Cioccolato and Castagne

One of my favorite things about fall is watching the leaves change color. It is so fascinating to me how quickly the leaves can change and how many different colors surface during the transition from summer to winter. I always thought fall in Fayetteville was especially beautiful (nothing against Little Rock--I think it was just something about being in the Ozarks on a college campus), but I have to say that the fall colors in Bologna have certainly rivaled Fayetteville's fall hues. It's amazing to me how the colors of the buildings here complement the colors on the trees...

Leaves on a sidewalk around the corner from our apartment

One of the streets that goes to the center of town. We walk on this street almost daily to get to the university campus

The outside of our apartment building--we live on the top floor

I only wish the leaves would last longer--winter is coming soon (temperatures have dropped significantly--close to or below freezing--and it's starting to get dark close to 4:30 or 5 p.m.). Emily and I are trying to master the art of maintaining the right temperature in our apartment. Europeans are very conservative with their utilities, so leaving the heat or electricity on for too long can take a toll on finances if you aren't careful. I caved and bought a fleece blanket the other day...after hearing that January and February in Bologna can bring even colder temperatures, I thought this a blanket would be a good investment.

Two weeks ago, we decided to change our weekly event and invited students and young adults from the local churches to David and Nicole Hannah's (missionaries with TEAM, a church-planting organization) apartment to hang out and eat castagne (chestnuts). Castagne are a huge part of fall and winter in Italy. It's typical to see vendors on the streets in the city center roasting and selling castagne. The event was a huge success! We were so blessed and encouraged to see about 45 people show up and stay at the apartment for a couple of hours.  We had everyone from Italian university students, to young adults from one of the churches, to Erasmus students (European study abroad) from France, Germany, and the UK, to Italian high school students, etc...

The Hannah's daugher, Ruby, helping Emily with some of the castagne

Emily with some of the castagne--roasted and ready to serve

Castagne! David Hannah spent most of the night roasting chestnuts for everyone

We have also had the to opportunity to spend more time with students we have met during our first few weeks on campus and have been encouraged by the number of students willing to get coffee, help us with our language-learning, or just spend time with us. Please continue to pray for these students and that God will continue to ordain conversations. Pray that God would be working in these people's hearts outside of our interactions.

Every year, a chocolate festival takes place in Perugia, a city south of Bologna. Festivals similar to this also take place in other cities throughout Italy, and this week marked Bologna's chocolate festival. Piazza Maggiore (the square in the city center) has been filled with everything from shoes sculpted from chocolate to chocolate with chili peppers for the last week. Pictures of this coming in the next post!

Next week, we will be helping Nuova Vita with their Thanksgiving outreach event on Thursday and Friday night. Thanksgiving ("Ringraziamento," in Italian) is fascinating to Italians, and Nuova Vita has seen a lot of response to this event in the past. We will be working on Wednesday to help prepare for dinners on Thursday and Friday night, and we're hoping to host about 100 guests each night. Please pray for these events--that preparation will go smoothly and the dinners themselves will also go well.

Here are a few new prayer requests, and more posts coming soon!

• Praise God for our castagne event and for the positive response we've had in meeting students on campus. Continue to pray for these relationships to grow.
• Pray for the Thanksgiving event at Nuova Vita and those who will attend.
• Continue to pray for our team as we work on learning Italian. This is coming more easily but is something we are constantly working on. 
• Pray for wisdom as we plan for the spring and wrap up the fall semester. Pray for students who are believers to continue to grow in their relationships with God.
• On a more personal note, please pray for my dad as he has been in the hospital over the last week with pleurisy and pneumonia. He is getting better and should be able to come home soon, but he still needs prayer as he recovers. Pray also for our team and other medical issues that have come up with family members at home. 

Elizabeth
John 10:10