The Nigros in California

Saluti da SoCal

Del Mar Beach, San Diego Country

It is difficult to believe both that our last update was in March and that this update comes to you from Southern California. The whirlwind of wrapping up life and ministry in Italy coupled with setting up the same here has kept us in a dust cloud and spinning for the last four months since we touched down in LAX.

Thrown into the mix of that was a two week blitz trip to the east coast to see family in North Carolina and Virginia, and then visits to our supporting churches in New Jersey.

It seems that all the good will in the world just wasn’t enough to plant myself down, gather my thoughts and write. And it is likely that many of you have not been caught up with our last update and therefore didn’t realize that we were turning over Calvary Chapel Treviso and moving to America. If that is you, please accept my apologies for the gap in communication.

Calvary Chapel Bible College

My Gospel of Mark class - 83 students.

We are now quasi settled into our new home and, although we painfully miss Italy, Calvary Chapel Treviso and all our loved ones there, we rejoice with certainty that we are precisely where God wants us. And very blessed to be!

More than six weeks into this Fall semester have given me a rather thorough immersion into my new function serving as the Dean of Men. To say that my hair has been on fire wouldn’t be appropriate since you know I shave my head, but truly I can’t recall the last time I was this busy and challenged in such a good way.

Being the authority figure and disciplinarian of the male students provides a tremendous amount of discipleship opportunities and allows what I miss about pastoring to carry over in fatherly oversight of roughly 200 young men. What more could I ask for? Teaching in the classroom every Monday and Wednesday is a pleasure as we go through the Gospel of Mark (my favorite gospel but not for its name).

Every Wednesday afternoon six interns and I meet together to pray and talk about the meat of practical ministry and leading others with the heart of the Good Shepherd. Friday mornings I meet with 34 men who serve their rooms as Dorm Stewards, taking oversight and responsibility for the care of the room and their roommates. This is a class for which they receive credit, and which allows us to brief one another on campus issues both practical and spiritual, pray together, problem solve and go through principles of ministry. The rest of the days of the week are peppered with appointments, emergencies, administrative tasks and, when possible, study preparation.

In the Home

At the pumpkin patch in Temecula

One colossal prayer request of ours (ever since our call to California came) has been for our children’s adjustment to the move. Their school had been in Italian since the beginning but now there is a vast difference in the way things are done. Vocabulary for specialized subjects would be foreign to them, and spelling in English was all but a mystery to them. I’m blessed to say they have been adjusting excellently and even excelling in their school work. Two days ago Matea received an award for her behavior as a model student, and Luka for excellence in Language Arts, scoring 100% on his work.

All this doesn’t mean they are not struggling. A day doesn’t go by that they don’t speak of their longing for Italy, their friends, the church, their school and…the pizza! But as we pray through it all and remember why we are here, God gives grace for the time of need. I think it’s only right that we all have this struggle with the move. Italy was for twelve years our entire life. Our kids were born there, the church over which we loved and labored for years, and countless precious memories.

Renata keeps busy volunteering at the elementary school in Matea’s class, keeping things in order at home, and by helping our children with their frequent homework. We’re seeking the Lord about a church to call home and believe we may have found one. This is a big priority for us and we look forward to plugging in soon.

In all, we are (and we mean it with all our hearts) so very thankful. Thankful for you, who have prayed and supported us through the years. Thankful for the unforgettably blessed time we served in Italy. And finally, thankful for where we are now.

Please continue to pray for us as the Lord leads and when you remember. Ministry is ministry and we still need the Lord to empower and guide us. From time to time, I’ll come on here and update the blog. But it wont be more than twice per year. We hope you’ll still want to hear from us, as we do from you.

Every blessing,
Mark, Renata, Luka and Matea

March Update

A Season of Growth

Taken on the Sunday of our Christmas Lunch

This has been the most fruitful year in our ministry at Calvary Chapel Treviso, from the new souls God has added, to the maturing of lives who have been with us for a time. We are so blessed for the commitments made to Christ in the last several months by Frances, Nathan, Luana and most recently, Davide who came forward at our Sunday service just a month ago. We can honestly say these new believers with their tender hearts and excitement for the Lord are the highlight of our year! But CC Treviso has also grown exponentially with the addition of new families looking for a church. Our most recent problem is being full nearly every Sunday and needing more space. What a blessed "problem" to have.

A Season of Change

Us at Juliette's House in Verona, Italy - Romantic, eh?

Perhaps the most startling news for most of you is that the Lord is moving us into a new ministry direction, and it means we are going to leave Italy. Although the Lord has brought it all together quickly and divinely, He has not done it suddenly. The preparation in our hearts and lives has been going on for over 3 years and through a lot of prayer.

In 2009 Renata and I both, but independently of one another, began sensing a big change was coming and the Lord was whispering "Get ready!" We didn't know what that meant, when it would come or what it would look like. Revival in the church? A third child? A tragedy? A geographical move in our ministry? The more we prayed the more it seemed like the latter, but for many months nothing was certain.

In late Spring of 2012, after I had become frustrated with the ambiguity and distraction of it all, I cried out for clarity from the Lord. And clarity came! The problem was me. All the while we were praying, I was giving the Lord options that appealed most to me and returning to ministry in the USA was not one of them. I simply did not want to leave Europe, our home and place of ministry for 14 of the 18 years of our marriage. And through the years here, we have certainly had our times of severe discouragement, financial struggles and ministry burnout. But this was not one of those times. On the contrary, we've never been in a better place as far as all of that is concerned. So a move to America felt like walking backwards. But if America was God's next step for us, then it was a move forward and not backwards at all.

A Season of Obedience

Main entrance to CC Conference Center and Bible College

Everything began coming together one year ago, on the day I ceased giving God choices. He spoke clearly that we needed to pray for the church to be turned over. That was a very difficult thing to do as it is extremely painful to leave the church and this place. But as we obeyed, three days later Renata and I (independently of one another) had "California" pass through our minds. No specific ministry or reason. So when we both discovered that the other had heard the same thing, we thought God was up to something but we kept it quiet before the Lord until He gave more clarity. That was roughly the month of April. In July, I dialogued with a friend and fellow pastor from our home church in Old Bridge. It was no coincidence to hear he was moving to Murrieta that same month to serve at the Bible College. As I shared with him what the Lord had been stirring in our hearts, we wondered if God may be moving us in that direction. Just one month later, on August 6, I received the invitation to serve as the dean of men there.

We were flabbergasted by the phone call and although it seemed like the right thing to do, it did not seem possible. The time we had to give our answer was brief. Extremely brief. And we needed to be there this past January. Truly we thought we would have to decline, for not only did it seem too soon for such a change, we could not commit until the Lord proved who was to be the next pastor at CC Treviso. We had someone on our hearts, but needed time for it to unfold. Until then, we weren't moving anywhere. Then by the first week of this past November, that same family we prayed for committed to take over the church. They are Brian and Maria Cambra, missionaries with CC Montebelluna for five years and currently directing the Bible College there.

Brian Cambra teaching at our recent men's meeting

The amount of details the Lord has put in place to make everything happen so perfectly, covering every need and so timely for everyone involved in this, are too many to list. And I'm burning a lot of diesel right now trying to consolidate a flood of thoughts and facts into a readable update. But I hope this gives enough background for you, our co-laborers, to see God's hand at work here. Please continue to pray with us and for us as we face what is perhaps the hardest decision we've ever made, and a colossal yet exciting change.

Pray also for CC Treviso as this transition unfolds. We believe great things are in store and the church has only just begun enjoying the fruit that is to come. We've recently begun bringing in pastor Brian to teach twice per month on Sundays and every other Wednesday evening. The Cambras are a blessing and key part of God's plan for this season of change. They truly love the fellowship at CC Treviso and the church has truly embraced them. Brian's family plan to move to the Treviso area by June. Please pray for them also as they obey God's calling in this new venture of faith.

Our ETA for America is late June. We plan to visit our friends and family on the East Coast, then start full time in Murrieta by July 1, Lord willing.

Well, that's quite a mouthful for this overdue update. If you have questions, a word of encouragement or anything, please leave it in the comment section below so that everyone who reads can benefit and no one will have to repeat the same questions privately.

Prayer and Praise

1. Thankful for this most fruitful year at CC Treviso, the new lives God has touched and those He is raising up
2. Thankful for His faithfulness to guide and provide and bless beyond our imagination
3. Thankful for the exciting plans before us and for the favor He continues to show us
4. Prayerful for the new direction, its challenges and changes
5. Prayerful for effectiveness in touching lives at CCBC Murrieta, hopeful for many disciples to be raised up in ministry with a global perspective of God's kingdom
6. Prayerful for grace in adjusting through the culture shock of this colossal change for our family
7. Prayerful for favor on our children as they change schools and learn in English for the first time