Coming to a Close

Well friends, my time here is quickly coming to an end.  It's crazy how fast the time has gone, and yet how it feels like I've been here an eternity.  Funny how time does that...
But next week is my last full week here in Italy, I leave to head home on the 25th.  I will try and post one more time before I leave.

Well, things have been pretty busy around here - English lessons, card games, hours upon hours at the beach, dinner parties, etc.  It's been a great couple of weeks!  I taught the boys how to play the card game gin and they love it!  It's actually quite the challenge trying to win, those boys can play a mean game of cards.
For the most part we have been keeping in our routine during the week of lessons and cards in the morning, rest time after lunch, and then the beach from 4 until about 7 every day.  It's a great routine that I am truly loving! :)  It's officially the weekend now though, and those are always full of surprises!  I will only have one more weekend after this one, and that is so crazy!

I will give you a quick update on what I've been up to since my last post.  You pretty much know how my weekdays have been - as explained above.  Last weekend, however, was very fun!  Friday we didn't really do much, but Saturday we went to the beach all afternoon and then went to Cecina with another family for dinner.  It was so fun!  We ate at this really cool restaurant right off of the town center and had pizza.  We then went walking around the shops while eating some gelato.  There were these two guys playing jazz music on their guitars - very talented!  So, of course, we stopped and danced for a while.  It was so fun!  The boys were going crazy with flips and (attempted) break dancing - I laughed so hard!  We were most definitely the only ones dancing, but we made a party of it!  After more walking around and laughing, we headed home and to bed.  Something that still blows my mind is how late everything is here - we didn't eat until almost 10pm and so didn't end up heading home until after midnight.  I was stunned by how many little children were up and about that late!  I was so tired...I felt old!  :)

So on Sunday the family headed off on the boat - but I stayed home for some much needed alone time.  I slept in a little bit and then headed to my friend, Rachele's house.  She is younger than me, but is excellent at speaking English.  She is such a sweet girl and has lots of enthusiasm for English!  She called me on my phone just so she could speak English on the phone for the very first time, it was so funny!  Anyway, her wonderful mother made us a delicious lunch and we had great conversation (with Rachele and her dad translating everything to her sister and mother).  After lunch they showed me around their house and property (they have two apartments that they rent out - they were gorgeous!) and then we watched a movie (in English!).  It was the perfect afternoon - very restful.  We then headed to the Calidario to swim in the pool.  I am always in awe of how generous and welcoming these people are...they do so much to make me feel welcome.  After swimming and talking the WHOLE time (which was not something I'm used to), we ate dinner and then headed home.  I was only home long enough to shower and get ready and then Marianna picked me up to go out for the night.  It was a nice night - a bit warm though (I think I might die from heat stroke when I get back to Oklahoma!).  We just walked around San Vincenzo and talked.  It was a nice relaxing night.  Good weekend overall! :)

I wanted to share something really exciting with you all!  I'm not sure if I have shared this, but for the last month I've been doing an online study of Hebrews through my church in Stillwater (Countryside).  It's been so so cool to really dive deep into scripture, study it, and figure out what it means.  Studying chapters 5 and 6 have been really neat - about how we need to strive towards maturity in our faith.  He said some signs that we are maturing are that we are able to discern (i.e. know the difference between right and wrong), able to take in solid food (ready for deeper knowledge of the Bible), as well as have the ability and willingness to teach others/show them the Truth.  I definitely agree that all of these things are signs of maturity - but the one that stuck out to me was sticking with "solid food".  I love that analogy - and not just because NLR had awesome green shirts with Solid Food written on the front.  The writer is telling these people (the Jewish believers who had turned away from Jesus and back to the Mosaic Law) that they have been taking backward steps in their faith.  He says that since they are not growing and learning more about the Lord, they are going backwards - that they now need to review the elementary truths.  Honestly, I was pretty judgmental of these people at first...how could they go back to what they knew after they had known Jesus?  But then I realized that we do the same thing all the time!  By not growing in our faith - we are also taking backward steps.  If I don't continue to get into His Word regularly and seek out His Truth in my life, I will start to go backwards too.  And since these people had not been learning and listening to the Lord, they had to learn the basics all over again...just like we have to relearn how to spend time with Him, how to read the Bible, how to pray, etc. after a "hiatus" from our faith.  I don't know about you guys - but I no longer want to have to relearn these things.  I want to go on to solid food and really grow and learn more about the Bible and the truths everywhere in that precious gift.  I am so excited!  The Lord has blessed me with a great desire to read His Word and really delve deep into the Truth that sets us all free!  It has really blown my mind how much knowledge and information is in the Bible, sometimes it can be overwhelming.  But I know that the Lord is with me and will help me through it all.  I urge all of you to not take backward steps - but to keep enjoying solid food!  Sorry this is so long - it's just something I've been thinking about a lot! :)

I also wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and support throughout this summer.  It's meant so much to me - I've loved all of the emails, comments, etc.  The Lord has blessed me so much with the most wonderful support system I could ask for.  No pictures or videos this time - but maybe next time!  Love you all!

Maddy