laura's students (just in time for the end of the semester)

i know it's ridiculous that it has taken me this long to post about my students, but that's just how it goes. time is slip sliding away from me here and i forget to take pictures of them and...blah blah blah, life is busy.

anyway, here are my lovely students from this semester.

CHIARA

chiara is a student at the university and she is so much fun. she loves passogigante (our friend samuele's band that we go see all the time) so we always have fun with her at their concerts. we like to go to the market or movies together. she is a great snowboarder and went all the time in the winter. we are reading "blue like jazz" and studying the life of Christ together in our lessons.

OLGA

olga is a sweet high school student. she can come off as shy at first but as i've gotten to know her she has really opened up and we have had a lot of fun together. she has come to several devo's and concerts at the harding villa with us. she is going to thailand in june for 6 months to study and i will miss her. we are studying the parables of Jesus and reading "blue like jazz" in our lessons. her sister, mom, and dad all study at the bible school and we love them all, her family is actually having ryan and i over for dinner next week!

OLTA

sweet olta is one of the most tender-hearted people i have ever met. she is from albania and is here for university. we got to be a part of the international student festival at the university with her and she has also come with us to many events at the harding villa. we like to go visit her at the university because it's very close to our apartment and she lives in the dorms there. she has been very involved with our gathering group and i'm so thankful for her friendship. we are studying the life of Christ and reading "Christ in the coffee shop" in our lessons.

ROBERTA

roberta is a sweet mother of 2 little girls who stays home with them. she is a beginner in english but she is an incredibly fast learner. she studies so hard and is so encouraging to me. she is so busy with her girls because her husband works all the time so we haven't been able to spend time together outside of class, but hopefully now that the weather is nice we can do somethings outside together. we are studying the creation and proverbs in our lessons.

SARA (middle)

sara is always making me laugh and she is so sweet and smart. i feel like she is always giving me gifts, just last night, she gave me a giant chocolate egg for easter (which we had to break with a hammer because it had a surprise inside). she works for an american company that i can't remember the name of and i can tell she is a very hard worker. she has recently wanted to learn to cook and takes baking classes so we always talk about baking and share recipes. i always have something at the apartment for her to try, and she has also come to all of the cooking schools so far. we are also studying the life of Christ and reading "blue like jazz" in our lessons.

i did have 2 more students but they have cancelled until next semester because of school or work.

i have been so blessed by these sweet women and am so thankful for these friendships, i think if/when we come back to america i will have to continue our lessons with all of them on skype. a few months ago when we thought for a short time about moving away from florence i got emotional thinking about leaving these women (and that was only after 4 months). i love them dearly and am so blessed by our time together each week. please pray for all of them and their spiritual growth.