Hello friends!

I am so excited to finally be able to get on the computer! The apartment for us girls was not ready when we arrived, so we stayed in a hotel up until Sunday morning. Since we moved into our apartment though, we have Internet access at last. I will try to get on more frequently now :)

The plane ride went really well. We only had a little turbulence, so that was good. I was able to grab some naps throughout the flight as well, although when we arrived in Italy, I definitely was feeling major jet lag. All of our luggage arrived in one piece, which was a huge answer to prayer.

So far, Italy has been amazing. The food is soo good! We've eaten out quite a bit here at the beginning, and so far I have yet to eat at the same place twice, and each one has been absolutely delicious! (For example, artichoke, mushroom, and prosciutto pizza, pasta with pesto, and tortellini with bologenese red sauce. Gelatto is amazing too- so far my face is limone [lemon]). We've also gotten to experience some other aspects of Italian culture. Saturday some of us hiked up to San Luca. It's a chapel on top of a hill here in Bologna. The portico (covered sidewalk) leading up to San Luca is the longest portico in the world. Although the climb was quite strenous (maybe 4 miles up hill), the view was amazing. On one side you could see the Tuscan hills, on the other the Italian Alpines (Alps )- absolutely breathtaking!

Our team will be officially on campus starting Wednesday. Students have had exams and have been off from school for a holiday weekend, so Wednesday will then our day to start off. We will have several outreach strategies for the students, such as pictures cards with prompting questions and some short movies we'll show on portable dvd players. We've been learning from missionaries who live here in Italy that the Italians are very relational. However it takes a lot of time and trust to break through their barriers. I'm excited through to start meeting the students and forming these relationships.

Thank you again for all your prayers. Please continue praying that our team will be effective and have safety as we are here in Italy. Also pray that God will give us opportunities to meet students and share with them.

Love from Italia!

Kaila