My trip to Italy begins December 16th when I get on a plane for Atlanta. From there I'll be flying to Ancona and once I land it will be an adventure from the airport to my host-family's house in San Benedetto del Tronto.
I will be staying with the Famiglia Marchei Cerro. Aurelio Walter and Fiorella are the parents and they have two sons, Aureliano who is 20 and Giorgio who is 14. They sound like a wonderful family and I cannot wait to meet them!
The purpose of this trip, primarily, is to fulfill a graduation requirement at school. I am majoring in Intercultural Studies and one of the requirements is that I spend a minimum of six weeks living in another culture. Another reason for this trip is my heart for the post-Christian world, which is exaclty what Europe is.
My experience there four years ago left a mark on my life that I won't ever forget. I saw people who lived lives more similar to Christ's than most of the "Christians" I know and yet the people I met didn't know God as the lover of their souls. Everywhere I went in Europe felt Spiritually dry and exhausted. I sensed a hunger and thirst for something deeper and more meaningful in their lives, and a hopelessness of not knowing where to look for it. I can't shake that realization that what they're all longing for is what their culture has left behind as a relic.
These, along with my sincere love for everything Italian (I think it's in my blood *wink, wink*) is why I am going to Italy.
I'll be living with the family I mentioned earlier and tutoring them in English for about fifteen hours per week to help them develop their skills in our confusing language.
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Since the emphasis I chose to correspond with my major is Visual Journalism I'll also be taking my camera along and documenting my experience as well as the stories of people I meet.
I'll try to upload as much as I can to this blog along the way so if you're interested you can experience a little bit of Italy with me.
I'm very excited about this trip; I'm also incredibly nervous about it. If you think of it, please keep me and my host-family in your prayers. I don't want this trip to be about me in any way, I want it to be about the greater things God has for people, I want Him to use me for whatever He has in store for the beautiful people I will meet.
