Missionaries to Italy!

Just over 10 months ago, God rocked my world with a seemingly coincidental visit to the website of a local church. What I read there so changed my life that I will never be the same again. The story of The Hannahs, a young couple called to be missionaries to Italy, seared my heart and the facts about the spiritual darkness there grieved my spirit. In a moment, God spoke to me and said, "This is My will for your life." And so began this journey...

I began to pray and to read everything I could about Italy. Then, armed with statistics and full of trepidation, I approached my husband with what I felt God was calling us to do. Stephen was surprised at first, but God began to work on his heart and soon he was as burdened for the Italian people as I was.

After several months of prayer and seeking godly counsel, we submitted an application to TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) to become full-time missionaries to Italy. The enemy was not pleased with our decision and life began to get complicated, but we pressed through. For the past 7 months, we have worked through the steps to complete our application. We have undergone physical exams, mental and psychological tests, phone interviews in which our beliefs were carefully examined, paperwork and more paperwork. We have been poked and prodded (both physically and spiritually) and the skeletons in our closets have all been revealed. It has been an exhausting process, physically, mentally, and spiritually, but we underand that TEAM takes very seriously their responsibility to ensure that the missionaries they appoint are healthy in every area of their lives. We honor them for their diligence.

On August 3, we received the long-awaited news that Stephen and I have been officially accepted by TEAM as missionary candidates. As you can imagine, we were thrilled and our family celebrated over a meal of cheese tortellini as we imagined what life will be like in our new home. However, this is only the first step in the long journey that God has called us to. If only we could just board a plane now to Italy and get on with the work that the Lord has assigned. But, like an expectant mother waiting while her baby grows and develops, we must walk out this process as God prepares us.

So, what's the next step? In a couple of weeks, Stephen and I fly to Illinois for our placement consultation at the TEAM headquarters. During 2 days of meetings, we will meet with many of the TEAM staff as they get to know us better and determine if there are any issues that need to be addressed before departure to Italy, such as training, experience, etc.

Once we complete those meetings, we will have a better idea of what the next steps in this process will look like. Please be in prayer for us during this time and we'll definitely keep everyone updated as we move forward!

Arrivederci!