i think it's sinking in now

besides the usual italian classes, this week:

we had a men's/women's bible study

we each taught 5 english classes

we observed ermenita's graduation and celebrated with parties at gallo's and the bible school

we hosted ermenita's family

peter arrived

debbie's mom arrived

we cleaned up poop and pee of a new and wonderful pup

i got a spider bite

we got a new teacher at school

we were almost in a rioting mob stampede

we drank a lot of coffee and ate a little bit of gelato

we did homework and studied italian

we hung out in the "study lounge" at the florence public library (really)

we had our thursday night simple supper and bible study

we did skits in italian (we don't have a photo of our group)

we had kebabs

we watched "la vita e bella"

we went on a field trip to santa maria novella

it was another wonderful, challenging, exciting, beautiful, encouraging, rewarding week here in florence. ryan and i are so thankful for every day and for every person praying for us and thinking about us. please keep it up (especially that we will quickly grasp the language).

as i speak, we have just finished deep/speed cleaning the whole bible school for the italian preachers conference being held here this weekend. when i say "here" i mean "in the bible school" where we live. we will be cooking, cleaning and serving 10-12 italian preachers while they study and meet here together this weekend for an annual conference. i feel blessed to be able to serve these men who are leading the church all over italy. also, in the plans for the weekend is going to the scandicci fair that, i think, starts tonight. emily (flute) and angela (trombone) are in the scandicci band and it is playing twice at the fair. i can't wait to see them perform! i'm so excited that the fall is finally here.

we love you all