What if … one person we know became transformed by the power of Jesus Christ?
What if … he/she told his/her family and friends about the love of Christ and they saw the difference in his/her life and then became transformed themselves?
What if… they began telling their friends and families?
What if … the existing evangelical churches in not only Napoli but all of Italia became burdened for their countrymen and evangelism broke out like wildfire?
What if … a nation so steeped in the worship of saints and traditions became a nation broken and in love with only Jesus Christ?
What if … that nation began sending out missionaries to the ends of the earth?
What if … the churches around the world became so broken over the nations that they wept and cried out for God to bring every tribe, tongue, and nation unto Himself?
What if … every evangelical church in the world not only cried out to God for the nations to come to Him but actually went out and made it happen?
These are my prayers.
MacKenzie

Before coming to Napoli, we had a desire to help the helpless. This started at our church in Fort Worth, 121 Community Church, when the pastor Ross Sawyers preached a series on Amos about social justice. Amos’ complaint to the Israelites was that they had neglected the helpless, poor, and widowed. Ross’ challenge to the church was “What are you doing on an individual basis and what are we doing as a church to help those in need?”
This has stuck with us as we have traveled across the Atlantic. So, thanks Ross and 121 for not only preaching it but living out as well.
We would like to help the homeless and poor in Napoli, more specifically, our neighborhood Fuorigrotta. This is not something we have to pray about because it is an expectation of Christ. We would like to meet this expectation.
On a large scale, we are lead to believe that this would be a soup kitchen of some kind. Whether it would be open once a month or once a week or every day, we don’t yet know. There are lots of other things that we don’t yet know also, like what facilities would we use, where would the food and supplies come from, and who would help us.
We are asking, and will continue to ask, that you pray everyday for God to raise up people around us who have a heart to do the same thing, if it would glorify Him. If not, we ask that He show us how we can help people on a larger scale.
In the meantime, pray that we would be faithful to help those around us that we see everyday.

Today we got to go to one of the Navy Bases here in Napoli, which meant we got to go to the grocery store, which meant we got to buy “American” food. We spotted the Tostitos chips and salsa almost as soon as we entered, along with a huge container of Country Time Lemonade. We were like two kids in a candy store. I think I got most excited over evaporated milk and Paul got really excited over Doritos and Tyson chicken strips. Ok, I got pretty excited over the Tyson chicken myself. It’s been a great day.

Just in case you were wondering about the title, this post is about two totally separate things.
The first thing is aerobics. I started going to an aerobics class this week at our gym. Wednesday I showed up and there was me, the instructor, and one other lady. We decided to go ahead and have the class. Let me tell you…you thing aerobics is hard, try it in another language! But I didn’t feel so bad because the other lady had a hard time too – and she’s Italian. I am sure that it was funny if you were watching us. Here I am, this pale American trying to keep up with a very tanned Italian in step aerobics.
The second thing is about angry people. To celebrate Independence Day Paul and I wanted to go to the beach, but we didn’t leave until after lunch due to my aerobics class that I feel I have to attend since there are only two of us in the class. So, we get on the train – and then get off again. For some random reason everyone had to get off the train and wait a good 20 minutes for another train to come. So…we get on and starting making the trek out to the beach. There is on older couple on the train and the woman is fussing, fussing about having to wait. And she continues to do so because at every stop we have to wait 5 – 10 minutes – for no reason at all. But this Italy and things like this happen, right? Well, that’s all fine and dandy if it weren’t like 100 degrees out side. At one particular station, we were stopped for a considerable amount of time. The lady I told you about, she decides to get up and find somebody to ask why in the world we are not moving at a decent pace. And she found someone….and then someone else. Suddenly people all around us started to talk, then talk loud, and then louder. Now, if you know anything about Italians you know this is not such a big deal because they almost always talk loud. But this was lots of people wanting to know why the train, they paid to get on, was not moving. I thought there was going to be a riot. At one point and older man started mumbling about trash and all the other problems in the city. Then, I saw this other lady bolt towards the door and scream at an train official. I thought she was going to hit him the way she charged at him. This whole time Paul and I are just watching this scene take place and trying not to laugh at it all. We finally made it to the beach about an hour and a half later. I think we spent more time in travel than we did at the beach itself. But it makes a good story.

We spent the past week in Frascati, which is a town outside Rome, at a meeting with colleagues from Spain, Portugal, Malta, and Italy. It was a a great time for us. We were able to see friends from our training in Virginia and also to make new friends.
Our times of worship were some of the best times and fed my soul. I needed to sing and to hear sermons in my heart language.
This brings up something that I think many people think about missionaries. We are not superheroes. We are human. We have successes and failures. We are also not immune to unhappiness, despair, fatigue, and disappointment. We need times of refreshing and renewal. Times where we can focus on God and who we are in light of Him. Times where we can be broken and repent. Times where we can fellowship with other believers who are going or have gone through some of the same things. Times of encouragement and uplifting. Times of praise. Times of forgiveness. Times to refocus on the burden God has placed on our hearts. Times to remember why we are doing what we are doing and that it is not in vain. Times to remember that it is God who is glorified through this work, not us. Times to rejoice in what God is doing. Times to praise Him for allowing us to be a part of the great work of bringing the nations to Him.
So thank you to everybody who made the cluster meeting what it was.

For three months, more or less, I have trained to run a half-marathon in Rome with my friend, Dudley. I have always wanted to run a half-marathon, really just to prove to myself I could do it. There were many 6:00 a.m. mornings. And on those days when I had nothing left, I would think, “The race is almost here…you can do it.”
So the week of the race arrives. We are in Rome the entire week for a meeting – the race is on Saturday night. I have been counting on registering for the race the Friday before or Saturday of. Well, Dudley tells me that the race is closed – which means they already have enough participants. On top of that, you have to have medical clearance. I am sure all of this was on the website, maybe in small print, but I am sure it was there nonetheless and I just did not see it. So, you can imagine my disappointment. I found all this out at supper and needless to say, was not much company afterwards.
But, Dudley being the great man he is, took me to try to register anyway. There was a small hope that maybe I could register for a 13K and just run the half-marathon. We show up and ask the very nice lady about it. She asks if I have a medical form, to which we respond “No”. She informs us there is no hope of me running the half without it, and the other race got canceled because this weekend is the celebration of St. Peter and St. Paul and the area in which the 13K was going to be run is being used for the celebration of men who I am pretty sure would be aghast at the thought of being celebrated and worshiped.
So, I did not get to run the race, but I can run up to 11 miles, although I don’t know what good that is unless you are going to run a half-marathon.

This blog is for all the other M’s out there. If you don’t know what a “M” is, you probably won’t get any of this post…sorry.

Recently I found a blog titled http://www.stuffchristianslike.net while I was reading a friend’s blog. Let me just preface this. If you have never read this blog and you don’t have a couple hours to laugh, reminisce, or be convicted about the truthfulness and sincerity in which this guy (Jon) writes, i suggest saving it for a day when you have a few hours to spare. It will probably bless your socks off like it has mine and will probably make you more aware of your sins…no that’s not right. If you are genuinely walking in Holy Spirt, you can’t be any more aware than what you are now…reading his blog will let you know that others struggle the same way we do and he just makes fun of how we Christians try to cover it up. It’s actually quite brilliant.

So, I’m confessing that this attempt will not be nearly as funny as some of his or as insightful. But I did want to devote at least one blog to “Stuff M’s like” (No, M does not stand for MacKenzie) So, here we go:

1. Acronyms: “Hi my name is Paul, I am an ISC’er woking in WE for the IMB. I’m here to start a CPM and next week we’re going to our ACM and doing a rountable on CBS…blah blah blah. If you have any questions send me an SMS.” AHH!!! Before my current job I worked for TCS (the Container Store) and thought they were the kings of acronyms. Well, i was wrong!

2. Communicating in a grammatically correct sentences in languages other than English…with more than 6 words.
For example…”Hi my name is Paul…” STOP! that’s 5 words. I know that I can effectively communicate that sentence in (insert your language of choice) correctly and with confidence. The moment I start to add anything else to that sentence is when I start to notice blank stares on the faces of everyone else as if Harry Potter just died.

3. Soccer…because it’s the most popular sport in almost every country in the world..except the U.S. Go figure.

4. Peanut Butter..because it reminds you of those good ol’ days with PB&J sandwiches…which reminds you of playing in the back yard with your best friends…which reminds you of not having to worry about anything but going to school and doing a couple of chores around the house..which reminds you of M.C. Hammer and “too legit to quit”… which reminds you of playing “thump knuckles” during recess… You get the point.

5. Horrible “bathroom” stories….because most of us who have lived overseas have had at least one unbelievable story relating to some kinda sickness that almost killed us…or at least ran our friends out of the house.

6. Horrible “food” stories…because most of us have eaten something out of respect that a local person prepared just for us! Ummmm Yak butter Tea…can’t wait. Oh wait, I forgot the thousand year old eggs, or sea worms! There are times when we just have to pray “God, I know it’s not chocolate, but if you could just take away that puss looking stuff it sure would help.” Hint: these normally lead to the horrible “bathroom” stories.

7. Random packages in the mail. In the states we would automatically call the police to do a anthrax search from an “unknown sender”, but overseas it doesn’t matter if it’s from someone who you know has been dead for 10 years. “I received a package, let’s have a party!!!”

8. When volunteers come for short-term trips and eat all of your stuff that came in the random packages. I mean seriously..dude, you can wait 5 more days and have all the nutter butter’s, twizzlers, brownies and cherry coke you want. Have a little respect for someone’s private stash.

Well i’m sure there many more we can add to this list.. so please comment back and let me know some of your own ideas for “stuff m’s like” or “stuff m’s don’t like”. I’ll update this post when we get some responses.

Paul

Today we went to the island of Ischia off the coast of Napoli. It was beautiful. We stepped off the boat and in front of us was this huge green mountain, and I thought to myself, “At some point Jack, Kate and Sawyer are going to come ask me where my boat is.”
We walked around the town of Forio, got some lunch, and then headed down to the beach. Now, all my life I have wanted to see big waves – you know, the kind you see in movies. Well, I got to see them today! We made our way down to a really nice beach with waves crashing on it. We decided it would be a great idea to go play in the giant waves. I soon found out that this was not so much fun for me, seeing as how the waves knocked me down and I ate lots of sand. So, I was content to lay out the rest of the afternoon. And so was Paul, until about an hour later. My fearless husband went back into the water and I soon followed, against by better judgment. Turns out I have good judgment, I just need to follow it!! I got in the water and made it through the first one or two waves, and then one came that knocked me forward and back toward the shoreline. Then, it hit. The monster that has created my most embarrassing moment….ever. I saw it coming, like a tidal wave about to hit. I tried to dive into it like I’d seen so many people in the movies do, but it didn’t help. It knocked me around and under, and as I came up, trying not to panic I heard Paul scream, “YOUR TOP!!!” Yes, that’s right folks, the wave had knocked my top around and I flashed a beach full of Germans and Italians. I think that I was so wrapped up in the waves and that I was getting beat up by water that I was not conscious of what was really happening until after I got myself situated and saw people on the beach gawking and laughing. Needless to say, I got out of the raging water that was doing its best to take me down and hid my face in my towel. Lessons learned at the beach today 1)Never wear a two piece to the beach if you plan on getting in the water, 2) I do not know how to dive into a wave and 3) I prefer the waves in the wave pool at water parks. It’s ok…go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense….about 8 Germans did.

Pictures are worth a thousand words…..for those of you who keep up with our blog, please notice that there are NO stupid pictures of Paul!!

I have started reading “Let the Nations Be Glad!” by John Piper, and although I am only about a chapter or so into it, it has made me think…a lot. The book begins, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” Honestly, I had to think about what I thought about those few but powerful sentences. And after I continued reading and thinking about all the scripture Piper uses to back this claim, I have to say I agree with him. Why were we created? To worship God and walk in fellowship with Him. That’s the whole point of life, right? So, since the world is not worshiping God, missions must happen so that one day “every tribe, tongue and nation” will praise the name of Jesus and bow down at His feet and so “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).” The job of EVERY believer, not just missionaries, is to make God known.
Piper also makes another really good point that really hit me hard. If we are not doing missions, as a church or as an individual or maybe both, are we worshiping God?? Do we live a life that is filled with awe, praise, adoration, love, respect, and obedience. For to love and worship God is to obey Him.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2-3

Paul’s greeting to the church in Rome “…Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the
sake of his name among all the nations….” Romans 1:4b-5

Worship encompasses our entire lives…or rather it should. I did not understand this until sitting in Worship class at seminary. I realized for the first time that worship is not about me and that worship is something I should do in my everyday life as well as with my brothers and sisters on Sunday morning. So, if we are not on mission for God, which means making His name known throughout all the nations, then are we obeying God. And if we are not obeying God, then are we worshiping God? And if we are not worshiping God, then what are we doing??
MacKenzie