place during all the chaos and noise. Pierre Paolo begins a conversation with Paul by asking him what we do. Come to find out Pierre Paolo is an atheist. Why? Basically he can’t understand why a loving God allows children to be sick and bad things to happen to them. Claudia on the other hand prays and believes in God. She is quite anti-tradition.
We are really excited because 1) we are finally getting to know this couple who we have lived by for 2 1/2 years and 2) we had a really good conversation with them about God and 3) Claudia is very open.

One of my goals for the next six months is to meet moms in the piazzas and establish relationships with them. Sounds kinda easy right? You’d think it would be simple. We would have something in common and could talk about baby stuff. This is not always the case.

You see, Italians don’t really go out by themselves. They are usually with at least one other person. They already have a “click”, a group they hang out with. It is very hard to break into that group.

I did meet a young woman with a baby the same age as Lily, but I have not seen her again. I really hope to find her because she was very nice and did not mind talking to me.

I feel like I’m walking into 5th grade again. In 5th grade I switched schools, which meant I didn’t know anybody. It was hard to find kids to hang out with because everyone had been together since kindergarten. This is harder than meeting kids in 5th grade.

Despite how hard it is, I will continue to go out in the afternoons, sit next to other moms and small children, and try to talk to them.

Lily is 3 1/2 months old!

She weighed in at 5.050 kg = 11.1lbs.
She is a little underweight so we are giving her a little bit of rice cereal that is really thinned out with breast milk. We’ll go back next month for a weigh in.

She is about 61 centimeters = 24 inches, I think. The doctor doesn’t measure her length so I have to do it and who knows if I am getting the correct measurement.

I am going to explain the workings of one of the pharmacies that we occasionally have to go to when the pharmacy we normally go to is closed. I am not sure if this is how many of the pharmacies in Italy work or not.

On entering the pharmacy you must figure which of the four places you need to go. If you need baby items, creams and lotions, beauty products, etc. you go to the first section. If you need medicine you go to another. There is yet another section on the far end but I have no idea what you get there because I have never had to go to that section. Then there is a fourth section with the cash register.

After deciding which section to go to, you proceed not to get in a line but a mass of people and figure out who you might be behind. When it is finally your turn you tell the pharmacist what you need. They proceed to find that product and hand you a receipt. You must take that receipt and go stand in line (this is an actual line) at the cash register. You pay him, he stamps your receipts as paid, and you go back to whatever section you just came from. Again you wait your turn or sometimes if the pharmacist sees you, you can bust right up to the front. You hand him/her your stamped receipt, and he/she in turn gives you your product(s). While this is taking place you are “fighting” the other people who are trying to tell the pharmacist what they need.

Needless to say I am not too happy when the pharmacy I normally go to, where you get something and then pay for it, is closed.

Today Paul, Jason, Grace and Cortney went to the engineering school close to our house to help the Gruppo Biblici Universitari do a survey. The GBU is campus ministry and for information on what they do you can visit http://www.gbuitalia.org.

The survey was 5 questions about Easter, who they believe Jesus to be, do they believe in an after life, and what is the reason for Easter.

What was my part? I baked cookies for them to hand out, thinking the students will see the cookies, stop to get a cookies, and while eating the cookie fill out a survey. I don’t think that’s how it went down. I’m pretty sure that most of the cookies were eaten by the people handing out the surveys. The Italians did not care one iota about those free cookies. That means more for Paul I guess.

Anyway, back to the actual survey. Sixty-seven surveys got filled out, which is great. The responses are varied. There are lots of students who do not believe in God, an afterlife, or that Jesus is the Son of God. However there are lots of students who do believe all those things and who seem interested in learning more. The GBU leaders got all the students emails and hopefully will be able to make some contacts and share more about Christ.

Saturday was a very nice day….at least it started out nice. Very sunny and warm. Paul had cabin fever and asked if I would call Cortney or Ellie and Kala to see what they were doing. They already had plans to go to Pozzuoli and they graciously said we could tag along. For those who don’t know Pozzuoli is also known as Puteoli. Look it up in Acts and you’ll find it is where the apostle Paul spent seven days before heading up to Rome to stand before Cesar. Pretty cool stuff.

Inside the amphitheater (aka coliseum)

La quattro amigas (Yes that’s Spanish and Italian)

The photographers. All four have fancy cameras. Of course you can’t see Paul’s because I had to use it to take the picture .

I think the lighting in this is just beautiful. Does that sound like I know something about photography?? ‘Cause I don’t.

Me and Coolness.

Last week we had the opportunity to have several people in our home. Last Monday our friends Marta and Nicola came over for hamburgers. Marta is the daughter of a pastor here in Naples. We had a great time talking about music (Nicola plays the violin of the symphony at the big opera theater here), getting married, and bible study.

Friday Patrizio and Jennifer Zuchetto and their three children over for coffee and dessert, although nobody drank coffee. The dessert however was quite yummy. Patrizio is a local pastor. He and Jennifer, who is from Ireland, met when she was here on a mission trip around 13 years ago. Again, we had a great time getting to know them and learning more about what they do.

The youngest Zuchetto, Lydia, holding Lily.

I am obsessed with The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. She’s a cooking, photo-taking, fun-loving, homeschooling, wife of a rancher, and mother of four who has an amazing cooking blog, and if you haven’t experienced her greatness then you should go to http://www.thepioneerwoman.com. She has saved me from many a night when I didn’t know what I would cook. She also has give-aways, which I love but never, ever win because over 30,000 people enter the things. Today she is having yet another give-away of three Le Creuset 9-Quart Round Dutch Ovens, which I really want. To enter you have to tell if you are where you thought you’d be in your life. Desiring a Le Creuset 9-Quart Round Dutch Oven, I entered. And that got me to thinking…

Am I where I thought I’d be when I was 18 or 22 or even 24? Not at all.

I don’t know if I can even remember what I wanted my life to be when I was younger. I do remember wanting to be married when I graduated from college and having all my kids by 30 or so. Well, neither of those happened, and I’m glad. My life is so much more than I could have ever dreamed it could be. Looking back at how God has guided me on this path called life I am so thankful for the things that didn’t work out or happen as I wanted them to. My life is great, perfect for me, and filled with trust and peace in my God, knowing that He will guide me in every step.

Part of our job is to make partnerships with existing churches and evangelical groups in and around Naples. This past month Paul has been traveling and meeting some great men who are part of a core group of leaders from different groups or churches in the city who are focused on evangelism and outreach.

Last Saturday he met the leaders from the university ministry and on Thursday he and Cortney and Grace will be helping pass out bibles at the university. This is a great connection because Cortney and Grace are working with university students.

Paul also met a man named Patrizio who goes to a church fairly close to our house. He and his family are doing great work in the city and seem excited to work with us.

This Saturday there is a meeting of the group called Generazione senza confini (generation without limits). They will be showing videos of Nicola Legrottaglie, a Christian soccer player, and Natalie Cole, along with several others. What’s the message going to be about? Heaven or hell.

So what does all this mean? It means that we are not alone in Naples. It means that we can work with other people to reach more people. It means there are more people thinking of ways to help Neopolitans. It means that there is great work happening in Naples.

There is a new way for you to be involved in the ministries of different missionaries around Europe. All you have to do is go to http://imbeurope.org/explore/ and a list of different needs that missionaries in Europe have will be listed. If you happen to see something that you would be interested in helping out with for our team you can email us at paulandmackenzie@gmail.com. If it is a need for one of our teammates, we’ll pass along the message and your email. Thanks.