Tag Archives: Team Italy

In the Zone!

Posted on by

0

God made an amazing connection for Giuseppe, our bass player and musical director, here in Kalisz.  Giuseppe had long dreamed of playing worship music outside of Italy, but life sort of got in the way, and many years passed.  “The dream remained closed up in a drawer,” is how he described it to me.

When I invited Giuseppe to the Feast of Tabernacles, I knew nothing of his dream.  All I knew was that when I prayed about a worship team, I saw him and his son, Roberto, our drummer.  It was an open door for Giuseppe’s dream, and he went for it without a moment’s hesitation.

Our first day here, the leader of Team Israel connected with Giuseppe.  In fact, they were talking without interpretation, and made an agreement that Team Italy would join Team Israel (which you can read about in Worship All Night (Well, Almost!) ).  It was a great connection, and little did we know that it was only the beginning.

Adam, leader of Team Israel, wanted to invite Giuseppe to go with him to other places to play music together.  But for this conversation, they needed interpretation.  So we got together over an after worship beer.  I was translating for them, and baby, I was in the translation zone.

Translation has always been a difficult thing for me because in order to speak Italian, I need to be completely in my Italian brain.  It was always the switching brains that gave me trouble.  But this time it just flowed, and I was translating as fast as Adam was speaking, without him having to pause for me, and also going the other way, translating for Giuseppe.  We went on like this for about 30 – 40 minutes, then suddenly the lack of sleep and the beer caught up with me and it was like hitting a wall: STOP!

goofy grinLook at that goofy grin!  The beer hadn’t even arrived yet!

Happily, at just that moment, Bethany sat down to join us.  So she took over the translation and they were able to finish their conversation.  I excused myself and went to bed.

The funny thing is that I remember absolutely nothing about the conversation, itself.  But God used me to connect these two godly men and to help them discuss their plans.  Perhaps in the days ahead Giuseppe will tell me what they plan to do.  I was just the tool God used, but I can tell you, that even a humble tool in His hands is powerfully blessed.  God is good!

Worship All Night (Well, Almost!)

Posted on by

1

This year the Feast of Tabernacles in Kalisz has more worship teams than ever before from all over Europe, and this year even one representing Israel.  And that’s what had us up worshiping almost all night.  The leader of the Israel worship team arrived a couple of days ahead of his team, and he asked Team Italy to play backup for him.  The musicians all said yes immediately.  Bethany was desperately tired, and I wasn’t convinced that I would be either wanted or needed, and so thought a good night’s sleep would do me some good.

Remember, yesterday, we did the worship from 2-4 AM.  Team Israel’s time was 10-12 PM, and our next session was 4-6 AM.  So Bethany was probably wise to get some sleep while she could.

I don’t remember what it was that changed my mind.  I think I just got excited about the idea of backing up Hebrew worship songs.  I think there was also the feeling that I should be with the team if at all possible.  It turned out to be a great choice.  The music was amazing and very anointed, the sanctuary was packed out, and best of all, God showed up.  I don’t know how, but two hours went blazing by in what seemed like 20 minutes at the most.

Then we went back to the hotel, slept for about three hours, and went back to do our early morning session.  Yesterday’s early session was only Team Italy.  This morning there were a few other people in the sanctuary, most of whom joined into the spirit of worship.  I say most because there were two girls who sat on the sofa (situated in front of the platform where the drums are, and right by the table where the Communion bread and wine were set out for us to partake of before our worship sessions).  For our entire set, these two girls talked and giggled, even though the church gave strict instructions several times that the sanctuary is not a place to talk.  It was very distracting for me and for Bethany, since we were angled to face toward the couch, and couldn’t look toward the other teammates without catching sight of the girls.

I had a shaker egg in my hand, and was tempted to throw it at them.  Then I remembered what the Holy Spirit told me about rude people: it is not my job to teach them manners  I’m just supposed to love them.  So then I prayed that they would get up and go someplace else.  They didn’t.  And when I complained to God, He said, “They are not the problem, you are!  You need to focus on seeking Me, and you should be able to focus on Me no matter where you are or who is around.”

So it wasn’t a fun lesson or an especially fun session—the techie didn’t do a very good job of hooking us up, so we couldn’t hear each other, and the music suffered (yes, the musicians all got borrowed instruments–God provides!).  But it was an important step in personal spiritual growth, and that’s what counts.  God is good!