News and prayer information from Richard and Pinuccia Wilson

I have finished now my three studies for this week, although I do have to prepare the meeting for Saturday with the youth, but that will be easier because there isn’t a study this week. We are instead today getting things ready for the visit of the new ECM-Australia director this afternoon for three days, which means moving a bit of furniture around, cleaning the house today instead of the usual Saturday cleaning, and getting a few things done that I would usually do on the weekend but which I won’t have time to do. Pray for a good time together, and for him as he visits me on the field for the first time to learn first hand what I am doing.

The plans for these few freer days did not really work out. Stefania and I remained sick, every early evening my temperature shot up to 39 or 40, Stefania regularly gets a fever at 2am, and Pinuccia has been busy looking after both of us. So there was no trip to Pinuccia’s relatives, no planning meeting for the Youth Group, and not much preparation done either. Hopefully I will be alright to start leading the studies again from tomorrow night.

Yesterday I had my last study before the Christmas-New Year break, which lasts until January 8. It is a bit longer than the usual two weeks, since I didn’t have anything on Thursday and Friday anyway, and the day that everything in Italy usually restarts (the 7th, the day after Epiphany, or as they call it in Italy the Befana (an ugly old lady who brings gifts or pieces of coal, depending upon your goodness during the year)) is a Sunday this time. Pinuccia as well finishes school, and her contract, today – the teacher she is substituting returns tomorrow for the last day of school so that she gets paid for the holidays. You could pray for another good job for Pinuccia when school restarts on the 8th.

The main thing we will be doing during the break is hospitality, because my parents arrive this afternoon for a couple of weeks with us (but mainly with Stefania!). Pray for a good time together.

The long weekend at the GBU [the Italian Christian student movement] conference went well. Don Carson’s talks were as good as I expected them to be. There was quite a crowd of 350 people, which is a most I have ever seen at a Christian meeting in Italy. There were many people that I knew from my time working with the GBU and that I hadn’t seen for a few years, as well as a number of missionaries that I regularly meet with for fellowship, and it was good to see them all again. Although with so many of them, the time with each of them was a bit limited.
There was also a good group from the church who went – 13 adults and five children. From what I have understood from them, they benefited a lot from the meeting – they don’t often get to hear a speaker as good, clear and deep as Carson.
It was also the first time that we have been about to leave Stefania in a crèche during a conference or church. Pinuccia said that it was too good to be true! We wondered how Stefania would cope with all this time without us, but she had a great time and didn’t complain at all when she was left with the other children. It happened that a number of the other missionaries that we see regularly have children within a few months of Stefania’s age, so I pray that they will build good relationships together as we travel around Italy for meetings.

This is one of the exceptions to getting one night free a week, as I mentioned last week. Today is a public holiday, so I have both today and tomorrow night free. Public holidays used to be a bit of a nuisance to me, as it didn’t change much except I was able to do less because the shops were changed. Having a family though changes things a bit… Since Pinuccia was at home all day as well, we did some decorating the house together, took Stefania to the park (probably the last time for a few months – it is getting too cold), and will watch a movie tonight (at least that is the plan, it depends if Stefania lets us). I did get a few things done for myself however, in particular fixing up the second last problem before I release the next beta version of my Bible program. I haven’t been able to do much programming at all lately (as I do it in the time left over from church commitments and preparation, with has become a lot less with Stefania taking priority as well), but know that I have got a few weeks ahead in my preparation I hope to do a bit more now.

Welcome to my blog, in which I will try to keep you more up to date with what is happening in my ministry and my life than is possible with the printed and e-mail newsletters. The aim will be to write a couple of times a week, and at least once a week, although whether I am able to keep that up remains to be seen! I will also try to avoid writing just for the sake of writing if there is nothing to say.

When something important is coming up, I will try to write about it a few days beforehand so that you can pray for it. And when things have happened, it will be easy to report on them here. If you are using an RSS (feed) reader, you can subscribe to the feed of this blog with the address at the bottom of each page, so as to be informed automatically when there is a new message.

I am a missionary with the European Christian Mission, working for the Evangelical Church of Trent in northern Italy. For more information about the various things that I do, about my past, and for approximately six weekly summaries with photos, see my site.