This is Not the end

This is Not the End is a track from Gungor's latest album, Ghosts Upon The Earth. If you've never heard of Gungor, get thyself to the iTunes store. Quick.

Those words can also be used to describe my feelings of Italy and this life-changing summer.

In a little less than a week, I'll be back in the States for at least another eleven-months.
In years past, that thought, the thought that I won't be out adventuring around the world, has depressed me. However, a friend and fellow summer project-er Catherine, gave me some good insight a night ago.

She said, "Don't think of heading home as leaving the mission field but rather think of it as going on a year-long mission trip to America."

What wisdom. For once, I intend to do just that. Words cannot express how excited I am to see my family and friends, church families and youth kids.

Not only will I be able to share with them of the numerous places I've seen and foods that I've eaten, but more importantly I will have SO MANY opportunities to share the Gospel, the reason that I've been conversing with random strangers all summer, with the people that I love most.

So. So. Excited.

Though I have loved Bologna and would love to come back long-term in the future, I know that Beebe and then Conway in the fall is where I need to be right now. In fact, it's where I want to be right now.
I want to complete my Senior year of college. I want to be an RA and love my floor well. I want to be the best daughter, granddaughter, niece and friend possible. I want to write in order to give His name praise and to show the campus of CBC that God is still relevant.

I want to love God with all that I am...and to share that experience with others.

As my team and I finish ministry in Bo, please pray for the following names. Though they may be merely words on a screen to you these people are our dearest Italian friends.

They are the people that we have spent the past 6-weeks pouring-into and doing life with.
They are the ones that we love and will miss.

Virginia
Simone
Silvia
Luisa
Melissa
Sara
Giada
Imma
Mateo
Igon
Leonardo
Marco
Fedro
Laura
Carolina
Stephen
Diego
Gail
Johnny
Shirley
Claudia
Chiara
Michael
Vlad
Georgia
Jiacomo
Anjelica
Ester
Peter
Kevin
Julie
Soraya
and Guilia

Thank you always. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Love in Him,

Brittney

Bones

On Friday, our group headed to Rome. We had quite the adventure and saw many of the eternal city's beloved sights such as the Collesium, the Roman ruins, the Parthenon, the Roman Forum, the Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Trevi Fountain.
Yet, something random that we saw was the catacombs of San Castillo. This catcacomb, built right outside of the Roman walls, was Rome's first official Christian cemetary. It is four levels deep and we went down to two of them where we got to see the former tombs of over 500,000 people.
However, before you get too grossed out, please know that the bodies are no longer down there. They were moved by their owner, The Vatican City, because years ago their tombs were opened and raided in search of treasure.
As our tour guide explained, those criminals were out of luck.
"Christians bury only with bones," said she.
This statement has resonated with me since.

Christians bury only with bones.

It keeps repeating itself over and over in my head. A slightly morbid but lovely sound.

The more I think of it, the more two intertwined concepts come to mind.

They buried only with bones because their bones were all they had; Christ was all that could be found in those dry bones.

"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." -Mark 8:34-35

They buried only with bones because their treasures were not of this world. Their lives were hid with Christ on high.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."-Matthew 6:19-21

O how vast the differences between present-day American Christianity and the Roman Christianity of the past...

Oh, the places you will go and the people you will know

Ciao, amici. I hope that all is well back home, be it Beebe, McRae, Conway or some other random, beautiful place.

What a week it has been. Since posting last Friday a lot of traveling has been done and a lot of people have been met. Hence the name of this update.

For starters, you all should know that my team and the rest of the folks here in Bologna are alright despite the earthquake scares. I felt my first one ever on Tuesday morning and it really wasn't bad....definitely not your stereotypical walls-shaking, things-breaking kind of ordeal.

Last Saturday, we visited Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet. Yesterday, we traveled to Venice and it was absolutely gorgeous. Hands down, my favorite of the places that we've been to so far.
Trust me, I have photos and they will be posted when I get home.

My favorite day of this week has probably been Tuesday. God keeps showering me in little, surprise blessings and I am so, so grateful. He is sweet to me when I deserve it the least.
You see, Tuesday I didn't really feel like being here. I couldn't focus in our group devotional that morning and I did not want to go out and meet Italian students. I was paired with a friend, Paige, and we decided to try to meet students at a coffee shop called ITIT (This place is so much like Starbucks that it's not even funny. The funny thing is that Italy dosen't have Starbucks because they hate chain places.) Before approaching someone to chat with, we prayed a lot and asked God to take away our apathy and to use us despite our unwillingness. Then, Paige tapped the shoulder of the girl behind her...and the rest is a wonderful history.

The girl's name is Carolina and later we met her boyfriend, Diego. They are both from Mexico City (Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Mexico.) and are here studying art and film making. We hung out with them for the rest of they day and got to share our testimonies.
Carolina said that she wants to believe, but dosen't know what to believe in and Diego wants to start reading the Bible. She also said that our testimonies were beautiful and that she had never heard people talk so truthfully and honestly about God. Carolina came to our weekly aperativo (pretty much a free buffet with the purchase of a drink) on Thursday and came to church with us this morning.
Meeting them truly made my day.



Then, on Thursday, I was out sharing with another friend Lauren. We had been rejected three times in a row, but I still wanted to keep trying. As I approached two girls, Lauren said, "Brittney, what are you doing? I don't think they want to talk." I responded with, "Until the whole world hears" and walked up to them. At first they were hesitant to speak with us, but by the end of our conversation we had made two new friends. Then, though they don't believe in God, they came to aperativo that night.

Out of at least 30 people that I invited last week it was those three, Carolina, Luisa and Melissa who came to hang-out with us on Thursday night.

I think that Oswald Chambers says it best in My Utmost for His highest, "What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us-He knows every detail of each of our individual lives."

I am so thankful that He knows me intimately and that even on this trip I have started to know Him more intimately. I'm slowly realizing that intimacy with God is priceless.

Tomorrow begins our second week on campus and I have some specific prayer requests for you guys:
Carolina-the opportunity to study the Bible with her
Diego-the same opportunity for one of the guys
Luisa and Melissa-that they will do well on their exams this week and that we will be able to hang-out with them more in the weeks to come

Personally, pray that I would speak wisdom into the lives of my teammates and that we would be able to grow closer together as a unit.

Also, we have some specific outreaches planned for Italian students:
A hike on June 5th @ 2 p.m.
A picnic on Wednesday, June 13 @12 p.m.
A dessert exchange/party on Friday June 22 @ 9 p.m.

Prayer in any capacity for these things would be greatly appreciated.

Love always,
Brittney

Life in Bologna

Well guys, my team made it safely to Bologna...and what an adventure it has been already.
Let me start by saying that the earthquake did not affect us at all (praises!)

Truthfully, I don't even know where to begin.

Saturday, I met my team and they are all awesome. I already feel that we are a family and it has only been a week. At our debriefing weekend in Dallas we were told that our team was a gift and that they are all called by God.

This week has proved that those two statements are so true, so very true.

So that you can pray for us specifically, here are the names and schools of my teammates:

Catherine Rutter- Missouri State University

Lauren Holt- Texas Christian University

Paige Alwood- LSU

Madison Paulette- University of North Texas

Eli Lopez- UNT

Austin Matthews- UNT

Brian Rollins- UNT

and Christian who also goes to UNT.

The crazy, cool thing: we are all either psych, art or music majors. It's legit and there have been many jamfests already.

Our beloved staff members are:

Karl and Keri Armentrout- who are on staff at UNT

Natasha Larrinagua- also at UNT

and Caitlin Clark who is at LSU.

On Saturday, Lauren picked Catherine and I (Note: those two are my roommates here in Italy) up from the airport in Dallas and we spent the day at the Ft. Worth Zoo before we had to go to debriefing. Talk about a bonding experience. Then we went to debriefing, met the above awesome team and spent a day and a half in Dallas praying and learning how to love one another well for the trip.
On Monday, we headed out for Italy and first had a 10 hr. plane ride to Germany. Surprisingly, it really wasn't as bad as I expected.
Then, we only had about a two hr. flight to Bologna. We arrived here at 2 p.m. Bologna time a.k.a 7. a.m. and super early American time. Yes, there is a sevevn hour time difference.

Honestly, Bologna is exactly what I expected and I love it. It's still kind of surreal to me that I'm actually here and not just here, but here to tell people about Christ, the guy who changed my life.

Since our arrival, we have been busy and I have been learning a lot (and taking pictures!).

Here's just a taste of what life in Bologna has been like for me:

Wednesday, we learned: how to use the bus, the to-do's and not-to-do's Italian grocery store, cafe etiquette and lots of Italian history.

*Italy has been a nation since 1860. Its way younger than the US.
*For this reason, people identify more with their cities than their country.
Ex: People from Bologna are "Bolognese", not "Italian." It's joked that the only time that Italians actually call themselves "Italian" is when Italy is playing in the world cup.
*Each of the cities in Italy typically have their own slang and dialect.
*Bologna is made-up of 500,000 people 100,000 of which are college students, much like Conway just on a smaller scale.
*In 1088, scholars found the first mention of the university which makes it the oldest university in the Western world.
*Bologna had three nicknames:  La Rosa, La Dotta and La Grassa.
La Rosa= the red. Given due to the use of much terracota or could possibly be due to communism
La Dotta=the learned. Given due to the university.
La Grassa=the fat. Given due to the fattening food.
*This is the home of ragu sauce, tortilenni, lasagna, mortadelli (bologna) parmesan cheese and balsalmic vinegar. There are 650 different types of pasta and wine is cheaper than bottled water here.
*Bologna is known as "the city that functions," though it is the center of Italian communism. It prides itself in upholding communist values yet having free enterprise.
*Here, they are not big fans of the pope and are known for being fiercely independent.
*In the grocery store, no one touches produce with their hands. You must wear a glove...or you get yelled at.
*etc., etc., etc.

Seriously, my brain is overwhelmed as I'm still trying to process it all and take it all in.
Thankfully, I'm finally over jet-lag; Today is the first day since being here that I've felt completely myself.

Thursday, we visited Florence and twas lovely. Today has been spent learning how to do ministry here in Bolgona and we have been gifted free time tonight, time to blog. :)

Tomorrow, we are headed to see Verona, the place known for Romeo and Juliet.

Yet, Monday is the exciting day. On Monday, we are headed out to campus for the first day and will be meeting students.

I'm excited to see how the Lord will use all of us this summer, though I know that ministry here, in a place full of rules to follow and lacking pursuit of the one true God, will be difficult.

Please continue to pray for me and my team as we head out. Specifically, I want to ask that you would pray for the people that God will put in our pathways and that we would be able to present Jesus to them in a respectful, loving way.

We are confident that through us, HE will SHINE.

Love to you all,

Brittney

p.s. I've tried Italian pizza, pasta and gelato and they are all fantastic! Oh, and pictures will be coming soon. Thats a promise.

Prayer requests

2:30 a.m.

I'm still awake and probably will be until late Saturday night.
Luckily, I'm a morning person who likes her coffee black and strong.

In two hours, I'll be leaving for the airport.
My first stop is Dallas where I'll be until Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. Two days will be spent getting to know my team and doing some training.
From there, we have a 10 hr. flight to Frankfurt, Germany. It's estimated that we'll get to Bologna at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. :)

All of that being said, I wanted to leave all of my dedicated followers with some prayer requests:

*Physical strength and endurance

*Confidence and boldness in His Gospel

*That seeds would be sown and fingerprints left all-over Bologna, Italy and the University of Bologna
*For eyes to see and for wisdom to speak into the things that I am shown in student's hearts.
*Salvation to the nation of Italy

Before heading out, I just want to thank you all again for your never-ceasing support, continued prayers and outpourings of love.
I am truly blessed with greater friends and family than I deserve and I am more grateful than these words could ever say.

Again, thank you. I love you. I would not be who I am today without the investment that you have made in my life.
Be looking for updates here and on facebook...and be ready to hear countless stories and see even more photos when I return.

Ciao, bellas. :)

~Brittney

My first lesson

God is funny. In fact, He has a better sense of humor than anyone I've ever met.

I sure hope that you all have experienced or will one day experience the God humor that I speak of, that this post is about.

You see, on Monday I posted about sacrifice.
Some of the highlights are as follows (or you could just go read the entire thing below):

("There can be no fruit without sacrifice."
2 Corinthians 9:6 reads, "The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
We are told to live sacrificially.
Sacrifices are costly. They stretch us. They aren't easy. They hurt.
But, their results can be remarkably beautiful.
They range from the salation of man-kind to seeing one Italian student grasp the reality of the Gospel.
You and I can have as much fruit as we are willing to sacrifice...
How much of "your life" are you willing to sacrifice? )

On Monday afternoon I also posted on facebook that some of my teammates were still needing funds for our  trip to Italy.

Tuesday afternoon, I was given a check for $1,000........
(cue God-humor here)

The donor told me to spend it on "myself" and that I could do whatever I wanted with the money...

If you didn't already know, I'm a broke college kid. I have little money to my name.
$1,000 could go a long way.
I currently don't have a job and let's just face it, being a RA for the college isn't going to pay much next year either.

But
I can't keep it or spend it on myself. I simply cannot. If I do, some of my friends may not be able to go to Italy. This means that they wouldn't get the opportunity to spread the good news of Christ... 
My luxury and security are not worth it. All of the money will be given to one of my teammates on Saturday.
That is what I want to do with the money. It's what He wants me to do with the money. I have no other choice.
I'm not really sure what money I'll live off for the rest of the summer, but I am sure that that my God will provide a way for me.

Sacrifices are costly. They stretch us. They aren't easy. They hurt.
But, their results can be remarkably beautiful.
"There can be no fruit without sacrifice."

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.

Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;

 they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.   
His praise endures forever!

~Psalm 111~

 

Sacrifice

Today is May 13, almost May 14.
In approximately five days, I'll be leaving McRae, Arkansas

for Bologna, Italy.

Talk about a bit of a culture shock.

As most of you already know, I am so, so excited. This is literally a dream come true for me.