Well, by now you probably realize that we have arrived in Italy. 🙂 On Wednesday, 21 January, 2015 we set out on what would be a long, tiring journey from South Jersey to Umbria. There were great blessings along the way. There were trials (they seemed much bigger in the moment), too.

Upon arriving I decided that it would be a good idea to write about our experience. What is below is just a snippet of the outworking of that idea. Hopefully it will give you an idea of what our trip was like!

1/24/15

Wow! What a few days it has been! We arrived at the airport on Wednesday at 15:30 ready to start this journey. Little did we know the great blessings, and trials, that would shortly come our way. When we got to the airport there was absolutely nobody around. It was almost as if everyone was waiting for us to arrive, simply wanting to help us on our way. A gentleman came out of the terminal to get all of our bags…he deserved and earned the tip he received…not really knowing what he was getting into. As we loaded bag after bag, and then three car seats onto his cart, he looked at us as if to ask why we had all of this “stuff” for our flight. I quickly answered his unspoken question with three simple words, “we are moving!” He nodded and began to take all off the luggage inside and to the counter. As we checked in the lady behind the counter was amazed everytime I would say, “here are two more bags”. Finally, after nine bags and three car seats, we were checked in. Much to our amazement, and that of the counter lady, the computerdidn’t charge us for any of them, though we were only allowed five free bags. What a wonderful blessing to start the trip on such a high note!

We proceeded to security where we were once again able to move right through (well, as fast as a family of five can ever move through security, that is). They did not stop us for anything! That, however, as we would later found out, would be the end of the “easy” traveling! We went to our gate on the very end of the international terminal. I left Stephanie and the kids there while I went looking for food to eat. After walking about 2/3 of a mile, I came across suitable food for our last American meal… Chick-fil-a! I walked back to the gate and we ate our food. At 17:30 we started to board the plane. We were on time and ready for our 18:15 departure. Well, 18:15 passed, as did 18:30 and 18:45. The only comments were that we needed to go through the deicing process. Around 19:15 the captain came on and said there was a mechanical issue and we needed to go back to the gate. Upon arriving at the gate there was an announcement that due to it being an international flight a customs agent had to board the plane before we could go back to the gate. We would later find out that it was two immigration officers who came on to take two passengers off of the plane. Around 20:00 we were informed of another mechanical issue and that was going to take one hour to fix and then another half hour before we could take off after that. We were still are not allowed off of the plane, and it was getting very hot and stuffy.

Finally, around 20:30, we were allowed off of the plane, but only if we took all of our stuff off. Not wanting to go through that process, I took Angelo off while Stephanie waited on the plane with Nino, Daniela, and our stuff. Around 21:00 we were informed that our plane was not going to be able to go and we would need to board a new plane. After helping get all of our stuff off of the plane we traveled to the new gate. The second plane took off around 22:30, only 4:15 past the original departure time.

By this time our kids were tired, hungry, and crying (no one blamed them…several mentioned they wished they could express themselves in the same manner). The kids slept okay on the plane, but it was hardly a full night’s sleep. We arrived in Rome at 13:00 local time, passed easily and quickly through customs, and went to baggage claim to find out how much was missing/damaged. Much to our surprise, all of our luggage made it and in one piece! We loaded up onto two carts and headed outside to meet our ride, another missionary working in a city about 1.5 hours away.

The ride from Rome was uneventful. We worked our way through Italian cities and countryside, all the while I was thinking about how much it was like what I remembered from my visit ten years earlier. I started to recognize things as we reached Terni, a city about 45 minutes away from Deruta. We got to Frank and Sherry’s around 16:30. It was nice to finally be done traveling.

After a nice dinner (pasta, Turkey, peas, salad, fruit, coffee, and dessert) we headed to our new home. We unloaded, got the kids settled, and got ready for the coldest night we have experienced in a long time. Although we had hot water, our heater pump was not working. It would be another 24 hours before we had heat. It stayed around 13°C for those 24 hours.

Yesterday I went with Sarah (the DiBagno’s daughter who is here while her husband is working in the country for a time) to get phones connected and to find my way through town while Stephanie took the kids to the park. Our landlord came by and we meet him (and paid our first month’s rent) before the kids took their naps. While they napped Sherry, Sarah, and Stephanie went grocery shopping. What an experience! While they were gone the heater was fixed and the apartment warmed up to a nice 20°C! What a difference seven degrees makes! 🙂

I went out around dinnertime with Frank to get some necessities (a iron and an alarm clock) and then came home to eat my dinner, a sandwich and a granola bar. The kids (mainly Angelo) still had some trouble sleeping, but I think we are figuring this survival thing out.

Today we met Sarah for coffee at the bar (very different from America…it is similar to a cafe in America…at least for most of the day). After coffee we went for a walk. I then walked down to the grocery to pick up some things while Stephanie and Sarah took the kids to the playground.

After walking back up the hill…a very big hill, actually…we unloaded, ate lunch, and finished unpacking.

Several things are very different. Laundry is slow (almost two hours for the washer to run). It is a very small machine. Everything must air dry after. This will be a big adjustment for Stephanie.

Groceries are most often bought fresh, meaning many trips to the store each week. We are slowly picking up various phrases for everyday use. This will be more difficult than we initially anticipated, but we are coming along…I am glad we have technology to help make it a little easier.

All in all we have been very encouraged these first few days. Life is not as easy as it once was, but it is not impossible. God is good. By His Grace we will see Italians praising Him. One thought has come to mind as I think through all of this: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, ESV). As we exalt Him and humble ourselves, He will give the necessary grace to live, work, and learn all we need to (James 4:6).

This evening I took Stephanie and the kids out before dinner. We walked down to the grocery store here in town (Stephanie didn’t know how to get there). On the way back we stopped and took a picture of the sunset over Deruta. It really is a beautiful city.