Fogo de Deus!

God told me that I'm made to be someone who, like a bee travels from flower to flower tasting their sweetness, travels from place to place and marvels at the beautiful things God has made. I went to Italy on Friday 21st September till Tuesday 25th September with some others of the older youth age to spend time with a Brazilian church 'Centro Alleanza'. Treviso, the town that we stayed in, was so beautiful and I noticed a similarity there between China and Treviso; in that there was such a relaxed atmosphere as you walked down the street unlike busy, busy London. It felt so surreal as Katie and I sat in the back seat of a car with no seat belt (!), without a clue where we were going and listening to the Brazilians chatter away to each other in Italian/Portuguese. The different languages that we spoke I originally thought that would be a barrier but one thing I took away from this trip is that with God's love there are no barriers. I can't say grazie/obrigado enough to the people from Centro Alleanza because they welcomed us with open arms, literally! We embraced their culture and they did the same with ours. It was as if family was coming together as we took it in turns to sing the line in a song 'nothing compares to the promise I have' in our different languages. It touched me every single time when the pastor would tell everyone during worship to prophesy over each other and the people next to me didn't hesitate to hold my hand and start praying for me. In my head I was thinking 'this is church!'. So I took back with me in my heart that I would do all I can to make church about love and relationships. It was then in the midst of love that the fire of God came down, hearts were changed by messages of God through worship, dance, talks and drama that our England team presented. We took a day trip to Venezia where we had a lot of fun shopping and looking at picturesque views of clear water and elegantly designed buildings. Now did I mention the food?! Pizza and pasta! ahhh yum! I don't know how all these Italian girls stay so slim! I'm really looking forward to where God is going to take me next :)