Italian Stories

      So last Thursday Natalie and I went out to do outreach, and we decided to to surveys on the street instead of door to door. We walked over to the main street here in our part of the city, and we asked a few people to fill out the survey. A few people complied, but they didn't want to give their name and address. Then I saw a short little man up ahead and suggested that Natalie ask him, because he didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. So she asked if he would take the survey, and he said yes. Therefore she proceeded to ask the first question on the survey, and just like that he opened up faster than a cork flying off a champagne bottle.

      I never knew that one question could spark such a fountain of words! All of a sudden this man starts telling us all about all the surgeries that he has had, and how he has cancer, and then just tells us about all the bad things that have happened in his life. He is 76, and he had a former wife steal a lot of money from him. His car got struck by lightning on the Autobahn once or twice. He basically told us everything bad that ever happened to him.

          Unlike the Turkish guy we talked with a few weeks ago though, this Italian man, seemed to have a positive outlook on life. He was very happy talking with us (or to us), as if nobody had talked with him for years. He even invited Natalie and I to come and stay with him at his small castle in Sicily! Basically though he wanted to know why all these bad things happened to him, if God is a loving god.

          Now all this time this man is speaking in German to Natalie, and I am just praying and trying to understand at least a little bit of what he is saying. (I got the jist of it) Anyways, I was praying for a bit that Natalie would ask the man if we could pray for him right there on the street. And she asked him! And he agreed to it! Then, greatly encouraged by this, I started praying that God would open up this man to be interested in studying the Bible. And he was! He wanted a Bible and was open to Natalie suggesting that we study what God has promised in His word.

         He had us write down his Name, address, and telephone number so that we could get in contact with him! Natalie was also able to give him a book in German about the Promises of God. We ended up talking with (or listening to) this man for about 40 minutes! It was just another confirmation that people all over the world just want someone to listen to them and be their friend. Please pray for Natalie and I as we go to visit this man Gioacchimo this week.