So, I made a new friend today at language school. Which was cool. We ended up hanging out all afternoon and going for an hour long run this evening. It was really great, actually.
You see, I’m in language school for 4 hours a day, Monday – Friday (lunedi – venerdi). I started off in the advanced class because I had an interview in Italian with one of the teachers and she thought I could handle it. Turns out I couldn’t. Ha ha. So they meant to move me down to the intermediate class, but the rooms got switched and I was in the beginner class. Finally they put me in the intermediate one though, which is right where I belong.
While in class we do all kinds of different exercises. We do some stuff out of a book, but primarily, we just talk. The teachers ask us questions, like what we did yesterday, what we plan on doing tomorrow, where we’re going to spend the holidays – anything to get us to use different grammatical structures, like past, present and future verb tenses, etc.
Sometimes they give us letters written in Italian, and we have to respond in Italian. Sometimes we write short essays about this that or the other, and sometimes we watch Italian movies and talk about what’s going on, describe the characters and analyze the plot. And today, our teacher had us pair off with another student and tell them what we were going to do for Christmas, then each would share with the class what the other had said.
So I got paired with this guy, and I started describing my Christmas plans and he started asking me all about the holiday and we started getting into a spiritual conversation, so much so that he didn’t get to tell me his plans, so I had nothing to share with the class when my turn came. But that didn’t matter so much. The teacher finally made us stop talking and told us to finish during the break. So, after 2 hours we get a break, and we continued our conversation during the break.
He’s a really nice guy, really intellectual guy and had a ton of questions about my faith. – Oh, FYI, the teacher is good friends with my supervisor, so she knew already that I’m an M over here and yesterday when I came to this new class, she asked everyone if they were curious why I was in Naples, and of course they were, so I explained all that to the class. So they all know that I’m a follower of Christ and that my work is to do ministry with university students. – So I laid it all out for him. I mean, everything, started sharing from the beginning. I can’t even think of all that we discussed today. Basically, everything you could ever want to know about Christianity and comparing it to Catholicism and Judaism (he’s Jewish, but not practicing).
Our break was only 20 minutes, so we didn’t have time to talk about all that in class, but after class I told him I’d love to grab a coffee sometime and talk more, and hear his perspective, what he believes and what not. And he was like, “Well, how ’bout now? What are you doing this afternoon?” I didn’t have any set plans, I had planned to go to my teammate Emily’s apartment and use internet and then change and go for a run in the park near her apartment. But there was no way I could pass this opportunity up. So I said sure thing and told Cortney.
We talked as we walked to a kebab shop and ate lunch, then we kept walking and talking about all kinds of stuff. I mean, we talked about what it means to walk by the spirit, about the Trinity, about faith vs. works, about Jesus’ first and second comings, about the significance of religious holidays, about morality, about marriage and the different roles of men and women in a marriage, about why I believe in abstinence (which he told me he thought was insane) and so so much more. My goodness, my head was spinning when we finally parted ways tonight.
Since I had told the class that I planned on going for a run this afternoon (as part of an exercise), he suggested we go for a run. Oh my word, it was intense. He used to be in the military, so he’s a serious runner, and I told him I was super out of shape, but oh my gosh!!! 20 minutes UP HILL!!! I had to stop and walk at one point, couldn’t do it. Then we ran another 40 minutes around a wonderful, huge park at the top of the moutainside essentially, overlooking the whole city, and back down hill, thank goodness. But it was a good run.
Now, I’m not usually a talker when I run. You can just ask my dad, because we run together alot. I get so out of breath, there’s no way I can carry on a conversation! Well, today, by the grace of God, I did. Halfway through the run, we picked right back up with our spiritual conversation.
It was incredible. The whole conversation was in English, because he’s American, but his family moved to Israel when he was eight, and he’s traveled alot. But man, it was really good. He doesn’t agree with much of anything I said, but he seems to be seeking truth. He thinks everyone should investigate every religion and fully understand all of it before they make a decision about their beliefs, so he knows alot about many of the world’s religions, but he doesn’t really know what he believes.
He’s a nice guy, and I’m sure we’ll go for some more runs in the days to come, and I’m sure we’ll have many more conversations about our beliefs, which is exciting. Be praying for our conversations and our friendship. I’m excited to see what Father does with this.
Funny little old man. 
