PRAISES:
· Allyson’s family (Mom, Kal, and Hunter) arrived safely in Milan, and we’ve had a great time so far with them.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
· Pray for Mario as he is having to deal with the aftermath of losing almost everything in his store when it was robbed last Thursday. (Read below for details)
· Pray for the salvation of Mastro, Mario’s best friend, who has started joining us for our weekly Bible study.
ONGOING PRAYER REQUESTS:
· Our daily circle of influence among friends in our neighborhood, San Siro. Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of our friends.
Dear Family, Friends, and Faithful Supporters,
We have experienced very exciting days since our last prayer letter. Allyson’s family arrived on May 27, and we’ve really enjoyed being with them. They have been able to see where we live, meet many of our friends, and do some sight-seeing in northern Italy. Kal had to leave a few days ago to return to work, but Lucy and Hunter will get to stay for another ten days or so. I have posted many photos of our time together on our website.
We’ve been made more aware of the reality of spiritual attacks this past week, and we really need your prayers. In case you don’t remember, Mario is our friend who became a believer just two months ago. He has been on fire lately, reading large portions of the Bible and becoming more bold in telling others about his decision. He owns a small clothing/sports store beneath our apartment complex. This past week it was broken into in the middle of the night, and the robbers took about 80% of his merchandise. This was a huge blow to him and his family, and some relatives are still nervous and fearful. They have very limited insurance, and the thieves took between 15-20 thousand dollars worth of stuff. Mario is not sure what is going to happen now. He was already having a hard time making ends meet before this happened, and had considered closing down the shop. It was also a bit unnerving for us because where the thieves broke in was the alley of our apartment building.
Several months ago I was very encouraged while in Mario’s shop because I was able to envision for the first time an actual “storefront” church meeting in the basement. Since then Mario and I have been meeting in his basement on a weekly basis to study the Bible and for me to guide him in his Christian walk. He has actually jokingly referred to his basement as our future church. 
As mentioned above, his friend Mastro has joined us the past three weeks and is definitely seeking God. Mario has also started talking about other friends who may be interested in joining us in the near future. He has a real sense of the spiritual condition of those close to him.
All this to say that we know that Satan is most likely to attack when something good is happening or about to happen. I am sure that there is nothing that would please him more than to mess up this beginning of a simple church in our neighborhood in Milan. Please pray for this situation. Pray that if Mario’s store basement is to be the location of our first simple church that everything would work out for Mario to keep the business. Pray that this robbery will not affect Mario’s willingness to let others into his basement/storage room…the actual place of the break-in. Pray that this experience will not discourage Mario in his newfound faith in Christ. His greatest discouragement right now is trying to grasp how something like this can happen to an honest hard-worker. Pray that this whole situation will work out for God’s glory and that Mario will recognize how God is with him through this whole process.
Thank you for your commitment to pray for us and our ministry with the Italians. We continue to be amazed at how God blesses us through you.
Ciao and God bless,
Jason (for the three of us)
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