A sending Nation

Historically

Italy has been a HUGE sending nation, where missionaries have gone out from to reach all the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and now its currently the place in Europe with the slowest growing church... BUT we believe God has restoration in store for Italy! It is a sending nation where people will fall in love with Jesus and go to the ends of the earth to share the good news once again!

In the last few months we have been praying and planning for the mission experience, a summer program we started last year with the heart to see young Italians living out the great commission in their daily lives! To see the gospel of the kingdom being preached in their universities, work spaces and in the ends of the earth!!

This year we hosted 19 students and 18 of these are from Italy. We were so stoked to receive them here. What a joy it is to make room for people not just in our small base (it feels like that sometimes) but especially in our hearts!

Not just another camp, but an EXPERIENCE

We had 5 days together discovering more about how to share the gospel in simple ways, how important it is to abide in God and the basics on how to make disciples. We also spent time in awe of God’s creation outside, studying the bible together and worshipping Him! As we were praying for this time before it started we were filled with confidence that the Lord would heal hearts with His love and we were so blessed to see that He really did it!! He cares for all of us and wants to restore us and give us a full life!! An exuberant one. Also all of the participants had a heart for missions and it was so fun to sit at the table for a meal and start going deep in conversations about calling and ministry! It was so life giving! We as a couple loved to be able to encourage more people to live a radical life with Jesus.

Outreach

After the five days in Arco we left with a team of 9 to go to Rosignano, a small town in Tuscany where we had a week of outreach, serving the YWAM base and the local church in Livorno!

During the seven days there we did lots of street evangelism, we helped an amazing missionary family clean their house as they are moving to a new place. We shared our testimonies and also practical help at a food bank for under privileged families. Where we could also invite the people there to get a coffee, talk to them and even pray for them. Lucas and I were there also last October and we were so encouraged to see how the Lord is moving among them!!

The church that runs this ministry was able to get more rooms where now they have Italian and English lessons, a thrift store and a psychologist. It’s so beautiful to see their heart to satisfy needs in the city that are physical, emotional and also spiritual.

As all of this was happening

I (Sonia) had just entered my 9th month of pregnancy!! We were both so grateful to see how energetic and healthy I was feeling! I was able to participate in all the activities we had as a team except two evangelism times, as I needed to prioritize rest for our baby and I. And although it is quite hard for me to step out of ministry, the Lord was affirming to me that family is the most important ministry I will ever take a part of and actually the best tool to showcase the father love of God to others. On a side note it was incredible for me to see how many conversations started from people noticing my bump and asking me questions about the baby hahah.

Some remarkable things from the Mission Experience

1.⁠ ⁠We got to see three young Italian guys giving their lives to Jesus as we went out to evangelize!!!!! Praise God! Also a lot of the people the Mission Experience never shared the gospel before and it was so cool to see them step out in boldness and be moved by the love that God has for people.

2.⁠ ⁠Lucas lead worship in Italian multiple times and also was translating for people from Italian to English

3. This was the biggest program we've run as a ministry and the most amount of Italians we've had in our building! We pray it continues!

SO WHATS NEXT!?

The end of this outreach also marked the start of maternity leave for Sonia. We are expectant of what God will do in us and through us as we grow as a family. We feel the Lord calling us to continue in the mission field and we will be staying for sure at least one more year. During the year praying and seeking God for direction as a family. We love Italy but feel like maybe God could have another nation for us to serve in to as a family! So it will be a time of discerning the will of God for us.

As we're writing this we cannot help but think that the joy of the Lord is people. The people we met during the mission experience, the ones we talked to on outreach, you as you are reading this newsletter and the little one coming so soon!! What an incredible life we get to live: to love God and others, to be filled with His joy as we get deeper and deeper revelations that we are His.

How to partner along with us

Prayer: We have a group chat on WhatsApp where we do bi-weekly updates and share our prayer requests: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IBbFv320332EZsWZLiHAOU?s=hd&p=i&mlu=4&amv=0

Financially: You can see a quick description on the top of our website here and reach out to us personally or by e-mail if you'd like to be involved please! We're not fully funded and looking to partner with more people to be effective in the mission field :)

God bless and thank you for reading!

Sonia & Lucas Kroeker