Prayer Request from Italy

Hi everyone!

We just returned to Palermo 2 days ago from our 3 month home assignment in the US. It is wonderful to be back home. We have 3 very urgent prayer requests to share with you. These are important enough that we didn't want to wait for our newsletter at the end of this month. There is divine momentum building up toward some exciting happenings here in Palermo and across Italy!

Don't miss your chance to read below and lift up these requests to the Father!

Thank you for joining us in prayer,
Joel and Sara
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1. Marco
Marco is a 20 year old law student at the university in Palermo. Without using his name, we have mentioned him in more than one recent newsletter (Nietzsche, let's read the Bible, etc). We also shared his story in the churches we spoke in this summer. We requested specific prayer for him in those newsletters and in each church, and thousands have been praying for him! Those prayers have powerfully impacted Marco (even while we've been gone from Palermo)! Here's the story.

Joel went to meet Marco this morning. He was so glad to see him again. He was also very humble, hungry, and receptive. They got a coffee together and then had an incredible discussion standing outside the coffee bar on a busy Palermo street.

Marco has been reading his Bible this summer, and he has become very scared about death. He asked Joel about death and what the Bible says about it. Joel had the opportunity to explain sin and death as well as the free gift of God in the cross of Christ that offers freedom from fear, sin, and death. They also discussed what it means to long for God so much that you will do anything to find him. Marco understood everything very clearly. He expressed his longing for that freedom and for a different kind of life. He was incredibly close to choosing to follow Christ right there on the sidewalk! He said he wants some time to think through some things, and then he wants to talk with us again.

Please pray for Marco very specifically in the next 2 weeks. Lift him up to the Father! Our next discussion with him could be this weekend. If not, since we leave for a week for the youth congress in Spain, our next opportunity to speak with him will be soon after 25 August.

Marco could be the key to a movement of God among our friends and neighbors. Pray that the Holy Spirit would truly impress upon him a growing and undeniable desire for freedom in Christ! Prayer has softened the soil of his heart throughout this summer and watered the many seeds planted there. Now, little plants are starting to grow!

Marco may just receive that free gift of God by the next time you hear from us. Keep praying - you are making a difference!!!

"You will seek me and you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you declares the Lord."
(Jeremiah 29:12-13)

2. Western Mediterranean Youth Congress
The West. Med. Field Youth Congress is set to begin next week (20-25 August) in Guadalajara, Spain, and we have about 200 registered from Nazarene churches in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. We believe that this congress will be "direction-altering" for this generation of youth on our field. God is going to transform lives and call many of these youth to various ministries! This will be an opportunity to identify and begin to mentor many of our future pastors and leaders. These youth will look back on this week for the rest of their lives and remember that God did a mighty work among them during the congress. This "critical mass" (i.e. having a large group instead of a small group) is significant for a community of Nazarene Youth to start to form across our field. Simply being together in a community of young Christians for the week will be such an encouragement to the young people!

Just from Italy alone, there are 40 youth (all 6 Nazarene churches are represented) going to the congress. That is a miracle, an answer to prayer, and a prayer request! Pray that during this congress a new sense of unity and community will grow among these Italian youth. Pray also for them to catch a vision for what God is calling them to be and to do. These youth are the future of the church in Italy, and this week is going to help give shape to that future. God has great things in store for them!

3. Chris and Anndee Stringer
Pray for us and our volunteer couple as we gather the documents requested by the Italian Consulate in order to obtain a visa. It is proving to be a difficult process, but your prayers can make a difference! Pray that God would clear the way for the process to go smoothly and for them to receive their visas. Their target arrival date is September 23. We can't wait for them to join us here in Palermo!