Hey everybody! Thought you’d like to know the cause of our unexplained absence and blog inactivity over the last month. Well, a good chunk of our team was away attending… (drumroll) the XD Core!
Okay, so you’re probably wondering “what on earth is that?”! Well, the Xtreme Discipleship Core was a three week seminar that the Family International hosted in Italy for its members aged between 18 and 25. Its goal; to help us become better, more professional and committed missionaries and disciples of Jesus. There were classes, assignments, singing and dancing, activity nights, parties and of course…football (woo hoo!)
From our team, Tina, Steve, Josh, Heather (me), Olivia (Steve’s girlfriend) and Steven attended. It was a blast! We studied on all kinds of topics ranging from being more professional in our work to relationships and dating, telling others about Jesus, even about the economic system of today’s society and how a financial crash is pending if things continue at this rate. It was very eye-opening…and also a lot of fun!
The grounds were situated in the hills just outside of Rome, so we were surrounded by olive trees, khaki trees and wild boars. Wait a minute…did I just say wild boars? Yep, the local herds began prowling around our property when the water ran short, and some of the attendees had some close encounters of the hair-raising kind- myself included! (I heard what I thought was a wild boar grunting at me from behind the garbage bins one night. I turned and ran, tripped on a rock, saw my life flash before my eyes, before I got up and skedaddled to safety! I later discovered that my assailant wasn’t a ‘boar’ but a ‘bored’ pair of individuals with too much time on their hands who had been hiding out and scaring people…oh well, God’s justice prevailed and when they tried it on some of the guys, they got rocks thrown at them!.)
Anyway, it was a very exciting and growing experience to say the least! Included are some pictures of various game nights, singing, activities etc! Hope you laugh as much as we did! It's great to be back, guys! You Rock! God Bless you!
Photo captions:
(pics 1 and 2) This was a really hilarious game we played one evening. There was a girls team (left) and a boy's team (right)...don't we look ferocious, hah! The boys had to catch us before we could kiss the poor victim sitting on a chair inbetween the two teams! It was war!
(pic 3:) Lifting our arms in happiness and thanks to Jesus- the one who made it all possible!
(pic4:) Steve (Money- centre) showing off his football skills on the court.
(pic 5:) I couldn't resist posting this one :) It's Josh (Jesus) looking stern as he explains our beliefs to a mock crowd of lawyers in a professional application acitivity!
(pic:7:) Tina, Steve and Olivia digging in!
(pic 6:) Tina and me at a dress-up party! She's a tree and I'm a green peace activist- we match so perfectly :)
Jesus is definitely the winner of this round- in fact, it's awesome to remember that He already won 2,007 years ago when He died on the cross for the sins of mankind! Satan's just a sour loser in denial!
Some people slave for Money for years and years, and they think that once they reach a certain goal, buy that dream house and pay off the Mercedes that they'll be satisifed. It never happens. They just want more, and Money has them chasing a carrot on a stick that they'll never sink their teeth into. Jesus promises us freedom from this bondage- he says 'I will provide all your needs accordng to My riches'- imagine the size of that bank account! 
I remember a quote from the film Troy- 'War is old men talking and young men dying'. War is even more then that. War and Money work hand in hand (of course, Death doesn't do too badly either), because it's always about who gets what. That's the bottom line- selfishness and greed. No matter how heroic and glorious the media try to paint it, War is hideous and cruel. I can't wait until Jesus comes back to rule the Earth! He promises that 'There will be War no more'! Think of how wonderful that will be :) !
