Building Update and More....

Well, we're really excited to say that we had our last Sunday service in our current building just yesterday. This week we will gradually move our chairs, sound equipment etc., over to the new space.

Last week was rather busy trying to get the construction finished in time. The brother from our church whose business will be renting us the space, had scheduled an open house for potential clients on Saturday, so the new walls and rooms needed to be up in time to show the place. Also, so that we could get in and start making use of them for this coming weekend.

Please pray for our move and first service in the new space. There's still a good amount of setting up to do on the church side of things. Posted here are a few pics of the before, as walls were going up. More pics to come of the finished product with furniture etc.

This Wednesday we begin a six-week English club as an outreach to the community and especially to the English students of teachers in our church, such as Bob, Tracey and myself. We look forward to bringing everyone together for more opportunity in making the Lord's presence known. Please pray for this event.

One final request is the continued prayer for my father and mother. He was scheduled to come home from the rehabilitation / nursing home today, but he's having kidney trouble, so that is on hold. We're just praying for the Lord's will to be done and, strength and grace for my mother.

More updates to come soon...bless you all!

Prayer for my Father

Please continue to pray for my family and for God's will to be done regarding my father who has been in hospital again for some days. He has had another stroke, is battling pneumonia and, from his fall in an incoherent state, leg and hip pain. He needs to be admitted into a rehab to regain his ability to walk. Currently, this last stroke has left him with short-term memory loss and confusion about time and place for him. Thank you for praying!

New Building, New Challenges, Same Faithful Lord!

Main entrance and reception area

Much has been happening here in Treviso to keep us on our toes. We've got news on the church, family and more, so I'll be brief to bring you up to speed quickly. Please pray as you are led in these following areas:

Church
Our day has come for the church to move into the much-prayed-for building. One that is better suited for ministry. It is a rather unique scenario in that we will not be holding a contract but instead renting the space in a pay-by-use type of deal. This enables us to have double the square meters in an environment that really is much more conducive to ministry.

The place is beautiful and in a great location with plenty of parking. Before we start meeting there we need to put up a couple of dividing walls to close off a few rooms and run some wiring. Lord willing, this wont be more than two weeks from now. We'll keep you posted. The picture up top is at the entrance/reception area of the space. The following picture is a semi-side view from the middle of the main seating room. More pics will be put up later as work progresses.

Home
On the home-front, we're battling sicknesses. Matea is finishing up her antibiotics and hopefully will return to school on Monday after her second round with bronchitis. Luka had it too but got over it much more quickly. Now daddy is sick and mommy must stay healthy to care for everyone else :-)

Living in Italy means we need to teach our children our mother-tongues of English and Serbian. Even though they both are able to speak our native languages, they need to learn reading and writing. Pray for them, and for us in this area. Luka has begun lessons with a sister from the church in exchange for me giving guitar lessons to her son. I am also teaching Luka classical guitar, and he's doing amazingly well. Here's a little video from our lesson where he is covering half and whole notes, and counting through a measure while doing an i-m exchange in his right hand (you classical guitar players understand). Enjoy!

Family
Just got sad news today that my (Mark) parents are not well, especially my father who is now in the hospital with pneumonia and injuries from a fall yesterday. He was found on the floor of his bedroom incoherent and unable to get up from a contorted position that may have caused a break in the leg. Xrays will be done to determine what happened on the inside. Please pray for both my mom and dad, age is definitely showing. It's hard watching it from such a distance....