That need....

The Devil tried to get me to skip church today, but he failed.  It was a great service.   We sang mostly familiar songs, which is always good because when I do not have the words written down, I have a really hard time catching on to them.  I really enjoyed the "la vittoria abbiam in Gesu'" song today.  It was such a wonderful reminder that we DO have victory in Jesus.  We have victory over sorrow, worry, disease, hurtful things, etc. etc.  How dare I want to skip church today.  I was also reminded of how much I do love worshiping in Italian, because it is a beautiful reminder that the language in which we worship does not matter, it is our heart; the condition of our heart is what God is looking at! Are we giving it all to Him?  Are we spending time with Him?  I enjoy looking up the verses in my English Bible AND my Italian Bible.  The end of the service was wonderful.  They did something that they have never done before when I have been there.  They had everyone (all like15-16 of us) come to the front and we sang some more.  At first I had been very unclear about what they had said, and so I just stood there watching people slowly trickle towards the front, only to realize that I was the only fool standing there...oops!  I swear I do understand Italian.  This sweet lady had her arm around me, and I put mine around her.  Then Francisco's mom and dad both took turns coming around and laying hands on each person and praying for them!  Then at the end, they told everyone to do something and the only word I caught was abbraccio, but I had no idea why.  Then when everyone started hugging, I finally understood.  SO, we all started hugging.  Then the lady that had previously had her arm around me spotted me and made a beeline towards me.  She gave me a HUGE, tight hug and was saying something in my ear about love.  This was just what I had been needing.  I had just been telling Nick that I needed more human contact and more people to love on.  When church was over, Francisco talked to me and Dashina about dinner and bowling on Tuesday night.  Then, a lady that I do not know took me and the girl from Cuba home; I swear that this girl does NOT like me.  WHen the lady was trying to ask me something in Italian, and I was not understanding, the girl stepped in and was like yelling at me in slow Italian as if I were an idiot.  Get over yourself; this was also after she had not said more than two words to me in the car this morning, even though we were all involved in the conversation; she seemed to purposefully avoid my comments.  However, the Lord calls me to love everyone; I am just confused as to why she insists on ignoring me.

Lunch was good, and then I talked to Nick and worked on blogs.

At 4:30 I met my students from Virginia's class in Piazza Loreto to go to the Fiera, the St. Joseph's Festival.  On the way, we had to stop at the bank, and one of my students who does not understand English, was the only one to understand that I was needing to stop at the bank!  She was really proud of herself, and I was too!  THe first one wasn't working, so we had to go to the other, but then we hit the fair.  We walked the streets and looked at all of the random stuff you can buy: bracelets, hats, t-shirts, candy, food, corn on the cob, jewelry, cell phone covers, purses, dishes, furniture, cooking utensils, products being demonstrated, toys (hula hoops), and any other random thing that you can think of.  We walked towards the rides, and half of the group went there.  Me?  Heck no!  I wouldn't ride those things in the U.S.  So, the ones of us that did not go there, went to walk some more.  We stopped to buy some of the nuts (like the ones at the street vendors in NYC).  We got the peanuts and the HAZELNUTS...they were incredible!  I've never seen the hazelnuts done that way, but they were sooo good!  THey bought me a bracelet for me to remember them by, but I will of course be remembering them for many other wonderful reasons, and did not need a bracelet.  That being said, it was incredibly kind of them to do so!  I saw some other students along the way, talked to M. from Rosina's class, but never could find her, and then we eventually went to find the group that had gone to do the rides.  I saw bumper cars...Nick and I agreed that this could be driving school!!?!??!? NO?!?!?     Then we watched one of the rides go in circles and bump and spin and I thought I would throw up watching it.  They had one of those rides that made you go upside down, etc.  NOT FOR ME!!  Here are some pictures from the whole afternoon/evening:

Candied Strawberries, something new

 

 

So, a few of the girls had to walk back to a piazza near my apartment so I walked with them!  We stopped in H & M a bit and looked around; one girl likes weird prints WAY too much...her friends think so too!  Then they insisted that I let the dad that was picking them up, drop me near my apartment! So sweet and unnecessary, but I of course did it! 

THe rest of the night was spent working on blogs, texting with one of my students.  M. was texting me about meeting at the Fiera, and then it just turned into random texting.  She is so incredibly sweet, and so we decided to meet at the Fiera tomorrow. 

I talked to my momma, April, and Nick.  Wonderful day!