What incredible and interesting times we are living through. Some people seem so lonely and will spend extra time chatting with the clerks at the store, and others are so afraid that they cross the street to avoid coming close to someone. This makes soul winning interesting. One man refused a John and Romans, but after talking to us about his family and his old Roman coin collecting for some time, he accepted the John and Romans—but still left as an Atheist. Our soul-winning partner Nicolas has had some lengthy conversations with other Peruvians recently, and we have had some surprisingly popular advertisements on Facebook, but we are still looking for fruit. A few individuals who had visited our church returned for a visit again, and we also had a visitor come recently. Things seem to have been off schedule since the beginning of summer with different sicknesses in our church and family, and now we head into August, a month in which Italians typically take at least three weeks off for vacation. Lord willing, some normalcy will return in September.
Depending on how you are reading this update, you may notice our new family picture. We ran out of our previous letterhead, so we thought it was the opportune time to update our picture. The whole process took some time, as our first appointment was canceled due to several members of our family being sick. After everyone was better and we’d waited a week or so, we made another appointment, which we were able to keep. Then there was the processing of the images before they were sent to us, followed by inserting them into our design, printing the letterhead, and then shipping it. The whole process took more than two months from start to finish. Previously, we have printed new prayer cards after having our picture updated, but we just recently had to discard over a thousand prayer cards which were never mailed out. After asking some pastors what they prefer, it seems like the digital image is used in many different applications. We have updated our website to include the photo, if you would like to download it; or if you want, you can also contact us, and we will make sure to get you the file.
The process of citizenship for my wife, which we started back in 2009, seems closer than ever. The process normally would not take this long, but we were a bit complacent with our visas and didn’t have any urgent need to proceed. Now we have some renewed momentum and an appointment fast approaching at the end of September. Lord willing, all the documents will be certified, have their apostille translation, and approval ready for that appointment. We are fairly confident that we know what needs to be done and that it can be done before that meeting. Gaining citizenship will help us, as we will need to move out of our apartment in just a couple of years and would like to look into purchasing an apartment rather than renting one.
Our family is taking advantage of the summer to sharpen some of our Italian with a private teacher (this will be a lifelong challenge for us). I am also taking driving lessons, as I haven’t driven a car in almost 10 years—life in the city. Thank you for your prayers and sacrifices for our family.
Missionaries to the people of Italy,
Christopher, Amy, William, AnnMarie, and Charlotte Yetzer