It definitely feels like that is what we have been doing these past months. Much of what we are currently doing is not quite the stuff you put in your newsletters or share in blogposts. But at the same time we would love to let you in on this part of the journey and the early beginnings of a new team, pioneering in a new location.

What does the plowing look like? Prepare, prepare, prepare.

We prepare in worship and intercession. We go to different places around Arco, Trentino, as well as Italy to acknowledge the Presence of God in those places and to lift up the need for a revelation of the Kingdom of God. Psalm 22 says that He is enthroned upon our praises and we long to see the reality of his Kingdom revealed.

We prepare in learning the language and culture of this beautiful land. There is much to grow in understanding how to relate to the people around us while we grow in relationship with new friends and connections.

We prepare through networking wherever we can: church leaders, government officials, property experts, protestants, catholics, evangelicals, or self-proclaimed agnostics, etc.

We prepare by setting up structures for growth in many years to come. When God spoke to us to build this team we believe one of the first things we were called to do is build a strong foundation. The building can only be as large as the foundation will hold before it will crack. Within the bureaucracy that Italy is known for we are doing a ton of research to understand how we can set up a structure that will serve the vision and goals of what we’re called to do, rather than limit it. We are finding ways to have a board set up, run our finances with transparency, apply for visas for our staff and do whatever we can to build foundations for a growing and flourishing YWAM base in years to come.

Some days it feels like there’s a couple rocks in the soil and we may not get very far. 2 Steps forward, 1 step back. But then we find out what the rocks look like and we deal with it. A few steps later we look behind and realise how far we’ve come. More often than not it’s others around us to point out how far we’ve come and they point us to the grace of God that sustains us as we keep ploughing where He leads. And then we see it’s not always rocks in the soil but milestones of faithfulness we’re looking at.

Some milestones so far:

• We’ve had so many visitors to come pray with us and encourage us on the way of pioneering.
• We’ve had several team members come (and go – for some of them we are working on long term visas as we speak)
• In February we were officially registered as a local non profit, which sounds exactly like one of those ‘hidden’ breakthroughs, but was massive to our team!
• There are only a few churches that are recognised by the government and one of them offered help to apply for the visas for our staff!
• We found a great location where we can have over 40 beds and grow our base for staff & students and we’re at a positive point of negotiations with the owners.
• God has blessed us with an incredible start to our ‘Launch Fund’ fundraiser, which is super encouraging to keep going and trust God for the provision of all our needs!

Thank you for your prayers and support!