Milan, Italy

Last week we had the opportunity to make a trip to Milan, Italy. Milan is a beautiful city and very different from Innsbruck. During our 4 day stay, we did get a chance to see some of the sites, but that was not the primary purpose of our visit. We were there to visit some friends who had recently moved to Milan from Namibia, Africa.

Two years ago, we met a family from Namibia while we were in Pastor's School in Nashville. They were originally from Johannesburg, SA and had been pastoring a church in Namibia as misisonaries for a couple of years. We reconnected with them just shortly after we moved to Innsbruck and found out that they were considering moving to Milan to plant a church. The Siani family moved to Milan in December 2005. Franco was born in Italy and lived there for a few years until his family moved to South Africa. They have a heart for all of Italy and hope to plant a church in Rome as well. This is also our heart and we had a great time together, dreaming and planning our futures!

Milan is a very difficult place to plant a church. Being the financial and fashion capital of Milan (maybe the fashion capital of the world!), it is a very materialistic society. Everywhere you look, you see people of all ages who look like they just stepped out of a magazine or off a runway. People are much more interested in their appearance than they are the condition of their soul. Most people do not want to talk about spiritual things. Even Catholicism is practiced less in Milan than in most other parts of Italy. Italians are a unique people in their culture and the way they think. It really helps that Franco is Italian. He understands them because he is one of them! While things are difficult, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future! We are looking forward to developing our relationship with them and seeing how we can work together to plant churches in Italy. Please pray for them.

We did get a chance to see some of the famous sites in Milan. Enjoy the pictures and imagine yourself there! (a couple of the pictures are stock photos, they turned out better than mine)

The Siani Family - Franco, Daleen, Peter (10) and Sabrina (8)

Sfrozesco Castle in the center of Milan

Duomo di Milano. This gothic style cathedral built in 1386 is the second largest in the world


this shopping center is one of the most famous in Italy. The store on the left is Prada and on the right you have Louis Vuitton. Sorry, no Christmas shopping here!

Salzburg

I had the opportunity last weekend to travel to Salzburg for some ministry. This the first of 3 monthly trips that I will be taking with some very specific goals in mind. There is a remarkable young man there, Simon, who has taken the lead in setting up a monthly service to reach young people in High School and college. He is doing a great job and is patterning it after what we are doing in Innsbruck with U-NITE. They have a handful of musicians there, so I will be going each of the next three months to work with the band, teaching them about worship and raising the quality of music they play. Martin is the worship leader and I will be mentoring him to maximize the call that God has on his life. I also spend time with Simon to develop his leadership. They have only had 5 meetings and run anywhere from 20-35 young people.

Last weeks trip was very successful, as the Simon and the worship band were hungry to learn all they could. I also preached a message to lift their faith, challenging them to believe God for huge things, things they never had imagined before. I was excited to get a call from Erwin, one of the guys in the band to tell me that God had answered every prayer that he had this week! Of course I told him that meant he needs to be praying for bigger things! His faith is growing as he sees God's faithfulness.

I am very excited about what the coming months will bring and expect that the seeds sown will bring a harvest for years to come. I took some pictures for you, enjoy!


Rehearsing with the band, Martin on left

Me preaching with Simon translating

worship during U-NITE