4th January 2026
It's so good to be back!
The Pontile Sirena at11.48pm on 31st December...nothing doing we thought, no-one there? Suddenly kids with bags of fireworks and adults with bottles of champagne (and bigger fireworks) appeared from nowhere and by 12.01am it was all happening!!
Francavilla welcomed us home on New Year's Eve with a fantastic bring-your-own fireworks and champagne event out on the Pontile Sirena at midnight. It was beautiful, completely chaotic and a heartwarming reminder of why we love living here.
For the month of December we were in the UK, enjoying time with our family and friends. Unexpected highlights were Sue's Rudolf (with 1,700 charity fun-running Santas!) and Joe's delightful Santa at a children's Christmas party hosted by a friend at his new Community Hub in Sheffield. Of course we also had a traditionally cold Christmas for the first time in decades!
Now that we are home, there is plenty to do. The Good News Only DTS starts in just 8 weeks, so our focus now is to be fully prepared to receive our students and other staff members by March 1st. We are still waiting for some applications to be completed, but we will likely have around 25 students, some with their children, plus twelve staff people. We're expecting to be 40+ in total. This will make us a good-sized international Good News community of at least 40 people - from the Netherlands, India, Switzerland, America, Romania, Germany, Wales, England, Colombia and Australia!
Because of 90-day visa restrictions for anyone coming from outside the EU, some of our staff members have to arrive very close to the school's start date as we have 86 teaching days before leaving Italy on outreach. That means there are just 4 of us here in Francavilla to organise accommodation, transport and food for everyone, whilst confirming all our speakers' dates and arranging their travel. But of course that's not true! In fact there are 7 of us when we remember Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who are doing all the heavy lifting! We are watching as things come together quite easily, delighting in our dependence on God and his perfect provision.
It's a few days overdue, but no less sincere. We do really wish you, our dear family and friends a VERY.....
