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| Dad after his stroke this time last year. |
By now many of you know that my (Mark’s) father has been
ill, and nearly died on the day after Thanksgiving. After a week of recovery in
hospital he was released to live out his remaining days at home with family,
where he longed to be.
We do not know how much time he has left, could be months,
weeks or only days. For this reason, Renata and I felt we should visit the
family while we have the chance to see my father again and say “goodbye.”
We are flying to the USA tomorrow (December 13) and will be with the family through Christmas and New Year, the first time together for these holidays in about 11 years. This will be a special time in many ways.
Please keep us in prayer as we have 16 hours of travel
tomorrow with three layovers. The kids usually do pretty well, but we’d ask for
extra grace.
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| The bride and groom right after the ceremony |
Wedding October 29
Here is a picture from the wedding of our beloved Daniel and
Eleonora, where we had the distinct pleasure to participate in worship and in
the Word of God. Many will wonder how this came about and neither time nor blog
space will allow a full explanation. But in short, at the request of the bride
and her family, the ceremony was held at the church of Santa Maria del Rovere, and
Don Adelino granted me the freedom to share from the Scriptures as the Lord
led. I spoke on God’s design for marriage, the union and the mystery of
marriage as a picture for the Lord's heart and desire for us.
Renata, Bob and I were also the choir and band, and while
this was a very unique experience singing in a large cathedral, the sound was
beautiful and it seemed as though the Lord lifted our voices to every corner.
What a joy to hear the voice of others join us from the seats.
The day was special, as are the bride and groom. But the way
we all sensed God move in hearts during and after the ceremony was special too.
God used the day to open doors into still more lives, and we were so blessed to
have had the chance to minister in this unique opportunity. Pray for Daniel and
Eleonora as they embark on their journey of two-become-one!
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| Bob and Lori Scata |
Ordination of Bob Scata, January 15
I am personally very excited to share that we’ll be
recognizing God’s call on yet another dear and faithful brother, and good friend, Bob Scata. He
and his wife Lori have been serving diligently with us since the summer of
2008, and we have seen God prove their calling to both the ministry in general,
and their service to the body of Christ at CC Treviso in particular. We look
forward to publicly acknowledging this call at our Sunday service, January
15. Pray for Bob and Lori as they continue to seek the Lord and serve His people with us. It is special to see God forming his team of leaders here; so essential to the continued growth of this fellowship.
Continued Growth
We’ve seen a slow but steady influx of new and precious
people at Calvary Chapel Treviso these last two months. Giovanni, Francesca,
Isabella, Frances, Debora and Dorota. But we’re blessed beyond measure to share
that a few weeks ago, Frances and Rosana prayed to receive the Lord. We’ve seen
some neat growth already in Frances and we pray God continues to shower her
with the special touch that has transformed her countenance before our eyes.
Pray with us, also for Rosana’s desire to follow Jesus faithfully. Lift up
Andrea who is new but has been working and therefore missing the Sunday
fellowship. Pray for Giovanni who’s come out for his third Sunday service now. Isabella
and Francesca are both believers but Isabella has now made our fellowship her new
home and Francesca has just come for the first time this past Sunday. We hope the Lord blesses them both greatly here. Pray for Dorota and Debora to open up to Christ. Many good things are
happening and challenges are of course accompanying these high times. Pray the outpouring
of God’s Spirit on this beautiful little flock.
