Walking into the New Year

The cutest little faces on this merry-go-round!

Our day is nearly over here and soon we'll be celebrating the New Year with our Treviso church family. Before that starts and our time escapes us, we'd like to wish you a truly blessed 2011.

As you walk into the months ahead, consider the Psalm below this note where we find God's counsel for a truly blessed (HAPPY) New Year.

We'll have another little update on the latest here by Monday evening, so once you've recovered from all the feasting with your loved-ones nearby, I hope you'll check back for the news from Treviso. Until then, enjoy God's blessings as you meditate on his truth and walk with him into 2011!

Psalm 1:1          Blessed is the man
    Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
        Nor stands in the path of sinners,
        Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2     But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
        And in His law he meditates day and night.
3     He shall be like a tree
        Planted by the rivers of water,
        That brings forth its fruit in its season,
        Whose leaf also shall not wither;
    And whatever he does shall prosper.
4     The ungodly are not so,
    But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5     Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
    Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6     For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
    But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

This Week at CC Treviso

We were blessed to have Frank and Suzie Gonzalez with us over the weekend. They are preparing for a move to Athens, Greece sometime after the New Year. Frank spoke for us at CC Treviso this past Sunday morning, teaching from Colossians 1:9-11, a good exhortation to prayer. The day ended with fellowship at our home and too many laughs for sane people!

This Friday, December 24th, we will be holding a Christmas Eve service at 5:30 for all who are not traveling to distant places during the holiday season. That means only a small percentage of us will be together, but we're looking forward to it just the same. And, we're expecting some brothers and sisters to be joining us from the Calvary Chapels in Montebelluna and Padova, so this will be a very special time indeed!

Please pray for our upcoming services on Friday, December 24 and Sunday, December 26.

Annual Christmas Lunch

Lunch at Ristorante Da Polin. This was our section.

This was our most enjoyable annual Christmas lunch to date at Calvary Chapel Treviso. Thanks Daniela for helping with the arrangements at Ristorante Da Polin who served us an amazing five-course meal, provided child care in a safe and staffed playroom, and all at the cost of a good pizza and coke with coperta! We took over one of the corners with our group of about 50.

We also had a few new guests this year, and that made it a great opportunity to make new friendships and build a bridge into the lives of one family and a young single mom. Pray for Luka, Monica and their children, and Federica.

We thank the Lord for blessing us in so many ways this year. Our lunch together was a great time to slow down, reflect on what God is doing, and just enjoy one another. I think that's something we don't do enough in ministry! That said, I'll let the pictures tell the rest. Click to enlarge them. First the faces (couldn't fit everyone here), then the food.

I am a blessed man indeed!

Daniela Deppi. Thanks for putting together our lunch!

David, our sweet-spirited brother from England.

The cutest messy little mouse in the world, our Matea!

Perside (Nino's wife) always has a smile for us!

Mark and Oliver. This may be the ONLY picture of us together!

Nino making use of the airspace to tell his story.

Our beloved co-laborers Bob and Lori Scata

Sonia, our first "Lydia" in Treviso to come to Christ.

Lots of laughter yesterday!

Tracey has the gift of encouragement. Blessed to have her with us!

Daniel and Eleonora. We love them so much!

Jonathan and Emma Wareham's boy. Too cute to pass up!

Now for the food. Brace yourself....it just kept on coming! No, we don't eat like this all the time.

This was our first of three starter dishes!

Was hoping to make you even more jealous with these pics, but I forgot to shoot the 2nd starter dish, a Risotto with pancetta, pumpkin and other delights!

Our third starter...pasta w/diced pork in a rosemary butter sauce. 

Our entree "secondo" in Italian. Roasted porchetta in a radicchio sauce!

First class Tiramisu, followed by a Goppion coffee, produced in Treviso!

Latter Rain

Much like the seeds we sow in a garden beneath the earth's soil, are the seeds we sow in the hearts of those around us. Once they're planted, we can't see what's happening below the surface until life breaks through.

On November 17, the same day our son Luka prayed to receive Jesus, I also received a very special invitation. The call was from Cristina, the mother of two English students of mine, Federica and Francesca. You can imagine my surprise since we hadn't spoken in more than a year, when she had come in place of her daughter for a lesson. That became an opportunity to talk about Jesus and the Bible. But this call was a request for me to speak at her Catechism class.

This distinct privilege was lived out on November 24, when I stepped into the room of 25-plus kids, ages 10-13 with three teachers and another guest. The whole hour was mine, and God worked mightily. I was able to share my testimony, tell the whole gospel according to grace, read the Scriptures and explain their meaning, field various questions and, to pray for and WITH the class AND teachers afterwards. 

Many other precious details must be excluded for time here. But that I would be graced with such an opportunity like this in the city of Treviso, is...unequivocally...a bonafide miracle! 

And today, Cristina came to our house again for a casual visit. Our time ended with her keen desire to join us for our church service at Calvary Chapel Treviso as soon as her Sunday commitments to the Catechism class are over, after the New Year. She is also ready to visit one of our weekly and monthly women's groups. 

All this is the fruit of seeds which I thought had fallen on the wayside and been devoured by the birds of the air. But here we are, watching the harvest of the latter rain begin (James 5:7). Keep Cristina, her family and her class in prayer.

To God be the glory! 

Dad's Stats

Dad in Summer of 2009

Thank you everyone, once again, for keeping my family in prayer.

Dad is home now, and recovering. He seems not to have any lasting effects from the stroke, other than a little residual dizziness, which should pass, and the need to use a cane or a walker to get around. That's to have something to hold on to if he feels he's going to fall. Nurse-aid will be coming twice per week to help. And with a special diet and lots of pills daily, another stroke could be evaded for a time. The picture here is for you to have a face with the name.

It's strange seeing my parents age so quickly. Perhaps in part it seems sudden because of the ocean between us. The changes come in leaps and bounds, all gradualness is lost.

Bless you all,

Mark

Little Prayers with Big Faith

As a father, I have no greater joy than being able to tell you that our 5-year-old son Luka, prayed to receive Jesus on November 17. And the way it all happened is marvelous! The morning started like most others, coffee in one hand, Bible in the other. Then the sound of little feet approaching. Before I knew it, Luka was on my lap and being his curious, bubbly self.

He took immediate interest in my Bible's bookmark (click the pic on left to enlarge) and the images that communicate man's inability to cross the gulf (death) without a bridge (the cross). The message struck Luka when he asked me why the people in the upper image were falling downward into the flames, but the others in the lower image had the cross and could walk over the fire to safety (heaven).

Moving over to Mommy's lap at the table, Luka said, "I want to walk over the cross and go to heaven." He was relentless about the cross, the fire, and wanting to walk over it to heaven! As Renata tenderly explained more of the gospel, proof that even a child can understand its simplicity, Luka said he wanted to pray. I was then called to take over. We sat together on the couch, the three of us, and had the blissful joy of leading our son in what we believe was truly a sincere prayer to trust Jesus as Lord and Savior...praise God!

Well, this is the first of the REALLY exciting news I promised to share this week.

More to come....

Family Matters

Just a quick note as many of you are asking the latest on my father's status. There have been some complications so he is still hospitalized. He seems to have had an adverse reaction to the anti-stroke medications, which caused a host of troubles. Apparently, he will require care by nurse visitation twice per week in the home. My mother is 80 and can't do it all. He's also not able to walk independently at this time.

Thanks for praying everyone!

The Nigros have...a BLOG!

Last May, reliving our wedding kiss from 1995.
This is the Town Hall in Subotica, Yugoslavia (ex)!

I'm REALLY excited to welcome you to our first-ever, family and ministry blog! I've been in the blogging mood to begin with these days (between seminary courses right now), and started two other blogs in late November. If you are curious, click on over to Tasting Treviso, where I blog about the bitter and the sweet of daily life in our beloved city, Treviso. The other is The Language Station, where I discuss ways to learn a foreign language.

But I've been especially keen on starting THIS blog as the one-stop place to keep you informed about our family and ministry. It just makes sense for us to move away from the traditional "newsletter" approach. For me (Mark), it is difficult to retro-write updates. There is always the lag between "when it happened" and "when you hear about it." Prayer needs which tend to be time sensitive, often pass before they're known. A lot is...just missed!

What's more, everyone is becoming accustomed to "snippets" these days in the social network arenas like FaceBook and Twitter. Only the patient few actually will wade through a two-page newsletter, and even relatives scarcely will read a four page update! On this blog, entries may vary from a brief "two-liner," to a tolerable paragraph or two. It might be daily, or twice per week. But you'll always hear the latest news and know what to pray for.

My hope is that through this blog, you'll truly feel (and be) more a part of our ministry and our personal lives. If you have email, and you CLAIM to love us, subscribe to this blog through one of the methods offered on this site. You'll receive each post as it comes out....unless of course you forget to check your email.

We've got some REALLY exciting things to share with you over the next few days!

Love and every blessing to you,

Mark for the whole family