There's a first time for everything

So, I am blogging from a perspective of a missionary who has never actually evangelized. Before any of our followers become too confused allow me to explain. Every mission trip I had ever been on in the past has never actually been based on preaching the gospel. In fact, there have been very few times I have verbally told the message of Jesus Christ. So, approaching people in the streets and attempting to mimic the strategy of the Italian full time missionary, Jesse, by saying, "Let me tell you about Jesus!" to a complete stranger has been somewhat of a struggle to embrace. Nonetheless, yesterday was a day of firsts.
It was our teams first time passing out tracts in Udine, Italy. Before we passed out tracts Jesse told us a little bit about the people group. Udine is in the most Northeastern part of Italy. It has been overtaken and pillaged by more people groups that currently exist within it's small "borders" therefore making the people cold to anyone who implicates change, and, especially, foreigners. Another factor adding to their unwillingness to accept or hear the gospel is the influence of the Catholic Church. Yes, the people know who God is, but the hypocrisy of the church has kept the people of Italy and its' regions at an arms length away from the love of Christ; because the message of Christ has been so contorted by the Catholic Church people would rather have no relationship with God.
We walked through town northeast from the ABC (Assemblea Biblia Cristiano) Church. Many Italians were reluctant to allow us to put the tract in their mail boxes; we were blown off with a sharp, "NO!" through their buzz buttons outside of apartment buildings. It was just another reflection of the characteristics of the people. They don't trust the government, anyone they really don't know, and do not want to trust them. Based off of my experiences in the mission field it's one of the hardest people groups to reach.
After tracts and lunch, we finally had an opportunity for Children's Ministry. This was exciting, especially for me, because I love children and their willingness to believe in God highly surpasses the faith of their parents or teachers. We started with puppets to draw the children in. After, Seth read a story about Speedy, the car who got dirty and needed someone to clean him up (the gospel message). It was refreshing to see a group of Italians who embraced us instead of mocking us or blowing us off completely. It was a pick-me up the group needed.
After children's ministry we started out towards to plaza to do street ministry. During out mime King of Hearts a team member and I had the opportunity to talk to a woman from Croatia named Sanda. Her husband was from Italy and she seemed more than interested in the mime. Through conversation we found she was a Catholic who wanted guidance for her kids but was too busy to go to church every week, she rarely read her bible, and her husband was interested in being protestant/evangelical. It was a great opportunity to explain to her that I am not a religious person, but a person who focuses on a relationship with Christ. I embrace his love and my works don't save me. We agreed on a lot of doctrinal elements, gave her a tract and the gospel of John.
Please pray for her and her family to make the decision to come to the church and to see the way a relationship with Christ could look in her life. This experience with the Italian people has been interesting and revealing everyday. God loves them more than any missionary could even though they don't realize it. I feel honored to plant seeds, even if it is for the first time.
With Love
Teleah Moss