Video of the Week | Inside a Gypsy Camp, Italy

This was our first time at this particular camp. It was located in the middle of a trash pile on the outskirts of Catania. The team returned later on to provide clothing & supplies to the families living there.

Video of the Week | Dancing with the People of the Camp

When we showed up to the Gypsy Camp there was an accordion musician playing a song. This was when our leader, Franca, started to dance with one of the mothers of the Camp. It was a real moment of bonding and a great way to get right up on there level before we start the day.

ITALY JULY 2011 – The Gypsy Camps

Catania is not a city that one would consider a tourist attraction. There is a high unemployment rate and a lot of traffic. The worldwide economic crisis can be felt in a very tangible way here. The Gypsy camps, however, represent the poorest of the poor. This past week we have had the opportunity to minister to the three camps, Campo Fontanarossa, Campo Cimeterio Zia Lisa (also known as the cemetery) and Campo Faro. Campo Fontanarossa is next to the airport. In fact it will be the first thing that you see when you exit the airport if you turn your head to the right. There are about 240 people (180 adults and 60 children and adolescents ranging from infants to 18 years of age) living in the camp. The camp space was donated by the City of Catania a little over two months ago as a refuge for the gypsies that had taken over an old abandoned post office. Some of the families live in campers that were donated by the City. Those that don’t live in the campers (mainly because they do not have families) live in a sort of barracks that have been abandoned. There seems to always be a shortage of food. Fortunately, there is access to clean drinking water and there are communal showers. We spent most of our ministry days ministering to the gypsies living in this camp. The first time we went to Campo Fontanarossa, our team from Times Square Church were the only outsiders there apart from Francesco, our host, and Marco the local missionary. As the week went on, there were more people from the community able to help us. Interestingly, two local politicians and the Red Cross happened to be at the camp during one of our visits. By our last outing, there were forty people helping out.

Italy July 2011- Homemade Pizza

The other night some folks from the church invited  us up to there mountain home for dinner. . When we got there, we were greeted by at least 30 to 40 people. Also waiting for us was authentic Italian pizza cooked in a wood burning oven. It was delicious. After the pizza, we were served gelato and homemade cake. We ate, talked, laughed and sang. It was beautiful time of fellowship and rest. Very good times we will never forget.

The Sicily Chronicles – Day 4

Friday, July 8, 2011

Devotions. Luz lead devotions today.  Her message was simple. We need to have the heart of God for the people around us. Sounds easy, but not completely understanding the language and the culture, we really needed the Holy Spirit to lead us.

On the beach today, we did the equivalent of street evangelism as best we could. We passed out tracks for a couple of outdoor evangelistic meetings that would take place in a couple of squares around the city over the next few days.  We had an opportunity to witness and talk to people.  The most amazing thing was that even on the beach we found people who were searching in the hearts for some sort of confirmation from God.  There were moments of divine intervention for our team I am sure.  In one case in particular, Luz sat down next to a life guard who just so happened to speak English.  (Accident?) He was also a professed atheist. (Coincidence?) At the end of his conversation with Luz, he asked her to pray for him.  God was faithful to our devotions and prayers.  God had implanted his love in our hearts for the people around us and it was visible even to the atheist.  For this lifeguard, the seed had been planted.  We pray that it will fall on ground that someone will continue to cultivate.

Later in the evening, we continued to pass out tracks and do street evangelism.  Lay was lead to speak to a Chinese immigrant who spoke her language.  Others were lead to speak to Catholics, Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses. Throughout all those conversations, the love of God kept coming through.

All this was going on while in the backdrop a funeral was being prepared.  This afternoon, Franca and I had the privilege of attending the funeral of the sister who departed. Remember, she was the one that was waiting for the American missionaries to celebrate her 50^th birthday.  The church was packed.  It was so crowded that people had to stand in the aisles all the way to the entrance of the church with the doors open.  The pastor gave a word of celebration. We were celebrating her birthday in the way that God intended…with a word of encouragement and salvation. The entire room was filled with peace and joy rather than lamentation as one would expect.  The most moving thing for me was that even though the husband carried his wife in a coffin along with some of the other men, he was able to give a word of encouragement to others.

God is awesome.

Tomorrow, we are off to another gypsy camp.

The Sicily Chronicles – Day 3

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Today we got an early start, we headed off to the second gypsy camp. We visited it yesterday just to get a feel of the environment. It was much more chaotic than the first.  There were 180 people living there (not including children).

We spent quite a bit of time speaking with the people.  Between broken Italian, Englis and Romanian, we understood a bit of their history.  They had only been their two moons (two months) and had been moved by the  two moons (two months) and had been moved by the city of Catania from an abandoned building to a large camp ground next to the airport.  (If you ever fly into Catania, you can see it from the road as you drive to the city.)  There was one group of people that had more than the majority of the families and there was a bit of strife between them. The Italian minister that was leading us and that had worked with this group of gypsies for a long time explained that we were not there to enter into their dispute but that we would pray with and for all of them.  He also explained that we were there to bring them clothes, which we would divide among them today and maybe the next couple of days…

Each of us brought gifts for the gypsy communities that we would be visiting.  We thought they were just small things and we did not know the impact that they would have but we were already beginning to see the joy that they were bringing.  In addition to toys and crafts for the children, we also brought clothing. Again, we thought that this would not be enough.  However, God is awesome.  When we got to Sicily, one of Franca’s friends called us and told us that one of their friends was moving and had a few things to donate.  Well, if you know anything about the Bible, you know that God doesn’t just add to what we have, he multiplies it.  Think fish and bread.  As it turns out, this friend was rather wealthy and the donations wouldn’t fit in our small rental car. We had to rent a moving van to carry all the clothes and toys that we took away.

After devotions, we head off to the camp by the airport.  We load up into four cars and head off, driving through chaotic city streets once again. Everyone seems relaxed. I notice that everyone has on their seatbelts though.  Once at the camp, Marco gives us a briefing. In the morning, we are to sort out the clothes that have been waiting in the storage room for new owners.  While a part of the team is doing that, the other part of the team is doing activities with a few of the kids.  At the same time in a third part of the camp around noon, Lei gives a small sermon to a group of the men.  In the afternoon, around 4:00 we will return to distribute the clothing that has been sorted.

Before we start, we pray as a group.  Even though we have already done devotions, we do so again as a group because the camp really is a spiritual battleground and without prayer the minister warns us that it is easy to fall into fall into a routine of doing things in the flesh (meaning relying on our natural physical stamina) which is physically exhausting.  However, when we approach this type of work with the Spirit of God abiding in us, the work becomes lighter and we also are more patient. 

Franca, Lei, Gloria, Maryann and Huberta head off to the storage room.  Ryan begins taking photos of the day.  I hang out with some of the men, while Lei begins going over her message that she prepared the night before.  During our devotions, we focused on Colossians 4:2 and making sure that we were conscious of our demeanor in front of the gypsies, who can be a bit unruly.

I do believe that the devotions really covered us this day. The group of us in the room didn’t feel any of the heat and were desensitized to the pungent smells that drifted in among them in the storage room when it began to feel with people in search of new clothes.  It was almost normal. In a vacuum, the gypsies looked like the shoppers in any department store and our team like helpful store clerks.  That at least is how we saw the situation with our spiritual eyes.  Some of the Italians who were not a part of our devotions that morning, could not really stomach the smell and asked us how we were able to stay in that room for so long.  All I can say is that God is awesome.  The need is so great in this place but we left refreshed.  Did the clothing distribution go smoothly?  At times the distribution was a little tense as the gypsy camp began to converge on the room.  In the end though, every family was able to take away nice clothing. I believe that everyone got pretty much what they wanted and needed.

In the evening Franca and I returned to the church for service,  the rest of the team returned to rest before dinner.  During service, we were reminded that one of the families of the church was going through a crisis. The prior Sunday, the mother collapsed from a brain aneurism and had been in a coma.  It was her fiftieth birthday and she was waiting for us (the American ministry team) to celebrate her birthday. She has been a coma since then.  Today, she was pronounced brain dead and the family had to take her off of life support.  Tomorrow, there will be the funeral service.

So in the midst of hosting us and providing for our needs, the church was dealing with this tragedy. Though the sadness of the tragedy was very deeply felt there was peace in the community. They knew where their sister was.  Only the peace of God can allow someone to function the way the Italians were doing in that situation.  I was struck by the awesomeness of God. I am beginning to feel it in a very different way.

This evening, our hosts took us to get gelato. We tried to convince them that it wasn’t necessary.  We understood that they were also preparing for a funeral in the midst of all this. Our hosts would have none of it. The first gelateria was closed.  Again we told them, we didn’t need to go.  There was another one close by though, so we went.  That one was closed, so we went to a third.  Ecco la! After 20 minutes of searching the city, our hosts were finally able to locate Sicilian ice cream.  In the process, they showed us much more. We were a part of their family in Christ and they would do anything to make us feel welcome, even in the midst of the personal tragedy in their church community.

Tomorrow, we are going to the beach to do evangelism.

The Sicily Chronicles – Day 2

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

We woke up after what we thought was a restful night.  Turns out Marinella fell from her bed and hit her head against the floor.  A big knot was beginning to form.

One of the sisters took me to the emergency room while the rest of the team went with Franca for breakfast and devotions.

What most impressed me most of this experience is that the sister who took us to the hospital was having very serious financial problems but she did not hesitate to take time to pick us up in her car, take us to the hospital, wait with us and pay for parking while she waited, all without any sort of anxiety and as if she had known us her entire life. God is awesome.  (Marinella was fine.)

We headed back to the church, which is our meeting point and Franca and the team were being debriefed.  This afternoon after lunch, we would visit two gypsie camps. 

The first gypsie camp was in the middle of a trash dump behind an office building. There was only one family there with about seven children.   Sonia and Franca read a children’s book about three trees in a forest that dreamed of one day being great. The first was cut down and made into a trough. The second was cut down and made into a small fishing boat. The third was cut down and made into long beams.  At first the trees were all disappointed at their fate.  However, as it turns out, the first tree was used as the first cradle in the manger to hold baby Jesus.  The second tree was the boat that Jesus and the disciples used during the storm at sea when Jesus calmed the waves. The third was used as the cross where Jesus was crucified. Even though it was not exactly the way they dreamed, each tree was in fact used in a great way.  For example, the third wanted to be so big that when people looked on it they would be compelled to look to heaven.  Well, now when people looked on it as the cross of Jesus, they would still be compelled to look to heaven but in a much deeper way.

The children received the story well.  After the story, we did arts and crafts with them using hats and beads that Maryann brought from New York.  It was almost normal. These kids had no possibility of going to school.  They were dirty and living in a trash dump.  At the same time, they were happy and loving. With Franca reading and the team doing crafts, it almost felt like an outdoor school activity at an elementary school. They loved the hats.  They also loved the stuffed animals that we brought with us.

We ended our time there in a circle of prayer.

The Sicily Chronicles – Day 1

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

2:30 p.m. Catania Airport.

Franca, me, the kids and my mother-in-law are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of our team from New York. When I say anxious, I mean to say that we came to the airport two hours early just to make sure that we didn’t miss each other, which is not very likely considering the airport terminal is about the size of a Manhattan city block, say from 51^st to 52^nd Street on Broadway.  Anyway, here we are. The logistics are as follows: The plane is scheduled to arrive at 3:45.  The minister from Sicily is to meet us at 3:30 with a few cars to take us to the hotel.  Simple all has been arranged and nothing to worry about.  Still here we are.  In situations like this, when you have a lot of time and a little imagination, you start thinking of the worst case scenarios (at least I do).  Did everyone get on the plane?  Was there a problem getting through customs?  Will there bags arrive?  Will our hosts remember to get us?  Will there be enough room for our luggage? Did we have the correct flight?  I don’t see it on the screens yet.  Are we at the right terminal?

3:30 p.m. Catania Airport

Our hosts arrive as scheduled, with five cars.  Plenty of room for American luggage.  They have such a peace. Although, it is in the middle of the work week for them, they don’t seem to have any of that nervous energy that I often see on a Tuesday afternoon in New York. The little darts of anxiety begin to fall away.  God is good.  After a warm greeting, we all take our places.  I am outside waiting with the cars with Matteo, one of our hosts. Franca is inside the terminal waiting.  The plane is scheduled to land on time.  The darts continue to fall away.  I feel in my spirit that I really want to see God’s awesomeness, that is I want to be in awe in a different way.

3:45. Catania Airport

Things begin to happen.  The cars of our hosts are not parked correctly.  The traffic police come.  They have already given tickets to some people.  Two people who are not policemen begin to complain that we are parked illegally. (I think they had already gotten tickets or been asked to move.)  The police look at me and then sternly tell me in Italian that I shouldn’t be there with the cars in that position.  Then they look at the other people complaining about us and tell them that they are not going to do anything since no one is getting hurt and we are not really in the way.  Wow.  Did that just happen?  Darts are completely gone (almost).  God is awesome. You just have to look around.  No matter where you are God is there.

4:00 Catania Airport.

They arrive. Luz, Sonia, Anna, Lei, Ryan, Maryann, Huberta and Gloria. Halleluiah.  Franca begins to weep for joy.

4:20 p.m. We are all loaded up and we take an invigorating drive through the city, which is chaotic and organized at the same time.  The city of Catania is situated at the base of Mount Etna which is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.  As you drive around the city, you can see the mountain top from most vantage points.  Talk about the awesomeness of God.  Today it is not smoking…that much.

7:00 p.m. We have already checked in and freshened up. Our hosts prepare a special dinner for us in an upper room at the top of the church.  In the main sanctuary of the church, a prayer meeting is happening at the same time. Awesome.

8:00 p.m. I notice Huberta, Anna, Maryann, Sonia beginning to fade. Time to retire for the night.

ITALY JULY 2011- Sharing the Spark

Today we played games and colored with the kids. As soon as we got too warn out from all the heat we settled down for some water mellon. The kids were just so happy for us being there and creating fun for them, you can really tell that they were not used to it. The team really bonded with the kids at the camp today, you could just see the joy in the children’s eyes.

Glory to God.

ITALY JULY 2011- Warming Up

We started the day at one of the camps and ended at the water for an outreach and watch the church band put on a great show.

Catania, Italy is at the base of the most active volcano in the world. Today it was erupting a little covering everything in volcanic ash.

Click here to see Video from Gypsy Camp.