News and prayer information from Richard and Pinuccia Wilson

I went to Spain and back again this week. Two and a half days of meetings, but it was a good time. In particular, there was a day dedicated to thinking about what it means to be a part of ECM in each country, which is what the ECM missionaries in Italy have been thinking about for a while. It will be helpful for tomorrow, as we will all (that is, the whole family) be going to one of the regular meetings together of the Italian ECM missionaries. And we will be discussing some of these matters that we talked about in Spain. In the meantime, the rest of the family coped without me, with a few visitors and a parade in our town for the Carnival celebrations to keep them busy. We then had a good reunion day together on Friday, going to play in the snow and do other things together.

Yesterday I played at a concert with the Lavis band, together with three other bands. Before the concert, a member of one of the other bands searched me out. It turned out that he is a happy user of my computer program to study the Bible, had seen that I played in the band at Lavis, and had been waiting for such an opportunity to meet me. As I often say, my program gets used a lot more than I know about.

I did (just) manage to prepare the last two studies of the two series of Bible studies that we are doing in the church this academic year (until the end of June). So that gives me about three months of extra time, to dedicate to my Internet ministry, improving my web site and my computer program to study the Bible. I have been creating a fairly long “to do” list in the last few months, when I have not had much time to work on it. “Three months”, because in May we will decide on the studies that we will be doing next year after the summer break, and I will start working on them.

It has been an enjoyable weekend with the family, because it was one of the few with no commitments outside of the church service. So it was good to be able to spend most of two whole days playing with the children. There was a bit of a snow fall on Friday as well, which meant that there was some snow to play with in the garden (snowmen and snowball fights) this afternoon.

Next week there is one of my twice yearly trips to Madrid for an ECM leaders’ meeting. I will be away from noon Monday to late on Thursday, although I probably won’t see anything of Madrid except the airport, the highway, and the inside of an office. Pinuccia has taken the week off work to look after the children, and that alone will keep her quite busy. She will have a few visits from friends as well to keep her company.

There was a lot happening in the family this week, which meant me doing less in the church. Although of course the church does not depend on me, and there was more happening in the church than normal, with the first Bible study at the university for the academic year, a meeting for some of the mothers to plan a prayer morning next month, a bookstall at Rovereto, some people going away for a five day conference, and no doubt other things that I am not even aware of! But the highlight of the family happenings during the week was Stefania’s fourth birthday today. It was the first time that she really appreciated what a birthday meant, and chose the friends she wanted at her party today from school and from church. Since the party and its preparation were in the afternoon today, and church in the morning, as a family we celebrated yesterday. She also had a party in the park for one of the other children in her class on Saturday afternoon. So she (like us) was fairly tired at the end of the weekend. Although with all these activities, she said as she was going to bed that her “head did not want to go to sleep”.

Tomorrow is one of our regular get togethers for all the ECM missionaries in Italy. This time we will be concentrating on some training, as the ECM training coordinator will be coming as well to give us some input. So you could pray for this day together, and that despite having to look after Stefania and Daniele that both Pinuccia and I will be able to some spend good time with the others. On Thursday there will be the first Ladies’ meeting after the summer break, which Pinuccia will lead, and next Sunday the monthly service at Rovereto, where I will be leading the service. So this week it will be back to lots of outside activities for us both.

Most of this week (Monday-Thursday) was spent in Spain, in a training and planning meeting for some of the leaders of European Christian Mission. It is hard work, staying inside for meetings all day, but there are good relationships between the about 20 of us that come together every six months, so that makes it more enjoyable. It was also hard work for Pinuccia to look after the children by herself. But it was great to see the excitement of them all when I got back.

After the service this morning, there was a presentation of the new association Altrimenti. This association has been in the works for almost a couple of years, and will be the social and cultural arm of the church. Some of the things that the church has done in the past (eg public conferences) and some of the things that individuals have been doing (organising collections of second hand clothes to send to other countries, working in nursing homes) will be brought under the name of this association, whilst also gives us a better base to do similar things in the future. This is just at the time when ECM in the past few months, and especially in the meeting this week, has been considering how to promote integral or holistic ministry in the mission. Although the church is not just now starting such ministry, it will now have a more conscious part in the church’s service in the community, and be more directed and organised.

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.

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!

We are all back at home now, after two days of travelling of 11 hours and 10 hours. But at least the children were very good in the back of the car the whole way. Now I am busy catching up on accumulated matters, and tomorrow will be able to get to work on the studies that I need to prepare. Although I won’t have much time to prepare them, before I will have to start using them in the groups at the beginning of next month.

Whilst we were in the car on the way home, Pinuccia get the call that she has a meeting on the 28th to find out what job she will have this school year (that starts on the 1st). This creates a bit of a problem, as we were planning to have the ECM Italian prayer days then. But we were expecting that problem, and all of the others knew that we might have to change the dates. So we will be away from Tuesday to Thursday next week with the other ECM missionaries in Italy, to pray and talk about our ministries together.

On Thursday I had my annual meeting with the elders to talk about the Bible study groups this past year, and to think about the program for next year. For the studies, the groups will be doing 1Chronicles and a series on Christian doctrine based on the Apostles’ Creed. This means that after a few weeks without having to prepare any Bible studies (because I was far enough ahead to have prepared all of them for the rest of the church year, that ends this month), I will have to really work hard on the new studies for a bit. This will be partly in order to get ahead for the next 12 months (especially since in July we will be going away for a month, so I won’t be able to do any preparation then). Since I have to prepare the studies on the Creed that the other groups will use, as well as some guidelines for the 1Chronicles studies (even though each group leader will prepare his or her own studies on the book), it is also partly to have something to give them in September when the church activities restart. Actually, I need to have something ready already by the 18th, when all the Bible study group leaders will be meeting and we will be explaining next year’s program.

In our meeting on Thursday, we also talked about structural changes, with the possibility of a new group starting (and which we might be involved in). It is not sure yet, so I will say more about that another time.

This week we have had staying with us for a few days Suzanne Bikker, the new missionary for Rovereto. This was to sign her rental contact, but also to meet the new International Director of the mission, who stayed for a couple of days as well. But it was also good to spend some time together with her (since we will be spending a lot of time together in the next few years), and also think further together about her future ministry.

This week, we will be away for four days at a conference held near Florence for missionaries in Italy. Should be a good time to chat with some of our friends from around Italy, and for Stefania and Daniele to play with some other children in similar situations.

We have just said goodbye to the most recent guests, two people from the band from a town in Germany that spent the weekend with our band, playing a few concerts. So the weekend was busy with events with them, although I did not go this morning so as I could go to church instead. Now we have a couple of free nights, until the new International Director of ECM arrives on Tuesday for two nights, to get to know us and what the mission is doing in Italy. Then on Wednesday Suzanne Bikker, the new missionary that will be moving to Rovereto in July, will be coming for four nights, partly to meet and talk with the director, partly to sign her rental contract and do some cleaning in her apartment.

Apart from that, there is a public holiday on Tuesday which will be a good opportunity to go out on a picnic with the family, and on Friday Daniele has another post-operation check up, although there do not seem to be any problems.

This weekend we have been kept busy showing hospitality. On Saturday a couple of ECM missionaries came to visit most of the day, to talk about how things were going. Then Sunday night there were some friends who will be getting married in two weeks who came for dinner. This, plus housework, church and Pinuccia preparing the lesson for Sunday School, meant there was not much time for anything else. And in fact we had to miss two church activities. On Saturday there there was what was considered the first youth (meaning mostly young adults) service, an evening of singing praise. I heard that it went well, and I got a taste of it this morning as a bit was repeated for the service. Then on Sunday afternoon there was a meeting for the musicians in the church on how to use music in worship. I think that we will be having to miss quite a few of the church activities in this period. The church now is just too large to do everything, especially in these (almost) spring months when a lot more is on, both in the church and elsewhere (I have quite a few concerts with the band in this period as well). And I praise God that it is like that!