Blessings from Treviso, Italy. A lot has happened in the past month. Your prayers on our behalf are appreciated and being answered!
Leaving our old church building. Many hours were spent at our previous location to make it a comfortable and inviting place to fellowship and more importantly to hear the word of God (Acts 2:42-47). Baby dedications, 1st converts and the prayers for families whose work has taken them back to the States are just some of the memories we leave behind. Pray for interested tenants to take our current location as we are moving before our contract is finished.
Construction on the new building. The new facility started with two large rooms, doubling the size of our current space. Saturday, Feb 19th began our 1st work day as a group of guys from the church, along with one of my English students, gathered to put up new walls and make other improvements. The day was quite fruitful in that we finished the framing and the drywalling of all the walls
Construction Completed. The time frame we had to complete the building project was only one week. In that time we had to raise up new walls, install doors, drywall, clean and paint to be ready for our first service by March 6th and by God's grace, we were ready! March 6th was a day filled with excitement, relief, and a little anxiety. We had purchased new sound equipment and had not fully tested it out until that morning’s service. There were a few things that needed to be tweaked, but in all, everything went well! It was a real contrast from past services held in our converted garage. Now we can actually raise our hands to the Lord and not worry about scraping our knuckles on the ceiling! We even have a separate area to have refreshments after service! We effectively doubled our space by moving to the new location.
Construction Completed. The time frame we had to complete the building project was only one week. In that time we had to raise up new walls, install doors, drywall, clean and paint to be ready for our first service by March 6th and by God's grace, we were ready! March 6th was a day filled with excitement, relief, and a little anxiety. We had purchased new sound equipment and had not fully tested it out until that morning’s service. There were a few things that needed to be tweaked, but in all, everything went well! It was a real contrast from past services held in our converted garage. Now we can actually raise our hands to the Lord and not worry about scraping our knuckles on the ceiling! We even have a separate area to have refreshments after service! We effectively doubled our space by moving to the new location.
The “English Club”. Outreach to the people of Treviso has been on our hearts for some time, but
the method to do so has not been clear until now. On March 2nd we began a free, 6 week English course to former and current students and to our Italian friends who want to improve their English speaking skills. Our desire is to show the love of Christ by giving to the community what the Lord has given to us with the hope that our continued interaction with the class might open doors for us to share more about Jesus. One friend, Sergio, expressed that "we must be from another planet... offering a free class." He was right in the sense that "we are not of this world!!" (John 15:18-19). In fact, Sergio and his wife Marie, came to see visit the church on our first service in the new location. We pray for similar responses from others who participate in "The English Club" outreach!
Visit by the "Polizia Locale" (finally). One of the requirements when moving in Italy is to register your residence with the municipal office. The Municipal office schedules a meeting with the local police who randomly show up at your door to verify that you are in fact the ones living at the address and not someone else. A process that should have taken 15 days took 9 weeks to complete. Completion of this step allows you to receive the all important Carta D'Identità. With this ID card, various privileges become available to the holder such as medical services, transportation services, library services and more. For Lori and I, it means the clock toward citizenship has officially started ticking. The question remains on whether or not we can obtain credit for the previous 2.5 years of living here without this formal process completed. This is something that we hope can be overcome by a miracle of sorts since citizenship really hinges on the date of residency with the local government offices.
Meeting our neighbors. Thanks for your prayers for us to meet our neighbors. I’ve recently had a chance to speak to Daniele whose garage is adjacent to ours. As often happens, Daniele asked about our being in Italy sparking an interesting discussion about our faiths or lack of faith in God. Daniele shared that he is an agnostic. Please pray for Daniele to accept the many reasons for needing to trust the bible and in Christ for his salvation. Also pray for future opportunities to discuss the bible with him.
God is good and He continues to show us His goodness around every corner. Thank you for joining us in prayer; the most effective way to join us as we serve here in Treviso!
Dio vi benedica,
Bob and Lori Scata
Prayer Requests:
1) Join us in thanking God for his provision, safe keeping and enablement to serve Him in Italy
2) For Lori's heart arrhythmia and for the Lord's healing of this uncomfortable condition.
3) For our return to the States this Summer (June). We are seeking the Lord's help in the many aspects of a long term visit.
4) Seeking the Lord’s direction.
5) That the fellowship of CC Treviso would be as a lamp on a hill, shining the light of God's word and love in this spiritually dark city.
6) Pray for Pastor Mark and his family, for the Lords ongoing protection, provision and direction. Also pray for Mark's father who has suffered health issues in the past month.
7) God's provision for all missionaries serving in His mission fields.
