The church we are working with here in Massa Italy, is “L’evangelo della Grazia” As you can see they are fun & affectionate and a delight to be with.  They’re a local evangelical church here devoted to building strong relationships and have a heart for evangelism. They laugh together, cry together and eat together…lots! When not eating they are planning to eat.

We are so blessed by the Italian hospitality and love they have shown us! They are forever in our hearts.

We have been leading worship here now for a week or so in both English & Italian with  the help of the local worship team that translates. Many folks here listen to English worship on CD or Internet and recognize many of the same songs we play normally.

Also we have been learning the songs they most frequently play & sing here so when we sing them in English they follow singing in Italian.

It is always a privilege to facilitate worship and experience the presence of God’s love & power as the Holy Spirit is present in our praise & thanksgiving.

]]> http://www.ricknbecky.com/2010/03/church-life-italian-style/feed/ 0 http://www.ricknbecky.com/2010/02/arrived-in-italy/ http://www.ricknbecky.com/2010/02/arrived-in-italy/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:25:49 +0000 Rick Lawrence http://www.ricknbecky.com/?p=114 We have arrived and are well here in Montignoso Italy. We are at our friends, David and Miki Guadagni’s home at #7 Via Padreterno (#7 Eternal Father street…really).

We had very good flights and arrived at 8pm Wed evening. Our friend (and translator) Zelanda picked us up at the airport in Pisa which is 25 minutes from where we are staying. We were invited to the Prayer Meeting at the church at 8:30pm….but we declined in favor of sleep! After a little visit we went downstairs to our Taverna and went to bed….we were TIRED. I think we slept about 10 hrs!

We got our internet set up this morning, so now we can post some stuff!

It was interesting at the Vancouver Airport. The Olympic fever was very evident as there were TV screens everywhere with the Games playing. We watched Joannie Rochette skate as we were being called to board the flight. It was interesting to realize that the event was taking place just a few miles away. There were spotlights in the sky over Vancouver and many Olympic athletes and teams walking around the airport.

Graham arrives tomorrow but he does not speak until Sunday morning so, we will get to visit before the meetings begin…

Thanks for your prayers and all your support. We can’t quite believe we are here, but we are happy to be at our “home away from home”.

Up with the smell of fresh coffee this morning, I think our dog (Shiloh) was fairly suspicious with all the suitcases lying about. He had that look of resolve & sadness as he had seen this so many times before.

We buzzed like bees rushing around to get the last 6 things done this morning to arrive at BC ferries and well… wait. The one thing about being on an island is we get to wait & contemplate both coming & going for about 2 hours.

Now we are sitting in Vancouver International airport …well…waiting of course. I must say it is one of the most beautiful airports I have seen! With tropical fish, native artifacts, trees….even trees!

Ahead the 9 hour flight to London – before a 3 hour flight to Pisa Italy where we are staying for about 3 weeks. Well I guess hurry up and wait is the pace for the day.

Well this is the latest incarnation of our website – we hope you like it. It seems every time we gear up for another travel adventure I get the urge to change our website around completely. We hope to share our some of our lives with you through our stories, travels & photos. Let us know if there’s anything specific you wish to see on this website and we’ll try to make that happen.

Rick & Rebecca