youth retreat in aprilla

this weekend we went to aprilla (a little town outside of rome) for a retreat for people around ages 15-25 from all the churches in italy. there were about 40 young people total and it was one of the greatest experiences i have had yet in italy.

we left friday after lunch in the harding van and emily's car (there were 11 avanti workers and 3 italians that all rode together from florence). we got there at about 7:30 friday night, and after meeting everyone we had a pizza dinner together.

sweet marta, our friend from the college age retreat we had at the bible school the first weekend we were in italy

after dinner we sang together for a little while, they made some announcements, and we were sent off to the houses where we were staying.

we stayed with the sweetest family, marco and giuliana bordoni (and their sweet 2 year old, sara). they picked us up friday night and took us to their house, showed us around and we sat and played with sara and talked with them before going to bed.

saturday morning after we got ready and came downstairs, they had an amazing breakfast waiting for us (coffee with milk, pastries, and fruit). we sat and enjoyed breakfast with them before marco took us back up to the church at 10.

we fellowshiped for a few minutes and then sang and prayed. after that, our lessons were brought by vittorio vitalone, the preacher at the church in rome, and a wonderful wonderful speaker. even though i only understood about every other word, i got the general idea, and it was great.

he spoke at 3 different sessions throughout the day with singing and prayer time, a glorious pasta meal, and some free time scattered in there (in which we walked around the town, swung in an awesome swing in the park, got coffee, and played charades).

lucca, another one of our friends from the college age retreat we had

reading "green eggs and ham" in italian

typical

after dinner and charades saturday night, we cleaned up and watched the movie "big fish" in italian. after that we all retired to our houses.

about to watch the movie

sunday morning we woke up again to a wonderful breakfast with the bordonis, got ready and packed, and headed back up to the church for worship. this church is such a loving and hospitable congregation, and it was such a joy to get to worship with them. after worship they had a huge feast: lasagna, roast, beans, salad, fried potatoes, and dessert buffet...unbelievable.

after lunch we cleaned up and told everyone bye because we had to head back to florence. it was so sad to tell those people bye, in just a short time, we made some great friends and relationships. i'm already excited about the times in the future that we will get to visit aprilla and see those friends. what a wonderful experience!