The Johnstons’ Italian Job
October 2015
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord.
Dear praying friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers over the last number of months.
It has been a difficult and frustrating time for us as a family especially during
September when Tracey wasn’t able to come back to Italy until the end of the month
and Alan and Connor back working and studying alone.
However we praise God that after the five weeks of separation we finally got Tracey
back to Porto Mantovano.
She is recovering well and the ankle is slowly improving yet she needs to be careful
and not push it to far. She has to get more bloods taken while she is here in Italy
between now and Christmas and then return to N. Ireland in early December for more
follow-up hospital appointments to do with both her leg and her liver.
Work here is busy as Alan has preached through the last 5 Sundays since returning
and has also taken a number of the Wednesday evening Bible studies. The Sunday
School is going well although we see a problem with teachers in the near future as
both our teachers are working hard to increase numbers in the creche and are
expecting around the start of the new year!
We also have another pregnancy in the congregation which is currently in difficulty and
we would greatly appreciate your prayers for this family.
Porto United has had a bitter sweet start to the new season. The older teenage group
has all but vanished along with the under 6 year olds. However the group that Alan
takes I pulcini “the chicks”! (Completely different meaning in English!) has grown to 12
and all of them are great footballers and a pleasure to work with. This has given us
encouragement for the future to build from within this group and set a foundation for
the older group.
During one of the talks where Alan was talking about God’s love for us “while we were
yet sinners”, we had a number of deep questions from the lads. A real answer to much
prayer.
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Tracey didn’t just return with a small
suitcase, she came back with four
lovely ladies from the PW central
committee.
Jean Farlow, Janet Maxwell, Elma
Leeburn and Sandra Stokes arrived
on the 30th and stayed with us until
the 6th October.
While here they got the opportunity
to see some of the work we are
involved in and even joined in on a
number of occasions.
Amongst other things, they visited
Porto United, the ladies bible study,
spoke at our morning service, met
Andrea and Manu, Leo and Antonella and got to ask them many important questions to
do with the evangelical church in Italy.
They also got to visit Verona and had their final evening meal at the October Risotto
festival that runs for three weeks in Mantova celebrating the risotto rice harvest.
They were an encouragement to both us and to the church and their visit was much
appreciated.
The English class has started again and numbers are growing. We have tried to
encourage the church to prioritise the bible study on Wednesday nights and not
choose the english class ahead of it. Because of this we have very few from the church
attending but we have at least seven new people from the community turning up so
this is a great encouragement.
Before we finish.
One of the main factors in us coming to serve the Lord here in Italy was because of Ian
McElhinney. When we met Ian he was working part time as Coram Deo’s UK
representative and he would have had a number of contacts with many folk and
churches in N. Ireland. Recently Ian and Coram Deo have parted company and Ian is
currently pursuing another project in Italy. It needs to be said that this project had
nothing to do with Coram Deo or indeed the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
If you have been supporting Coram Deo and by association PCI and us, then I would
strongly encourage you to continue that support as we continue to move forward.
If you or your congregation want more information regarding the work of Coram Deo or
if you would like someone to come and speak about this work then please contact
either Alan (reefman@me.com) or Andrea Artioli (artioli.andrea@gmail.com) directly
please.
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We would like to think that in the near future we will be able to appoint a new N.Ireland
representative for this important gospel work.
Tracey and I would like to go on record as we acknowledge our gratitude to Ian for his
help and support over the last number of years.
We give thanks:
1) For Tracey’s safe return to work and for her continued healing.
2) For the English class with new members
3) For the encouragement of kids in Porto United.
4) For the positive visit from the ladies of the P.W.
Please pray for:
5) For the three pregnancies within the congregation
6) For a future representative for Coram Deo in N. Ireland.
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