Well, I arrived back in Texas after spending 12 amazing days in Milan. For those of you who had not heard, we received an anonymous gift that allowed me to go back to Italy to follow up with our many friends there, as well as take care of some logistical things (like enrolling Jake in school for next year and start looking for a place for us to live). I feel so blessed. The trip could not have gone any better. I had lunch and dinner with different friends every day. It was such an encouragement for me to see how God is working in different ways in every one of these people! There is still much work to be done in Milan, but I left there with a renewed sense of assurance that God is truly blessing the seeds that have been planted there over the last three years.

Since there is no possible way that I could tell you all about the trip I figured I would let these photos speak for themselves. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here are about 35,000 words for your enjoyment!

(Special thanks to Brittany Conner for writing this article! Hopefully this story will touch many people. I am still in awe of how it all happened.)

God recently used two edgy mediums for communication – dreams and the Internet – to reveal Himself to a professional soccer player in Italy.

Jason Greenwich, an International Mission Board missionary in Milan, Italy, is connected with an Italian group of Christian athletes called the “Atleti di Cristo.” Through this group, Jason has met professional athletes who come from various backgrounds, cultures and religious experiences – but all share a passion for God. One such athlete, Dino, is a soccer player who has recently been involved with the Atleti di Cristo.

Both Dino and his younger brother, Daniele, belong to the Inter Milan soccer team. Dino invited Daniele to attend a Thanksgiving day gathering that was being hosted by the Atleti di Cristo in the city of Piacenza. Daniele declined Dino’s offer.

“Daniele told Dino he wasn’t into that kind of stuff,” Jason says.

Before leaving, Daniele asked Dino if he knew of an evangelist named Jason. At the time, Dino had not met Jason, but he asked Daniele the reason for his question.

“Daniele said that he had just had a dream during the previous night where an evangelist named Jason kept calling him and inviting him to the party,” Jason says.

Later that evening, Dino logged onto an online chat room where several members of Atleti di Cristo meet to have electronic conversations through Instant Messaging. Jason also was in the chat room, and he noticed Dino’s name appear when Dino signed on.

“I knew of Dino, but he didn’t know me,” Jason says. “So I wrote him a quick message introducing myself.”

Dino replied to Jason’s message, but he seemed reticent in his replies. Unbeknownst to Jason, Dino realized that the man who had sent him a message was an evangelist named Jason – just as his brother had dreamed.

“Dino immediately contacted Daniele and said, ‘You’ll never guess who I’m talking to!’ Daniele then said maybe he should attend the Thanksgiving meeting after all,” Jason says.

At the meeting, Daniele says he immediately noticed the peace and joy emanating from the other athletes.

Later, Jason met Dino again in the chat room, and heard Dino’s story about Daniele’s dream. Dino also shared Daniele’s impression of the athletes who attended the Thanksgiving meeting. Jason asked Dino for Daniele’s contact information so he could talk directly with Daniele.

“I met Daniele online and we talked through Instant Messaging for more than two hours,” Jason says. “It was obvious to me that God was at work in his heart. I had him get his Bible, and I walked him through the entire Gospel presentation. Daniele said he wanted the same peace that he had seen in the other athletes. At the end of our time, Daniele prayed to receive Christ into his heart.”

When Jason saw Daniele log onto the Instant Messaging service the next day he noticed that his username had changed. It now reads “I belong to Jesus…forever”.

Jason served in Milan with his wife, Allyson, for more than three years, but he had never experienced an Italian so eager to accept the Gospel.

“Dino and Daniele are young, professional, Italian athletes,” Jason says. “It’s extremely rare for people in that age group to make that kind of decision.”

“As this story has unfolded, I’m just in awe of what God did and how.”

Visit www.atletidicristo.org for more information about Atleti di Cristo.

CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!!! AC Milan won the FIFA World Championship earlier today in Tokyo, Japan. They beat Boca Juniors (from Argentina) by the score of 4-2. Jason and Joel stayed up until 4 am to be able to watch the game live. It was a great game, and we were especially excited to see Kaka’ play so well. He ended up receiving the Adidas Golden Ball (player of the game award) as well as the Toyota Player of the Tournament award. He also took advantage of this opportunity to once again show the world WHO he belongs to.

Way to go, Kaka’!

Earlier today in Paris, Kaka’ was awarded the “Ballon d’Or”….the “Golden Ball”. It is the most prestigious soccer award that can be received by a soccer player playing in Europe. Why does this excite me? Well, I am glad you asked…

Kaka’ is, hands down, my favorite soccer player. Not only is he the star of my team, AC Milan, but he is also Brazilian (my heart will always be part Brazilian). However, the reason that I am so excited about this is that it provided him with yet another opportunity to tell the world where his strength comes from. Kaka’ is unashamedly a follower of Jesus Christ, and he finds ways to share that with others, including the media, as much as he can. People really do not know what to make of Kaka’s faith. They find it hard to believe that a young, handsome, rich, skillful man who is currently on top of the world would willingly choose to deprive himself of so many of the pleasures the world offers in order to try to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Every time one of the Atleti di Cristo get featured in the news or on TV and talk about their faith, the website I run for them gets LOTS of hits. So, as you can imagine, the website will be getting a lot of attention these days. My prayer is that the visitors will not only read Kaka’s testimony, but that they would read many of the testimonies on the site, and be amazed at what God has done in the athletes’ lives…and realize that He can do the same with their lives!

Julio is one of the athletes Jason had the privilege of meeting at one of the Atleti di Cristo meetings back in Italy. He has an amazing testimony. Two years ago he was playing for Vicenza, as well as for the Paraguay national soccer team. He had a very promising future, and was expected to be one of their star forwards in the 2006 World Cup. All that changed, however, on December 22, 2005, when he was involved in a serious car accident that resulted in him losing his left arm. Everyone assumed that his soccer career had ended, being that it was a miracle that he had even survived.

It was during the hard times that followed that Julio turned to God for strength, because he did not know who else to turn to. His faith has grown tremendously, and he has not been ashamed to share with others how his personal relationship with God has changed the way he lives. God has blessed him by allowing him to continue to pursue his dream of playing soccer. Against all odds, Julio returned to the field this past weekend to play his first official game since the accident. He still has a long road ahead of him, but God is certainly using his story of faith and perseverance to reach many people.