First Day in Italy

Sunday, May 31st I left for Italy... the day started off great. I was bumped to first class on the first leg of my trip. Totally a God thing. The second leg, wasnt as pleasant. We all boarded the plane at the normal time, in order to depart at 5pm. But then as we backed out of the gate, the pilot let everyone know that we were having issues with the landing gear. Though I was bummed that we wouldnt leave on time...I was very happy that they found this out while we were still on the ground rather than up in the air. Later they told us it was leaking hydrolic fluid (sp?). They determined that the problem wouldnt be able to be fixed right away, so they had us all get off the plane. They had to quickly find another airplane to take us to Rome. Thankfully, there was another plane already in Chicago that could take us, but it seemed that they only had one person working on it to get it ready. The flight crew were just as frustrated as all the passengers. I called my mom at around 8:30 chicago time to have her pray with me because they said at that point it could be another hour before we even board. And literally 10 minutes later, they said....the plane is almost ready and we will be boarding soon. They had recalled what they had said 10 minutes earlier. I definitely should've called her a couple hours sooner to pray with me. They decided to give us all meal vouchers...but at a partially inconvenient time....right before they decided to board us on the plane. I thankfully was able to get a salad and then ran back to plane to board. We finally left the gate at 9pm. and arrived in Rome 4 and half hours after we were supposed to originally get there. So we are on the plane at the gate, and one of the flight attendants lets us know it will be a couple more minutes because there was a problem with door or something like that...so we wait to wait a little longer. I prayed and then they were able to get us off.

I was then picked up by one of the guys who is a part of the network of churches working on this Conference, David. He was very nice and only speaks Italian, so I was immediately tested on my skills. My prayer for today is that God will very quickly enable me to speak fluently and that it will all come back. We ended up laughing alot at my mistakes, but thankfully he was very patient and encouraged me to keep trying until he could understand what I was saying. We first went and saw the place (palaghiacco) where the conference will be. I saw some of the guys from the church there putting up the massive screen that will go behind the stage. I loved seeing Pr. Fernando a part of the process. And it was so cool to see all the guys working together to get things done.

After we went there, David took me to the hotel. This hotel has an amazing view of the country/mountain side...especially from my hotel room. I got to the hotel around 5pm and tried my hardest to stay up until 8:30pm when I crashed. I literally had to sit on my window sill and let the cold air hit me to keep me awake. I tried to walk around the hotel, but there is a wedding going on yesterday and today, so some of the place is closed off.

This has been my trip so far. I am still in awe that I am actually here. I think i am going to read and pray and stuff today....but we will see what else is in store.

I am so excited to be here and expecting God to do amazing things! Jessica and Gabby get here tomorrow. I can't wait to see them and spend time with them. I know we are going to have a blast.

fino alla prossima volta!