A full week
It was a full week this week with church activities, out six evenings in a row. First on Tuesday and Wednesday there were the usually cell group Bible studies at Rovereto and Trento. Then there was a co-ordination meeting with the cell group and church leaders, so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Since it was the first such meeting after the summer break, we worked on a summary of where we are at the moment and looked at our plans for the year. It was encouraging to see more than 80% of the (more or less) regular attenders of the church in one of the seven cell groups, which becomes almost 90% if we include the few in the young adults’ group that do not attend one of the cell groups. However, it also causes problems with the groups, because they are more popular than we can cope with. For example, the three groups at Trento each have 16 members, whereas a dozen is usually the recommended maximum size. But we do not have enough leaders to start another group.
After my “recreation night” at band practice on Friday, on Saturday there was the first meeting of the new group in the Valsugana, which caters also for the “baby boomers” in the valley: six couples are in the group, along with 8 children under 4 years old plus two more on the way. It will be interesting to see how such a group, which is very different from the other groups in the church, develops. Then this evening, there was the monthly service at Rovereto, which it was my turn to preach up. By the way, this morning there was also a record attendance at the service at Trento, with 76 adults (not counting guests).
In the meantime, we had Pinuccia’s cousin and her husband staying with us from last Sunday until Saturday, when they moved to the apartment that they had found. It is at the centre of Lavis, only about 500 meters from our house, which no doubt will be convenient at times. For example, I leave tomorrow for four days at Madrid for meetings with ECM, and this creates some problems for Pinuccia in managing the house and the children (even though she will take a few days off work). But she will be able to get her cousin to help to do some shopping, or to have a meal, or to have a lift somewhere if necessary, since I will be taking the car to the airport. I in the meantime will get a bit of a break, although two and a half days shut up inside in constant meetings is tiring in another way.