The Journey in Italy

Home Sweet Home

2008-12-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone....I'm home! It feels so nice. I will have to fill you all in on my trip home, but I wanted to let everyone know that I was home at least. Hope you are all doing well and that you all had a wonderful Christmas. God bless.

5 days left!!!!

2008-12-16T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hey, I have to make this kind of quick because I'm studying for finals all day, but I just wanted to write really quick an update.
I have 5 day left and I am sad, but really happy too! There's a lot I will miss, but I can not wait to see my family, be in my wonderful bed, go to my church that I can understand, and see my friends back home.
Its been a great last week or so since I wrote last. We had our second concert and it went great! The place was once again packed out. It was a smaller room, but still a ton of people. Everyone said I did great on the solo, so that was encouraging. Praise the Lord,.....I'm so glad I did that. Who knows who God touched through me. I may never know. Afterward, we had another dessert time, which I love:)
We also went ice skating in Feltre. It was AMAZING!! Everyone was in a great mood and had a lot of fun. We skated from 9-11pm and maybe half had never been before. Aside from all the students, we even had one Italian, Lorenzo, and a missionary, Dave.
Another night, Lorenzo and another Italian, Gazie, took us to a town called Treviso. I dont know why, but we went to eat Mexican food. It wasn't that great, but whatever....it's Europes attempt at it. lol. After we finished, a man came up to our table and had a bouquet of roses. He asked if the guys wanted to buy some for us girls:) Well, I'm sure you could guess that our guys didn't buy us any roses, but it was so sweet that Gazie and Lorenzo did!:) They are the sweetest boys! All of us girls got to pick which one we wanted. Then the ladies at the counter gave us all santa hats and we walked down the Christmas lit street. We took a great picture of all of us in front of the huge christmas tree. We all got in the cars and left to go to the MOST AMAZING GELATO EVER!!!! Seriously! Amazing!
Yesterday Me, Laura, and Brandon went to Venice for one last time. It was a great experience, but Venice was flooded. lol....up to my mid-calf. It was a fun time though.
So...I realized just now that I need to go study again, but those are the highlights.....now here's a couple random things...

*It has been raining everyday! I love it, but I'm kinda ready for it to stop
*5 days left!!!
*No heat still, but we do have hot water for a couple days:(
*2 more days of finals
*Graduation on Friday-with a semester video! yay!

Ok got to go...Love you all.
Thanks for all the prayers again!...I really need them.
-Bethany

2008-12-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

My Solo....pretend solo:)

Choir-Numbero Uno

2008-12-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

The auditorium
Maria's song's

The girls....minus Marta:(

Hey Everyone,

I’m so excited to write you today! We had our choir performance yesterday and it was AMAZING!!!! We weren’t sure how the turn out would be, but the guess was around 500 people!! Praise the Lord!!!

We arrived at the venue and we all were in awe because it was gorgeous!!! Vicenso is quite accomplished in music. He even plays in an orchestra here in Italy! He not only plays the piano, but violin, guitar, drums….and I don’t know what else. Anyways, knowing him, he probably set it all up for us to be able to go to this venue.

Everyone was in black and white and anxious to perform. By the way, we also perform next weekend too! Pray for us if you think about it. So! Praise report…last time they did this choir outreach about 4 years ago, people left after the first song, but this time they gave us an encore! The ground is getting a little softer.

We probably sang 10 songs total as a choir, I sang 2 with Maria (the director’s wife) that she wrote, and then I sang amazing grace solo. It was a great performance. I was so nervous to sing my solo because there were so many people, but I totally had peace once I was up there, I’m sure because we prayed.

Afterwards we served desserts and hung out. So many people came up to me after and rambled off in Italian. Haha. I didn’t really what they were saying, but that’s ok. Once in while I had a translator and its was so nice to know that people actually enjoyed the concert. So, that’s pretty much it. It was a great night! I’ll let you know how the next one goes too.

Oh, really random side note. Brandon and Matt, here at the school, came over Friday night and made all of us girls’ dinner! It was so nice. I think they were trying to get some brownie points haha. Just kidding. They made us an amazing chef salad, cheesy pasta, cheese bread, and fruit bowls. They didn’t even stay to eat! We ended the night with a movie after the guys went to go eat their dinner.

Tomorrow is a busy day…two ladies from the church are coming over to teach us how to make pasta at 9 am. They said it takes 8 hrs, but I’m not sure. They might have exaggerated. Haha.

Then, Tuesday another lady from the church is making us dinner. It’s such a blessing because we all are trying to save as much money as we can and get by on as little money as we can. So its such a blessing because the Lord is totally providing for all of us.

Anyways, I better get going, but I just wanted to give ya’ll a quick update. Thank you so much for all your prayers!

What to pray for….

*Finals

*More opportunities to share Jesus

*Homesickness- that I’d finish strong

*Next choir performance

*Next semester

*Break- job….

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
I have a minute so I thought I'd tell you all how my thanksgiving here in Italy. It, obviously wasn't as good as home, but it was very nice. I had one class in the morning, but we only watched a movie, which was nice. I went to the church right after for an hour because they needed someone to watch the turkey that was cooking there at the church. I did some homework and then we went to the church at 4 pm. There was about 45 Americans and 4 Italians from Montebelluna and the surrounding 3 churches. We had the whole sanctuary set up in a U shape. Then came the food. There was SO much food! It was nice because they got all of it from the US airforce base.....all American food! yay!
It was a great time for pictures and fellowship. I'll have to post some when I get a chance.

Choir is going great. They have posters now that they have posted all over the city. I also just found out that I'm singing a solo for Amazing Grace. I'm kinda nervous, but really excited. I will be singing the whole song in English then the pastors wife will sing the whole song in Italian. It will be a lot of fun I think.

What to pray for-
*choir- and for the people coming
*classes-finals
*strength and endurance to finish
*job for break
*finances

Thanks again for all your prayers!
Love you all
-Bethany

Rome

2008-11-24T02:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I know it has been so long since I have written. It's been kinda busy lately. I should actually be writing my Revelation paper, but I figure this is important and it won't take a ton of time. This will only be a quick update:)

Rome was amazing! There were four that went, me, Brittany, Brandon, and Paul. We stayed in hostel Peter Pan:) Yes I know. haha. We were there from Friday-Monday. We saw the Colosseum, the vatican and museum, THE POPE!, a pyramid, the forum, St. Peter's Basilica, and SO much more! It was a great time and we made so many memories!
Three of the four girls were gone this weekend, Marta went home to Podova, and the other two went to Germany with some of the guys.

One of the fun things that Brittany, Marta, and I did on Friday was we made snowflakes!! It was so fun and we taped them on our glass doors.

This morning I woke up to SNOW!!!!! I was SO excited!!! It reminded me of home a little:) It's a lot colder here I feel like though.

For thanksgiving we are having a big dinner for all the Americans:) We have connections to an army base here in Italy and so we already have the turkey and some other stuff for the dinner. I even heard a rumor that the bible college student are going to be in a thanksgiving play:) Should be interesting.

Oh! we also had a 4 hour practice this last Saturday, which was good and exhausting at the same time. We are singing quite a few songs.....I'll talk more about it next time. I also have a solo. I'm singing the English part of Amazing Grace and then an Italian lady will sing the Italian part after I sing the whole song through with the choir. Pray for me because I'm really nervous, but I'm really excited.

-What to pray for-

*More opportunities in the community
*classes-papers, and finals
*roommates
*homesickness
*upcoming christmas, gospel, choir outreach

I love you all and thank you for your prayers! Until next time.

Agape,
Bethany

More than half way through

2008-11-07T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hey,
I want to thank everyone for their prayers! I am so thankful for you! Yesterday was a better day and I'm so grateful for God's faithfulness.

Last night was really cool too. Every Thursday we have community worship, which is a night that demonstrates some way that we can worship God. Some times we have a big dinner-fellowship, sometimes we go on a prayer walk around the city, praise and worship with singing, and more. Last night was a little different though and quite stretching I might add.
As some of you might know, I don't love public speaking, but I know that it's something that I have to do sometimes.
So, we had a few worship songs then Brian (the director) said that we are going to try something a little different.
He started to explain what Charles Spurgeon used to do with his bible college students. He would give them a scripture on the spot and he would say, "preach to me Jesus."

So this is what we get to do, Brian said.
To be honest, I was a little nervous, but it was ok actually.

So he asked, who wants to go first. One of the guys raise their hand, Brian holds out a basket full of single verses. He said to pick one and that we can't use our bible at all. We have to just teach whatever God shows us that minute, but for 3 minutes long!
This was a really long 3 minutes! lol.

It was cool though because we all had to do it, we all didn't maybe know the exact context, and we were unified more through it. Also, we were forced to really think about it and try to pull out something more than just the surface....like when we just read over it fast. Anyways, I'm glad that we did it.
Stretching is hard, but good:)

Anyways, today is Friday and we have some friends from Spain coming to visit. Samantha and Melissa. They are here till Monday and so we're going to try to take them around a little. Tomorrow we're going to Venice again. It should be fun.
Also, next Friday, 5 of us are going to Rome. Yay! Finally!

Pray for....

*Trip to Venice and Rome
*wisdom
*roommates
*that I would have more Jesus and less Bethany

It's not by power or might, but by my Spirit says the Lord....Zech. 4
paraphased.....

Thanks again for all your prayers. I need to do some homework now:)
Love you all.

Prayer...

2008-11-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
I only have a second...Everything is good. I could really use your prayers right now if you think about it. God is really stretching me and I'm a little homesick, BUT He is on the throne! Thank you so much! I love you all!

Just a few pictures from Norway

2008-11-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Rowing to Kristoppen
Me, Matt, Kyle, and Brandon in town having fun:)
In the coffee shop with some of the girls...I miss them!
Getting ready to row!
Looking down from school building. It was SO beautiful!

Moving on..

2008-11-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ok...after thinking about it...we're just going to move on because I keep procrastinating and I can't really remember that much anymore. lol, but I did write about the main points. I was a great trip though.

So I figured I would write about the current events:)
Alright....well, we're a little past half way through the semester, which is CRAZY! It's going by so fast!
The other day, one the ladies in the church, Silvanna, took us to a town called, Asolo. It was really beautiful. I want to say that it was almost as beautiful as Venice, but I dont know. It was great because we all know only a little Italian, and Silvanna knows only a little English so it was a little difficult communicating, but not too bad. We learn to use a lot of informal sign language.
Oh! I have to tell you about one "conversation" between Silvanna and I.
So if any of you don't know that my dad's grandparents are from Italy, they are. Grandpa Angelo Zarilla.
Anyways, lol.... I didnt know how to say grandma or grandpa and I didn't even worry about the great, but anyway..so I said...momma...momma and pappa...pappa...from Italy. She totally understood though! I said...pappa, Angelo(my dad's name is Angelo). She had a shocked look on her face, pointed to herself, and said.."Mi pappa, Angelo!(my dad, Angelo). Immediately, as you would expect any Italian grandma to do this, she threw her hands up and said "Oh! Bene, bene! Oh! " Then she hugged me, kissed me, and locked arms with me as we walked down the street. The whole day she proceeded to tell everyone our connection:) It was adorable. Randomly she would lock arms as we were walking and point to us both and say Angelo, with a big smile. Then we saw Angelo on a sign and she got so excited again! lol. That was a great memory!
Silvanna reminds me so much of my grandma Galloway, which is nice because I feel a little more like I'm at home. She cooks for us...always says hi...takes us places...lol....shes amazing!

So lets see....
Last night was halloween and we celebrated 3 birthdays....Paul, Maria(Brian's, our director, wife), and Kristyn. We had a huge mexican meal with plenty of left overs for a few days! Its great because everyone always gives the bible college students the left over food. lol. Its nice.
Its so great....we have had SO many meals cooked for us this week...
*eggplant caserole
*lasagna
*chicken noodle soup
*and the mexican dinner

We ended the dinner with a cookie pudding dish and a tea light candle for each birthday person. Getto, I know. lol...but what are you gonna do? lol.
Lastly, we watched phantom of the opera...well half because it started skipping. I always only see half of that movie! I dont know why!

Today... is Saturday and most of the students went to clean the church.
Half cleaned, and the other half pulled weeds in the back. It went by pretty fast because there were a lot of us kind of and the church is small. The church is basically a warehouse. Its nice though. The hardest job we did was scrubbing the scuff marks off the floor....wow what a job!
The rest of the day has been a much needed veg day.
I finished Chuck tracks for this semester!!!! If you don't know, in bible college, we are required to go through the bible with Chuck Smith's mp3's, over the course of the 2 years that we're in bible college. So I just finished my 3rd semester which ends with Acts. So I have one more semester that starts in Romans and finishes with Revelation.
I might start on them even:) Might as well, but anyways, its good to accomplish things.

Ok!
prayer requests...

*unity- it's been a little difficult, but we are all growing and having to learn to die to ourselves. I really have been clinging to Psalm 16....
paraphrased says.... I have ALWAYS put the Lord before me, He is at my right hand and I shall NOT be moved.
I need to be reminded of that...to always put Him before me. Jesus IS beside me and I will not be moved if I'm clinging to Him
Also....lol....I'm learning not to just cling to Jesus kind of, but arms wrapped around with my nails digging in.....legs wrapped...and every part of me that CAN touch Jesus, I want that!

Ok....
moving on..
*Upcoming trip to Rome in 2 weeks
*Wisdom
*worship leading
*Grace-the lady that owns the gelato shop(ducale)....pray that she comes to church and gets saved!
*That I will be able to be more of a witness to Montebelluna, Italy.

That's all I can think of right now, but I will be writting again soon. Love you all and thanks again for the prayers.
Agape,
Bethany

Norway- Part 2

2008-10-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, hopefully I'll get farther than last time:) I just wrote a huge long blog and my computer died, so I'm sorry ahead of time for not going into as much detail now. lol. I really hate computers sometimes!

Anyways, we traveled for 13ish hours and arrived in Kvitsund Saturday night. It was really nice to hang out with Christian, Autumn and their 4 girls! They loved it too because they dont have a whole lot of English speaking friends who are solid in the Lord.
They were such a blessing....Autumn cooked some amazing food for us too.

Sunday- October 12th was my birthday and it was a great day.
Before we left we had a big Italian dinner. Some ladies from the church came over and cooked a huge meal for all of us, their families, and the pastor and his family. They all suprised me with Tarimasu*sp?, turned off the lights, and brought the lit up tarimasu as they sang happy birthday.
My family sang me happy birthday on the phone also.
So, after church at Christian and Autumns house, Christian took all of us on a hike up Kristoppen. We had to canoe across the lake. It was intense I'm not going to lie because I have to say, Christian was previously a snipper in the Austrian army! lol.
Plus! Laura and I were the only girls so we had to be tough:) I almost felt like passing out a couple times, but we made it to the top to a beautiful view! We signed a book at the top of everyone who had climbed the mountain and we took plenty of pictures:) As we were getting ready to head back, everyone started singing me happy birthday:)
So we headed back down...some of us slid down at times on the leaf covered trail. It was quite funny.
That night, for the first time, we had supper(which is their 4th meal) with some of the students in the cafeteria. As we were eating, someone decided to sing happy birthday again for the 4th time! lol. So before I knew it I was surrounded by a ton of students that had never met me and I them, but they were all excited to sing because they are all really into making everyone feel loved.

All the students got back on Sunday or Monday. We pretty much had something planned every night, which was nice. Monday morning they introduced us to all the kids and opened it up to them as, we are here for you...if you need to talk...need prayer....we wont tell anyone, but we're here for you:)
Little did we know that would open it up for so many opportunities in the future week. There are too many to even say, but we were able to really encourage so many students. Kids were coming up to us and confessing sins, asking for prayer, and really wanting to hang out with us as much as they could. We loved it!

Here is what we did
By the way, there were also about five devotionals that we taught before different classes. They have devos before each class, which is cool. I taught a devo for the Nowegian class on Joshua 24.

Monday-dodgeball -a bunch of kids came and played a game of dodgeball in the gym till 11ish?

Tuesday-I sang with Paul for worship and then I also shared, along with 2 other guys, my testimony of how I was saved and how my life has been changed by Jesus. By the way, a lot of these kids have never decided to make Jesus Lord. Most are just saying that they are Christians.

Wednesday-concert in the coffee shop. Paul played the guitar and sang some songs he wrote and then I played a Phil Wickham song and one of the songs I wrote.

Thursday- more worship and Matt gave his testimony
-we extended the worship because the kids asked if we could play as much worship as possible because they loved it! They told us that they never have worship like that*its very conservative Lutheran-* They said that it seemed so personal and real:) Praise the Lord!

Friday- Candlelight walk to the stone church and sleepover

Ok I'm again going to have to go, but I will finish soon I promise:) There is just so much:) lol. Anyways, part 3 coming soon to a blog near you:) Also, if its annoying to check back randomly on here, I think you can subscribe to the blog so then it lets you know when I update it. Alright, Keep lovn Jesus!
Agape,
Bethany

Norway- Part 1

2008-10-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
Sorry I've been getting behind on this blog a little. Things should change since I'm back from Norway and I have the weekend mostly free.
Norway was amazing! I don't think there is enough time to talk about everything that happened, but I do want to tell you all of some of the highlights at least. However, even though I will try to help you experience what I did, through reading this, words can't explain how amazing and how anointed the trip to Norway really was!
First, Norway is mostly Lutheran and I think I could go as far as to say spiritually dead.
In case I didn't explain why we went, I will briefly.
We went to a christian school that consisted of Christians and non-Christians. The school had asked if we would bring a team from the bible college to simply show them Jesus and a passionate relationship with Him. Basically they wanted us to just love on them. All of this, is exactly what happened and I think we came away more blessed by them!
We were there about a week and I think I could have stayed there!:) Well, it was nice but I think I wouldn't be able to handle the cold. lol. Anyways, it took about 13 hours to get there with all of the layovers and what not.
Ok! You all are going to hate me, but I'm going to have to finish later....I just started, I know. lol. Well, this might just have to be the Norway series:) I will try to update with pictures soon! Love you all and thank you for your prayers! I love you all!
Agape,
Bethany

A few more pictures from Austria...

2008-10-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

The torture museum
Yummy chocolate torte
On top of the berg...So beautiful!
At the campfire....The guy in the black is Brian, the director

At the campfire....Brittany, me, and Laura

We are SO silly! I don't know how I got my face like that!:)

Austria

2008-10-06T00:43:00.000-07:00

This is the castle that we stayed in:)
This was the view out of my bedroom
The whole group

Hey everyone!
Sorry its been awhile since I’ve really updated this, but don’t worry. Well, I think the last time I wrote I was getting sick? Well, I did get sick. I got a really bad cold. There were a couple days that I had to whisper the whole day. It was pretty miserable, but I’m feeling about 95% today, which is nice.

So! I went to Austria! It was amazing and I’ll never forget it. The reason for going was for our ‘speaker’s week’ or rather ‘listener’s week.’ There is usually one each semester. It was about a 4ish hour train ride…maybe less.
I was so amazed that Calvary Chapel actually owns a castle! Lol. Truly it was amazing. I wish I could post more pictures or even better…take you there. Pictures are very limited.
The food was AMAZING at the castle. Three full homemade (sp?) meals every day! The last night we had a fire in the fire place with candles and apple strudel!

The teachings were amazing. A guy named Russell from Calvary Philadelphia, I think, came and taught for the week. The topic was ministry…who does God use, what is He looking for in our lives, and are we called to ministry? It was really good and insightful. He was very truthful and honest. Not only did he teach that week, but he also made the effort to spend time with us and get to know us. He even had a special bible for his week in Austria that he brought so that we could all write our names in the back and so he could pray for us!
A little background on him, he used to be an actor and almost got the lead part in LA Law, but then he got involved with cocaine. It was downhill from there. His testimony is amazing, though and I can’t remember a lot, but the point is that he came back to Christ.
So! He wanted to put together a video for the missionaries all over Europe that they can give to their supporters so they can see what it’s like over here and how much missionaries need the support of home, which is sometimes their only support. I understand this more now. So Russell interviewed us two at a time for the video, which was fun. It was so exciting to be apart of his vision and hopefully help the missionaries a little.
Along with the interviews Russell and his assistant Robert also wanted to visit a few key sites (He spent a lot of time here as a missionary so he knew the cool spots). For about 3 days he took a different group of students to go out with him to film.
The day that I went with him we went to a waterfall, a really old wall to a castle (Russell and Robert bought us all coffee and dessert here in the little town), and a berg (a fortress to fight enemies) with a torture museum in it that Russell again paid for us all to see. The torture museum was so disturbing. It was good to see though because it showed us how the Catholics used to persecute Protestants because they wouldn’t convert.

The last night at the castle we all had a campfire and roasted marshmallows. The best marshmallows I had ever tasted. I think they were flavored. Anyways, lol, that was a lot of fun.

That was pretty much the highlights of the week. In all, it was very relaxing….not boring though, just relaxing.

Now, more current…
The mission teams are all getting ready to leave for Sicily, Rome, or Norway. I’m going to Norway!! I’m so excited! I even get to spend my 21st birthday in Norway! We leave on Saturday and get back the next Saturday. So expect another writing gapJ

The reason we are going to Norway is to minister to a Christian boarding school. We will be having a couple concerts, games, testimonies, worship and just getting to know the kids. Some of these kids are missionaries’ kids that get kind of dropped off there while they need to go to school. Its going to be a great opportunity to love on these kids. Who knows if they have made a commitment for Christ yet? We will also get to tell them about the bible college and hopefully some will want to come to the knew one in Italy. That is the hope and desire of the director, Brian. He almost moved to Norway as a missionary, but God had Italy in mind for him. He desires to still minister to these kids though, which is awesome. We will be staying with Brian and Maria’s missionary friends there in Norway, who are from the United States.

I don’t know if I have really talked about the problems we have been having at our apartment, but we’ve had a few things go out, blow up, or stop workingJ
We were without hot water for 3 days right before Austria, but praise the Lord we have it back!
I think I actually did mention the stove blowing up….well, pastor Craig got it fixed mostly. We have about 2 ½ burners now
So these two things were fixed when we came home, but then we found out we have a radiator problem so the house was really hot…fine with meJ
I think they fixed that too though….bummer that’s the one thing I was ok with. Haha.

So I have an updated list of prayer requests…
By the way, THANK YOU so much for all your prayers. You don’t even know how much I need them right now. I realize more than ever that missionaries’ support sometimes comes only from the faithful back home. I appreciate you all SO much!

Pray for…

*Roommates and the guys---God has been revealing to me that I’m also a missionary to these.
*Norway…prepared hearts, hassle-free traveling, and finances
*Homesickness—normal life, family, friends, and my church
*Classes
*The possessed flat---haha
*Humbleness
*Wisdom

Fall is here!

2008-09-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

I only have a minute, but I wanted to say hi.
I've been feeling really sick today and yesterday, which is a bummer. What are you going to do? I just feel reallly weak and I have a sore throat:( ug.
Anyways, this week was good. My first test or paper was due or taken in each class so its nice that its the weekend and now I can rest.
I love my classes. I also dyed my hair a little darker, I dont know if you can tell.
Today the pastors wife came over and taught us how to make Ragu sauce, which tasted amazing! She's also going to teach us how to make pizza dough and strudel something. lol.
Tomorrow all the girls are going shopping with a native Italian named Angela. She's our age and all of us girls are excited because I think we're going to get to go to H&M( a really fun clothes store).
We leave for Austria on Monday. I can't wait! We can use prayer for that if you think about it:) Anyways, I'm going to go,....not feeling good....hopefully I'll get to post once more before Austria. If not, I'll post when I get back in a week. Love you all and thank you SOOOO much for your prayers!
Agape,
Bethany

2008-09-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Basement....we're getting more furniture little by little:)

New hair color....not that different:)

Podova

2008-09-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Group
At the bakery. The bread smelled AMAZING!

Hey everyone!

Sorry its been a few days since I've written. Life is getting a little more busy here. Homework is starting to pile up and days seem to be flying by. It feels like I'm adapting a little more though, which is nice.

I'm not going to write a ton, but I just wanted to touch on the highlights:) Which are worth mentioning, let me tell you.

I blew up our stove the other morning, which was a new experience. I was all excited to make coffee for my roommates. So I got up at 6 am took a shower and proceeded to make some delicious starbucks bold coffee. Anyways:)....so I turned the gas on and started pushing the button to light it. Nothing seems to be happening so as I bend down to look to see the flame I hear a big boom, the pot jumps in the air, the tops of two different burners come off and parts come out! lol.

So I stand there in amazement as water is on the floor from the pot and I realize what has just happened. Not only was I still waking up, but I could've DIED! lol. I guess I really could've got hurt, but it's still kind of a joke. Oh Bethany blew up the stove.
Anyways, a moment to remember.

Next story...first this was just a bad day... It seemed like everything started falling apart after this moment.

We just finished our devotions...and we were getting ready for our 3 hr. Acts class.
So my friend Brittany and I decided to get some coffee so we could stay awake a little better:)
So we went to this cute little coffee shop just around the corner.

We walked up to the lady and said, vodre due cappucini(I would like 2 cappucinos)....I have no idea if I spelled that right. Anyways, she brings them out and we start enjoying our wonderful coffee. I had just made the comment," wow, this is one of the best cups of coffee I've had in a long time" when I felt, what seemed to be, a piece of plastic. I put it on my finger, hold it out in Brittany's direction, and I probably said "um" about 5 times. I asked Brittany, what is on my finger. She said, that would be a fly! EWWWWW!

I told her that it was in my coffee and then in my mouth!!! Oh my goodness!

THERE WAS A FLY IN MY MOUTH!!!!

I took the coffee and fly on the plate to show the lady. I tried to tell her this was in this and that was in my mouth! Luckily she didn't charge me:)
Anyways,

Today was good. We went to a city called PodoVa. It was a lot of fun! It kinda reminded me of San Francisco a little bit. Here's a few pictures. Marta lives in this city. Its about a 45 min train ride away from the school. We are all exhausted now because we pretty much walked ALL day! We also got to go to Marta's house and meet mom. Her mom is the sweetest thing! She gave us gelatto, fruit, and drinks. She's a very touchy lady, like most people here. You walk in, she kisses both cheeks, touches your arms and hands. Then, as I leave, she told us, as shes fixing my shirt, that we could come anytime we want and that now we have two houses:) Super sweet lady..

So that was my day.

Some new things to pray for....

-a greater heart for Italy

-future plans

-worship.....I'm singing with the directors wife, Maria, tomorrow for communion...I've also been helping a lot with worship for devotions and random worship times. The challenge is I'm also helping with the Italian worship. I dont know Italian!:) Pray that I pick it up fast,

-devotions...I'm sharing on Thursday on the fruit of the spirit..

-more opportunities

-that I will be able to show more love towards my roommates in serving them in the small things

That's all I can think of right now

So that was a little longer than I thought, but oh well.

I hope you are all doing well. If anyone needs prayer for anything, email me! I would love to pray!

Agape,

Bethany

Venice!

2008-09-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Market
We had fun even in the rain!

Coffee and pasteries
Kristen and I on the train

We actually followed these ladies because we overheard them

saying they were going to Venice too! lol

So the four of us girls went to Venice yesterday by ourselves and it was amazing! It rained a lot...actually the Grand canal started overflowing onto the sidewalks! It was crazy! We went in so many shops and had some really good food too. Praise the Lord that the whole day only cost around 15 eruos! That's really good because that includes train, food, and even some postcards. It was a wonderful day that really bonded all of the girls more. we ended the day with breakfast for dinner and a movie in our pj's. Well, I need to go eat some dinner....mmm....pasta. I'll post again soon.

New Address!

2008-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Here is the new address

Via Piave 156
Montebelluna 31044 (TV)
Italia

Thank you for all your prayers! God has really been answering them! I have such a burden for Italy. So much so that I've been emotional for the last 3 days just in talking about anything that has to do with Italy. God is so good and He's really working in my heart. I love you all! God bless

agape,
Bethany

Worship

2008-09-11T05:03:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,
Here is a short video of the worship last night for our wed. night bible study. I thought you all might enjoy it. From the left to the right.... David, Eric, and Lorenzo

Just a quick hi...

2008-09-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hey here is just a quick random video. I was kinda trying to figure it out really, but it was fun.

Umm....so I'm trying to think... You know what, I'm so tired I think i'll just put a verse on here that God showed me today in my womens discipleship class. It really spoke to me!

Its in Job 2:19-20,

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.

also chapter 2 verse 8 is really good too....

Anyways, I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted! Love you all!

Agape, Bethany

What Are You Going to do?

2008-09-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Me, Marta, and Brittany--all the girl students here!
Me and Laura, my really good friend and also one of the interns
Chuckin

What are you going to do?... when you get locked out of the house because the door is a little tricky?
What are you going to do?... when your roommate moans every 5 seconds at night
What are you going to do?... when mosquito’s attack you every night, but especially last night and buzzing around your ear
What are you going to do?...when, the night before the first day of classes, you can’t sleep because of the two above reasons till 1:30 am?

What are you going to do? lol

Ciao! It’s true though, I love Italy so much! Everyday I love it more! The day I got here…and till now I keep thinking how much I don’t want to leave!

So today was the first day of school. Yay! I had Revelation, and 1 & 2 Samuel. The other classes I have are… Mark, Acts, 1,2,3 John and outreach Italian (a class which teaches us the Italian language, culture, and outreaches).
I really enjoyed my classes today. The homework is definitely going to pick up with 22 credits.

Another thing that Brian asked us all to pray about was our missions week!
I would be so grateful for y’all to keep these in prayer with me too. These are the 4 places to pray about!

*Norway!!- Brian, our director, has connections with a bible school in Norway. Missionaries usually drop their children off their, also just random kids. There is an AWESOME opportunity to love on these kids and hopefully plant a seed that might plant a desire to want to come to Bible college in Italy…get built up…and go out as a missionary! This is the one that I’m drawn to the most! It’s also probably the most expensive:/

*Island of Sicily- the people there have been praying and asking for a Calvary chapel. This would be an encouragement to the people to just come and also a lot of prayer would take place. Awesome opportunity!

*Rome
*Podova

I’m not sure what the opportunities are in Rome and Podova, but these would also be amazing. The only thing is that we’re probably already going to be going to these two for field trips.

So! That’s something to pray about…

Today I discovered my favorite cereal! Nugget pillows! Nutella filled, wheat squares! Amazingness!
I also went grocery shopping for the first time, for myself, in my life, in a different country!!! It’s weird, here in Italy, you have to pay for your grocery bag and at restaurants, there are no tips, but a fee if you choose to sit down and eat.
Marta, my new, local, Italian, roommate, went with me. She was a great help. She is the sweetest girl and loves the Lord. Her mom is Christian and her dad is catholic. I don’t know if she has siblings.
She told me tips and what foods are her favorite. Her English is really good. All the students get about 25 Euros a week that is included in the tuition so I bought a bunch of food with about 10 Euros left, which is about 16ish dollars in the USA.
I had a lot of fun! I bought a big package of chicken and cooked it all up for the whole week.

Also! I’m going to be doing devotions on the 19th! And I will be switching off playing worship with one of the guys here every other day. Thank you Jesus for using me!

Anyways, that’s all I can think of right now…here are the new prayer requests.

provision for speakers week to Austria, a missions trip, and field trips
Dedication to learning Italian
Diligence with homework
Humbleness and a gentle spirit
Boldness to share on the 19th
Unconditional love for my roommates
Laura-an Italian lady we met on the streets. She went to Berkley college and speaks great English
Direction for my life on the mission field…whether here, Utah, or wherever He wants me.

Thank you SO much for your prayers! I love you all!

Agape,
Bethany

I LOVE ITALY!!!

2008-09-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

Let’s see… well, first of all, I’m not going to be able to write on here everyday, but I will still keep updating this regularly.

Ok! Well, yesterday was orientation which was really exciting. All 10 of us (all the students...lol) met all the teachers. I think there are about 5 teachers? I also gave Brian (the director of the bible college) my final check! Praise the Lord. He is so good to provide what I need for what He calls me toJ
All the teachers are amazing, along with their wives and children. I met one of the teacher’s wives, Lori (I was excited to meet her because she reminded me of mom because they have the same name...lol) and she was wonderful! Her and her husband Mark just moved from New York about 2 months ago? They love it and will probably be here for about 3 years.
I was just really encouraged by all these missionaries because I feel that I have the same heart they do. I know that God has called me to missions and I don’t know what that looks like…going on short term missions, living oversees or in Utah, supporting missionaries….I don’t know. God has really been burdening my heart for the lost. I’m beginning to understand more and more why I’m here!
I like a quote that my pastor, Joe, in Utah likes to quote….it says something like…set yourself on fire for Jesus and people will come to watch you burn.
Basically, Jesus is attractive and I want people to want what I have. Everyone, I’m so in love with Jesus and so spiritually full! I know God is going to work in my heart here! Not just because it’s Italy, God can speak anywhere, anytime, but because I’m in His will for sure and because I want nothing more but to fall deep in love with Him more.
There is NO doubt, that this is EXACTLY where God wants me.

Ok…back to what’s been going onJ so after orientation, all the students, interns, and teachers went out for pizza! There were about 20-25 of us total with all the kids. Oh my goodness, heaven in my mouth! I don’t think I can ever eat pizza again, outside of Italy. All I had was cheese and tomatoes, but it was SOOOOOO good!

After pizza, I, Laura, and Brittany finished watching Sound of Music. Brittany had never seen it! It was even better than all the times I had ever seen it because it was filmed in Austria and guess what!?? We’re going to Austria for speakers’ week!!!!!! I’m SO excited! The retreat will be in the Austria bible college castle! Eee!

Love you all!

Agape,

Bethany

Day 2 in Italia!

2008-09-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

I think the hardest thing for me so far is their ridiculous trash separation here! This isn't even all of it...there are more separation bags. Italy is clean though:)
It thunderstorms at around 7pm every night!
On our way to the stores...and gelato
On the way back....this is a cute picture of all the girls
Here's all the girls and Todd. Interesting kid.

So all of us girls (all 4 of us) were ready by 10 this morning so that we could make it to church by 10:30 because even though it wasn’t that far we still had to walk there. I think my legs are going to be in really good shape when I leave. Lol.
It was interesting going to church because you could feel the common bond that we have in Christ, but at the same time, I was so lost. This wonderful older lady came up to me and started talking to me, but I think she caught on that I was American by the dumb look on my face.
Worship was great because I could read the song on the wall and sing the familiar songs that I cant remember right now, but they’re ones that we usually sing. I didn’t understand anything that the pastor said, but I could tell that he introduced us because he said America and biblia college? And some of them were looking at us and smiling.

We headed back to the apartments and decided to do the dishes since the kitchen was starting to smell. Two of the girls had already been there for a week. I also decided to unpack. Oh my goodness! It felt so good to unpack! So everything is put away and now its home for at least the next 4 months…maybe after….who knowsJ

I finally felt hungry around 3ish so we all decided to get Dumer(doomer) or kabobs. Its lamb, and chicken, I think, with tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, sauce, and onions.
At around 16:00….that means 4 pm (they go by military time here I guess) we headed into town to get gelato for those that hadn’t had it. I had teramasu and cappiacia (I think that’s how they spelled it?) It was amazing!! We all decided to take a walk through town so we went as far as one of the biggest catholic churches around. It was beautiful!

When we got back, we had some worship and then prayer for the team. It was an awesome time! I’m so overwhelmed of how beautiful and wonderful God is! I don’t know if I already said this, but my whole tuition is paid!!! Thanks to Jesus and hearts that are willing to listen to Him! I really don’t have that much left though since my main priority was tuition. Praise God though!! He is SOOOO good! I had to come up with a total of 5,000 ish? Crazy!

So after prayer we all have just been hanging out, talking to family or blogging.

I know some of you would like to know what to pray for….
Here’s a few more things

-unity in the group
-that we would all pick up on the language really fast
-servant hearts
-power to come back on
-that Italy would have peanut butter…lol…jk…kind ofJ
-that God would direct me this semester

Thank you for all your prayers! They are such a blessing and believe me I can feel your prayers! I love and miss you all! God bless.

Agape,
Bethany

Day 1 in Italia!

2008-09-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

My roommate and I
The Kitchen
The living room
Mine and Brittany's bathroom....yes that is a square toilet seat:)lol.
The....but it's a lot bigger than it looks. My bed is the bottom one. There is also a door leading to our balchony(sp?)

Ciao! (chow) I’M HERE!!.....and I’m safe, mom. Haha.

So…I’ll start from beginning. I left Salt Lake at 1:30pm and from there I went to Denver at around 2:30/3 then from there to Frankfurt, Germany then to Venice!
The trip as a whole to Venice was pretty good except on the 8hr flight to Germany because I got sick and I think it was because I ate the food on the planeL The breakfast was nasty spongy eggs and potatoes that tasted like them..
So, I didn’t have an appetite for like a day and a half. Sad…especially when you’re in Italy.

So, once I got in Italy, Kyle and Brian Cambria were there to pick us up. They were picking up me, Brandon, James(from England), Kevin, and Paul. That’s right….me and the dudes….Grrrreat. lol. j/k. So, Brian took ALL the luggage…I think I had more than all the guys put together. Lol. Not really, but it felt like it.
Kyle told us that he would be directing us home through public transportation. Yay!

So, me and the dudes headed towards the bus that went to the train. When we got to the train station, we realized that the train we were going to take wasn’t coming so we waited an hour for the next train. It was fine though because we just walked around the city. Also, some of the guys got gelato at a local store (I had lost my appetite at this time…I know weird huh? lol). We got on the two story train with a really cool bathroom (the sink facet was a joystick...I still don’t know how it worked. I just moved it around and water came out! lol) We got off the train and then walked to our apartments. It was SO good to see familiar faces and finally meet up with Laura(my good friend from Florida)! Yay!

I walked into the apartment and fell in love! It is beautiful! I can’t believe how much God has blessed us. By the way, lol…the reason we got such a good deal, apparently, was because an old guy died here….sweet(that’s for you PeterJlol).
It’s awesome because, in Itlay, when you rent an apartment they come fully furnished! Its awesome! We have more kitchen gadget than we know what to do with…a huge couch….a spare room that we’re going to use as a prayer room….and 2 girls to a bathroom!!! I’m telling you, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to leave. We also have a basement down 3 flights of stairs that anyone can hang out in…guys or girls. We have some couches, a TV, and a computer.
Another thing that’s really interesting is that every night around 7pm ish it thunderstorms! We haven’t had power since I got here. Lol. We decided that our semester saying is, “what are you going to do?”:
Our dish washer stops working, what are you going to do?
Sink leaks, so we have to wash dishes in the the laundry sink, what are you going to do?
Refrigerator doesn’t work because the power is out, which means the food in there is going bad….what are you going to do?
Power is out, what are you going to do? Lol

We all just hung out and went to bed around 9 or 10

Address

2008-09-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Oops, I forgot to put this up too. Here is the mailing address of where I'll be staying, if anyone would like to have it....grandma....grandpa:) lol.
I also will have skype, so if you have a skype account then we will be able to talk for free!

email: bethany@thegalloways.net

Calvary Chapel Bible College Italy
Via J. Riccati 17
31031 Caerano Di San Marco (TV)
Italia

3 Days till I leave!!!

2008-09-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I figured this will probably be the easiest way for me to update everyone. I will try to update the blog as much as possible. I leave in 3 days and each day that goes by, I get more and more excited!!!!
I know God is going to do something big in Italy and I can't wait to be apart of it!

I'm going to a town called Montebelluna, Italy, which is a fun name to say:) I'm not sure of everything we'll be doing, but I do know that we will probably be going to Austria and Rome.

If any of you think about it, pray that God continues to provide the little bit left that I need to pay the school.

Well, I better get back to the packing, laundry, and chuck tracks. I hope that you all are having a great day in the Lord!

1 Sam. 12:24

Because of His grace,
Bethany

The Journey in Italy

Home Sweet Home

5 days left!!!!

Choir-Numbero Uno

Thanksgiving

Rome

More than half way through

Prayer...

*Just a few pictures from Norway*

Moving on..

Norway- Part 2

Norway- Part 1

A few more pictures from Austria...

Austria

Fall is here!

Podova

Venice!

New Address!

Worship

Just a quick hi...

What Are You Going to do?

I LOVE ITALY!!!

Day 2 in Italia!

Day 1 in Italia!

Address

3 Days till I leave!!!

Just a few pictures from Norway