A Day of Ministry

Yesterday was a day full of ministry opportunity. We went to two local parks to interact with children and their parents and let them know about the summer children’s program that we will be helping with upon our return to Rome in a couple weeks. We figured balloons and a smile translate in any culture or language, so we brought several balloons to give away and play games with the children. We also brought sculpting balloons and made balloon animals for the children. Our selection was limited to dogs and swords (“cane,” or “spada,”), but they were a big hit. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids, although we had to put the water balloons away, because they were much more popular with the children then they were with their parents.

Later that night, we put on a special service for the residents of the social center. Several residents came out along with some soldiers and officers for a time of worship. We presented an offering of dance, drama, testimony, and praise and worship. We posted all the lyrics on powerpoint in both English and Italian, so we could all sing together. We did manage to learn one song in Italian ourselves to sing with them, Aprimi gli occhi del cuore (Open the Eyes of My Heart).

With the help of Maira as an interpreter, Emmanuel brought the message for the evening. This inadvertently led to one of the most comical moments since we have been here. Introducing one song, I said, “In just a moment, Emmanuel will come and share the message.” Emmanuel happens to share his name with the Corps Officer here. This officer shared with us afterward that in that moment he had a mild panic attack because he had nothing prepared, until he remembered that there was another Emmanuel.

I have heard from other summer missions teams in the past that they had moments when they were put on the spot in the middle of a meeting to bring a message. For this reason we have all prepared something ahead of time just in case. But I never imagined that, even for a moment, we would be the ones to catch our hosts off guard.