Praise the Lord!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me...”
-John 14:6

These are the words that Ilaria read just before she made a prayer to receive Christ in her heart yesterday! Ilaria is a beautiful Italian girl that many of us girls on project have had the wonderful privilege of getting to know these past two weeks. She was introduced to us by one of the members on STINT here in Salerno, Lacy-Mae, at the barbeque we had last week. Since then, the Lord has been working in our lives and in her heart to help us develop a great friendship.

The day after the barbeque, she was quick to offer to help us pass out flyers of Agape Italia (Campus Crusade in Italy), at the University of Salerno. While we were passing out flyers she had several questions about salvation through grace alone and about the basis of Christianity. Unfortunately, it seemed as though she had on several blinders that skewed her views and kept her from seeing the truth of the gospel. 

This week at the barbeque, she opened up some more and talked to us about some personal problems and struggles she had been dealing with recently. Hannah Robertson challenged her to read the book of John since she mentioned she had never read much of the Bible and she also enjoyed reading in general. Then we decided to discuss the chapter and go out to dinner the next day; Ilaria was so eager to read the book of John that she read the chapter in two days :). The next day we continued to discuss what we had read and tried answering any questions that Ilaria had by looking through many verses in the Bible. The Lord worked a COMPLETE transformation in her heart and helped her see the beauty of grace in our guaranteed salvation through Christ Jesus alone by the end of the conversation. Then we all participated in Ilaria's prayer to receive Christ, as we all prayed together and thank God for his blessings and her life. Ilaria shared with us that she had never known she could have a personal relationship with Christ and she was never completely sure she could make it to heaven, since she had grown up believing that salvation was based on works alone; but then she said that she now believed this was true and she would never doubt it again. Praise be to Christ our Lord and Savior!

Please remember to include Ilaria in your thoughts and prayers this week as she continues to learn more about the Lord and continues to build relationships with the team in Salerno.

God's blessings,

Iliana

Running Late....

Greetings all! I am writing to update you all on a very encouraging experience on campus. Since our time on campus and in Salerno, the Spirit of the LORD at work in this place has been undeniable. I am convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the LORD has some incredible things in store for Italy. We have been praying for the LORD to be at work in mighty ways to change the hearts of the students here. We have been praying that as a team, walking confidently in the direction of His Spirit, we would see students come to encounter and experience the compelling love of Jesus Christ.

Last week on campus, a couple students and I decided to stay a later than usual because we had entered into great conversation with some Italian students. Using Solarium, one of our evagelistic tools, a fellow project-er Richie Bottinelli and I were able to share the Gospel with an Italian student Cristina. This was probably one of the most encouraging experiences yet because we cleary saw the Spirit at work in changing someone's heart right before our very eyes! Cristina spoke little english, and likewise, Richie and I speak little italian, but by the grace of God, He enabled the Gospel to cleary be presented. Though Richie and I did not personally witness Cristina come to a place of decision that day on campus: we are trusting that the Spirit would continue to work on her heart and that in His work, she would wrestle with the truth of the Gospel. We pray the redemptive message of the Jesus Christ would resinate with her soul and that she would clearly see her need for the Gospel.


Cristina seemed to really comprehend what we had shared with her that day. Before our conversation ended she said that she had never really thought about spiritual things prior to our conversation. The fact that the LORD made it possible, through Jesus Christ, to have a personal relatioship with Him was a concept completely unknown to her.

Richie and I will be meeting with Cristina again this week to further discuss the things we previously talked about. Please be praying that the Lord would continue to speak truth to her through His Word and us as His laborers of truth. Please pray the the Spirit would continue to do a work on her heart that would bring her to a place of decision.

You can also be praying for our team as a whole this week. Pray that we would be filled with His Spirit as we go out on campus this week. Our desire is that everyday, we come to recognize our indivdual need for the Gospel and our need to be completely dependent on Christ. The fact that we get to share with others the beautiful message of the Gospel puts me in such a place of humilty and adoration before our gracious LORD.

Thank you for your prayers already and for your partnership in furthering the Kingdom!

By His Grace,
Ashley Cedeno

To His name be the glory!

A prayer request...

My very first conversation on campus was with an Italian English major named Vincenzo. I vividly remember meeting him with a fellow team member, Noah, inside the new Linguistics building at the university. We used our most common phrase, "Tu parli Inglese(Do you speak English)?" And he quickly said yes, but not much. We soon learned Vincenzo spoke more than a little English. Our conversation quickly got to why Noah and I were there. We explained that we were with a Christian group on campus called Agape Italia(Campus Crusade for Christ in Italy) and that we were going around talking to students about Jesus Christ. Our conversation rapidly advanced to us sharing the gospel with him. We use booklets called "Would you like to know God personally?" and were able to go through the entire booklet with him in Italian and us following in English. He said he desperately wanted Christ in his life, but was not ready to take that step.

About a week later, I ran into Vincenzo again with my team members Will and Holly. Vincenzo bought all three of us lunch. We had the opportunity to share the gospel again in Italian with the help of our project director, Andrew Lisi. Him and his friends were very interested in the message Andrew was presenting. At our last American BBQ for the Italian students we meet on campus, Vincenzo had the opportunity to meet another team member, Richie. Richie, Holly, and I said down with him again and went through the gospel. He explained that he completely understands it and wants to have a relationship with God. He even told us he felt something inside his heart. It was like the three of us could literally see the Holy Spirit at work inside of him. I have never felt the Holy Spirit's presence that strongly before. He came down to reading the example prayer inside the booklet and told us that is exactly what he wanted. We told him that he could pray that prayer right now. He wanted to, but said he was too shy to do it in front of us. Unfortunately, his friends walked up and he became a bit distracted. Richie planned to meet with him again and encouraged him to read through the booklet again and think about it. Afterwards we took a moment to pray for him. And that is what we are asking for now, is prayer! Prayer for his heart to be freed from the bondage that enslaves all of us before Christ is ever present in our lives.

There are absolutely no words that any us could say, no matter how many more times Vincenzo hears the gospel from our team, no man can make a difference now. We are praying that God would work a mighty miracle inside his heart. I've truly learned what it means to pray prayers where I am not the answer. We did our part in being bold and stepping out in faith to share the gospel, now it is time to wait for the Holy Spirit to change his heart and make him completely receptive to the gospel. We sit on the edge of our sits, anticipating what the LORD will do next in his life. We eagerly await for the moment the LORD frees his heart and provides him with the greatest joy known to man. We ask you to pray along side us for Vincenzo's heart, never forget to praise the LORD for the feat over Satan every time the name of Jesus Christ is spoken.
Colossians 4:3,4

Serving Christ with You,
Jessica

Campus Life :)

Greetings from the team in Salerno!

We opened up our week of campus ministry with one of the members of the outreach team, Jessica Breedlove, reading the following verses to the group:

"Moses said to the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." The Lord said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
-Exodus 4:10-12

Prior to our first day on campus a lot of thoughts and concerns had been running through our minds; many of us felt the pressure of preaching the gospel to complete strangers, as well as, feeling in some ways not well- equipped enough to share our faith with others on the spot on a campus we did not know. We had doubts about how we would transition our conversations to sharing the gospel and if we would find enough English speakers to talk to on campus. However, this verse served a great purpose in reminding us that it is not by our own power that we can share the gospel, but only through the Holy Spirit living in us. It is very encouraging to be reminded that God gives us the words to speak and His hand is constantly guiding us everyday during our time on campus.

Since then we have had the blessing of going on campus 7 days now and witnessing God's work in action with the conversations that have been iniciated and the relationships that have been built (in which I will get into more detail for the next blog). We have also had the opportunity of implementing campus ministries such as: outreach activities ( a large sign that asked two questions- what is grace? and what is sin?- in which the students were able to write their thoughts), relationship building ( boys soccer games and several lunches with our new Italian friends), and iniciative evangelism ( using surveys, soulerium, and four laws booklet). Through these activites, the Lord has graciously opened up a window for many conversations to be iniciated and the gospel shared with the students at the University of Salerno.

As we continue to pray and work together as a team on campus, I know the Lord will continue the work that He has started in us and do immeasurably more than we can imagine! Ashley Cedeno and I, from the outreach team, look forward to writing more blogg posts as more stories develop within our time on campus this week :)

God's blessings,
Iliana Buenrostro

Hebrews 13:24

The Salerno Team sends you their greetings from Italy!

It has been a unique experience being here for many of us. Underneath all the homesickness and spiritual attack, the LORD is drawing our team together through our desire to be a family. With the spiritual climate at the University of Salerno, our team needs to be a family. We have encountered a variety of students on campus, both English and non-English speakers. We frequently meet students that have a Catholic background, who have heard the gospel many times, but feel no need for it in their lives at this current time. Many students sadly reject the greatness news that has ever happened because they desire to know God once they have achieved all the fun in their lives that our flesh seeks. However, we have been encouraged at our opportunities to fully share the gospel with receptive Italian students. The LORD is continuing to bring one girl into the lives of many on our team. Each person has something great to share with her, but the best part is that we each continue to point her to the cross and explain the grace the LORD extents to each of us. We see and feel the Holy Spirit working in her life and cannot wait to see what the LORD has in store for her heart. There are many other conversations where the LORD has worked, but what we need is prayer for the LORD to reveal to us the students He has prepared in advance to be receptive to His word and for the Holy Spirit to be our guidance in each step!

In Him,
Jess

Humbled Like Children

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
-Jesus

"I get jealous when I see a three year old talk better than me." We have come to find that one of the easiest ways to feel like a child again is to not know a language. I was sitting at one of our favorite pizza places today and say a girl who couldn't have been older than 8 years and 243 days, but was on a cell phone talking with someone. First, I can't believe almost every child in this world today has a cell phone. That is a rant for another time. But secondly, the way she was speaking made me feel like she should be leading our Summer Project. Her pronunciation was flawless, using words that sounded big and important (like arrabbiata); she had such a command of the language. Of course she would though. She is of course, Italiana.

But it is still difficult for all of us to be around people decades younger than us who speak and understand the language better than we do. One of the most frustrating things for an individual is to communicate and not be understood. Being here however is an immediately humbling experience solely due to our inability to communicate. We have become like babies cooing and babbling before a world of adults, even if those "adults" are only three years old.

Although the above passage is in the context of greatness and inheriting the kingdom of heaven, the theme of humbling one's self like a child is vital in our understanding of bringing the gospel to Italians and to people everywhere. Being in a foreign country we basically became children humbled by the new culture and foreign language, but in that humility we also want to be like children in their fearlessness, boldness, curiosity, and joy as we seek to share the love of Jesus Christ with Italians.

Things have been going strong as we have been here over week now. As students get the chance, they should be posting stories of friends they have made and gospel conversations they have had so continue to be on the lookout.

Please be praying for us as we must persevere in humility, unity, and community in order as we seek to be faithful witnesses of the gospel, depending on God's Spirit, trusting He will bring people to Himself.

By His Grace,
Andrew

Siamo Arrivati!

We've arrived!!! A bus to Miami, a flight to Rome (9 hrs.), a flight to Naples, a bus down to Salerno, and 24 hours later we all made it safely here. The beautiful thing was there were no hiccups at all! Everyone got on board easily and none of our baggage was missing. The STINT team even chartered a bus for us from the Naples airport to Salerno, meaning we didn't have to take a train lugging all our luggage. The Lord is very good to us.

Since we've arrived we have all gotten situated and spent some time walking around the city, getting acclimated the culture. Everyone is pretty exhausted as we are trying not to sleep, hopefully keeping us all from getting jet-lagged. Delirium is beginning to set in for sure...

Tonight we go to our favorite pizza place, La Tombola, most of us enjoying for the first time real Italian pizza. The best kind is Pizza Caprese with mozzarella di bufula (buffalo mozzarella, an Italian delicacy) tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. Che buona!

By His Grace,
Andrew

Our First Post

So here is the first of what we hope to be many posts to the 2008 Salerno Project Blog.

The title comes from Galatians 2:20-21, as Paul ends his poignant defense that if we were able to receive any kind of righteousness or justification through the law, then Jesus Christ died for no purpose whatsoever.

But with Paul, we do not nullify the grace of God, recognizing by faith in the Son of God that we live on in the flesh because Jesus indeed did die for a purpose! We too have been crucified with Christ, no longer living under our own power, enslaved by sin and sentenced to death, but instead it is now Christ who lives in us, and we are under His power, set free from bondage, receiving life eternal! What a purpose!

This summer we get to bring this message to Italians in Salerno, so may we go humbly, but boldly; lowly, but full of confidence in Christ and his sufficiency to change their lives as we each have witnessed firsthand how He has changed ours.