April 2009 Newsletter

PISTOIA, ITALY
March/April 2009

Greetings from the swamplands. At least, that is the way it felt until lately in Pistoia. The winter was very wet and we are not in danger of having the water rationed this summer. It still won't be legal to water your garden with city water, but we aren't too worried about a request to wash our car less frequently like they did several years ago. Of course, that didn't affect us too much anyway, heehee. Some might say we keep our car dirty. I say we are water conservationists!

Here in Pistoia, Spring is in the air. The jasmine vine in front of the church building is about to bloom and that always provides a nice aroma when entering and leaving worship. Often this serves as a sign that it is time to start preparing for a campaign group but we recently heard that there will be no campaigners this year. Maybe some of you would like to be involved in something like that. If so, let us know!

Outreach
For the past several weeks we have been extremely busy with the “International Choir of Pistoia.” It started as my brother and the AIM students that were working with him a couple of years ago. And now it has grown into a choir of more than 20 people, many of whom are from Pistoia. We have two members from Nigeria, 4-5 from the US, a bunch from Pistoia, and one or two from Sicily. At the end of the last concert our Nigerian director made an announcement of open enrollment to the public. I told some of our other members that he should have told them that we had already filled our quota of Italians so if they wanted to join they would have to establish citizenship somewhere else and then enroll. The choir has proven to be time consuming and a lot of work, but it is also enjoyable and most importantly provides us more opportunity to meet and possibly influence the people in the area. And that is just within the choir itself. The concerts also help in that respect. Heather did a wonderful job with a solo in Amazing Grace and has now been dubbed the new soloist.

Bible Studies
Our midweek Bible studies have shifted focus a little. You may remember that we had been studying evangelism. That focus has taken a shift to apologetic materials which speak of historical evidences for Jesus and the New Testament. Everyone is enjoying the studies. I am still trying to maintain some practical applications of how these evidences might come out in common conversations. In this way we can try to plant bits of truth in people's minds and see if they allow those seeds to grow.

As of next week, I will be having an additional Bible study to prepare. A few years back a young lady who once attended worship faithfully began attending our midweek Bible studies. She still has not made it to attend worship, but she has stated the desire to get herself back on track. We ask you to pray for her, that through her study of God's word she will fulfill her part in drawing near to God.

Two other individual studies are also supposed to begin in the upcoming months, but nothing solid has been established. One is with our landlord who attends worship almost every Sunday. The other is another young lady who is getting married this summer. Interestingly, all three of these studies are coming from within the same family unit. This young lady is getting married to our landlord's brother, and the other young lady is his sister. These three children, and their mother, essentially grew up in the church. Many have been in prayer for a long time for each of them, and we are encouraged to see these results.

Heather also has been active in studying with Dina. She has been studying the Christian graces from 2 Peter and seems to be enjoying the study. This was intended to be done as a ladies' Bible study, however with marriages, engagements and births it has been difficult to establish a time for the women to study together. However, rather than allowing this study to sit idle, Heather and Dina decided to study together and hope to use the material for the ladies study after the busyness of Summer is over.

Church building
You may recall that a couple of years ago we had some problems with the roof of the church building. The work was completed last year and we were thankful because this winter was very wet. Unfortunately, we began to notice a small spot near the gutter drain that began to show signs of dampness when it was raining. The problem got worse for several reasons, one of which was the insufficient drying time for the place where water was infiltrating. We would have only one or two days where the sun was out and it did not rain. We have finally repaired the water's entry point, and the top layers of the liquid rubber seem to be cured relatively well. However, even with longer stretches of dry, warm weather, that product has not completely dried after being applied 3-4 weeks ago. It seems that quite a lot of humidity is trapped underneath and is hindering the drying process. We are praying that a few more dry days will finally “seal the deal” and then we will proceed with cleaning the mildew from the walls and ceiling, and repainting.

English Classes
Our group English classes are still going strong. The children and parents alike are enjoying the class. These classes have been a good means of building upon pre-existing relationships. For the class with Noah's age group, Heather has tried to reinforce what is being taught in the school now. As of a month ago, an English teacher began going to Noah's school. She is using the book, “The Hungry Caterpillar.” The teachers were a little worried that Noah would be bored, but he is learning a bit as well. After the first class, we asked him how it went and what he learned. He responded by telling us how to say caterpillar in English with a British accent! Noah was also a bit intrigued by the fact that there are different kinds of English in the world.

I have also picked up an English student as a tutoring project. She is a 9 year old Romanian girl who doesn't live far from our house and I've been helping her out twice a week for a few weeks now. One of the members of the church put us in contact with her family because they participate in the same swimming program after school.

Distribution
In the near future we will be distributing fliers around Pistoia. Initially, we were going to distribute them at the weekly market in the town square, but we found out that a permit has to be obtained and that all the permits have been allocated until mid-June due to the upcoming elections. This does not limit us from placing the fliers in mailboxes (which isn't against the law here), nor from distributing at a park. The flier asks four questions: Is God active in the world? Does Jesus also save us today? What does God want from me? What do you think about it? And then the flier contains a scripture “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” It would be enough if people just asked, “What does God want from me?” But the idea is to get people to think about God and consider what, if any, responsibility they may have towards Him.

Family
We are all doing well, healthwise. Noah's desire to learn to ride his bike by himself has become fervent. Elaina has begun to show some signs of improvement in the realm of toilet training. And I have started helping out around the house more. WELL, two out of three isn't bad. Heather is always busy with one project or another.

I have started getting out early in the morning to ride my bike. It's been quite a while since I've regularly made it to the weekend group ride with Giovanni (actually, only one time since the end of January). So, since the weather is finally starting to cooperate during the weekends, I'm looking forward to getting back in touch with my friend from the Pentecostal church to have some “interesting” discussions from the Bible.

The school year is about to wind down and that leaves us with frequent dinner dates with school families, as well as a preschool graduation since Noah starts first grade in September. Elaina starts preschool in September as well, and between the two schools we have numerous engagements for informative meetings. We just pray that all the busyness doesn't keep us from being at the business we need to be accomplishing.

As always, we give thanks to God daily for each of you and pray that you receive the richness of God's blessings! We know that this time of economic struggle can leave a feeling of uncertainty. We pray that each of you can take comfort in Matt 6:28b-34: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

We thank you all for the support you give us and the work in Pistoia, in the form of prayers, monetary contributions, and moral support. Your contributions make our presence here possible! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Serving Christ,
The Mahans