Leavin’ On A Jet Plane

We’re all checked in at the Indy airport, and we’re ready to go!

Of course, our emotions are all across the spectrum: Some of us are excited, while others are nervous. Some are introspective while others have had WAY too much coffee (or so my wife mentioned several times before we left for the airport). The adventure begins.

We’re heading to Boston, where we will meet the last member of our team, and from there we will venture on to Rome and hop on a jet to Catania.

We’ll keep you up-to-date as we move along.

Tomorrow Morning: Sicily Bound

Catania Sicily is a beautiful, ancient city; but many of the refugees we will meet are located in the “Red Light” district, only a block away from the central plaza and gathering place in this historic city.

In a little more than 24 hours, our group will board a plane and begin the journey to Sicily, where we will walk the streets of Catania and Palermo, meeting refugees and engaging them with kindness, a listening ear, and love. Please pray for us, that we will travel with safety, walk with confidence, and love well – one another as well as the new friends we will meet.

Anita and I made this journey last year, and I can say with confidence that our lives are different today because of this trip. I believe the same will be true for those who are traveling this year.

 

The Commissioning

Our team, surrounded by those who love us.

We had a fantastic morning yesterday, as the Sicily group gathered together at Grace Church. There are seven of us traveling to Sicily from Grace; with two men and five women. We range from 19-years old to mid-50’s (I swore an oath of secrecy on that last number). We come from a variety of backgrounds. We bring a wide range of travel experience. We have different political views, and despite Sofie’s insistence, we cannot all agree that the Dallas Cowboys are the best team in the NFL.

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Crunching the Numbers

More than 100,000 refugees have journeyed into Sicily in 2017. The UN Refugee Agency notes that in the first week of October, 1,4000 people entered various island ports of this Italian province.

To put this into perspective, our local city of Noblesville has a reported population of 60,000 people. It’s neighboring city of Westfield claims 37,000 residents. Imagine if every man, woman and child of those two towns packed a small bag and walked away from their homes. They simply left them empty. Now imagine, these 100,000 people, in small groups, or as individuals made their way across the country to San Francisco (roughly the same distance as anyone in Somalia might walk to get to Libya’s coast). Imagine this throng as they approach the city, ready to find safety, ready to receive sanctuary. And then imagine what would happen if that scenario repeated itself, year after year after year. That is what is happening across Africa. That is what is happening in Sicily.  Continue reading →

Two Weeks Out

One of the highlights of the Grace Sicily trip will be walking through the city streets of the century old Catania. It takes only a matter of a few hours to experience the historical footprints of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Norman cultures that helped shape the city.

It is on these interesting streets that we find a new influence on this ancient city: African men, women and children.

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