25th November 2025
Getting ready, and discovering new places...
"...we just booked our first flight!"
An excited email from a student family has landed in my inbox, and suddenly the Good News Only DTS (Discipleship Training School) is really happening. Yesterday we heard of half a dozen more who have found a bargain flight from the USA and bought their tickets.
Of course a great deal has been happening behind the scenes up to this point, but realising that their accommodation will have to be found, our school speakers confirmed and little basics like feeding everyone for 3 months will have to be organised - well it does really focus the mind! Please be praying with us for students coming from countries where getting their visas may be harder, and for all those needing finances.
That said, all is going really well and although the Christmas break will probably slow some things down, we are confident it will all come together in time for the school to start on March 1st next year.
We recently had another trip away by train, a few days in Rome this time to catch up with a dear friend from our Fiji days and meet her delightful Italian partner.
Staying with them was great fun, and we also did some pretty solid foot-slogging and sightseeing. It's such an amazing place, with so much to marvel at, but we both felt we'd seen enough memorials to dead emperors by the time we came home!
One visit that really was wonderful took us to the Catacombs of Priscilla, an early Christian cemetery of the 3rd century. Not at all a gloomy, miserable place but a real celebration of resurrection, life and hope. Not a crucifix to be seen anywhere.
Since returning to Francavilla we've been able to attend some interesting events with a new friend here who is a well-known artist. She received an award honouring her career and invited us to the ceremony in Chieti, which is a very old and beautiful city in our region of Abruzzo.
This last weekend she also took us to a photographic exhibition in Pescara and then the unveiling of a sculpture by a friend of hers on the piazzale outside a Chieti church, with a brass band and all!
She is also very determined that we will get to know some Italian people as friends and it seems to be happening, with warm welcomes and various invitations to coffee. We'll look forward to those in the new year when we return.
In spite of a desire to 'live in the present', Sue's Italian teacher now has her grappling with future and past tenses, which is helpful for conversation although 'slow' is definitely still the watchword. They meet over coffee once or twice a week, and Sue's confidence is gradually building, although the Christmas break we are about to have in the UK with friends and family will certainly be a challenge
.... no Italian in our ears for 4 weeks?! But we'll return on 31st December just in time to see the New Year in.
Capodanno celebrations in Francavilla, and here's our balcony!
