About Us

CIAO! Welcome to our family homepage. Thank you for stopping by to find out a little bit about us and our work in Milan, Italy. We appreciate your interest and we covet your prayers. Let us know if you would like to become a prayer partner. You may want to bookmark this page so that you can return often for updates. We commit to keeping the information up-to-date.

Make sure to leave a comment before leaving so that we can know you were here. Feel free to email us if you have any questions or comments…we would love to hear from you!

Dio vi benedica! (God bless!)

Birthdays:	Anniversary:
Jason – March 27, 1975 Allyson – August 8, 1977 Jake – December 17, 2002 Julia – October 4, 2006 Joshua – April 29, 2008	June 14, 1997 Missionary appointment: November 11, 2003

Jason was born in Monticello, Arkansas and raised as an MK (“Missionary Kid”) in Florianopolis, Brazil. He is a third-generation missionary. His grandparents, Bill and Jerry Ichter, served as music missionaries in Rio de Janeiro for 35 years. His parents, Ron and Alana Greenwich, are still serving in Florianopolis, where they have been since 1984. He also has an aunt and uncle who served as missionaries in Brazil and Germany. He is very grateful for his experiences in Brazil and the unique perspective of the world from his family. These things helped to mold him in many ways, and the Brazilian culture, as well as speaking Portuguese with his relatives (some of them actually Brazilians), will always remain a part of him.

Allyson was born in Dallas, Texas and raised in Garland. Although her upbringing and background were different, as a child she was already aware of God and His love. While in 3^rd grade, a family took Allyson and her mom to New Liberty Baptist Church in Garland. It was there that Allyson accepted Christ, continued to learn about the Bible, and she and her mom grew in their relationships with the Lord. Despite an extremely sad and dark period during high school, she experienced God’s healing over time and following that experience realized God’s purpose for her life. Allyson knew at that point that she wasn’t an accident and that she needed and wanted to live her life for the Lord. During college Allyson committed to serving Him, whether that would be in a secular or Christian work setting.

We met while attending college in Arkadelphia, Arkansas at Ouachita Baptist University. Jason graduated in 1997 with a B.A. in Music, and we also celebrated our wedding day in June of that same year. Allyson graduated in 2000 with Bachelor’s degrees in both Music Education (choral) and Elementary Education. Following our time at OBU, we moved to Fort Worth, Texas where Jason attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to complete his M.A. in Missiology. During those years before moving overseas, Jason enjoyed working and traveling as an Admissions Counselor/Ambassador for both OBU and SWBTS, and Allyson held a 3^rd grade teaching position for two years and a Music teaching position for one year at Meadowcreek Elementary in the Crowley school district.

While living in Ft. Worth, we became a trio! Jake was born in December of 2002 and has brought us so much joy. By the time Jake was 18 months old, he had already lived in 4 different places in addition to having traveled extensively, while we were awaiting our big move and visas, to visit friends and family before our departure. It wasn’t easy, but we praise the Lord for how flexible he was during that time and for how well he has adjusted now to life overseas and in the big city of Milan. He now hears 3 languages on a daily basis and is slowly but surely processing all of that. We’ve seen that no matter where we are, as long as Mommy and Daddy are happy, Jake’s a happy kid.

On October 4, 2006, we welcomed Julia into our family. She is our little “Italiana”, having been born here in Milan. We thank God for the way He blessed us during her arrival. She is a beautiful little girl, and Jake is one proud big brother!

Joshua joined us during our first furlough (April 29, 2008). He was actually born at the same hospital where Jake was born in Fort Worth, TX five years earlier. We are still getting used to being a family of five!

At the time of our marriage, we both knew and experienced callings on our lives for service to God. We didn’t know when and where it would be, but God made it clear to us over the first years of our marriage that Italy is where He wants us for now. As we waited for the Lord to show us when, where, and how to get overseas, it was very easy to get used to life in the States with all the comforts, securities, and familiarities that we know and cherish. However, we also knew that we didn’t want to settle for just the good, instead God’s absolute best for us. We feel convicted that the abundant life that Jesus spoke about and promised in the New Testament is found by following in obedience…which is not always the easiest or most comfortable thing to do. We are humbled and grateful, though, for the blessings we’re receiving as we try to obey God and let Him work through us here. We’re blessed with renewed hope, renewed joy, greater compassion, a hunger for His Word, real trust, and growing faith.

We arrived to Milan in April 2004, and our time in Italy has already been filled with a wide array of feelings and adventures: blessings, tears, growth, homesickness, changed worldview and perspective, etc. We know that Jesus Christ is worth all of it. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and He is with us every step of the way as we make these personal sacrifices for Him. A favorite line from a poem that we read last year goes: You moved down to earth for me, so I’ll move for You.

Here in Italy we are part of Team Milano, of the International Mission Board. Western Europe is a unique mission field in that the majority of the countries here consider themselves to be post-Christian. We value the importance of relational evangelism, especially in Italy and in a modern city like Milan. Our goal here is to have nationals beginning a church planting movement which will become reproducible among homes. Many people here are disillusioned and offended by the Church, and we want to show them the importance of not just knowing about God and His Son, but KNOWING God. We want Italians to see the importance of the body of Christ as the church, not just the building, and our hope is that they will learn how to study God’s Word and grow in a relationship with Him.