It has now been a full month since I arrived in Rome. I’ve seen some of the major historical sites such as the Colosseum, Pantheon, and Saint Peter’s Basilica. But most of my time has been spent figuring out public transportation, Italian grocery stores, and trying not to sweat to death without air conditioner. My first Sunday here held quite a few adventures in it of itself. I woke up at 8:30 which is when I wanted to leave for church since it’s about a 30 minute commute between taking the metro and walking. Got ready in 15 minutes, record time by the way, rushed out the door and headed to the metro stop which is about two blocks from my apartment. Got to the metro and found out it was closed. I immediately started to panic because I hadn’t ridden the bus before so I had no idea which stop to get off at once I got on. So I joined the group of the Italians waiting for a different bus that went to Termini, a big transition point for buses and the metro, and I thought I’ll just catch this bus and get on the metro at Termini and then I can figure out how to get to the church from there; perfect. As we were waiting a few Italians tried to ask me why the metro was closed or if I knew what was going on and I just looked at them and said sorry, Inglesi and they would nod and say oh and move on to someone else. It’s very disconcerting to not know what’s going on or be able to communicate to see if anyone else knows either. So I caught the bus and then the metro at Termini and successfully made it to the church only 40 minutes later than I was suppose to. The rest of the day was a whirlwind of being introduced to many people from all over the world and even met someone who has a nephew attending Cedarville University. After the service and tons of introductions I attended the end of the Filipino service and was invited to eat lunch with them in park. I think about 13 of us piled into a small Italian car and drove through beautiful downtown Rome to a local park to celebrate two birthdays that happened earlier that week. Once we arrived they promptly pulled out a whole hog fully roasted. They all looked at me to see my reaction and asked if I was freaking out yet. Being my first full meal of the day however I told them I was really excited to eat almost anything they had prepared. It was some of the best meat I’ve ever eaten. The rest of the afternoon was spent meeting and starting relationships and talking about funny American culture differences. Thankfully the metro was opened by 5:00pm and I made it back to my apartment without any other adventures.
As funny as my first Sunday sounds it was actually very encouraging and very eye opening as to the people I will be working with. At the Bible study before the service they were looking at the passage in 1 Peter about enduring for our faith. And as I sat around the table with people from different parts of Africa, Italy, Asia, and America listening to their stories of endurance and then praying for the refugees that have come from Muslim countries living in refugee camps, I realized that my definition of endurance is nothing compared to what some of these people have endured. Here I am, an American girl with a college degree that contains a Bible minor with all these ideas of what hardships and endurance is but some of these people have left their country to come to a place where they can worship God freely. They didn’t move because of a job or because it was necessarily a wise financial choice, but they moved to Italy solely to be able to worship freely. As I sat there around that table and then through the two different worship services that day I began to realize how small I had made my world. God’s creation is so diverse and so beautiful because of it’s diversity and I realized how narrow minded I had allowed myself to become.
There is a song by Hillsong United called Oceans and there is a phrase that has really encouraged me these past couple of months. It says: “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, Let me walk upon the waters, Wherever You would call me,Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, And my faith will be made stronger, In the presence of my Savior.” Before I graduated Cedarville I sang this song with 3,000 other Christian students and prayed that God would really call me out and that my faith would be made stronger. This adventure in Rome has tested my faith more than I could have ever imagined, but it still pales in comparison to some of the sufferings and hardships of other Christians, even here in Italy. God has been so good to me and has blessed me in more ways than I could possibly imagine. I’m so thankful for this opportunity to be here in Rome to work with these wonderful people at this church and I can not wait to see what God is going to do this next year!
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