Kanda in Roma

This year the set-up of Agape (Campus Crusade) in Roma is looking a little different. Or maybe a lot different. We’re still figuring things out.

Agape Italia in Rome is in transition. Last year, the STINT team (Short-Term INTernational, 1-2 years) and ICS (International Campus Staff, or long-term staff) were just beginning to work together in reach the students of Rome, Italy.  Just to give a brief history of recent years in Rome, the first STINT team arrived in 2001.  The first Rome ICS couple did not move here until 2006, while most of the ICS arrived in Rome the Spring semester (2007) before my first year on STINT.  It wasn’t really until the second semester this past year (Spring 2008) that both STINT and ICS were working hard together at meeting students and sharing the Gospel. With all this in mind and trusting the Lord to call more laborers to Rome in the near future, a new set-up was needed–Missional Teams & Arco’s.

Currently, there are 5 Missional Teams (arrows) in Rome–4 that focus on Campus ministry, 1 on families & neighborhoods.  Each missional team focuses on different faculties (majors) at the 3 major public universities in Rome (La Sapienza, Tor Vergata, & Roma Tre). I am on a Missional Team with Jenny (STINT), Brian (STINT), Brian (ICS), and Amy (ICS, she arrives on Monday!) and our focus is at La Sapienza (economics, psychology, & chemistry) and Tor Vergata. The Missional Teams are set up so that we are reaching a wider range of students with more of a focus and so that we are porous and in need of Italians to join us in reaching others for Christ.  Working as smaller teams also gives us as a whole more opportunities to test out new ways of meeting students, evangelism, and discipleship, which will hopefully increase our learning.

We are also divided into 2 Archi or Arco’s as we more commonly say in our Italian-English. Archi (Arco’s) is the plural of arco which means bow. The analogy is that our Arco’s are what are behind, support, and shoot our Missional Teams (Arrows).  As an Arco we are a community of believers who come together to study the Bible, pray together, and have fellowship. My Arco community ranges from a baby who is 10 months old to recent college graduates to families and to people who have been on staff with Crusade for 30 years. I love how this truly represents the Body of believers, and not just a specific age-range.

I think the new set-up is great, however it does have its challenges.  I think the greatest challenge for me is not getting to spend time with some of the other staff, especially those who I spent a lot of time with last year in Rome. Which I guess this just creates another change this year for me: being more intentional in spending quality time with the friends I do not naturally see on campus or through Arco. Overall, I am excited to see what God does with this new set-up to change the city of Rome for His glory.

2 Missional Teams at Tor Vergata!

As a part of the settling-in process, we went to IKEA. A lot. I went to IKEA 3 times within a week and a half probably for a total of 12-15 hours. Unfortunately, all 3 times at 2 locations IKEA did not have the duvet cover I was looking for, which just turned into disappoint for the rest of each IKEA trip.

The second time we went to IKEA and after being yet again disappointed by the duvet cover selection (they didn’t have the right size duvet cover), I was overwhelmed with disappointment and a bad attitude.  It was at the end of the week–a week full of the Italian bureaucratic system and working on settling in when all I wanted to do was get on campus, meet new students, and reconnect with old friends. When we were leaving the IKEA store after round 2, it was POURING rain.  We had no other option but to walk to the bus stop by the mall and wait. None of us had umbrellas, and even if we did we were carrying too much stuff to hold one. And with this rain, there was nothing to do but laugh and enjoy the ridiculousness of the moment.  God really washed away my frustrations and disappointment in those moments as I was being soaked to the core with IKEA purchases in hand. I love how He works like that.

On September 15th, the ‘08-’09 STINT team arrived in Roma.  The guys were able to move into their apartment, which was the girls’/MY apartment last year, while we girls had to wait 2 weeks to move into our new apartment. I admit it was a little challenging the first couple of days to get used to not having a home while the STINT guys were beginning to live in my old home, their new home.  During the whole moving-in process, I realized some expectations I had and was reminded how everything I and the Rome STINT team have is the Lord’s and we are simply stewards of these possessions.

Our second week in Italy we went to a conference called Nuovo Inizio (New Beginning) in Tuscany for all of the STINT teams and new long-term staff to get better acquainted with the ministry, Italian culture, and other staff in Italy.  It was such a blessing to see the beautiful Tuscan countryside, enjoy lots of delicious Tuscan food, and to experience a terme (“tayr-may”)  which are hot springs in Italy. The national staff team also shared more of the vision that Agape Italia has for trusting God in changing Italian lives so they truly know & follow Jesus. It was a great reminder of the direction that the ministry is taking and of what to be trusting God for this year. I may share later more about some of the thoughts from the conference that I am thinking through and wanting to focus on this year in Rome.

As for the rest of settling in, we girls are mostly settled in except we are still waiting for internet to be installed at our apartment, for kitchen cabinets, an oven, and some smaller details.  Our settling-in process was slightly interrupted when our apartment had plumbing issues.  Apparently the water pipes were “raining” into the apartment below us, which had been a problem before we moved in. It took a week of tearing up bathroom tiles and shower floors to find and fix the problem, but for the last week we have thankfully been able to use all of our water appliances.  Some of my flat-mates have said it seems like we keep taking two steps forward, and one step back in getting settled into our apartment, but I just think it seems very Italy.

Rome STINT team at Nuovo Inizio conference ( back: Jimmy, Sam, Ella, Chris, Brian; front: me, Jenny, Kerry, April)

08-09 Team Tradition: a pyramid!

April sitting amongst all the STINT team stuff at the guys new (my old) apartment.

Our first night at our new apartment AKA the Palazzo! (Ella, Jenny, April, me, Kerry)

One small step in solving the Palazzo Plumbing Problem 2008.

Cultural differences would pop up at different times during the summer, which often happened at the grocery store and in particular the produce section. My first time of buying fruit again in an American grocery store I was so excited to be picking up lettuce with my bare hands, where as in Italy it is culturally-relevant to use a plastic glove while handling the produce.

Later in the summer there was an instance where I was buying a couple of apples. After putting the apples in a bag, I froze in place simply from confusion. I couldn’t remember what was proper etiquette in America: did you weigh the fruit with the scale in the produce section to obtain a sticker with the price, or did you weigh the fruit at the check-out line? I literally stood there for a minute or two before finding my mom in the store to ask “you weigh fruit at the check-out line, right?”

Oh, how I look forward to seeing what other cultural confusion I experience after living in Rome for another year!

It has been an extremely long time since I have posted on my blog and updated you on life and ministry in Roma, Italy, so begins my attempt to share some snapshots of my life in the past 5 months. So why not begin with my time in the States this past summer.

If you did not know, my transition week between Italy and the States was probably one of the craziest and hardest weeks of my life. Just to sum it up, it was a week of: saying goodbye to STINT teammates/Italy, preparing to return to the States, being in a scooter accident with my teammate Amos who broke his leg, my birthday, finding out 2 of my cousins passed away on my birthday from a tragic accident, spending the night in the DC airport because flights were canceled due to weather, flying into the Cincinnati airport instead of Columbus and going straight to my cousins’ calling hours, and the next day missing the funeral because I already had plans to visit friends in Boston.

Wow. I share this with you just to let you know how my summer started off. I think all the chaos of this really made reverse culture shock hardly be on my radar screen of life. I also tell you this to share some of the most encouraging and meaningful words. When I was at my cousins’ calling hours as my uncle was standing in front of his 2 daughters who had just passed away, he said “what you are doing in Italy, sharing the Gospel, this is what it is all about.” In my jet-lagged, emotional state-of-being, I was stunned by how my uncle, who probably doesn’t remember saying this to me, reminded me of the eternal impact of my time in Rome and how weighty of a decision accepting Jesus into our hearts as Lord & Savior truly is. (If you want to talk more about this, please feel free to contact me.)

An overview from a few other highlights/challenges this summer:

• Support raising was challenging, yet again this year. It was a true test of trusting & believing God and His calling to return to Rome when it looked like the support was not going to come in.
• Spending time with family and friends was of course wonderful.
• I did a bible study by Beth Moore called Believing God, and it was a great time of getting into the Word and it kept me accountable in hanging out with some of my favorite people.
• Every week I looked forward to recording/watching the television show “So you think you can dance.”

A few weekends ago my team went to an Agape Italia staff conference, and my train experience reminded me of an important Italian value, community. When I entered the train cabin to take my reserved seat, I was surrounded by 5 other Italians who were deep in conversation. At first I thought they were all traveling on the holiday weekend together as a family as grandmother, mother, daughter & boyfriend, and a younger son. The “grandmother” was talking about the rest of the family and showing pictures of their cousins, and the mother was sharing food and water with the “grandmother” and her son. The older woman offered a candy bar to the boy, which seemed like a very grandmotherly thing to do. I believed this to be the case for some time into the trip until the “daughter” asked me if I was Italian. (Sei italiana?) As we got into conversation, I asked if they knew each other, and only the mother and son knew each other prior to the trip. Everyone else were strangers. After no time, I felt as a part of the community of our cabin, participating in the conversation (ok, well mostly listening) and even joking around with the 11-year-old boy. When I left the cabin to get off the train, I felt as if for that 3 hour train ride I had made some new friends.

This incident reminded me of an article called “Individuality vs. Community” in Insieme (Agape Italia’s monthly update.) I have really grown to value the sense of community that Italians have. In America, bonding with fellow travelers happens less frequently as we are often automatically enter our own world of reading a book or putting headphones on our ears to watch a movie or listen to music. Granted, I often am guilty of entering my own world in this sense, and I have seen Italians do the same. However, I still appreciate how Italians are more community-focused and aware of others around them, and how I can even enjoy this cultural characteristic on a train ride.

If you have read or heard snip bits of my life recently, you’ve probably heard the words Spring Break. You could be thinking “Kanda, why do you keep talking about vacation?” Or maybe you have experienced a spring break mission trip yourself. Either way, here is the low down on the life of a STINTer during spring break.

Background information: For 3 weeks (March 8-29), American college students are coming over to Rome with CCC to grow in their relationships with God, to help with the ministry in Rome by sharing the Gospel and meeting spiritually-interested students who want to learn more about God, and to enjoy the Roman experience of Italian food, the Italian culture, and the Colosseum (among other tourist sites.) The first week 52 students and staff came from Ole Miss and Ohio. Week 2 (right now), there are 44 students and staff from Miami, USC, and Kent State. Next week (week 3) there will be 13 students & staff from Miami, Central Ohio, & Chicago.

Here’s what happened during week 2:

Saturday, March 15: SB students arrive. Throughout the day, people from our team went to the airport to pick up groups of students and helped them get settled into their hostels. I went with two friends to pick up the Miami group from the airport–we left the train station to go to the airport at 9:30pm and I didn’t get back to my apartment until after 2am. Even though it was a late night, it was SO great to see Miami friends.

Sunday, March 16: Some students (who didn’t need the extra time to sleep in) went to church. Sara & I picked up the Kent State group from the hostel and took them to the restaurant where we were having lunch and orientation. It was more challenging than usual to take the spring breakers to the lunch because the Rome marathon was in progress. Buses weren’t running their normal routes, and we had to cross the marathon path three times to get to the restaurant. After the lunch and orientation (with which some of our Italian friends helped), the Spring Breakers did the Amazing Race to some of the major sites in Rome. This helped the SBers get oriented with taking transport around the city, and was a great way to get a glimpse of the sites. For four hours, Sara & I hung out at St. Peter’s Basilica in the piazza waiting for the teams to come by that track of the race. After the Amazing Race, we all met at Piazza Navona, then split into groups to go to dinner. I took the Kent State group to dinner, to eat gelato, and to see the Trevi Fountain at night. Day 2 ended: 11:30pm.

Monday, March 17: Monday through Thursday mornings were times of devotionals and ministry training. I started the day by picking up the group staying at the Salvation Army (SBers were staying in two different locations) to take them to the Meeting Place bar. (In Italy, a bar is where you get coffee and pastries.) Monday morning 9:30-11 was a time of ministry training for the students. Afterwards, we split into our groups, and Amos & I went with the group who was going to the biology and engineering faculties (majors) at the university of Roma Tre. We grabbed lunch near the campus, and then the American students went out to meet Italian students and have conversations with them about God and spirituality from 12-4. At 4, we met with the other Roma Tre groups to share about our days and to pray together. Students had free time until dinner in staff homes that night. The STINT guys and girls had a BBQ together at the girls’ apartment. This was great because I was able to catch up with some of my friends from Miami.

Tuesday, March 18: In the morning, Debbie (staff woman in Rome) did a talk on the Spirit-filled life and students were trained in using Soularium as a ministry tool. Soularium is a fun tool… it is a survey, and students choose from 40 pictures one that describes their answers to questions like “which picture best describe your life?”, “which picture would you like to describe your life?”, and “which picture best describes your view of God?” This can lead into great conversation and helps overcome the language barrier because it’s possible to communicate through pictures. In the afternoon I went with the same group to the biology & engineering faculties at Roma Tre again, followed by debrief. Normally on Tuesday evenings we have Italian bible study and dinner, but we canceled this past weeks because students were already going out of town for Easter holiday.

Wednesday, March 19: DAY OFF! With 3 weeks straight of spring break, each STINTer gets one day off per week. My day off was Wednesday. It was great to catch up on sleep, run, spend extended time with the Lord, and simply do nothing. After relaxing during the day, I went to our outreach for the week, a benefit concert for Malawi. An American band played, followed by Haswell sharing about the trip to Malawi and the heart behind it. Then an Italian band, who were students that my team/spring breakers met the previous week, played, and the night ended with a DJ. Unfortunately, not many students could come because they were out of town for Easter holiday and the derby (a soccer game where two teams from the same region play against each other–Roma vs. Lazio.) However, we did raise 400 euro. Additionally, I can see how God has been using our outreaches like the concert to connect us with students. At the first outreach (Texas BBQ), a student who I had met through two spring breakers came to the party and brought 3 of her friends. I didn’t get any of her friends’ phone numbers, so I was surprised to see one of those friends at the concert the following week. We exchanged numbers, so I’m excited to get to know her more and she even wants to come to our weekly meetings.

Thursday, March 20: We started the devotional time later, so the Spring breakers could sleep in after the concert. Because students didn’t have classes on Thursday (Easter holiday), we did a prayer walk around the campus for an hour. At 5, we had our weekly meeting, La Bella Vita, for Italians. Although most students weren’t around we still had 5 students come to LBV, where we watched/listened to media & discussed the topic of peace. Afterwards some of the staff & STINTers went to dinner with Spring Breakers who are interested in going on STINT or summer project in the future. A lot of SBers who were here this past week are seriously considering doing STINT in Rome next year, so it was fun hanging out with some of my potentially-future teammates.

Friday, March 21: Friday was the SBers free day, and our day to catch up with the students we have been meeting with over the year. Because all the students weren’t at university, we just had a staff meeting/lunch with the ICS team. We took this time to evaluate some of the past two weeks, and change the schedule for next week. Because the Monday following Easter (Pasqua) in Italy is Pasquetta, meaning “Little Easter”, students do not have classes on this day. Instead, families and friends often head to the parks for a picnic. Friday evening, we had a time of celebration with the SBers, celebrating everything God had done during the week. We spent time praising and worshiping the Lord through songs, prayer, and sharing stories of what we had seen God do in our lives and the lives of Italians. Then we all went to dinner together as our celebration dinner, and one last Italian meal for everyone leaving the next day.

And so the process begins again on Saturday. Even though this is a ridiculously long post, it only touches on what has happened this past week. If you want to hear more specifics about any of this or how God has been working here in Rome, let me know. Or maybe I’ll post more later…

Last week (week 1 of 3 spring breaks), students from Ole Miss and Ohio came to Rome to partake in the ministry here and enjoy the sites of Rome. It has been truly encouraging to have Spring Breakers here: to see them take steps of faith in sharing the Gospel, to hear about their conversations with Italian students, and to have fun with them as they explore the city. After having the sweet Ole Miss group here, I realize how much I adore the Southern accent. Highlights of last week include: an Italian student rededicating his life to Christ, new students came to our weekly meeting (La Bella Vita), and 70 people (Agape staff, Spring Breakers, and Italian students) came to our Texas BBQ party. Through spring breakers, I have been able to meet some sweet girls who are believers (or very interested in learning more about God) that I will try to meet up with over the following weeks. Praise the Lord for how he is moving in Rome and for all the seeds that were planted during the first spring break week. Please continue to pray for the Spring Break trips.

    This summer (July 4-26) a staff couple, Haswell and Maria, from Florence will be leading a group of Italians (and Americans) to Malawi Africa for a three-week summer project! This is such an exciting opportunity for Italians to become a part of how God is working in the world and for God to work in their lives.  Two weeks ago, we held a dinner and presentation for students interested in going to Malawi, and tonight we will have a benefit concert! The heart behind the trip to Malawi is to combine doing good deeds and sharing the good news of the Gospel.  Throughout the trip, during the day, the group will work to build a school house, build a well, and provide for various other needs.  At night, participants will have the opportunity to pair up with a team that is showing the Jesus film in surrounding villages to share Jesus’ life with the Malawians.  This trip is open to both Italian believers and non-believers.  The only requirement is that they would not be opposed to the Gospel being shared.  This is an incredible opportunity for Italians to gain a heart for the world, to learn more about Jesus, and to see how Jesus changes lives.  (Side note: it will also be optional for participants to stay another week to go club hunting in Malawi!)  Please pray that some Romans would be able to go on this trip and be a part of this life-changing experience!

Tonight, we will be having a benefit concert for Malawi, where proceeds will go toward the cost of the trip and supplies.  The concert is also one of our outreaches during this time of Spring Break. An American band and an Italian band will be playing tonight, and Haswell will also share a little about the trip. So exciting!!

In February for one weekend, we took 7 Roman students to an Agape European Student Conference in Bristol, England. It was quite the experience… thinking back to my first Crusade conference, how it was a bit intimidating at first as a young freshman… I couldn’t imagine what that would be like in a different country, with a different language, and with a mix of cultures. Some of our students did experience some culture/conference shock, but overall it was a beneficial experience for the students.

We arrived to the conference on Friday evening after traveling all day, had dinner, and then went to the meeting that evening with worship music. Most of our students are Catholic and have never heard worship music with a band, instead of an organ, so many times the students would say “I feel like I’m at a concert.” At night, everyone split up to sleep in different churches across Bristol. Sleeping on the floor & freezing may not be the most comfortable way to sleep, but it is quite the bonding experience… even the Italians think so.

On Saturday, there were more sessions of speakers & worship in the morning. One of the speakers was Javier Garcia, who is one of the “three amigos” of the Agape Europe leadership. The Italians were touched by his talk, and also by Javier’s Spanish friend who is a doctor by profession, but said that he is first & foremost an ambassador for Christ. For most of our students in Rome, they have come in contact with few people who are truly passionate about Christ, other than Agape staff, so it was great for them to see that you can follow Jesus and work in any field that you want. In the afternoon, we went sharing with the students. It was a first for some of them, and was so great to see them take that step of faith. Saturday evening, there was a session of creative outreach ideas, including Soularium, short films, and meals with a message. The Italian students seemed to enjoy this part and are open to trying these techniques with their friends and campus!

Sunday was our last day at the conference, and one of the highlights was getting to pray for each of the countries represented in the room. I hope this time really gave the students a heart for the nations and a greater understanding of how God is moving all across Europe. After the conference, one of the students commented on how differences in the Christian churches aren’t what matter, but how we should be united, unified in Christ. The weekend after the conference, another student shared at church about the conference. This was the same student who said she was reminded at the conference that she doesn’t need to go to another country to share Jesus with others, but how she should be reaching her family, her friends, her community, and her campus.

I am continually amazed at how God is moving in the hearts of students and in the city of Rome.

Students & staff from Rome at the conference in Bristol!