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Greetings!
This month has brought BIG changes for the Verner family! May 15th was Stephen's last official day as a full-time employee at our church. He has now transitioned to a part-time schedule, which means that we will both work 3 days during the week and the rest of the week will be spent on support raising activities. This new schedule will free Stephen up on the weekends, which is prime time to visit churches and meet with people who are interested in getting involved in what the Lord is doing in Italy. We believe that this change is going to make a huge difference in how quickly we are able to raise our remaining support!
Also, tomorrow we will be moving out of the apartment complex where we've lived for almost 4 years. God has provided a great house for us to rent temporarily while we finish raising the monthly support we will need to live and minister on the mission field. While we are sad to leave friends behind, we are excited about the next steps on our journey to the mission field!
Thanks for your prayers and support! We can't wait to share what God does next!
Until All of Italy Hears,
Stephen and Brandy
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LanguageTraining Recap
From March 14 to 25, our family attended a training on second language acquisition at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT). We spent 2 weeks in western North Carolina learning techniques to prepare us for learning Italian as quickly and effectively as possible upon our arrival in Italy. Stephen and I were in class from 8:30 am - 4:00 pm every day and we learned things like how our learning styles and personality affect language learning, which was something we hadn't really thought of before. Also, the class was broken up into groups and each group had 5 sessions with a native-speaking language helper, which was great practice for working with one in Italy. Bryson and Laynie also attended classes where they were taught how to learn language as well. The first 30 minutes of each day, they could only speak Spanish and they learned words from other languages too. Their class even went on a field trip to a Mexican restaurant where they ordered everything in Spanish!
Overall, it was a great experience for the whole family and excellent preparation for learning Italian!
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Visit with the Colemans
On Monday night, we were honored to host TEAM Italy's field leader, Gene Coleman, and his wife Susan, in our home! Gene and Susan have been missionaries in Italy for 28 years! We had the pleasure of meeting them about a year ago on our vision trip, when they opened up their home for us to stay with them. We were glad to be able to return the favor!
The Colemans came bearing gifts from Italy for our kids - a toy Ferrari (in red, of course!) for Bryson and a beautiful Pinocchio coloring book with the story written in Italian for Laynie. Gene even read part of it for us in Italian and then translated the rest into English. The kids absolutely loved meeting them and even got the chance to ask some questions about life in Italy! Stephen and I so enjoyed the fellowship and wise counsel that they shared! Seeing them again was such a wonderful reminder of what the future holds for us and made us even more determined to get to the field! |
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Please make note of our new contact info!
The Verners
PO Box 466154
Lawrenceville, GA 30042
Stephen's NEW Cell: 706-201-5570
Brandy's Cell: 770-837-2846
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Quick Prayer Points
Please pray that the move to our temporary housing will go smoothly, especially for the kids who are sad to leave their friends.
Stephen injured his back a few weeks ago and is currently going through physical therapy. Please pray for quick healing!
Pray that the Lord would open up even more opportunities to share about the spiritual need in Italy and invite people to get involved. |
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Praise Report
We have received over $1,200 in special gifts and 3 new monthly partners since our last newsletter!
God opened doors for us to speak at 3 small groups in the last 3 weeks!
The Lord answered your prayers about our housing situation and provided an affordable rental house where we will live until our departure for Italy!
God recently blessed us with a second car! This will allow us to sell our other car and pay off the loan, as well as the last of our credit card debt! |
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Upcoming Events
May 21 - Laynie's Birthday
May 21 - Moving Day (to temporary housing before departing for Italy in the fall)
July 6-13 - Attending TEAM phasefour training in IL (our last required training) |
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Stephen and Brandy Verner
TEAM Missionaries to Italy
PO Box 466154
Lawrenceville, GA 30042
Stephen: 706-201-5570
Brandy: 770-837-2846
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