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