News and prayer information from Richard and Pinuccia Wilson

Today we were back in our church, and it was good to see our friends again. There was also another pregnancy announced (back to five pregnant ladies again, after one birth took place during the summer). Suzanne Bikker, our new missionary at Rovereto, was also there, having lived here for a few weeks now. I had a bit of work to do, as most of the musicians were away, so I was asked to fill in on the piano. I was a bit rusty, not having played in a service for perhaps a couple of years, but it went well.

As I said in my last message, we will be away again this week for three days for the ECM Italy prayer days, with Suzanne, and another couple and a lady in two other places in northern Italy. I was hoping to get some good Bible study work done this week, but it is going to be hard with the three middle days taken out, and some other commitments we wanted to get done before school starts (a check up for Daniele at the hospital, and his programmed 2 year check up with the doctor; renewing our identity cards; getting some other documents that the bureaucracy requires; and a meeting on Friday morning where Pinuccia will find out her job for this year). Then on Saturday morning there will be a book stall at Rovereto as well, and on Sunday afternoon there will be an informal meeting for all the church members and contacts in the Valsugana. This will be partly to introduce the new Saturday afternoon group in the upper Valsugana which I will be starting and leading, so the whole family will be going there. With the newly announced pregnancy, we are now at 6 couples, with 9 and two half children under the age of 4, which will make it very interesting!

The major activity this week was the church children’s camp. I was there mostly to help the three “official” leaders, since there were so many children that there was no space in the house for me to sleep. So I had an hour’s drive each way up and down the mountain for four days, which meant that I missed some of the activities. But I helped out especially with the music, but also generally being and talking with the children, helping with the games and activities, and filming everything so that I can make a video of the camp (which will be this week’s work). It was good being able to participate in the lives of the children, especially those who were in my Sunday School class this year. And I saw that the camp was effective in teaching about following God, not just in the studies but also showing how to apply God’s Word in the many everyday situations that we lived together in the camp.

Today was another big event in the church, with three people being baptised (plus another from another church). It again meant the hall was packed, which is unusual for a July service. Then, as usual for the first Sunday of the month, it was off to the park for a picnic lunch together, which is always one of my favourite moments of fellowship. The children really like it too, being able to play with the other children.

I am hoping that the next few days will be a “sabbatical week” for me, with no church activities now that they have all finished for the year, and not yet away on holidays (which happens next Sunday). The idea is to get a lot of work done on some projects (especially in my computer ministry) that I have not been able to finish with my normal weekly commitments, and to prepare some of the Bible studies for next year. I only have this week and a week towards the end of August with such freedom. But I suspect that I will not be able to do as much as I would like. Both Pinuccia and I have to make trips to various offices to complete some bureaucratic things, and we want to go out as a family a few times. Then on Saturday the new missionary Suzanne Bikker will be arriving, so I (and a few others from the church) will be helping her to move house, whilst at the same time about 500 meters away there will be a bookstall at Rovereto. I will also have to prepare the service for Sunday morning which I will be leading, and then in the afternoon it will be packing time. So I will probably be looking forward to the holidays this time next week.

In the next few weeks in the Wednesday Bible study, I will be trying a bit of an experiment. Although most of the members of the group have not prepared studies before, I have asked a number of them to use a book of Bible studies on Luke to lead a study. (And the few that have a lot of experience in leading studies, I did not ask.) Hopefully this will be a way to help the group, and the individuals, grow. In fact, it is only lately that the group has matured enough and a group identity been created that I have been able to do this.

We will also get a short hospitality break, at least for a few days. We got to the stage of having 3 sets of guests at the same time during the week, with my in-laws staying for a while, the Australian director of ECM for a few days, and then 3 of Pinuccia’s aunts and uncles and one cousin (not the son of any of those aunts or uncles) coming for lunch one day. Then when the director left, an aunt and uncle came for a night, plus 2 cousins and their husbands for lunch the following day. We had to overlap some of our commitments there, as Pinuccia had a meeting to plan the church children’s camp next month. So we all went to the park for a picnic after church, and whilst the relatives talked amongst themselves, Pinuccia went to talk with the other camp leaders (and I chased Daniele up and down the park).

But as I said, we get a small break now, as Pinuccia’s parents have gone to stay with her aunt for a week, before coming back for a few more days with us. Although even in this week, it looks like we might be getting some more guests on Saturday night. A representative of the school in India that the Sunday School supports will be coming, and he might need hospitality the night before. There will also be the end of year recital for the Sunday School that day (even though there is about another month of lessons to go, but we thought that we would take up the opportunity of the representative’s presence), which also means the public debut of another one of the songs that I have written for the children, and a video that goes along with it. In the afternoon there is also a church service at Rovereto, so it is going to be a busy weekend again.

This weekend seemed like it would knock me out again, but it turned out to be a bit easier than expected.

Firstly on Saturday there was the day of prayer and fasting for the projects of the church. With the family and its needs to look after (like the shopping in the morning), we had decided to pray in the evening when the children were asleep. So I was fasting and busy as well. In the afternoon, there was a planning meeting for a church children’s camp in June – one of the people who will be helping lives in the mountains, so we had put the meeting on the day of prayer so that she could also go to prayer meeting without having to make the long trip twice. After the planning meeting we all went to the meeting for the whole church to present our projects to God and to praise him for what he has done in the past. There was a good atmosphere there, especially since the church does not pray much together.

Then it was to bed early in anticipation of today, and because, to make matters worse, it was the beginning of daylight savings, so there was an hour less to sleep. But we got off to church in the morning, then quickly back for lunch. At this point I discovered that the concert I was due to play in at 2.30pm had been cancelled due to the bad weather (although I suspected that it would be the case). So I stayed at home, and then left at 4.30 to go to the first of new series of monthly services at Rovereto, where I preached. The rain certainly saved me there; I could have a bit of a rest and help Pinuccia tidying up the house a bit, rather than twice having only a few minutes to come home, get changed and go out again. Although on the other hand, it was a shame that Pinuccia’s walk with the children through the annual market day at Lavis (which is where I would have played) had to be cancelled as well. Pinuccia likes visiting the stalls, and Stefania was looking forward to playing on the fairground rides for the first time.

For your prayers this week: my parents will be arriving for a visit on Wednesday, on Saturday afternoon there will be a bookstall at Rovereto and on Sunday afternoon the annual church meeting. There will be an announcement at the meeting of something that I am excited about, as it is the answer to about 14 years’ prayer. So make sure you visit the blog in a week’s time to find out about some big changes in the church here.

This month is relative visiting month for us, with my aunt here this week, then a week after she leaves my parents will be visiting for two weeks. So it is a great time having them with us, although it does make it harder to get everything done. This last week was in fact fairly heavy, with Pinuccia especially feeling the stress a bit. Apart from her usual work every afternoon, she also had to go one morning to meet with the other teachers, and to prepare for the ladies’ group meeting on Thursday night. As well, Stefania had a fever for a couple of days so once had to taken from school early, and also had a day off. Then yesterday one of our friends got married, so we were out all day there (mostly eating), and for Pinuccia especially that meant a bit of preparation – getting new clothes, going to the hairdresser, etc. For me, the wedding is what did me in, after being woken up early by Daniele a couple of mornings in a row, and at the end of Saturday I just crashed out. But today, after church there has been a good time to rest and catch up on things. And tonight my aunt is taking us out to dinner, which is appropriate because it is the sixth anniversary of the first time Pinuccia and I met to chat together. It wasn’t going out together yet, that anniversary is in a couple of weeks, but Pinuccia offered me a coffee and so we sat and talked one afternoon. So I will make sure she offers me something tonight, to remember that afternoon!

Next week there are some important events coming up. One is on Saturday, when the church will be praying and fasting together for the projects that we would like God to accomplish through us, especially the Rovereto project, the social work ministry that we will be starting shortly, and the search for a new hall (which is quickly becoming urgent and desperate, as the church grows). So pray together with us on that day for the future of Trento. Then on Sunday afternoon the monthly services at Rovereto will be restarting. Pray also for this beginning in the city. I will be preaching at that one.

This Thursday there was a meeting to discuss the Rovereto church planting project amongst the people in the church interested in it, a year after we officially got it going. So we talked a bit about what we had done, the current state, and what we would like to do and what we can do with our resources and abilities. It was encouraging for me hear the elder start the meeting with the statement, “Every church should have in its plans the planting of new churches”. Not only has he caught the vision of what we want to do (as a church and in ECM), but he is transmitting the vision to the others. There will another meeting to work out some of the details, and some other changes coming up in the next few months, but as usual I will write more about them later on when they happen.

Next Thursday there is something a bit different that the church will be trying. There will be the first of six fortnightly meetings at a caffè/cultural centre at Trento, in which the other elder will be leading a conversation on the six requests of the Lord’s prayer. It is certainly a different type of evangelism, and a result of our vision to have a voice in the culture of the city.