The Najmons

Italy For Christ Mission Serving in Lecce, Italy

June 2015

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23,24

We covet your prayers!
Here are some ways you could be praying for us.

Prayer Requests:

Opportunities to witness to students in our class
Plans and details for our return home
For new partnerships of support

Praises:

The opportunities through our school to see Italy
Extra encouragement this month
Our classes progressing

June

June just seemed to fly by! This month we continued in our classes and enjoyed the start of the summer programs. In the summer months our school welcomes college students from different universities in the states for study abroad programs. There was a group of 13 students in June and they will be staying through the end of July. Another group will also join us for July. Along with more students, we also had extra activities outside of classroom hours. We have felt very busy but are thankful for the opportunity that the school provides us to be able to learn about the culture and see more of Italy!

Cooking Class

In June, one of our extra activities was a weekly cooking class. Our instructor was an Italian chef and she teaches cooking classes for all ages. Ross and I really enjoyed our time in the classes. The other students from our class were with us as well. In each session our instructor would have at least 2 authentic and traditional recipes from our region to teach us. We would prepare the recipes and make them that night and then eat together and enjoy what we had just learned to make! While we chopped, sliced, peeled, and kneaded dough our instructor would talk with us and explain about the recipes we were making and share helpful tips for certain ingredients. It was such an experience learning under her instruction. She does know some English, but spoke to us in Italian to continue to help us in our studies of the language and it was great practice for us in such a fun environment. We were all very thankful that we were able to understand her – otherwise the recipes might have turned out a bit differently!

August Plans

We want to share with you our new plans for August. We initially planned to attend language classes until the end of August. However, we will now be finishing our language classes at the end of July and working solely with the missionaries in August. We are so excited about this opportunity! We have had to forgo time with them this summer due to our schedule through the school as well as the fact that the Bruno’s are on a short furlough in the U.S. during July. We are looking forward to the extra time to accomplish more of our goals as a team while we are still together. Our plan is to return to the U.S. in early September. We are still working out some details and will be letting you know more about our return in the coming newsletters.

Field Trips

Every Saturday we have an excursion or field trip through our school. We go to a local town and are able to see some points of interest in each town. With the history that Italy has, it is not hard to find towns to explore! The school has picked out different places for us to see and it has been such a neat experience. We are so glad we have been able to participate in these trips. We have had tour guides who were able to share history and unique facts that Ross and I would not have been able to learn exploring on our own. One of our favorite places so far was a church we were able to visit. It was very beautiful. The entire floor, from the entrance to the altar, was a grand mosaic. It was so beautiful and we cannot even fathom the time that was put into it. This church also had a separate room honoring the martyrs of their town. In the 1100’s the Ottoman Turks tried to take over the city and force them to convert. Those that did not were killed and those in the town that survived saved the bones. They were put in a room in the church behind glass so that people can still see and remember those that did not forsake their faith. Though difficult to see, it was a powerful testimony of lives that did not waver in their faith.

We are still working on raising our funds to be able to move to Italy full-time. We were blessed with many one-time gifts to help make this year possible. We still have a quite a way to go to be able to move full-time. If you’d like to help in any way, please let us know. Thank you!

Committed: 35%

Remaining: 65%

In regards to donations, please make any checks payable to:

Batesville Christian Church

with

Najmon IFC

in the memo line.

You can mail any donations to our U.S. address.
P.O. Box 8
Batesville, IN 47006