Ester's Report for YfC, Italy

To all those who this past week have been praying for Exch@nge 2010, YFC Italia's first summer day camp to reach out to teens in Bologna, a heartfelt THANK YOU! We felt all your prayers surrounding us as a mighty shield.
I'm going to briefly share with you all the blessings that the Lord has showered onto us this past week (July 5th-9th).
A team from College Church (Wheaton, Illinois) of 11 youth aged between 16 and 18, plus 3 leaders, all zealous and passionate about getting to know Italian kids, play with them and share Jesus;
A group of 14 not yet believers from Bologna who signed up for camp. Only 2 of them already attended a church youth group;
The partnership of 3 Evangelical churches of Bologna with YFC Italia, all united for the great mission: offering to teens the opportunity to know Jesus and become His followers;
The precious practical service of believers from other cities of Italy;
Many many times of fun, sports and games;
The protection from really bad accidents. We only had an American girl who had a mini-fracture of her nose but she is doing fine;
Times of reflection and discussion about Jesus through the Gospel of Mark and through very creative and well thought through English classes. We had two amazing teachers, Sue Aranzulla (UK) and Teri Hiben (US) who invested hours putting together a great curriculum which helped the kids learn some English and above all created space for spiritual conversations.
Deep conversations with the kids and their parents who really enjoyed the week and are very open to participate to other initiatives of YFC and the local churches. Last night we invited the parents to a refreshment and openly shared the message of the Gospel with them. They all seemed curious about it;
Open doors with those running the facility we rented out for camp. This is a community center with sport fields and many halls, mainly attended by retired people who don't have much to do and spend their day playing cards and chatting. The interesting thing is that by being there we really lightened up the elderly people's time and had many opportunities to share our faith with them. Good connections were also made with the people who run the hostel where the Americans are staying and the Town Council of Bologna, especially the Youth Department. On Monday 12th we are going to do a community service project by painting the walls of a community center in the area where MySpace is located. A local TV run by young people is coming to make video and publish them on the Town Council website;
If you'd like to see pictures and videos join the Facebook page Exch@nge 2010.

Please, pray for us as we continue to delevop these relationships with the desire to show all these people God's love and witness of the risen Christ to them. We know that our work is not vain in the Lord and that the time of the harvest is coming, therefore we press on towards the things that are still invisible but that will last forever!
With love in Christ
Ester Montefalcone
per YFC Italia